Is there anyone who have never (and prob will seldom) play religions?

[kamex]

I think the bonuses are weaker than in V in general, and the AI missionary spam is worse than ever, so think I'd be happy to leave it unless I was focusing on that victory type or a civ that gets bonuses in that area.

 

[GT_OKEZ]

Religion isn't too difficult to get up to King difficulty. At Emp it shifts dramatically and the chances are significantly lower especially if you don't have a good start. You basically have to roll the dice at that point and focus on nothing but getting a religion (get scout and pray you find a natural wonder). Then you have to construct your holy district and a shrine - get mysticism and then beeline to political philosophy - go classical republic and also use the Great prophet wild card.

All this would have to be going on which delays your settler and other infrastructure. It's actually a pretty big investment that has basically zero benefits and sets you behind if you fail to snag a GP.

I wont complain to the devs because the game is great overall but they did construct some Civs to rely heavily on a religion game and given the AI is so fast at getting a religion at higher difficulties (thanks to bonus resources) it really makes Civs like Spain not very viable at that level.

Maybe this can be mitigated by allowing players to adjust in the options how many Great Prophets/Religions are allowed?

Really I don't know. I GET what the devs were going for with religion. It's supposed to be difficult and a costly investment since the benefits can be quite good. You shouldn't be able to casually grab your religion while also keeping up your infrastructure at a low cost., yep, you should be forced to dedicate a lot of resources to it but I think there has to be a little tweaking to slightly increase the chances of founding a religion at higher difficulties...especially for heavily religious orientated civs like Spain.

 

[TehJumpingJawa]

I'll just say one thing; great prophet points becoming worthless beyond a certain point seems like a really flawed design.

 

[Disgustipated]

Here's a noob question. I have a religion, but I notice I have 2 locked beliefs. How do I expand my religion? Or can I? I am thinking only certain civs can do it?

edit: Nevermind, I was clicking on the wrong religion, not my religion. It appears I need an apostle to do it. I had completely forgot about that even though I seen it in a Let's Play.

 

[Sequitor]

One neat religious mechanic are the promotions received by Apostles. All of the ones I've encountered are interesting (unit healing, triple effect on other continents, etc.), but one was amazing: Barbarian conversion. I was able to move my Apostle close to a settlement and trigger the effect. I received 2 archers and 2 builders and used one of the claimed builders to take the now empty settlement. That was the most satisfying Barbarian take down I've ever experienced in Civ.

 

[Akbarthegreat]

i hated it in civ5

the AIs had way too many bonuses for religion spam and there was no skill involved with collecting faith because it wasn't something you could usually get from tile improvements

civ4's system was okay though because it cost science and production to spread religion, and the game was properly designed as far as collecting beakers and hammers

Hate religion myself. I usually try to found one, just cus.. score points. But I never bother trying to spread it outside my borders. The AI gets so intsense on building missionaries etc it's just so tedious trying to keep up. If I happen to found an early religion with good bonuses, and a particularly religiously aggressive Civ just won't stop, then I will wipe them out. For the principle.

^^This sums up what I feel quite well. On higher difficulties you can still beat the AI in tech and combat, but it still beats you at religion almost always thanks to the insane bonuses. Not to mention how tedious individually managing religious units gets. Un-fun mechanic, but it's okay since I can just ignore it for the most part.

 

[Dark_Jedi06]

The changes to religion is one of my major dislikes in this game...the constant micro to deal with AI apostle spam throughout the whole game is tedious. It's like constantly being at war and running back and forth between holy sites to heal is annoying. Not to mention you have to run Theocracy with all the religious combat policy cards possible to put up a fight...also Inquisitors should be stronger at defending in your territory or there should be some sort of passive defense.

As of now I'm boycotting founding a religion and turning off the religious victory.

 

[kingchris20]

Could this be helped if firaxis limited the number of apostles, missionaries, and inquisitors to 5 each per civ?

Idk but they need to tweak this some for sure

 

[ExemplarVoss]

Could this be helped if firaxis limited the number of apostles, missionaries, and inquisitors to 5 each per civ?

Idk but they need to tweak this some for sure

I'd limit to 3 total apostles ever (and make them not able to spread faith, but to unlock beliefs and inquisition only), and limit the number of missionaries and inquisitors to a max of 3 or 4 at any one time (either type counts towards the max).

 

[SammyKhalifa]

I

I'd limit to 3 total apostles ever (and make them not able to spread faith, but to unlock beliefs and inquisition only), and limit the number of missionaries and inquisitors to a max of 3 or 4 at any one time (either type counts towards the max).

I agree to a point, but at the same time their promotions are pretty neat and it would be a shame to lose that. I wouldn't make it a hard limit but just prohibitively expensive to build a horde of them.

 

[GT_OKEZ]

Religion can be strong. I'm experimenting with Russia myself. Thing is, right now I find religion an incredible bonus to help me achieve a cultural or science victory since domination on larger maps against harder AIs isn't very realistic and far too costly. And a religious victory is pretty much out of the question on a 6+ player map with a difficult AI since they love to spam ( It's hard enough keeping your own cities under your religion).

As Russia I'm always taking Dance of the Aurora: Holy Site districts get +1 Faith from adjacent Tundra tiles. If I'm not near Tundra it depends on where I spawn and what's around me but most of the time I'll opt for Divine Spark: +1 Great Person Point from Holy Site (Prophet), Campus (Scientist), and Theater Square (Writer) districts. (Helps with the snagging a GrProphet plus adds to the GrPeople generation for a cultural victory), or the generic but incredibly good Fertility Rites: City growth rate is 10% higher and
Religious Settlements: Border expansion rate is 15% higher.

When I grab a religion if I want to do a more peace focused cultural victory I make sure all of my cities are following my religion and take for founder beliefs: Lay Ministry: Each Holy Site or Theater Square district in a city following this Religion provides +1 Faith or +1 Culture respectively and Defender of the Faith: Combat units gain +10 Combat Strength near friendly cities that follow this Religion (Defense when needed make sure you're the only follower if you're going for science or culture victory - don't take for domination or religious victory). If you want to go toward a science victory then take. Stewardship: Each Campus or Commercial Hub district in a city following this Religion provides +1 Science or +1 Gold respectively , instead of Lay Ministry.

Papal Primacy: Type bonuses from City-States following your Religion 50% more powerful. <---can also be a consideration if you happen to be surrounded by good city states, especially science, industrial, and culture ones depending on your victory type.

For follower beliefs take Jesuit Education: May purchase Campus and Theater Square district buildings with Faith. and for buildings take Meeting House: +3 Faith; +2 Production (production is never bad) or Synagogue: +5 Faith (raw faith for more purchases), or Wat: +3 Faith; +2 Science (synergies well with Stewardship).

If you want to go more aggressive like wage war a lot at least to take more cities from other civs to add to your area ( domination probably not likely at higher difficulty but more cities are better for culture/science) then take Crusade: Combat units gain +10 Combat Strength near foreign cities that follow this Religion (make sure you take an apostle to convert the city you intend to attack) instead of Defender of the Faith.