So I was playing a game as Cleo on a Fractal immortal map. I was on my own island, which made for quite a boring game actually. I colonised it and the smaller landmass to myself, got about 13 cities, built myself a navy and started to amass huge amounts of gold (I was getting over 500 gold per turn by the time I lost) and science (roughly at turn 260 I was getting about 180 beakers per turn – more than anyone else by some margin).
Then wham – cue the defeat screen. How did I lose? To religion. Admittedly I should have been checking. But with all the AI on the map still in play, including Russia who were a bit of a powerhouse, Summeria had cleverly managed to convert enough cities from every AI, including me, to get a majority in each player, and consequently – victory!
I can take my defeat. And learn from it. I must admit though I was surprised by it. Firstly in the ability of the AI to missionary spam to such a degree, and secondly that the other AI’s (and myself) were so ineffective in repelling the conversion. I never founded a religion. In the 3 games I have played so far, it is tough to get a religion on immortal (or even emperor) without ensuring you build a religious district early + a shrine. And quite possibly with the great person card as well on your policy tree. So what do you do to counter religion spread when you have no religion yourself? Seems to me the only way is to declare war and disrupt enough of your opponents cities and missionaries/apostles. Either that or make sure that you yourself found a religion and ensure you don’t get converted.
I actually think the more I play civ VI the more I think each of the mechanics – religion, districts, commerce, eurekas, tourism etc. They could all do with some TLC and a few more licks of paint. Although they functionally work, I think missionaries should maybe spread more, but cost more too. You should also have a limit on how many you can have at any one time (3 on small, 4 on standard, 5 large and 6 on huge, for instance). As its not uncommon to have a whole carpet of them marching across your borders. Same with trade routes. 500 gold per turn when you have the second largest army is some serious cash. They are also a bit of a pain to manage.
Then wham – cue the defeat screen. How did I lose? To religion. Admittedly I should have been checking. But with all the AI on the map still in play, including Russia who were a bit of a powerhouse, Summeria had cleverly managed to convert enough cities from every AI, including me, to get a majority in each player, and consequently – victory!
I can take my defeat. And learn from it. I must admit though I was surprised by it. Firstly in the ability of the AI to missionary spam to such a degree, and secondly that the other AI’s (and myself) were so ineffective in repelling the conversion. I never founded a religion. In the 3 games I have played so far, it is tough to get a religion on immortal (or even emperor) without ensuring you build a religious district early + a shrine. And quite possibly with the great person card as well on your policy tree. So what do you do to counter religion spread when you have no religion yourself? Seems to me the only way is to declare war and disrupt enough of your opponents cities and missionaries/apostles. Either that or make sure that you yourself found a religion and ensure you don’t get converted.
I actually think the more I play civ VI the more I think each of the mechanics – religion, districts, commerce, eurekas, tourism etc. They could all do with some TLC and a few more licks of paint. Although they functionally work, I think missionaries should maybe spread more, but cost more too. You should also have a limit on how many you can have at any one time (3 on small, 4 on standard, 5 large and 6 on huge, for instance). As its not uncommon to have a whole carpet of them marching across your borders. Same with trade routes. 500 gold per turn when you have the second largest army is some serious cash. They are also a bit of a pain to manage.
