New Method for Founding Religions

[Tibur753]

It doesn't make sense to me that you should get a religion just by being the first to a certian tech. Didn't Babylon and Greece beat China to CoL and Philosophy? Instead of just researching it, you should have to expend a great prophet in one of your cities after you have researched the corresponding tech. That city then becomes the holy city of the religion. For this to work with early religions, meditation and polytheism would give a free great prophet that may or may not be used to found the religion. Once your civ researches Theology, you can build the shrine in the holy city as you would any other wonder, no prophet required.

 

[Onionsoilder]

Giving a free GP with Buddhism or Hinduism would be very, very unbalanced. I mean, really. Founding a religion is powerful, but what if they instead started a Golden Age? They would dominate their neighbors, and likely, the entire game for getting a GA so quickly. Plus, even if they did use it to founda religion, how is that any different from simply researching the corresponding tech?

Not to say I don't like your idea. It just needs some work. Maybe researching (not trading for) certain technologies could give a boost your GPP, relative to the technlogy and how many GPP you have already spawned. This way, if two civilizations research say, Polytheism, they both gain a large sum of Prophet GPP, but the first one to spawn a GPP (either through wonders like the Oracle, priest specialists, or researching other religious technologies) will likely found the religion. Because founding a religion consumes a Great Prophet, a Temple and Monestary should automatically be built in the founding city, allowing, among other things, the immediate construction of missionaries and priest specialists.

This accomplishes three things:

1) The civilization that founds the religion would generally be more religious then the one that researched the technology first, giving more religions to pious leaders and less to tech-whore leaders.

2) Players can chose to found their religion in certain cities, most often one in need of culture or a more religious city, rather then having it spawn in a random city on your border that Montezuma captures next turn.

3) Players have more incentive to research their own technologies for the GPP boost(This would be applied to all technologies, not just religious ones, so Construction for example will help spawn a Great Engineer), rather then steamrolling ahead and trading their shiney new technologies for all the ones they didn't research.

 

[Tibur753]

Few players start GAs that early in the game. It is considered a waste because There are few bonuses. Most people will wait till they get a good sized empire (maybe 1500 AD) to start a golden age. The AI, however, will start a GA very early. But, the AI can be changed so that it will prioritize religion more and GAs less.

Also, if it only gave GPPs instead of the prophet, that would restrict buddhism and hinduism to whoever builds stonehenge or possibly the oracle if it's done fast enough. The exeption would be Egypt because they can build obelisks and assign preists very early in the game. Seems like it would make Ramesses too powerful. He could get all three early religions even on deity.

Giving free missionaries/buildings is a good idea. It would make it more beneficial to found religions with a great prophet. Later religions such as Taoism or Islam could produce 5 missionaries and give a free cathedral, monestary and temple in the city to enhance their ability to spread.

 

[Onionsoilder]

I still don't like the idea of a technology simply giving a Great Prophet though. If it does that, what is the difference between a GP founding the religion and simply getting it from a technology? Maybe at the start of the game, each player(Including A.I.) can chose a Great Person. Some can pick Great Engineers and rush for the Pyramids. Others can take a Great Scientist and get a technology boost. Some will take a Great Prophet and found a religion. Since everyone gets a GP, it's not exactly overpowering.

 

[Tibur753]

I still don't like the idea of a technology simply giving a Great Prophet though. If it does that, what is the difference between a GP founding the religion and simply getting it from a technology? Maybe at the start of the game, each player(Including A.I.) can chose a Great Person. Some can pick Great Engineers and rush for the Pyramids. Others can take a Great Scientist and get a technology boost. Some will take a Great Prophet and found a religion. Since everyone gets a GP, it's not exactly overpowering.

Great people at the start is a good idea, but instead of picking them, they could be assigned by traits. You chose either one or the other.

Industrious-Engineer
Spiritual-Prophet
Expansive-Merchant
Philosophical-Scientist
Aggressive-General?
Creative-Artist
Financial-Merchant
Organized-Merchant or Engineer?

This still leaves the question-How would India found Buddhism and Hinduism?

 

[Onionsoilder]

Great people at the start is a good idea, but instead of picking them, they could be assigned by traits. You chose either one or the other.

Industrious-Engineer
Spiritual-Prophet
Expansive-Merchant
Philosophical-Scientist
Aggressive-General?
Creative-Artist
Financial-Merchant
Organized-Merchant or Engineer?

This still leaves the question-How would India found Buddhism and Hinduism?

Oh, I really like that idea. Maybe the Great Person could actually be named after the leader you chose. As for India founding both Buddhism and Hinduism, well, they would simply have to spawn a second Great Prophet, no? It actually shouldn't be to hard with the free Temple they get from founding the first one...

Alternatively, someone could re-work the tech tree so that Meditation comes after Priesthood. The spot between Mysticism and Priesthood could be replaced with something like (Religious) Glorification, which would allow Monestaries and maybe a new Wonder that spreads your State Religion(similar to how Shrines spread them).

 

[Infinite Monkey]

Well, what if instead of researching the tech founds the religion, how about founding the religion allows you build the religous special building. Once that gets built, you found the religion. That way, you don't have to avoid certain techs because it will found a religion you don't want.

 

[Onionsoilder]

Well, what if instead of researching the tech founds the religion, how about founding the religion allows you build the religous special building. Once that gets built, you found the religion. That way, you don't have to avoid certain techs because it will found a religion you don't want.

The problem with that is it puts civilizations that start with low production, such as on floodplains, at a major disadvantage. In reality, these places would be more likely to found a religion.

 

[Infinite Monkey]

That being said, these same civs would have the same disadvantages for all other wonders.