Noob Question: How do YOU use religion?

[Jatta Pake]

I'm not certain I see the benefit of founding more than one religion. I purposefully backed off religion techs after I founded my first religion.

I'm in my second game and I'm doing fairly well (I think). I'm the tech leader of the world, Renn Period, 1620AD, and I'm about to "circumnavigate" the world. I founded Confucionism and spammed my western neighbor, Gilgamesh, with missionaries. My empire holds 5 million souls in eight cities. My science hasn't fallen under the "60% Rule".

My greedy Generals have given me the quest to steal Gilgamesh's horse resource, so I'm amassing an army. I have no horses, Gilgamesh has no iron. Looks like this continent isn't big enough for the both of us.

Will the cities I conquer join my empire with less trouble since they are the same religion?

 

[johnny_rico]

The benefit to founding more than one religion is nice if you're looking to build a wonder available from a specific religious tech. In your game, you founded confucianism but being the first to philosophy (taoism) would give you the benefit of having a headstart on anyone else wanting to build the angkor wat.

There are also some nice civics that open up with religous tech. You don't have to be first to the tech, but they shouldn't necessarily be avoided because you've already founded an earlier religion.

In response to your second question, once you conquer a city, it is yours. The city will have one additional happiness because it already shares your religion. All other maintenance rules will apply and until you wipe out the owner of the city, it will suffer additional unhappiness for wanting to join its homeland.

 

[xanadux]

Going for cultural victory, founding religions is good, because other than capturing a city with a certain religion, it is the only sure way to get a religion. Founding too many religions can be trouble in the long run. There are fewer religions to go around for the AIs, and the likelihood of a religious block all being friendly to one another and trading techs freely increases.

But if you get most of the religions, and build the AP while having a state religion no one else has, then you can selectively spread that religion to another civ and force them to go to war with anyone that does not have that religion. The more religions you found, the more you want to prioritize the AP to stir up trouble amongst the AIs.

 

[IDave]

If you are playing a continents map with a civ that doesn't start with mysticism and every1 else on your continent also is non-mysticism (happens more often than u would think) then u wanna hog all the later religions so that u are the only founder on your continent, then spread your state religion (whichever 1 you choose, I usually go confucian, but taoism is just as good) to all your neighbours, then found the AP and you are the boss of your continent. And when u get optics and get intercontinental, you will have a big base of friends already and it can be like an 'us Vs them' situation where you call the shots.

Also the more religions you found,the more shrines you can have and the more free money you can get and so you can keep your science at 100% for the whole game and out tech everyone.

 

[Silence101]

Religion is a great way to make money, get friends, and provide happiness and in some cases, additional research. I don't see much of a downside to it... execpt that you'll probably make some enemies too, but you were going to kill them anyway, right?

 

[KMadCandy]

I'm not certain I see the benefit of founding more than one religion. I purposefully backed off religion techs after I founded my first religion.

My science hasn't fallen under the "60% Rule".

welcome to CFC i see that you put "60% Rule" in quotes. don't overworry about that. lots of players (old and new) tend to focus on the absolute number on the slider. what counts is the number of beakers you have coming in, how fast you're teching relative to the AI. pulling numbers out of the air -- if i have to keep my slider at 40% to breakeven, but my empire that brings in 120, then i'm doing better than an empire that can afford 60% but is bringing in only 90 beakers.

Going for cultural victory, founding religions is good, because other than capturing a city with a certain religion, it is the only sure way to get a religion. Founding too many religions can be trouble in the long run. There are fewer religions to go around for the AIs, and the likelihood of a religious block all being friendly to one another and trading techs freely increases.

very true!

as far as how do i personally use religion: it's situational, depending on the political situation and how many hammers i can spend on missionaries, but sometimes it's really advantageous to have 2 religions at your disposal. it's a heck of a lot of fun spreading the second religion selectively to a civ i'm planning on going to war with, or one that i want to be at war with others so that i can go off and do whatever peacefully. if most of the neighborhood is jewish, but one guy converts to conf, his former friends view him in a different light instantly. it can be a heck of a lot of fun stirring up strife without getting your hands dirty

 

[Jatta Pake]

I will see if I can get my Save placed here later this evening.

Thanks for all of the comments. A lot of interesting points, things I never considered. I'm loving Civ4 more and more. Your nation has such a greater personalized feel than Civ2 and Civ3. The civs aren't all cookie-cutter in the slightest.

I'm now wondering if I should build the Apostolic Palace and force Gilgamesh into fighting the other civs with me. Hmmm...

I need to read more about how the AP works.

 

[xanadux]

Once the AP is built, all buildings of its religion get +2hammers. The religion of the AP is the state religion the builder has when it is built. I have no idea what happens if you build it without a state religion.
Occassionally, AP elections are held for resident, and the winner gets to put forth resolutions. I'm not sure of the exact mechanics behind it, but possible resolutions are (and if they pass automatically apply to everyone with the AP religion)

Open borders between all civs with the religion
Stop trading with a civ without the religion
Go to war with a civ without the religion
Stop a war with a civ with the religion
A vote for victory

I'm not sure of the % of votes required, but it is not the same for all elections. It appears you get a vote for each pop point for each city that has the religion.

 

[JujuLautre]

I have no idea what happens if you build it without a state religion.

Easy: You can't build it

 

[Silence101]

Once the AP is built, all buildings of its religion get +2hammers.

If that was all the AP did, it would still be an awesome wonder. I like it for that aspect alone.

 

[xanadux]

Easy: You can't build it

That would simplify things.

 

[madscientist]

Ways I used FOUNDED religions
1) Shrines for money. Simply put if you can get 1 great prophet to shrine your first religion your should be able to get another. Just gotta build alot of missionaries, and get a market/grocer/bank in each shrined cities.
2) Your first to a tech opens up alot of trade opportunities plus first crack at certain wonders (discussed by a previous poster).
3) Fits on the road to liberalism (Theology/COL/Philosophy)
4) Positive Diplomacy. You can get other to like you by spreading your favored religion to AI cities and converting them. Sure, some non-state religions will spread but you can control your state one through missionaries.
5) Negative Diplomacy. Got someone you don't like, spread non-state religions to them and get one of your religious friends to declare war on them.
6) Religion is one of the most important things for cultural victory (not the only thing with BTS corporations).

 

[xanadux]

Don't overestimate the power of a shrine. Often just settling that Great Prophet, or mid-game using him for a GA if it will save a few turns of anarchy can be better. The larger the map, and far spread the religion, the more to lean towards the shrine. If you don't have Great Prophet generating wonders, the benefit of running priests early compared with merchants and getting a Great Merchant is often not worth it. It will take a long time in many cases for the priest specialists and shrine to outperform merchant specialists and a Great Merchant.

When a shrine is a great idea:

You plan on a large empire and spreading the target religion throughout it. Especially true for standard and larger map cultural victory tries.

You have many AI neighbors ... an early shrine can be a diplomatic and financial wonder. Build Stonehenge and maybe the Oracle early, get a religion founded (can usually wait for Judaism or Confucianism, since it will take time to get the Great Prophet). Build the shrine and watch the +100% natural spread of the religion. Make many friends. One of the key, overlooked benefits of a shrine is the double chance of spreading the religion without missionaries.

 

[Tennyson]

I like founding and not spreading late religions beyond my border because I can keep the research and happiness bonuses to myself.

 

[6K Man]

I like to found a religion, spread it around for the gold, the OR benefits (+25% on buildings), and the built-in friendliness that comes when someone converts to my religion.

Founding multiple religions is something I seldom do (usually because I can't - I never bother with the very early religions, I'm too busy getting BW, fishing, etc). If you founded all religions and only made an effort to spread one, I suppose that would make diplomacy a lot easier. And I do like, in the later game, being able to spread 4-5 religions to all my major cities for multiple temples.