In Vanilla, getting a GP in deity early enough for a religion usually requires a lot of tradeoff in terms of early expansion, early tech path detour to Astrology, no early war, and high district cost investment if not Russia/Japan/Arab, and not always guarantee a GP. Some civs that have some religious perks (Spain, Poland, Khmer, Indonesia, etc) can really benefit from a religion.
In R&F, it was mentioned that the algorithm has changed to limit the number of civs per game setup to go religion, so that the player can have a chance of getting a GP (still needs proven).
With Magnus chop capability, there may be a way of getting a GP in deity without significant early game tradeoff, tech detour or district investment:
1. capital build order: scout —> builder —> settler —> units (monument if no alternative culture source) —> builder/settler/monument/trader
2. civic path: +1 faith in capital —> 50%melee/range —> trader capacity —> 50%settler —> unit maintenance -1 —> new government
3. tech path: pasture/mine —> archery —> pottery —> Astrology
4. 2nd/3rd city: units
Found capital or 2nd/3rd city in a location where there would be at least 3 trees/stones and good adjacency bonus for a Holy Site depending on patheon selection.
Timing your builder/tech/civic/ plus 5 turns of Magnus assignment correctly to chop the Holy Site, Shine and 2 Prayer district projects. Should be very close to 60 GP points. Usually Stonehenge will be taken at this point. Use overflow to finish the 2nd Prayer district project.
This allows all inspirations for early civics and possible eureka for Astrology. It also allows defending barbs or early warmongering or settler expansion (before and after grabbing religion) as usual in the capital. In some case a 3rd prayer project may be needed. (All GP points seem to be capped at 60 at the moment, may be a bug or feature that I didn’t remember in Vanilla?)
I tried this unintentionally in a standard speed standard size deity play as China (desert folk lore too tempting
). Let’s test it more so we can enjoy religion play in deity for fun and prophet (profit)!