Post Fall Patch - Stonehenge hits Turn 32/37

[gadgetfreaky]

Before the patch I was seeing AI build SH around turn 50+ which was much easier to beat.
now at turn 32 it seems a bit unreasonable. Is it even worhth it to do?

I play a game with 5 AIs- how the heck are they getting stone and getting to turn 32 with SH.

 

[Kelmort83]

It's can be worth if you want the Eureka for an early wonder, is it worth chopping 3 forest, i have no idea.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

Since the AI seems to prioritize religion so much, it's not unthinkable that they start producing Stonehenge right from the start. Can't confirm it, though.

In my opinion, Stonehenge is somewhat weak. Yes, it gives a bit of faith and almost always ensures the first picks of beliefs for your religion. But you still need a Holy Site to get Missionaries and Apostles, and since Stonehenge got quite competitive, it might be too much of a risk for too few rewards, especially in higher difficulties. If it gave more faith and/or culture, or worked as a Holy Site, I would consider building it.

 

[isau]

Might be worth it if you're China, otherwise no. And even then I can think of better uses for a tile. Problem with Stonehenge is you spend a whole tile to get your religion but then have to spend a second one for the Holy District anyway.

 

[Japper007]

I don't think Stonehenge was even even worth it pre-patch as religion has been nerfed considerably compared to civ 4 and 5, since you need to build a virtually useless district plus it's buildings to be able to take advantage of it in a city (like say building the buildings or recruiting religious units), as opposed to just having to spread your religion to get the benefits. Only exception is maybe Russia, but with them I'd just prefer building the Lavra anyways. Stonehenge is just such a large hammer investment, at a time when those hammers are far better spent on getting more cities or some military, or even some other Classical age wonder (Petra and Pyramids are far better IMHO).

 

[Kelmort83]

With God of War and Defender of Faith, i could see going for an early Stonehenge for the Prophet while building the Holy Shrine around 7 pop (or somewhere esle more central to your empire or closer to your next war) instead focusing on Campus / Barrack.

With such a pantheon / belief you can then foward settle a continent, start a holy shrine and have a strong presence very early. You can then aslo plan your shrine with the 8 tiles coverage in mind, even if you didnot get to to found a religion, going to war will grant you faith, which you can then turn into Great People.

Anyway, this is one of the synergy I can think of Stonehenge, there might be more.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

Only if you truly aim for a Religious Victory. Still, I'd use the Stonehenge production on more Settlers for more cities.

More cities = More Holy SItes = More faith = More religious units. The earlier the better.

 

[The Highwayman]

I've seen Stonehenge go as fast as turn 22 on Standard speed. I can't fathom postponing my scout and slingers to go straight to a builder and Astrology and hoping I still get it. I've had success getting a religion taking AI cities with Holy Sites and going from there, so I doubt I'll ever get it unless I'm China perhaps.

 

[Acken]

The better question would be : Is Religion even worth it ? (outside of a RV or relic CV)

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

The better question would be : Is Religion even worth it ? (outside of a RV or relic CV)

Arabia + Desert Folklore + Jesuit Education might be a nice combo for a Science Victory. Not tried it, though.

But yeah, except for strongly religious Civs such as Russia and Arabia, religion is mostly irrelevant.

 

[Sun Tzu Wu]

Well, getting a Religion helps somewhat with a Theocracy timing attack. You definitely want Holy Sites and religious buildings to generate faith. While founding a religion is not required to use theocracy, it is nice to be able to chose the best beliefs for a religion one as one must make due with whatever beliefs the AI chose for a religion that was spread to you. Also, for a borrowed religion, one may want to kill the founder, so there is no chance of them winning a Religionous Victory while one is spreading the religion to one's cities.

As to whether founding Stonehenge is a good strategy for a theocracy timing attack plan, I suspect that getting the second religion is good enough, since one is committed to several Holy Sites for a Theocracy Timing Attack anyway.

 

[Halcyan2]

I also find that AI's tend to favor religion.

Stonehenge is very popular among the AI's. The Mahabodhi Temple as well. (Hagia Sophia not so much).

I'm also finding that the AI's like Potala Palace.

However, they do have a habit of building Petra and Chichen Itza in non-optimal cities (with few Desert or Jungle tiles). Bad AI logic there.

 

[Kelmort83]

I found another synergy.

While going for a cultural victory, to unlock the Culture District, it's require an early wonder; buildinging stonehenge instead of an holy site fit the cultural victory condition. (if you are bee-lining)

 

[Victoria]

I play a game with 5 AIs- how the heck are they getting stone and getting to turn 32 with SH.

It depends on the game level you have, the AI gets bonuses. I doubt its cheating as the other AI's would know about it and probably all declare war on the nasty little cheat.

If curious one could probably work most of how its getting there with reveal all on debug.