Rate the Beliefs - part IV: Enhancer beliefs

2 - Defender of the Faith: +20% Combat near friendly Cities that follow this Religion
I suppose it's alright if you find yourself on the defensive against powerful civs.
2 - Holy Order: Missionaries and Inquisitors cost 30% less Faith
This late, saving cost on faith purchases doesn't seem that useful, but if a lot of civs are
taking an active role in spreading religion, I suppose I'd get it.
3 - Itinerant Preachers: Religion spreads to cities 30% further away
Not bad for passive spread.
4 - Just War: +20% Combat near enemy Cities that follow this Religion
I like this one. Bring a missionary along with you, convert, attack.
3 - Messiah: Prophets 25% stronger and earned with 25% less Faith
Better than Holy Order, I suppose.
4 - Missionary Zeal: Missionary conversion strength +25%
Not bad for rooting out entrenched religions.
4 - Religious Texts: Religion spreads 34% faster (68% with Printing Press)
This one tends to be my default. I find most of the Enhancer beliefs underwhelming, but this
one tends to work.
1 - Religious Unity: Religion spreads to friendly city-states at double rate
I can't see where this does any good.
0 - Reliquary: Gain 50 Faith each time a Great Person is expended
Never. 50 faith just isn't enough.
 
1 - Defender of the Faith: +20% Combat near friendly Cities that follow this Religion
4 - Holy Order: Missionaries and Inquisitors cost 30% less Faith
5 - Itinerant Preachers: Religion spreads to cities 30% further away
4 - Just War: +20% Combat near enemy Cities that follow this Religion
3 - Messiah: Prophets 25% stronger and earned with 25% less Faith
3 - Missionary Zeal: Missionary conversion strength +25%
5 - Religious Texts: Religion spreads 34% faster (68% with Printing Press)
2 - Religious Unity: Religion spreads to friendly city-states at double rate
1 - Reliquary: Gain 50 Faith each time a Great Person is expended

Holy Order can be really good on island maps (where natural spread is hard) and when you have a lot of early faith (Spain + natural wonders or Desert pantheon). You can dominate religion pretty early with cheap missionaries. Holy Order is better than Missionary Zeal because its more synergistic with the Mosque of Djienne.

Just War can also be really good for a faith-oriented warmonger. +20% is really sweet.
 
3: Defender of the Faith: +20% Combat near friendly Cities that follow this Religion
2: Holy Order: Missionaries and Inquisitors cost 30% less Faith
5: Itinerant Preachers: Religion spreads to cities 30% further away
2: Just War: +20% Combat near enemy Cities that follow this Religion
2: Messiah: Prophets 25% stronger and earned with 25% less Faith
2: Missionary Zeal: Missionary conversion strength +25%
5: Religious Texts: Religion spreads 34% faster (68% with Printing Press)
5: Religious Unity: Religion spreads to friendly city-states at double rate
5: Reliquary: Gain 50 Faith each time a Great Person is expended
 
2 - Defender of the Faith: +20% Combat near friendly Cities that follow this Religion [not completely awful, especially when combined with bonus garrison pantheon, I would still rather use religion for things other than defense]
4 - Holy Order: Missionaries and Inquisitors cost 30% less Faith [Always nice, flexible, allows you to spread your religion to an atheist rival extremely quickly.
4 - Itinerant Preachers: Religion spreads to cities 30% further away [5 on island maps, 3 on Pangaea as I'd rather have Holy Order]
2 - Just War: +20% Combat near enemy Cities that follow this Religion [Underrated, but I still give it a 2. You can have a religion-based war strat supplemented by Holy Warriors though]
3 - Messiah: Prophets 25% stronger and earned with 25% less Faith [Technically nice, but the problem is Great prophets increase the GP counter for things like Scientists/Artists. Otherwise this would be rated higher]
2 - Missionary Zeal: Missionary conversion strength +25% [Never tried this one, but it just seems subpar compared to the others, especially as early in the game, when it's most important, missionaries generally get cities in 1 shot]
5 - Religious Texts: Religion spreads 34% faster (68% with Printing Press) [I don't think it's ever wrong to take Religious Texts, it's just so good]
3 - Religious Unity: Religion spreads to friendly city-states at double rate [I think this one is a little underrated, it's actually double pressure on friendly city states like RT, if you have several city states near you and a strong competing religion, this enhancer is often the only way to create a stable base without having to constantly use missionaries]
1 - Reliquary: Gain 50 Faith each time a Great Person is expended [50 faith is simply not enough. You might generate 15 great people in a really good game? Woo 750 faith, mostly in the end game... when you're probably on at least 2500 for a great person if not 4000]
 
2 - Defender of the Faith: +20% Combat near friendly Cities that follow this Religion
3 - Holy Order: Missionaries and Inquisitors cost 30% less Faith
5 - Itinerant Preachers: Religion spreads to cities 30% further away
1 - Just War: +20% Combat near enemy Cities that follow this Religion
2 - Messiah: Prophets 25% stronger and earned with 25% less Faith
1 - Missionary Zeal: Missionary conversion strength +25%
4 - Religious Texts: Religion spreads 34% faster (68% with Printing Press)
1 - Religious Unity: Religion spreads to friendly city-states at double rate
0 - Reliquary: Gain 50 Faith each time a Great Person is expended
 
Itinerant preachers usually gives you the best passive spread, while religious texts gives you the best spread under a very specific range of city density (that is not the typical AI settling pattern, which is compact enough to favor itinerant preachers as faster, which also has the added benefit of expanding max range).

Holy order has the best synergy with interfaith dialogue and is the best active spreading enhancer.

Reliquary gives you more faith than any other enhancer (more than holy order, more than messiah) when you are pursuing a scientific, diplomacy, or cultural victory and are spending your faith on great scientists, engineers, or artists. This is even more relevant when you consider that you acquire this faith after the Industrial period starts, which can mean an additional great person before you finish. It also gets better on the higher difficulty settings if you don't anticipate being able to compete with AI religion spread.

Just War is dependent on difficulty setting, becoming useless as you move up and your religion gets swamped. Defender of the Faith can potentially help even on the highest setting. But I don't suppose you need Just War on a lower difficulty setting.

All that in mind:

2 - Defender of the Faith: +20% Combat near friendly Cities that follow this Religion
4 - Holy Order: Missionaries and Inquisitors cost 30% less Faith
5 - Itinerant Preachers: Religion spreads to cities 30% further away
1 - Just War: +20% Combat near enemy Cities that follow this Religion
2 - Messiah: Prophets 25% stronger and earned with 25% less Faith
0 - Missionary Zeal: Missionary conversion strength +25%
4 - Religious Texts: Religion spreads 34% faster (68% with Printing Press)
1 - Religious Unity: Religion spreads to friendly city-states at double rate
5 - Reliquary: Gain 50 Faith each time a Great Person is expended

In short, Itinerant Preachers, Religious Texts, Holy Order, or Reliquary are almost always preferable if they are available.
 
Am I missing something? Some people think Reliquary is awful, and I agree with them, while some think it's a 5? How is 50 faith back for a GP good when I can often get that much faith in a single turn in some of my games?
 
4 - Defender of the Faith: I often play tall and peaceful, so this gets consideration as a defensive option (including captured cities that share the religion on the offense.

2 - Holy Order: I tend not to spread my religion outside my borders as it just pisses people off, but in times when you need to nab an inquisitor or a missionary to get a city state, it's good.

3 - Itinerant Preachers: decent if the civs you're near are playing tall. More useful in online games because people can't just cities on every tundra hex they can find.

2 - Just War: You have to convert the cities first, so this is really only viable as a late game offensive tactic, and even then it requires a lot of planning and work for a fairly unimpressive payoff.

2 - Messiah: If you're worried about spreading your religion, go with holy order. Messiahs can be pretty hard to get after your third or so one, and unless you're converting huge cities or other's holy cities, it's a waste.

2 - Missionary Zeal: See reasoning for holy order

5 - Religious Texts: great after you get printing press. absolutely smashes my almost-always tightly packed AI neighbours with no diplo hit because it's spreading naturally.

2 - Religious Unity: good when paired with the other city state religious bonus, but you're spendign 2 religious bonuses for a couple of city state buddies. Only useful as greece, really.

0 - Reliquary: What's the point? by the time you can get this out and you're getting GP reliably through whatever method you prefer, 50 faith is a drop in the bucket.
 
1 - Defender of the Faith: +20% Combat near friendly Cities that follow this Religion
How often do I do that? At the beginning of the game when this isn't used.
4 - Holy Order: Missionaries and Inquisitors cost 30% less Faith
Good option to spread your religion if none of the best two are left
5 - Itinerant Preachers: Religion spreads to cities 30% further away
Great for spreading in almost any situation
1 - Just War: +20% Combat near enemy Cities that follow this Religion
So, without any other helper to get my religion to other places, I need to convert all the cities I'm interested in, or the most difficult to take... before the war. Might work with a very close neighbour
2 - Messiah: Prophets 25% stronger and earned with 25% less Faith
We're still not talking about a large number of prophets, although the deduction for some of them will seam to mean quite a lot
1 - Missionary Zeal: Missionary conversion strength +25%
But there still are only 2 conversions; they're best used at the beginning of the game, when cities aren't that huge, so it doesn't really make a difference
5 - Religious Texts: Religion spreads 34% faster (68% with Printing Press)
The other great one; works fantastic when there's lots of cities; it just gets quite frustating, when the "other side" is 11 fields away
2 - Religious Unity: Religion spreads to friendly city-states at double rate
If they're close, I probably have it under control; if they're far away there are bigger problems
0 - Reliquary: Gain 50 Faith each time a Great Person is expended
Ehm... yay? So I'm the last one to enhance
 
I won't rate these as I haven't tried most of them - I favour Religious Texts to the point of not really wanting to pick anything else if it's still available. Itinerant Preachers is a good second choice.

I keep meaning to try Byzantium with Religious Texts and Just War...
 
1 - Defender of the Faith: +20% Combat near friendly Cities that follow this Religion
How often do I do that? At the beginning of the game when this isn't used.
4 - Holy Order: Missionaries and Inquisitors cost 30% less Faith
Good option to spread your religion if none of the best two are left
5 - Itinerant Preachers: Religion spreads to cities 30% further away
Great for spreading in almost any situation
1 - Just War: +20% Combat near enemy Cities that follow this Religion
So, without any other helper to get my religion to other places, I need to convert all the cities I'm interested in, or the most difficult to take... before the war. Might work with a very close neighbour
2 - Messiah: Prophets 25% stronger and earned with 25% less Faith
We're still not talking about a large number of prophets, although the deduction for some of them will seam to mean quite a lot
1 - Missionary Zeal: Missionary conversion strength +25%
But there still are only 2 conversions; they're best used at the beginning of the game, when cities aren't that huge, so it doesn't really make a difference
5 - Religious Texts: Religion spreads 34% faster (68% with Printing Press)
The other great one; works fantastic when there's lots of cities; it just gets quite frustating, when the "other side" is 11 fields away
2 - Religious Unity: Religion spreads to friendly city-states at double rate
If they're close, I probably have it under control; if they're far away there are bigger problems
0 - Reliquary: Gain 50 Faith each time a Great Person is expended
Ehm... yay? So I'm the last one to enhance

Agree with this entirely! I used to like getting a religion and trying to convert but now I can hardly ever manage it and if I do only the pickings are available - so I have taken to pushing for a pantheon early but hoping to be converted later by a religion that has decent follower benefits.
 
Am I missing something? Some people think Reliquary is awful and I agree with them. How is 50 faith back for a GP good when I can often get that much faith in a single turn in some of my games?

It's really beyond me.


It seems that itinerant preachers and religious texts are the most valued here and I personally agree that they are the ones to aim for when available.

It is however really difficult to tell which one is better. I used to pick religious text all the time, but once I tried itinerant preachers I found it very powerful too.

I'd tend to say that the latter is better for archipelago maps where cities are more likely to be apart from each others. However even in crowded maps the cumulative effect of itinerant preachers can offset the highest strength of religious text.

It's really hard to tell...
 
3 - Defender of the Faith: +20% Combat near friendly Cities that follow this Religion -- pretty good for if you're just wanting a local religion, and Religious Texts was already taken. Free combat bonuses are always fun.

5 - Holy Order: Missionaries and Inquisitors cost 30% less Faith -- the best active religion spread belief. Best on high levels, where missionary spam is necessary to solidify your religion.

4 - Itinerant Preachers: Religion spreads to cities 30% further away -- an excellent belief, but it takes too long to get going. 69% more tiles to spread to, but low pressure on those. Best on large water maps and slower speeds, where there are fewer cities and diminished pressure, respectively. As an example, each city provides +2 pressure on Marathon, meaning RT doesn't even take effect until Printing Press.

3 - Just War: +20% Combat near enemy Cities that follow this Religion -- Decent as a bonus belief as the Byzantines, but very bad otherwise. Too much investment for a tool that could be used against you.

0 - Messiah: Prophets 25% stronger and earned with 25% less Faith -- horrifyingly bad. You should earn maybe four prophets in a game, and this only takes effect for the last two. Take Holy Order instead.

2 - Missionary Zeal: Missionary conversion strength +25% -- a poor man's Holy Order.

5 - Religious Texts: Religion spreads 34% faster (68% with Printing Press) -- My personal go-to for enhancers, it snowballs faster, and combats IP better, with cities providing more interlocking pressure.

2 - Religious Unity: Religion spreads to friendly city-states at double rate -- First, they have to be friendly. Secondly, you're forgoing the more powerful enhancers, which could get you more city-states converted. Holy Order immediately jumps to mind.

-10 - Reliquary: Gain 50 Faith each time a Great Person is expended -- Sorry, scratch Messiah being horrifyingly bad, THIS is. You will get maybe 500 faith over the course of the game. Holy Order and the passives give far more back in reduced and eliminated missionary costs, respectively.
 
4 - Defender of the Faith: Good for when you think you will be on the defensive, but without a proactive use.

4 - Holy Order: Good for ramrodding religion with Missionaries. Particularly useful in converting non-religious cities.

2 - Itinerant Preachers: Lazy man's way to spread religion.

5 - Just War: Amazing for faith heavy games that involve conquest. (Spain.)

2 - Messiah: Decent if you like Holy Sites I guess, but in my experience I don't get them much in faith-heavy games due to constantly pumping out Missionaries.

4 - Missionary Zeal: Good for ramrodding religion with Missionaries. Particularly useful in converting already religious cities.

2 - Religious Texts: Lazy man's way to spread religion.

1 - Religious Unity: Far too situational, at best will save you a missionary or two.

0 - Reliquary: Cool concept, but pathetically weak no matter how many GPs you generate.
 
As an example, each city provides +2 pressure on Marathon, meaning RT doesn't even take effect until Printing Press.

I play Marathon, but I hadn't tried that to know it.

I'm surprised they don't use fractions.
 
2 - Itinerant Preachers: Lazy man's way to spread religion.
2 - Religious Texts: Lazy man's way to spread religion.

I... what? How? You spread religion with no effort, causing a postive feedback loop, and that makes them bad?
 
I rate RT as a 5 and IP as a 4.5 and everything else is a booby prize.

But for true awesomeness, play Byzantium on a mostly land map, take both RT and IP and watch the other religion centered AIs howl in frustration as the tsunami of your religion crashes over them. Every. Single. Turn!

-S
 
I... what? How? You spread religion with no effort, causing a postive feedback loop, and that makes them bad?

I think I'm too used to Missionary spam on Marathon maps.

I'm too impatient to let it spread naturally.
 
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