Religion for a warmonger

Matutin

Warlord
Joined
Jun 2, 2016
Messages
117
Hi all,

I just started a new playthrough as Shaka, because I want to go full domination.
Because of an unexpected alliance with a religious CS and late religious ruin, I'm now able to found my religion first.

What are good beliefs/followers/synergies for a warmonger?
 
In general, I find grabbing God of War as my pantheon is great for a warmonger.

As for beliefs, orders&zealotry are 2 must-have beliefs as a warmonger, then one of the 2 reformation beliefs that give combat strength bonuses.
 
God of War was already the pantheon of my choice.

So, I'll check out Orders and Zealotry.
 
Follow up question:

With this religion, spreading it to my opponents does not make any sense, right? As I don't want to give them a bonus to their military, when I'm going to conquer them anyway.
 
Just finished a domination game with Zulus and my own religion, so here's my 2 cents :

I don't really agree with zealotry as a warmonger : if you don't spread your religion to your opponents, you'll need your faith to buy inquisitors and missionaries to convert your conquered cities and have access to the reformation belief (crusader spirit, of course). The +3% of strategic ressources is not particularly useful : you will have plenty with your conquests + impis don't need them. And you want impis. Everywhere. I personally prefer the belief that gives +1 :c5happy: per 2 cities (and +25% yields from city states iirc).

About spreading your religion to your opponents, giving them orders and god of war (cities do more damages!) is risky... but in my last game, I did it to unlock crusader's spirit earlier.
 
Sounds like I'm too late to influence this particular game, but just in general, I would give completely different advice to the rest of the thread. When I'm playing an out and out warmonger, I wouldn't even consider taking Orders. Orders is perhaps for when I want to establish an early wide empire with a Civ with few early bonuses, a Poland or a Russia. The followers beliefs to take are the ones that will turn your conquests into worthwhile possessions faster, namely Diligence, Inspiration, Scholarship, and if you have to, Thrift. Can't do anything with Thrift if you don't Annex tho.

For the founder belief, Hero Worship can work out, but you need to have a plan for the Faith. I prefer taking a founder that gives me a benefit to converted cities, and then send in the Inquisitors. Remember that the cities you conquer will both lose pop and gain it back slower than AI cities, so per city is probably better than per follower.

For the enhancer, in the Supply Cap Era, Zealotry is still a fine belief, but its no longer possible to call for a Crusade or a Jihad. I mean maybe if you build Terracotta and Brandenburg and Red Fort, etc. Does the Ikanda still have extra supply? If so, it might work well for them, but in general, if I went Authority, and am getting the per 8 units to serve as my garrisons, then I'd rather have Clericalism for the Happiness. When playing with Shaka, the limits to conquest are Happiness and maybe science, not a few units. Maybe Tithes if I enhance early, and will have people to spread it too that I'm not necessarily going to conquer. With Shaka, those people don't exist tho.
 
If you take authority, I'd say the best belief is inspiration. Culture is king and border growth is just awesome. It can also be valuable source of culture to fight boredom. All of diligence, thrift, or scholarship perform well too.

I've never really cared for orders myself.
 
Agreeing with the God of War, Hero Worship, and Zealotry suggestions. Orders are good but keep in mind that if you spread your religion, the people it spreads to will buy them too, and the extra city defense can be really frustrating, especially early. The passive beliefs to give yields are decent and can help combat unhappiness in some cases.

Whether or not you want to spread (or to who) is also kind of an interesting question. If you're going for all-out domination you'll eventually conquer enough to Reform regardless, Crusader Spirit will always be a huge help but spreading reduces the effectiveness.
 
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