Okay, there's been some discussion about religion diversification and potential minor religions and I thought it would be a good idea to focus everything in this thread.
1. Unique state religion effects
I think every state religion should come with its own unique effect. Currently that's only Catholicism with its AP mechanic and the hammer bonus for religious buildings, but I think all religions should have some unique effect that is not too powerful but something that enhances certain strategies or play styles. In my opinion it's important to tie this to state religions and not religious buildings so that players have to choose and cannot just get them all.
2. Diverse shrine and monastery effects
As brought up in another thread, gold income from shrines doesn't make sense for all religions that don't have a pilgrimage tradition. In fact, I would say that it only applies to Catholicism, Islam and Hinduism. Other religions should also have shrines, but with different effects. In general though the general characteristic that shrines become more powerful with the number of cities of its religion should be kept. Maybe it's a good idea to remove the cap and tie the effect to the spread percentage of the religion instead, though.
The same can be said for monasteries. Monasteries with research boni make sense for Catholicism and Islam, but not for most other civs. So they could have unique effects as well.
3. Minor religions
It's often been said that Taoism is kind of pointless right now, and many people want to see Judaism back in the game. I think the concept of minor religions suits both of them. A minor religion would have the following attributes in DoC:
- cannot be your state religion
- doesn't have missionaries
- doesn't have the standard religious buildings, but each one unique building with its own effect
They can be founded and have holy cities. Other possibilities for minor religions are Shinto, Jainism or Sikhism. I'm against representing ancient polytheistic religions like the Hellenic pantheon with this, because the concept doesn't suit them.
4. Some ideas for unique religion effects
For some I'm not sure if they should be represented as the state religion ability, the shrine or their monasteries, but here are some ideas anyway:
Catholicism: I don't know if a production bonus fits, actually.
Protestantism: I think England and Netherlands here, so either something that helps with colonization (larger starting cities?) or trade.
Islam: the state religion should come with the current Arab UP, or at least grant a free missionary on city conquest.
Hinduism: I'm thinking something that helps with large populations, maybe extra food stored on city growth.
Buddhism: more GPs, more war weariness?
Confucianism: increased stability or decreased upkeep come to mind.
Feel free to submit your own thoughts and suggestions.
1. Unique state religion effects
I think every state religion should come with its own unique effect. Currently that's only Catholicism with its AP mechanic and the hammer bonus for religious buildings, but I think all religions should have some unique effect that is not too powerful but something that enhances certain strategies or play styles. In my opinion it's important to tie this to state religions and not religious buildings so that players have to choose and cannot just get them all.
2. Diverse shrine and monastery effects
As brought up in another thread, gold income from shrines doesn't make sense for all religions that don't have a pilgrimage tradition. In fact, I would say that it only applies to Catholicism, Islam and Hinduism. Other religions should also have shrines, but with different effects. In general though the general characteristic that shrines become more powerful with the number of cities of its religion should be kept. Maybe it's a good idea to remove the cap and tie the effect to the spread percentage of the religion instead, though.
The same can be said for monasteries. Monasteries with research boni make sense for Catholicism and Islam, but not for most other civs. So they could have unique effects as well.
3. Minor religions
It's often been said that Taoism is kind of pointless right now, and many people want to see Judaism back in the game. I think the concept of minor religions suits both of them. A minor religion would have the following attributes in DoC:
- cannot be your state religion
- doesn't have missionaries
- doesn't have the standard religious buildings, but each one unique building with its own effect
They can be founded and have holy cities. Other possibilities for minor religions are Shinto, Jainism or Sikhism. I'm against representing ancient polytheistic religions like the Hellenic pantheon with this, because the concept doesn't suit them.
4. Some ideas for unique religion effects
For some I'm not sure if they should be represented as the state religion ability, the shrine or their monasteries, but here are some ideas anyway:
Catholicism: I don't know if a production bonus fits, actually.
Protestantism: I think England and Netherlands here, so either something that helps with colonization (larger starting cities?) or trade.
Islam: the state religion should come with the current Arab UP, or at least grant a free missionary on city conquest.
Hinduism: I'm thinking something that helps with large populations, maybe extra food stored on city growth.
Buddhism: more GPs, more war weariness?
Confucianism: increased stability or decreased upkeep come to mind.
Feel free to submit your own thoughts and suggestions.