Religion strategies

[Nidhögg]

After playing this game 2 times i realized i had fallen for my old stragtegies with Civ, but the religion gave me a new way of earning money

After going up to Noble level i managed to start 3 religions (Judaism, Hindu and Christianity) and after early on building the Stonehedge wonder in my first city (after the first settler was created) i soon got a prophet for the Hindu religion.

As my neighbour also became hindu this was a given state religion even after tech for judaism.

Right when i got christianity (my tech is totally focused on going for the religions) i got my second prophet, which made the judaism thing (monastery or whatever its called)

By then i could almost go for 100% in science since i was sending out missionaries everywhere to my neighbours who had 2 of my religions as state. I could easily change state religion to make new deals with whoever of my neighbours that was strongest and i got a ****load of money from the 3 religions which made certain that i stayed at the top.

Havent finished the game yet but when i tried this at a other game (and other civ) i got 2 of the religions (juda and christ) which is enough for u to totally focus on tech 100% and to have same religion as close neighbours to avoid rel. wars and have a ally...

The great advantages of starting a religion are obvius but it without open borders and masproducing missionaries it can go to waist...

I any1 has any tips to get the first reigions and not hamper your growth to second city plz post...

 

[walkerjks]

The other benefits of multiple religions -

1) More temples per city = more happiness + culture
2) More monastaries per city = more science + culture
3) More "cathedrals" = lots more culture (+50% culture buildings are huge)

You've already mentioned the multiple shrines and the extra diplomatic flexibility (particularly if you are spiritual and can avoid anarchy on switches).

 

[don_lahnum_jr]

How do you change your state religion?

 

[walkerjks]

There is a religion screen (F7?) from which you can see all of the religions, what cities have what religions and current religion-based bonuses. You can also select a new religion from that screen.

 

[don_lahnum_jr]

Good info to have...Thanks!

 

[Nidhögg]

Ok i finished the two games won the first by space race and lost the second n space race (by 1 turn) when i started my next game i managed to get all religions - buddism which for some reason seems to be the one religion that the AI goes for (therefor i always go for hindu to be sure to get it)

With all the religions i had to build loads of missionaries (almost to many) and forced all kinds of religions on my enemies gaining loads of money but hampering my production. From now on i'll only try with the 2 big religions (depending on game) since the production lost is too big compared to the money gain.

 

[Pinstar]

I like to have a city on the edge of my empire that has decent hammer production that can pump out missionaries ever 3-4 turns and leave that to do nothing but missionaries, freeing up the rest of my empire to build units/wonders/settlers/buidlings.

 

[hahntsak]

I agree and found this out too.
at first I tried to avoid some religions until some other civ got it first so I could be like jewish only or christian only and 'can some other civ finally get philosophy so I don't get stuck with taoism, too?'

then I figured out a great idea, don't fight it but fight for it.

here's my plans:
I borrow the mining - bronze slavery start: [I didn't invent that part]

1. pick a civ with spiritual leader. I love saladin of arabia [spiritual and philosophical = more great leaders] so you can switch between faiths and no faiths any time needed.
Spiritual leaders:
Saladin of Arabia with philosophical
Montezuma of the Aztecs with aggressive
Hatshepsut of Egypt [ the Hotty!] with creative
Asoka of India with organized
Gandhi of India with industrious
Mansa Musa of Mali with financial
Isabella of Spain with Espansive


2. set first tech research to mining [unless you got it already], then bronze. don't worry you'll get it by the time the worker is done [see 3.] you could try and get meditation if you've got mining to start and get bronze asap. you could go meditation first then mining - bronze if you really want buddhism. but you get the idea.

3. set first production to worker [ you need him to chop wood which you get from bronze] by the time he's done, you'll get bronze. when the worker is done and you have bronze use clear forest on nearby forest to help speed those productions along and build some roads if they get bored in between forests. only chop forest when and where your cities control it. otherwise it's wasted effort.

4. when you get bronze go to slavery.

5. then go after masonry, or poly - meditation is usually taken by that time. you can always get it later and need to for monastery building. you may get that later from other civs but just found the faiths first then spread them.

6. then get as many religious techs as possible.

7. for each religion you found:
a. make a monastery for each religion in each city it's in.
b. make a temple for each religion in each city it's in.
c. make missionaries for domestic use to make SURE you get at least 4-8
cities per religion. remember that cities can be multi-faith. so send your islamic missionary to your jewish one and vice versa - now you got 2 jewish and 2 islamic.
d. use a great prophet [profit in this case] to make a shrine for EACH religion.
e. if you have enough temples by the time you get to MUSIC, build the Cathedral/Pagoda/mosque/Synagoue/etc
f. build extra missionaries of each faith and keep them for later as 'sleepers' for when monasteries become obsolete later [Scientific Method].
g. when you find more distant civs later ship out some of those sleepers in caravel/frigate or even a sub and get them to open borders and just convert one city. even if they already have a faith, they can be multi-faith. they could spread yours.
h. with spiritual you can switch between civics to suit you. when building a unit use those traits.
i. after that first worker, build 2 sets of warriors & settlers. then build stonehenge. each settler city should build worker, then 2 sets melee & settler sets. have plan for 6 - 8 cities on outset [6-8 theaters, court houses, banks, hospitals, universities, forges, etc]

don't waste missionaries but early on pick one faith as official. use missionaries to boost the others. ideally every one of your cities should have every faith present. read up on liberalism and what is later does.
as you spread your various multiple faiths abroad, that shrine income comes in. if you can get 4-5 of the world's faiths' founding cities in your empire very few powers will want to attack YOU. they may attack other hindu countries but attacking you could get their christians mad at them as you have that one, too!

if a civ won't give a tech because you worchip a heathen faith, and you possess it, switch and try next turn.

let the igonorant lay civs do most of the grunt work. go for what you need of course. also get the 1st to discover bonuses when possible.
buildings to build also parthenon, and oracle, and pyramids.

once in a while you find a civ that has theocracy and won't let you convert. if there is a little land area available, not much - you don't need to keep it forever. it's just a plant city. you ship in on a galleon by that time, a settler, melee defensive unit, and one of YOUR missionaries. [on a second galleon have other missionaries, maybe a worker]. build the city. immediately convert it to all faiths of missionaries present. having it in proximity may sway nearby cities. if it culture flips, the faiths stay there. your seed is planted! Onward <your faith here> soldiers, marching as to war....
hehhehehehe...
I had to research of few needed menial techs like hunting, but not many. got them to do the brunt work. and when those shrine monies come in... and then the favorable relations when you talk to them. hehhehhe...

it reminds me of the old joke about being muslim on friday, jewish on saturday, and baptist on sunday to avoid working those days...

let me know what you think.


also consider theocracy, vassalage, and barracks combined to give you +8 xp in state religion cities.

 

[hahntsak]

anybody like my ideas?

 

[GraeFocs]

Great post Hahntsak. I gotta try some of those out, especially with the religious seed city. Ingenious!

 

[Padmewan]

hahntsak, nice ideas but I don't know how you can pull all of that off unless you're playing on less than Noble. While you're building monastaries and temples in every city, who is guarding them, and how are you expanding? Also, you can chop forests anywhere except in someone elses' territory and get the hammers, but unless you escort them, your worker is liable to be eaten by lions...

 

[petey]

I've found that at the higher levels, you're never going to get Buddhism. At least one civ is going to start with Mysticism and their bonuses mean that they beat you to it. If an early religion is part of your strategy (and it should be), go for Polytheism to get Hinduism. Sometimes you can get that and if not, you're pretty much assured of Judaism, since the civs with Mysticism change over to the other Ancient techs rather than go for a marginally useful second religion right off the bat.

The later religions are good for the spying and gold bonuses, but since most everyone will have a state religion by the time you get them, they're not as useful on the diplomatic front. Spreading faith early can help secure at least one of your borders and then you can focus your game on other civs with one less thing to worry about.

 

[hahntsak]

hahntsak, nice ideas but I don't know how you can pull all of that off unless you're playing on less than Noble. While you're building monastaries and temples in every city, who is guarding them, and how are you expanding? Also, you can chop forests anywhere except in someone elses' territory and get the hammers, but unless you escort them, your worker is liable to be eaten by lions...

the wood chopping worker is in your city's area to boost production. chopping down a forest with slavery was put forth by others before me.

you may not get all religions, but getting most is good. like getting 4 out of 7 is okay. I got all 7 once, but it was real hard. escorts are needed for missionaries as well as settlers and workers.

once you choose a state faith and get feudalism also build barracks in cities and adopt theocracy and vassalage to pump out some units +8 xp from the get go. that is handy for arming those escorts.

I believe I mentioned the xp from those civics elsewhere on religion topics. again it's not always perfect. in those cases I just try again.

 

[Pragmatic]

once you choose a state faith and get feudalism also build barracks in cities and adopt theocracy and vassalage to pump out some units +8 xp from the get go. that is handy for arming those escorts.

Add in one of the wonders (Pentagon? West Point? my manual is at home), and you've got another +2 xp, for a total of 10, which means 3 promotions. And toss in an aggressive leader, and you get a free Combat 1 promotion for melee and gunpowder units. And toss in the Red Cross, and you get a free Healer 1 promotion for infantry-type units (I got it for Mech Inf, but not for Modern Armor, and haven't tested it beyond that).

You can get some decent units. Of course, you risk crippling your economy in the process, but if it's between going broke and going under, it's not much of a choice.

Don't forget to read mharmless's thread on unusual consequences of upgrades with regard to promotions...

 

[weimingshi]

I play on emperor level and i got buddhism, you just need a fiancial leader to get buddhism, ( i play qin, first hut poped got mysticism, lucky i guess, so figured its a sign tell me got for meditation). I end up discovering 4 religion, buddhism, taoism, confucianism, islam. would've got christianity too if i didn't play around tech tree too much, lost it to hatshepsut by 3 turn. AI spread judaism to one of my cities too, so before scientific method comes around, I built in all my major cities 5 monastery. they are pumping out culture like no tommorow. I culture converted mongold capital. And happiness in my cities skyrocketed, I no longer need to depend on free religion, can just keep it at pacifism.

 

[hahntsak]

Add in one of the wonders (Pentagon? West Point? my manual is at home), and you've got another +2 xp, for a total of 10, which means 3 promotions. And toss in an aggressive leader, and you get a free Combat 1 promotion for melee and gunpowder units. And toss in the Red Cross, and you get a free Healer 1 promotion for infantry-type units (I got it for Mech Inf, but not for Modern Armor, and haven't tested it beyond that).

You can get some decent units. Of course, you risk crippling your economy in the process, but if it's between going broke and going under, it's not much of a choice.

Don't forget to read mharmless's thread on unusual consequences of upgrades with regard to promotions...

in another thread I pointed out some of those unit advantages. if you play aztecs - montezuma [aggressive - spiritual], you can get that combat promotion and all the spiritual advantages go meditation from the get go - aztecs get mysticism free. get your military techs like bronze, archery, and horseback riding. but get theology and feudalism & use those barracks. you can switch between theocracy and organized religion as needed leave vassalage on and later pentagon for all cities, but remember that west point is only for that city's production.
is it time for a holy war or what? hehhehhehehehehhe....