Religious Settlements

[Minou]

Has anyone managed to get the Religious Settlements Pantheon since the Babylon update?

I have had three games where I got a Pantheon before T20 by popping a Relic from a hut, meeting an early Religious CS and taking God King, or settling near Delicate Arch. Still gone every time! I remember originally the AI almost never took it and then they started liking it more, but I am assuming it is now the auto #1 pick. That makes sense but man is it a bummer to get a relic T12 and still have no shot!

 

[Setis]

Yeah it's pretty much the first one to go from what I've seen.

 

[Breadsmith]

I got it in my only game since the update. I had a super early relic though.

 

[Abaxial]

Again - once. But it was disappearing quickly before the update as well.

 

[Oberinspektor Derrick]

On the flip side, Earth Goddess is almost always available these days, where before it usually wasn't. I like Earth Goddess.

 

[LMT]

I play on Emperor and it was almost always gone before the update, and it is still almost always gone since the update.

I got it for the first time in what seems like months when I played Babylon. I found a natural wonder within my first few turns, that gave me Astrology immediately. I then immediately built an early HS and am guessing that's what gave me enough faith to get it (I don't recall finding an early relic).

 

[Pietato]

Even when I started next to the Fountain of Youth and got a turn 12 pantheon it was gone.

 

[Timothy001]

It seems most AI rate it very high. In a MP game Sat night, I got it on turn 9. I settled next to a Wonder, and my first goody hut gave me an artifact. I've started 2 SP games, and it was nowhere to be seen

 

[Equilin]

it has always been the most prioritized for AI even before update afaik

 

[Lily_Lancer]

You need to get it before T15.

Try Indonesia or Russia

 

[kaspergm]

Curiously, in my last game, for the first time since they changed the believe to grant a free settler, I experienced the AI not picking this as the first belief. I had Spain to the south of me, and he picked Desert Folklore as his pantheon, which allowed me to pick Religious Settlements when I got my pantheon.

 

[LMT]

One thing I have noticed since the update is that the AI picks Fertility Rites more often. I've been using that as my #2 choice behind Religious Settlements. But, even that is now gone sometimes.

Divine spark is my fallback, since that is always available.

 

[Siddharth Venkatesh]

I'm happy the AI is prioritizing it more. It's an amazing pantheon, easily the best imo, but it going means I get to pick a more interesting pantheon guilt free.

 

[UWHabs]

I'm happy the AI is prioritizing it more. It's an amazing pantheon, easily the best imo, but it going means I get to pick a more interesting pantheon guilt free.

AI pantheon choices have certainly gotten better since the early days, when you would see Kongo grab the one giving holy sites bonuses from jungle, or a civ taking stone circles with no stone.

I do think the other pantheons are hard to gauge. I find that I rarely have a concentration of the same types of resources enough to truly justify any of those ones. But there's enough pantheons out there that I can almost always find something that feels right. And worst case, as others mentioned, there's always Divine Spark, which is just a solid backup choice always.

 

[Siddharth Venkatesh]

I love Earth Goddess for how it changes my gameplay. It's also pretty impactful. But my favorite pantheon is probably God of the Sea in the rare games where I spawn next to a million fish. Those games are so fun.

 

[slavaskii]

If the AI spawns near desert, they’ll instinctively go Desert Folklore, but the default pick is still Religious Settlements. Surprisingly, I managed to get it 2/4 recent games, though both were heavily due to city states. From my experience, though, 100% it’s gone past turn 20.

I think what makes it especially rough is that none of the other pantheons are as good as Religious Settlements or Desert Folklore. If you get to a pantheon and you have to end up picking Divine Spark, it’s not a total loss but it’s aggravating to know the AI now has more bonuses they’re probably going to just throw away.

 

[CoconutTank]

I tend to get God of Craftsmen these days, if I can't get Religious Settlements or Fertility Rites. It gives +1 production and +1 faith to each improved Strategic resource, which I like, especially since I tend to prioritize Strategic resources already.

 

[Equilin]

Also everyone but the ai seems to forget God of the Forge......

 

[kaspergm]

If you get to a pantheon and you have to end up picking Divine Spark, it’s not a total loss but it’s aggravating to know the AI now has more bonuses they’re probably going to just throw away.

I think labeling Divine Spark as "not a total loss" is quite an undervalue. Admittedly this belief got an indirect nerf now that AI prioritizes Oracle and campuses more, but I still think it's a good help in getting early Great Scientists and a Great Prophet, should you want to aim for a religion.

 

[Mahi]

I usually don't care for religous settlement. I have grabbed it a couple of times I saw it was available since everyone says it's the most powerful. I guess I can agree somewhat with that but Earth Godess and a Heroic age the right time, that allows you to buy settlers and workers out of faith... That is easily a three-four "free" settlers instead of one.