(Hello, first post; thank you Leoreth for a fantastically fresh Civ IV experience!)
We don't seem to have a thread dedicated to Religious Victories in general here. I think it's a really cool game mechanic that lets you solve the gameplay puzzle in a different way each time.
As a practicing Buddhist myself, I've been trying my hand at the Buddhist RV. First attempt was with Burma, second was with an OCC Tibet. It's interesting, both mechanically and thematically, but I think the goals are a little bit odd:
Shila: Stay at peace for X turns. Just a waiting game. Impossible to fail for Tibet or Japan; easy but tedious for the Southeast Asian civs; simply ridiculous for Kushans, Turkestan or Mongolia.
Nirvana: Have the highest approval rating for X turns. This is a cool condition that can be taken different ways. For Tibet, it's a shoe-in; you have a hard population cap and with Monarchy, a few luxuries, and a few Happiness buildings you will win this without trying. It's also good for Burma (with its absurd access to luxuries) and Japan (where you can get it with the culture slider in line with the UHV). It's not so great for the other SEA civs, who encourage you to grow.
Middle Way: Have Cautious or better relations with all civs. This is the weird one. Practically, it's a waiting game, too. You're waiting for the Civs to either move to Secularism, which itself doesn't happen that often, or to get leaderheads with lower heathen religion penalties. Am I just not an expert player, or does Civ IV (especially with RFC) just not offer enough flexibility in diplomacy for this? Aside from Liberating cities, which obviously isn't sustainable, I don't think there's a way to get leaderheads who are default Furious towards heathen religions on side. It also doesn't really feel thematically sound, either. The Middle Way is about rejecting asceticism and exclusive formulations of logic, not diplomacy. Finally, it feels quite odd, as Tibet, to be concerned with what Colombia thinks of me.
I know that the Religious victories probably aren't top priority right now, but may I make my own suggestion for Buddhism? If you have a three-way distinction in Buddhism, the one any Buddhist would recognise is the Triratna, the "Three Jewels" affirmed at the beginning of the path. Here's my sketch:
Buddha: Settle five Great Prophets, five Great Artists, or five Great Statesmen in a single city. This goal references the tendency toward individual great teachers and lineage-founders in Buddhist history, and allows the player to choose one of three paths that might fit each civ better. In particular, Great Prophets would suit Tibet and Great Artists would suit Japan. I'm not exactly sure if Great Statesmen would really work except for China, but I think three options would be great. This also encourages the player to stick with Monasticism.
Dharma: Have the city with the highest base happiness in the world. This is a slightly different spin to the current Nirvana goal that doesn't punish population growth; it also encourages Tibet, Japan etc. to look abroad for luxuries, which makes for some interesting diplomacy. I am not sure how this would work with Wonders, but maybe those could be excluded from the goal?
Sangha: Ensure that every mainland South and East Asian city belonging to a Civilization has Buddhism. This is the "aspirational" goal, representing the restoration of Buddhism in India (and potentially Central Asia?) after its displacement by Vaishnavite Hinduism and Islam. It still encourages the player to angle for diplomacy but is a bit more forgiving, especially since many of these cities are colonised by Europeans at some point. It also synergises with Tibet's UP.
These are my suggestions for Buddhism. I wanted to post a thread that would generally discuss the RV, though, so if anyone wants to lay out their suggestions for the other RVs in a similar format please do!
We don't seem to have a thread dedicated to Religious Victories in general here. I think it's a really cool game mechanic that lets you solve the gameplay puzzle in a different way each time.
As a practicing Buddhist myself, I've been trying my hand at the Buddhist RV. First attempt was with Burma, second was with an OCC Tibet. It's interesting, both mechanically and thematically, but I think the goals are a little bit odd:
Shila: Stay at peace for X turns. Just a waiting game. Impossible to fail for Tibet or Japan; easy but tedious for the Southeast Asian civs; simply ridiculous for Kushans, Turkestan or Mongolia.
Nirvana: Have the highest approval rating for X turns. This is a cool condition that can be taken different ways. For Tibet, it's a shoe-in; you have a hard population cap and with Monarchy, a few luxuries, and a few Happiness buildings you will win this without trying. It's also good for Burma (with its absurd access to luxuries) and Japan (where you can get it with the culture slider in line with the UHV). It's not so great for the other SEA civs, who encourage you to grow.
Middle Way: Have Cautious or better relations with all civs. This is the weird one. Practically, it's a waiting game, too. You're waiting for the Civs to either move to Secularism, which itself doesn't happen that often, or to get leaderheads with lower heathen religion penalties. Am I just not an expert player, or does Civ IV (especially with RFC) just not offer enough flexibility in diplomacy for this? Aside from Liberating cities, which obviously isn't sustainable, I don't think there's a way to get leaderheads who are default Furious towards heathen religions on side. It also doesn't really feel thematically sound, either. The Middle Way is about rejecting asceticism and exclusive formulations of logic, not diplomacy. Finally, it feels quite odd, as Tibet, to be concerned with what Colombia thinks of me.
I know that the Religious victories probably aren't top priority right now, but may I make my own suggestion for Buddhism? If you have a three-way distinction in Buddhism, the one any Buddhist would recognise is the Triratna, the "Three Jewels" affirmed at the beginning of the path. Here's my sketch:
Buddha: Settle five Great Prophets, five Great Artists, or five Great Statesmen in a single city. This goal references the tendency toward individual great teachers and lineage-founders in Buddhist history, and allows the player to choose one of three paths that might fit each civ better. In particular, Great Prophets would suit Tibet and Great Artists would suit Japan. I'm not exactly sure if Great Statesmen would really work except for China, but I think three options would be great. This also encourages the player to stick with Monasticism.
Dharma: Have the city with the highest base happiness in the world. This is a slightly different spin to the current Nirvana goal that doesn't punish population growth; it also encourages Tibet, Japan etc. to look abroad for luxuries, which makes for some interesting diplomacy. I am not sure how this would work with Wonders, but maybe those could be excluded from the goal?
Sangha: Ensure that every mainland South and East Asian city belonging to a Civilization has Buddhism. This is the "aspirational" goal, representing the restoration of Buddhism in India (and potentially Central Asia?) after its displacement by Vaishnavite Hinduism and Islam. It still encourages the player to angle for diplomacy but is a bit more forgiving, especially since many of these cities are colonised by Europeans at some point. It also synergises with Tibet's UP.
These are my suggestions for Buddhism. I wanted to post a thread that would generally discuss the RV, though, so if anyone wants to lay out their suggestions for the other RVs in a similar format please do!
goal being all about accumulating wordly attachments).
