Something I wanted to bring up, there appears to be a descrepancy in bonuses that certain religions bring over others, that i think RoM should address. The newer religions appear to be pretty balanced in and of themselves, seeing as they have no monastaries their temples provide acceptable bonuses across the board. But, for example, Judaism's holy city shrine gives +2 gold & +1 science per city with Judaism (which I think is a tad bit over powered), and Buddhist & Tao temples provide health in addition to the regular culture + happiness benefits. This makes certain religions the "go-to" religions, that we strive hardest for, and others not so desireable. I think all religions should be tweaked to provide benefits beyond just the standard happiness + culture to make them all equally desireable, or desireable dependent on your gaming strategy and preset victory conditions
The newer religions appear to be pretty balanced in and of themselves, seeing as they have no monastaries their temples provide acceptable bonuses across the board.
For example (and these are just
rough ideas):
1)
Judaism. The Holy City Shrine produces 2 Gold per city instead of just 1, as well as 1 science. I think this is pretty overpowered imho. Maybe we could adjust this to have the shrine produce the standard 1 gold and no science, but make the Jewish synagogue (which is naturally limited depending on number of jewish temples at a 4:1 ration) produce 2 or 3 gold. That way we still have the benefit of extra gold, but it requires the construction of synagogues.
2)
Buddhism. Temples provide extra health. Looks fine to me.
3)
Taoism. Temples provide extra health. Monastaries provide a vs.melee promotion to units from that city. Looks fine to me.
Although, i do have some quick questions in regards to that one.. It only seems to apply to Melee units, not Archers or Siege, and i haven't played far enough ahead to see if it'll apply to Gunpowder units. Is this as intended? If so, thats fine, you might just want to edit the text for the monastery to state its only applicable to melee
And on another note, will the promotion still apply after the monastery goes obsolete? Thanks
3)
Hellenism. Monastaries provide a bonus to military production. Looks fine to me.
But again, will bonus still apply after monastaries are obsolete? And moreover, why does Hellenism have a monastary while not being able to make missionaries?
4)
Christianity & Islam. And to a lesser extent Confucianism. Here is where I see the problem. I hardly ever strive for these religions, #1 they don't have any appriciable bonuses over, say, judaism or buddhism, and #2 (for Islam and Christianity) they are pretty far up the tech tree. The Cathedrals for each are decently balanced, but nothing special (islam & christianity get 50% culture, and confucianism 30% culter and 20% science). But again, between the 3, theres nothing special that makes me strive towards those religions. Is there something we can add to these to make them more desireable? Additional science at the holy city shrine for each city with religion? Or +science at the monastery or temple? +1 experience added to units with that religions temple or monastery? Maybe even a happiness, construction (regular or military unit), culture, or other commerce bonus to a religion building. Something, though, to make them more desireable to have and proliferate.
And discuss
Friendly neighbours, eh?
