River goddess is underappreciated

[Arraz]

Hello !
I just wanted to talk about this pantheon (river goddess) which I think is underappreciated. This pantheon is (at least imo) very suitable for the "domination" style civs (at least some domination).

I think that domination civs can really benefit from religion through crusade or defender of the faith. This means that it might be a good idea at least for some of them to invest a bit into getting a religion early on. In that case, you'd go for the "choral music" and "crusade" beliefs, not really caring about anything else. (maybe church property?...)

Anyway, in the situation in which you re going to do that, picking up a pantheon other than "religious settlements" feels quite weird. Nothing is really that powerful or suitable (maybe the strategic resources one? or something map dependent)

And here comes the river goddess. If you re going to play dom, you re going to conquer plenty of cities settled by the AI, cities that will probably be out of fresh water. In that case, river goddess enables you to actually make these cities useable (+2 housing) just by building one single district. You can then make a "real city" out of this area.

Not only that, since you re going very wide, amenities are going to be a big deal. Entertainment complex are probably not enough and trading amenities is not always possible (ex: if you re at war with the entire world? If some civs hate you and wont trade with you? If the AI hasnt many luxuries etc...)
This pantheon enables you to mostly ignore the impact on quite a few cities.

Even though, it's far from a "top tier pantheon" or something that's op, I think it's definitely an interesting pantheon that deserves some recognition and consideration.

 

[Bangau]

It has some value yes, though when I dominate I tend to get a lot of trade routes for all the CH and Harbors the AI build. If you send some from newly captured cities, you can get them going very fast. Often they will already have a HS or no more pop to support an extra one, so all in all I think you get some more value from the pantheons that give one or two extra yields from plantations/mines/etc. For if you conquer a lot that means you'll have a lot of those tiles. Simpy building a granary, aqueduct, farms, etc. will give you some extra housing as well. I rarely find housing a big issue in conquered cities. Also: you kill a part of its population when you conquer it, so there probably is housing to spare at the start.

You have any more reasons or specific situations that will help me appreciate it a bit more? ;-)

 

[bitula]

It's good with Jayavarman. I've found t's actually best choice for Jayavarman since his strategy anyway revolves around holy sites near rivers.

 

[bbbt]

They did just buff it in June to +2 amenities and +2 housing. Before that it was just +1 amenities.

The biggest issue with it is that it often conflicts with the adjacency bonuses you want for a holy site. Sometimes you have a river right near mountains, but often it's not the case.

 

[Victoria]

Yep, I took it with Jayaverman when going for 10 pop30 cities. But for a victory condition it is generally meh but not ugh.

 

[SephiBBZ]

This pantheon is bad for a simple reason, when you play with many holly sites, it is to have a lot of faith, for GM chapel, since this pantheon gives 0 faith it is irrelevant compared to many others.

 

[Archon_Wing]

It is good when your start lacks luxuries or if you are Scotland.

Ameities are good for many victories though dom isn't really one of them though.

 

[Lily_Lancer]

For pantheons, the instant values are the most important. Early yields are much better than later yields.

If I already built or under construction >=2 river Holy Sites I will pick this one.

However river Holy Sites are rare, since Holy Site adj bonuses are against rivers.

 

[Victoria]

Jadwiga also does OK at this, grassland river starts and her district adjacency can work for this. But yeah, I think you really have to be going big city to use this one, then it is invaluable.

 

[agonistes]

River Goddess was op before the june patch.

Now its +2 housing and +2 amenities?

Unless a mechanic has changed involving the faith purchase of units and great people, I fail to see how this pantheon is no longer the best option.

 

[ezzlar]

What kind of victory is this supposed to help where there isn't a better district to build?

 

[Civ Chemist]

It might also be a solid choice for civs like Poland or Japan who can get high holy site adjacencies everywhere, including on rivers.