[NFP] SURPRISE! Religious Victory! GAME OVER!

[papapyro]

I played a bit of this game before some time after GS released, wasn't all that taken on it. Came back with the recent update and just finished my first game... with a loss. I thought I was cruising my way to a Science Victory as Trajan, I alt-tab out to check something, and when I alt-tab back in I'm flabbergasted to see the game over defeat screen with Menelik II looking at me very smugly. Apparently he won a religious victory. Well, that's news to me... how was I supposed to tell that was coming? Am I expected to keep tabs on religions even when I don't have one myself and really don't care about the religious game, or constantly check the victory progress screen?

I'm not the first one to complain about this, a quick Google reveals other threads on here and reddit complaining about this same thing since release. And the solution to this is still blindingly simple: give a notification every time a civ becomes predominantly a religion. I get notifications about every damn storm, flood, and drought across the world, why can't I get one telling me that my game is about to end next turn if I don't start killing some missionaries?

 

[Brutus2]

Am I expected to keep tabs on religions even when I don't have one myself and really don't care about the religious game, or constantly check the victory progress screen?

Yes.

This is a game and the AI is trying to win too. Did you notice when your own cities were being converted? That's a big notification right there and hard to miss. Just because you don't care about the religious game doesn't mean other players aren't using it.

 

[iammaxhailme]

This is why I usually restart a game if I don't get a religion, regardless of what victory type I go for.

 

[lotrmith]

You can also disable Religious Victory if it really bugs you.

 

[papapyro]

You can also disable Religious Victory if it really bugs you.

That doesn't feel right, kind of crippling the civs for whom that's their intended victory condition

 

[lotrmith]

That doesn't feel right, kind of crippling the civs for whom that's their intended victory condition

Your alternatives are to monitor religion or to take notice when missionaries or apostles enter your land. You can declare war and condemn them easily, which also helps eliminate their influence in nearby cities. Conversely, you must take care if you are conquering, as you may inadvertently take over enough foreign cities that follow a religion to cause your civilization as a whole to have that religion as dominant.

 

[Elhoim]

I remember a friend losing a game when he conquered a civ that was the only one missing for the religious victory leader

 

[Kmart_Elvis]

I think OP does have a point re: pop-up notifications if an AI converts others to a religion. Of course you should always monitor how other religions are doing, but there could be some QoL improvements on that end.

 

[bbbt]

Some UI notification in general that someone is close to a victory seems like it would be useful. I'm not sure what the specific criteria for close would be though.

 

[Futumch]

You get notifications when other civs have changed their victory goals, and also notifications when you're on the cusp of getting a culture victory. You do get notified as civs fall under a specific religion ("Diplomat Fred reports that the majority of cities in Egypt are following the religion Hinduism" or something equivalent). Unlike the diplomacy and war notifications, the religion messages only show up as a conversation box, not as a sidebar icon like the little crossed cutlery or suitcases.
I think some notification should occur when any civ is getting close to any type of victory regardless. It'd help to focus the player on taking the necessary steps to slow down the opposition.

Having said that, it never hurts to occasionally have a look at the victory panel and see how you're going compared to the other civs in your game.

 

[AriochIV]

It behooves you to pay attention to who the religion leaders are, just the same as with any other victory type. Even if you don't found a religion yourself, you can spread and maintain a minority religion amongst your own cities to confound the leader.

It would be nice if the game notified you when someone was close to a victory, but it doesn't. (And no, those tiny textboxes that flash for a few seconds in the corner of the screen don't count as a notification.)

 

[Melliores]

Keeping an eye on the victory panel every few turns is both helpful for your own victory condition and for your midterm gameplay as you see who is doing what and how close they are. Also there is no proper way to notify you that someone is winning a Religios victory -they need to convert a whole civ to their religion and if for example they need to convert a total of 5 and the current progress is 4/5 you will need to be notified every single turn that they are about to win a Religious victory.

With Science victory you can have a countdown, same goes with a Culture one (more or less). Diplomatic is also fairly easy to keep track of and Domination is obvious if you look at the map. Simply put, you should pay attention to the victory panel instead of relying on the game trying to tell you everything.

 

[Lord Lakely]

You can also disable Religious Victory if it really bugs you.

Play on bigger maps, it's really hard to lose due to RV on those.

 

[Cerilis]

Quick related question: can a religious victory be won even if the civ in question is almost defeated? do they need their capital and/or holy city?
Regarding strategies to prevent a religious victory without handling religion itself.

 

[Hunyadi]

When I see the first priests get close to my cities, I declare war and I try to catch as many priests as I can. Then I march towards their capital and try to end the game.

 

[lotrmith]

Quick related question: can a religious victory be won even if the civ in question is almost defeated? do they need their capital and/or holy city?
Regarding strategies to prevent a religious victory without handling religion itself.

They need only be the founder of the religion.

I am unsure what happens if they are eliminated.

 

[King Rad]

I believe if they are eliminated, then that religion can never result in a religious victory. I'm inferring this from checking the religious victory screen when I had conquored a civ that had founded and spread a religion, and if memory serves, I was not included in the civs who were spreading their religion.

 

[GunsGermsandSteel]

There is a diplomatic iniative that allows you to condem a specific relgion's units even if you are not at war.

 

[Futumch]

There is a diplomatic iniative that allows you to condem a specific relgion's units even if you are not at war.

That's the "World Religion" World Congress resolution.
Outcome A : +10 Religious Combat Strength for all units of this Religion.
Outcome B : All players may condemn units of the chosen Religion, and doing so grants 25 Diplomatic Favour.

EDIT: As AriochIV mentions (below) - you have to have the RNG gods on-side for it to pop up.

 

[AriochIV]

The odds that this particular item will come up for vote at the moment you need it are... not promising.