the 7 religons:S

[Pounder]

Just for the record, I believe that (barring generic religions which would be a much better choice than using actual ones) Judaism, Confuscianism, Sun cults, etc. should all be in the game. Why have less variety when you can have more?

However, I do think there is a difference between a philosophy like Confuscianism and a religion. A philosophy sets out a moral code based a certain set of beliefs. A religion does the same, but attempts to explain the supernatural as well. As far as I know, confuscianism never tried to do the latter. That does not, however, mean that Conscianism should be excluded from the set of "religions" that Civ offers. After all, the state sponsored atheism of the Soviet Union certainly had a profound influence on the course of history, yet, as has been pointed out, it's not truly a religion. Atheism and Confuscianism should be included, even though they might not be pure "religions".

I agree, I think that Judaism, Christianity, Islam to some degree is all duplication of one religion.

Sun cults that Egypt, Maya and Druids followed, if not in the game is stupid.

I feel that there has been no religion in previous Civ games and that they are going to implement it poorly and may become a too dominant part of the game.

 

[The Q-Meister]

I agree that Judiasm/Christianity/Islam are very similar when compared to the diffrences displayed by other religions, and yes, limiting religions to 7 and including 3 monotheisms does historically leave out the overwhelming majority of the earth's population. However, since Firaxis probably believes that most likely those 3 religions will comprise of the big majority of its customers, it feels the need to include them.

What is the religion for ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt and Persia? The Incas, Aztecs?

I suspect that there will be an expansion pact in the near future that will add on more religions and probably more civs as well.

EDIT: Also there has been some talk of Firaxis including Hitler as a possible leader for Germany so that could be another consideration. Having Hitler in the game and not including Judiasm might raise some eyebrows, rightly or wrongly, and I'm sure they do not want that kind of controversy out there when releasing a new game.

 

[mitsho]

A reason against including too many religions:

These religions are supposed to be a tool of influencing your neighbours. however, if we have 15 religions in a game with 15 civs, each civ could have its own religion and thus removing that major intended effect! With only 7 religions, a normal sized game actually has a fair balance of civs and religions (probably) ....

What is the religion for ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt and Persia? The Incas, Aztecs?

Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Persian, Incan or Aztecian Polytheism. Practically every civilization had its own pantheon of Gods , before it was removed by a more sophisticated system or 'religion'. Often it was that way that some people/regions of the civilization preferred one god over another. this led to the so-called cults/sects and the 'priesthoods' are famous in history and stories. Examples are the Isis-, the Mithras-, Sol Invictus- and so on cult.
thus, it's very difficult to include these belief systems into the current religion model of civ4 which only has the biggest 'streams' and where there is no place for smaller religions, it even doesn't distinct between catholic, orthodox and protestant. This is why we need to wait for an expansion with an expansion of the religious model of civIV! There is just no way to include them logically.

[Possible: the tech Polytheism spawns the religion (insert civ-adjective) Polytheism. but that's not a good solution because we only would have one polytheistic religion! Don't do it this way!]

It may even be, that "(insert civ-adjective) Polytheism" is the generic basic religion, just as Despotism was the basic government of civ3. there may be some bonus if you stay with your basic religion throughout the game (or a part of it!). We need to wait for this.

And one last addendum: You also asked what Ancient Persia would have for a religion. ZOROASTRISM! Never heard of the great prophet Zarathustra (if not, go and read Nietzsche, although his Zarathustra has very few to nothing in common with the historical figure! ). Zoroastrism is a proto-half-monotheistic religion that flourished a long time and was a major cause of opposition between Rome/Late Rome (constantinople) and Persia (Sasanid/Parthia).

With friendly wishes (mfG) M

 

[The Q-Meister]

Yes, but my point was that neither (their idea of) Polytheism nor Zoroastrism are included in the game in its present form (thus the likelihood for an expasion pack in the near future) I wasn't asking for my own knowledge, just asking I guess a rhetorical question since their historic religions were not included in the game.

I think we need a couple more polytheisms and certainly Zoroastrism in the game. I don't need 17, I think 10 will do. And as far as the proportion of civs vs relgions, that might have been a consideration for Firaxis and a reason for them not including more religions at this point and time. But like I said before, they will probably give us more civs as well as a few more religions in the expansion pack so it will all even out.

 

[The Q-Meister]

Perhaps another idea would be for the player to limit the number of religions in the game (depending on how many civs are in the game) similar to how players limit the number of civs in the game corresponding to their world size. This would eliminate that problem as well.

 

[zehcoutinho]

Well, in real life religion is for cattle, brainless people that believe in the same fairy tales people believed centuries ago, when there was not so much information around. Then it was excusable, now it´s not. The behavior standard that most religions preach, like being a good person and stuff, are valid, but all the mythical stuff is just crap, made up to answer unanswered questions, or to illustrate a point, but we are in an information a science age, so people shouldn´t take this stuff seriously as they do. For instance, like someone said above, sun worshiping was very popular, but now we know that the sun is only a star, and a small one among billions. Sorry for the outburst, I really think that this religion feature is great in the game.

Moderator Action: You need to keep in mind that many other people do not share what you believe and are therefore offended. You still need to show respect for other people's beliefs.
-Civrules

 

[Crazy Eskimo]

@Pounder: Duplication isn't quite the word I would use, but yes, I see what you're saying, they share similar roots.

@Qmeister and mitsho: You both raise valid points. These are reasons why I'm a proponent of the "generic" religions, like European Polytheism and Middle-Eastern Monotheism. The former (cultural) name would come from the cultural group of the civ to first discover the tech. Among other things, it allows the player to fill in the ambiquity with the relgion of their choice, so that Firaxis doesn't have to scramble to make sure everyone is covered. It also limits the number of religions, so that they remain a factor in the game.

As for mitsho's point about the ridiculousness of having only one polytheism in the game, I think Aussie Lurker's system for how schism's arise would be a good way to create multiple polytheistic(or other) religions.

Example (and summary):

Rome discovers Polytheism. They found Mediterranean Polytheism (renamed by the player to Romism). After a couple turns of play, in which the Roman player continues their mode of play that encourages commerce and scientific growth, Romism gains qualities that encourage this type of play. Now, Rome's neighbor, India, has been substantially converted to Romism. However, it seems that Ghandi is quite the warmonger. After India has suffered penalties for several turns, eventually, there is a schism in Romism and Ghandi establishes Asian Polytheism (renamed Ghandism), that has traits that encourage his warmongering.

This way, you have multiple forms of polytheism, no one feels left out (since the player could have named Romism after whatever religion he or she wants, and the game still has few enough religions for them to be a factor.

 

[Sucha_Soorma]

I just hope that with them selecting a few religions and from what we hear that each has similar level buildings and upgrades that it is not only a cosmetic thing, in which case I will be disappointed that more religions were not chosen. Really religions should add a new dynamic in the game to make the game more interesting by giving each religion attributes but I doubt they would take that risk.