The fastest way to earn all relics

[Xyael]

So far, what religious traits have made you gain the cultural heritage goal most quickly in the Age of Exploration?

The ones I tried didn't really convince me. The safest one I found was with the conversion of city states, but it requires a lot of influence points.

 

[ggmoyang]

Probably +2 relic with conversion of capital.

 

[chazzycat]

+1 for converting each distant lands settlements the first time seems strong.

 

[Ornen]

I like 2 relics on city states, unlike with capitals they usually don’t have religion yet. so only one charge required

 

[ggmoyang]

I like 2 relics on city states, unlike with capitals they usually don’t have religion yet. so only one charge required

You don't need to wait their religion - just found religion first and rush AI capitals.

 

[sTAPler27]

If you're doing a City State centered build the belief for converting them is insane, I had more relics than I knew what to do with and that's after making pretty much every town a Holy Site

 

[Melkus]

A fun strat especially for civs / leaders with trading bonuses:

Take the relic for converting Distant Land settlements,

add the enhancer belief that converts by trade route,

use your missionaries for scouting (convert if convenient, but don't use them up), find trading targets

collect resources + relics with your merchants.

 

[Wolfsbro]

+1 for converting each distant lands settlements the first time seems strong.

This is the best one. Combine this with the belief that completely converts the city when you send a trade route. Sending a trader who does an instant full conversion is much more efficient than sending a missionary who cannot completely convert the city even with two charges. Plus you get all the goods that the trader brings home.

Getting two relics for the capital seems good at first, but a lot of times capitals are holy cities and therefore cannot be converted by any means. In a standard game you're lucky if there are three convertible capitals i.e. max of six relics. There are guaranteed to be way more than six distant lands settlements.

 

[ggmoyang]

This is the best one. Combine this with the belief that completely converts the city when you send a trade route. Sending a trader who does an instant full conversion is much more efficient than sending a missionary who cannot completely convert the city even with two charges. Plus you get all the goods that the trader brings home.

Getting two relics for the capital seems good at first, but a lot of times capitals are holy cities and therefore cannot be converted by any means. In a standard game you're lucky if there are three convertible capitals i.e. max of six relics. There are guaranteed to be way more than six distant lands settlements.

If you are delaying religion, sure. But if you get a religion early, Brahmanism rocks - I'm consistently getting 10+ relics.

 

[Vincent_lacruz]

Probably +2 relic with conversion of capital.

Nope, this one is a trap... Most of the time the AI will create the holy city in the capital, but holy cities CAN'T be converted... So if they get a religion as fast or faster than you, you are toast...

The one I found most efficient so far is the "convert city states", since I try to get as many of them as I can.

 

[ggmoyang]

So if they get a religion as fast or faster than you, you are toast...

Which never happens when you rush religion. On standard map you spawn with 4 AIs in same landmass, so 8 relic is already guaranteed.

 

[Mr Jon of Cheam]

I found the +2 for settlements with a wonder to be pretty good. Situational perhaps, but I had a game where AI appeared to be wonder spamming like crazy in Antiquity, so it was really easy to complete the culture path in Exploration.

 

[magicq99]

I found the +2 for settlements with a wonder to be pretty good. Situational perhaps, but I had a game where AI appeared to be wonder spamming like crazy in Antiquity, so it was really easy to complete the culture path in Exploration.

Yes, in my playthrough I completed the legacy path based on this belief. However, this option also may run into the holy city problem mentioned above, since the AI seems to build most of their wonders in the capital as well.

But I also got a number of relics from secondary sources. There are some quests that give you a relic and I think you can also get a couple of them from befriending city states. Some masteries also give you a relic. So you do not need to get all of them from converting cities.

I am also wondering if the total number of relics available is limited. The codices in the antiquity age are a all generic, so an infinte number of them may be generated. But the relics on the other hand seem to be unique, suggesting that there is no infinite supply.

 

[Ornen]

can’t emphasize enough how low investment city state relics are… no need to rush religion/temple/missionaries, just build em when you’re ready & get an easy 4-6 relics per missionary.

I’m sure there are faster ways to do it, but I don’t think there’s a lower investment way to hit the GA bonus

 

[Evolena]

I am also wondering if the total number of relics available is limited. The codices in the antiquity age are a all generic, so an infinte number of them may be generated. But the relics on the other hand seem to be unique, suggesting that there is no infinite supply.

You can have twice the same (I've had 2 kriss, and 2 skull).

 

[vorlon_mi]

I got burned in my second game, where one of the AI leaders on my home landmass *dispersed* the IP that I was befriending, just before it converted to a CS.
Perhaps I didn't rush fast enough. Perhaps other neighbors would not be so aggressive towards homeland CS/IP.

I'm leaning towards the "distant lands" belief mentioned by @chazzycat . Once I can get there safely, that seems to have a larger pool of potential conversion settlements.

 

[vorlon_mi]

One of the weakest is "convert an opponent who is sending treasure fleets." I got burned on that one in my first game. No one else was sending any treasure fleets!

 

[icon41gimp]

If you've got heavy influence generation either through lots of monuments and villas or something civ-specific then I think the city state one is the best, but you have to wait until they have a suzerain before you're able to use missionaries on them. If you're not the one pushing influence then the AI might go a long time before spending it on them and they'll either get removed from the map or you'll run out of time.

 

[Auraiz]

The easiest seems to be converting capitals. You rush 2 missionaries asap and get it done on your homelands quickly, then forget about relics the rest should come before the age ends

 

[Kmart_Elvis]

but you have to wait until they have a suzerain before you're able to use missionaries on them.

Thank you for pointing this out. I just took this belief and was wondering why all these city states wouldn't let me convert them.