slobberinbear
Ursine Skald
Excited having just won a (legit) Isabella Religious / Diplomatic victory on Emperor / Pangaea / Normal, and wanted to share some thoughts. Much of this is basic information but I'm including it for completeness' sake.
Early Religion at Monarch and above
Early religion is generally frowned upon by experienced players in favor of going for military and worker techs. At higher difficulty levels, going for an early religion is even more problematic due to the difficulty in beating the AI to the religion-granting tech and the delay in expansion caused by beelining religious techs.
To get a religion-granting tech first at Monarch+ difficulty, it is best if you start the game with Mysticism and have a commerce tile to work early (gold, gems, oasis, coast, seafood, lake, floodplain, etc.) It is also helpful to be Financial, to get an extra beaker early from the commerce tile you are working. Due to the AI's production advantages, you generally have a better shot at getting Polytheism/Hinduism than Meditation/Buddhism unless you have a superb commerce tile to work right away. And of course trying for Polytheism first has the additional benefit that if you miss Hinduism, you still have a shot at Judaism (by taking Masonry and Monotheism). I am not saying that Buddhism is impossible to get, just that you can find yourself losing the Meditation race fairly often, in which case you are now even further behind the AIs that were going for Hinduism and/or Judaism from the start.
Early religion is also going to be dictated by the opposition. If you draw a lot of warmongers, you have a much better shot at getting an early religion, since few of them start with Mysticism or are inclined to go for early religion. Of course, unless you set up a custom game and know your opposition, you won't know who the AIs are at this stage in the game.
Early religion is handy for several reasons. You deny it from the AI; you get free culture and happiness; you get free religious spread to cities without religion; you get an opportunity to build a holy shrine for culture, cash, and specialists; and it can give you major diplomatic benefits.
In my game, I founded Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam ... and missed Taoism and Confucianism by one turn each.
Religion-Spamming
A core feature of the classic Spain on a Lake game was the use of religion-spamming. The players managed to get all three early religions right out of the gate due to Madrid's superior commerce production and Isabella's starting techs. Their difficulty level was also fairly low (Noble) and the game's AI was different then. Still, it was a fun and impressive feat.
There are several benefits to religion-spamming: denial to the AI, and huge cultural, happiness, and potential cash boosts. It also sets up some interesting diplomatic situations, as your neighbors may each adopt a different religion based in your civilization. Being spiritual here is very helpful, so you can change your religions as needed for diplomatic reasons. The spam also presents the option of building multiple holy shrines for even more income.
Unlike the original SoaL game (played on Vanilla v. 1.0 and at Noble difficulty, IIRC), getting Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism is next to impossible at Monarch+ difficulty in BTS. Thus if you want to religion spam, you will probably have to use beelining, the Oracle, and lightbulbing to get three or more religions.
For example, you could get Hinduism early, beeline to Monotheism, build the Oracle and try to grab Theology/Christianity or Code of Laws/Confucianism, then use the Oracle Great Prophet to build a holy shrine or three. Remember that Divine Right/Islam flows from Theology, and that Philosophy/Taoism is just a short jump from Literature.
Realistically, founding more than 3 religions is very hard at higher difficulty levels. Putting the effort in to get Theology/Christianity, for instance, will likely preclude you from getting Philosophy/Taoism.
Lastly, as in the SOAL game, you may want to consider not adopting a state religion right away if you religion-spam, simply to keep your diplomatic powder dry. While you won't get the state religion happiness boost (and other religious civics boosts), you can still build (cheap Spiritual) temples for each religion. Once you have picked a neighbor or two you wish to remain friendly with, you can match your religion to theirs and commence your holy wars. Of course, not adopting a state religion deprives you of many of benefits of religious civics, which undercuts the power of a Spiritual leader swapping between civics.
In my game, I researched Polytheism and Monotheism manually (I had nearby marble, so getting early Masonry was easier to justify), Oracled Theology, and lightbulbed Divine Right. I adopted Judaism after my nearest neighbor (Sury) converted.
Religious Spread
A key benefit of early religion is free religious spread. Most cities without a religion will eventually get a religion. You can increase the chance of free spread by hooking up your cities to the trade network and owning a holy shrine. Once a city has a religion, no religion will spread there for free -- a missionary is required. Thus, the sooner you get a religion and get connected to other civs, the better chance that your religion can spread at no additional cost to you.
That said, if you are committed to a religious strategy, you must also commit to producing at least some missionaries. You should think of these units as mini-merchants and diplomats, for that is what they are. I credit my first RPC win as Sitting Bull to converting an AI civ to my religion, then using him as a war ally against our religious adversaries.
If you religion spammed, building missionaries for each religion is a serious undertaking requiring 1-2 cities dedicated to the task. Maintaining open borders and good diplomacy is key during this phase. You will also need a few great prophets to build holy shrines
In my game, I spread Judaism to my own cities and a few neighbors, but didn't go wild with it, mainly because I wanted to keep control of the AP and needed the hammers elsewhere.
Diplomatic Aspects of Religion
Sharing a religion is one of the best ways to make friends. The converse is also true. You should carefully select your state religion based on the religions of your neighbors. It's also worth researching Alphabet and using your spies to convert your neighbors to the religion of your choice if they won't convert diplomatically. This can be used both offensively and defensively, to make neighbors happy, break religious blocs, and create enemies for your religious furor.
Suppose you have two religions and two neighbors. You spread both to each neighbors, and all three of you are running the same state religion. Switch to the other religion, send a spy to convert a neighbor to the other religion, and now your neighbors will not like each other, and you can adopt the religion of whatever side you choose. Throw in an AP holy war for good measure.
This is another hidden benefit of early religion; you can spread it with easy Open Borders treaties in the early game, before your neighbors adopt Theocracy (and become immune to missionaries) or close borders with you.
In my game, I managed to have a buffer zone of friendly Jewish allies between me and my main adversary, Buddhist Hannibal. Using the AP, I was able to keep Carthage in check by having constant war against him from most or all of the other civs. I fact Hannibal and I only actually engaged in one battle before the game ended. This had the additional effect of giving me bonus diplomatic benefits from "shared war." Even though Hannibal had a bigger army (and one vassal), I still won the game due to my diplomatic relations.
Happiness & Cultural Aspects of Religion
Each religion in a city grants +1 culture if there is no state religion. Temples add +1 culture, monasteries +2, and cathedrals +50%. These are substantial benefits whether you are in a land-grab mode, trying to maintain your border integrity, or are pursuing a culture victory.
Having a state religion adds +1 happiness in a city. Temples add +1 (regardless of state religion) and cathedrals +2 (or +3 with certain resources).
Thus, optimal cultural generation involves having no state religion, while happiness is highest by having a state religion. Either way, a religious civilization will likely have large cultural powerhouse cities, limited only by health.
In my game, Isabella ended up with many large cities due to the Expansive trait's health bonuses and cheap buildings. This vertical growth in turn supported the economy and boosted production.
Religion and Wonderspamming
Many wonders indirectly benefit a religious strategy, particularly those that generate great prophets. Prophets are key for building holy shrines and provide a significant early game hammer and gold boost. Prophets are also handy for lightbulbing expensive techs like Theocracy and Divine Right. And once you get Divine Right, you would be surprised to learn that Prophets can be used to lightbulb a lot of non-religious handy technologies.
Good "religious" wonders include Stonehenge, the Temple of Artemis, the Oracle, Sistine Chapel, Anghkor Wat, Notre Dame, the Spiral Minaret, the University of Sankore, Chichen Itza, and of course the Apostolic Palace.
The Apostolic Palace, in particular, is the crown jewel of religious wonders and efforts should be made to secure it if possible in a religious game. Just remember that your religious-swapping ways may come to an end once the AP is built; you may be loathe to lose control of the AP by switching to another faith.
In my game, due to having marble, I built the Temple of Artemis, Oracle, Spiral Minaret, AP, and the Colossus (I had a nice coastal location on a Pagaea map with several island cities).
Optimal starting techs and traits for the Religious Strategy
Spiritual is the obvious first choice here. Cheap temples and no-anarchy civics and religion changes are very powerful in a religious strategy. You can successfully pursue a religious strategy with a non-Spiritual leader but it will be suboptimal.
Other good choices include Expansive (more health supports bigger cities with high religious happy caps; cheap granaries and workers), Charismatic (more happiness for bigger cities), Imperialistic (cheap settlers help offset slower early production), Philosophical (more prophets!), and of course Financial for obvious reasons.
The best starting techs are Mysticism and Fishing, which frequently allows you to work a 2-commerce tile on turn 1. Of course, if you start with gems, gold, silver, riverside Wine or other 2-commerce tile adjacent to your capital, that works too.
Thus, we have the following leaders optimized for a religious strategy:
These leaders can pursue a religious strategy effectively but are hampered by either not being Spiritual or not starting with Mysticism:
Opening Strategy
Assume you have a leader, civ, and start that are conducive to pursuing an early religion or three.
There are three key elements to the opening strategy:
1. Get an early religion
2. Expand your empire sufficiently
3. Defend yourself from barbarians
This all sounds basic, but in practice it is tricky at higher levels. If you spend too much timing chasing religious techs, you will be dead meat when the barbs arrive and the AI civs will expand right up to your border while you were neglecting worker techs and expanding.
Dealing with barbarians can be accomplished in several ways: (1) build military units (2) spawn-busting (3) the Great Wall. Due to tech considerations, spawn-busting with warriors is probably the best choice if you are pursuing the religious strategy. On some maps and starts, barbarians are virtually a non-issue.
In my game, I was on the coast on a Pangaea map. Land-based barbarians were irrelevant, but I did have to build a navy to deal with barb galleys. I eventually had four galleys and four triremes to deal with sea lane defense.
I also had an easier time in the expansion aspect of the game as most of my expansion was on islands; other than founding my second city, I was not competing with the AI for land for most of the game.
Lastly, I managed to worker-steal early on against Pacal, which greatly aided my early game development, freeing up Madrid to build workboats and harvest my seafood, which in turn boosted my religious research.
Early Religion at Monarch and above
Early religion is generally frowned upon by experienced players in favor of going for military and worker techs. At higher difficulty levels, going for an early religion is even more problematic due to the difficulty in beating the AI to the religion-granting tech and the delay in expansion caused by beelining religious techs.
To get a religion-granting tech first at Monarch+ difficulty, it is best if you start the game with Mysticism and have a commerce tile to work early (gold, gems, oasis, coast, seafood, lake, floodplain, etc.) It is also helpful to be Financial, to get an extra beaker early from the commerce tile you are working. Due to the AI's production advantages, you generally have a better shot at getting Polytheism/Hinduism than Meditation/Buddhism unless you have a superb commerce tile to work right away. And of course trying for Polytheism first has the additional benefit that if you miss Hinduism, you still have a shot at Judaism (by taking Masonry and Monotheism). I am not saying that Buddhism is impossible to get, just that you can find yourself losing the Meditation race fairly often, in which case you are now even further behind the AIs that were going for Hinduism and/or Judaism from the start.
Early religion is also going to be dictated by the opposition. If you draw a lot of warmongers, you have a much better shot at getting an early religion, since few of them start with Mysticism or are inclined to go for early religion. Of course, unless you set up a custom game and know your opposition, you won't know who the AIs are at this stage in the game.
Early religion is handy for several reasons. You deny it from the AI; you get free culture and happiness; you get free religious spread to cities without religion; you get an opportunity to build a holy shrine for culture, cash, and specialists; and it can give you major diplomatic benefits.
In my game, I founded Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam ... and missed Taoism and Confucianism by one turn each.
Religion-Spamming
A core feature of the classic Spain on a Lake game was the use of religion-spamming. The players managed to get all three early religions right out of the gate due to Madrid's superior commerce production and Isabella's starting techs. Their difficulty level was also fairly low (Noble) and the game's AI was different then. Still, it was a fun and impressive feat.
There are several benefits to religion-spamming: denial to the AI, and huge cultural, happiness, and potential cash boosts. It also sets up some interesting diplomatic situations, as your neighbors may each adopt a different religion based in your civilization. Being spiritual here is very helpful, so you can change your religions as needed for diplomatic reasons. The spam also presents the option of building multiple holy shrines for even more income.
Unlike the original SoaL game (played on Vanilla v. 1.0 and at Noble difficulty, IIRC), getting Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism is next to impossible at Monarch+ difficulty in BTS. Thus if you want to religion spam, you will probably have to use beelining, the Oracle, and lightbulbing to get three or more religions.
For example, you could get Hinduism early, beeline to Monotheism, build the Oracle and try to grab Theology/Christianity or Code of Laws/Confucianism, then use the Oracle Great Prophet to build a holy shrine or three. Remember that Divine Right/Islam flows from Theology, and that Philosophy/Taoism is just a short jump from Literature.
Realistically, founding more than 3 religions is very hard at higher difficulty levels. Putting the effort in to get Theology/Christianity, for instance, will likely preclude you from getting Philosophy/Taoism.
Lastly, as in the SOAL game, you may want to consider not adopting a state religion right away if you religion-spam, simply to keep your diplomatic powder dry. While you won't get the state religion happiness boost (and other religious civics boosts), you can still build (cheap Spiritual) temples for each religion. Once you have picked a neighbor or two you wish to remain friendly with, you can match your religion to theirs and commence your holy wars. Of course, not adopting a state religion deprives you of many of benefits of religious civics, which undercuts the power of a Spiritual leader swapping between civics.
In my game, I researched Polytheism and Monotheism manually (I had nearby marble, so getting early Masonry was easier to justify), Oracled Theology, and lightbulbed Divine Right. I adopted Judaism after my nearest neighbor (Sury) converted.
Religious Spread
A key benefit of early religion is free religious spread. Most cities without a religion will eventually get a religion. You can increase the chance of free spread by hooking up your cities to the trade network and owning a holy shrine. Once a city has a religion, no religion will spread there for free -- a missionary is required. Thus, the sooner you get a religion and get connected to other civs, the better chance that your religion can spread at no additional cost to you.
That said, if you are committed to a religious strategy, you must also commit to producing at least some missionaries. You should think of these units as mini-merchants and diplomats, for that is what they are. I credit my first RPC win as Sitting Bull to converting an AI civ to my religion, then using him as a war ally against our religious adversaries.
If you religion spammed, building missionaries for each religion is a serious undertaking requiring 1-2 cities dedicated to the task. Maintaining open borders and good diplomacy is key during this phase. You will also need a few great prophets to build holy shrines
In my game, I spread Judaism to my own cities and a few neighbors, but didn't go wild with it, mainly because I wanted to keep control of the AP and needed the hammers elsewhere.
Diplomatic Aspects of Religion
Sharing a religion is one of the best ways to make friends. The converse is also true. You should carefully select your state religion based on the religions of your neighbors. It's also worth researching Alphabet and using your spies to convert your neighbors to the religion of your choice if they won't convert diplomatically. This can be used both offensively and defensively, to make neighbors happy, break religious blocs, and create enemies for your religious furor.
Suppose you have two religions and two neighbors. You spread both to each neighbors, and all three of you are running the same state religion. Switch to the other religion, send a spy to convert a neighbor to the other religion, and now your neighbors will not like each other, and you can adopt the religion of whatever side you choose. Throw in an AP holy war for good measure.
This is another hidden benefit of early religion; you can spread it with easy Open Borders treaties in the early game, before your neighbors adopt Theocracy (and become immune to missionaries) or close borders with you.
In my game, I managed to have a buffer zone of friendly Jewish allies between me and my main adversary, Buddhist Hannibal. Using the AP, I was able to keep Carthage in check by having constant war against him from most or all of the other civs. I fact Hannibal and I only actually engaged in one battle before the game ended. This had the additional effect of giving me bonus diplomatic benefits from "shared war." Even though Hannibal had a bigger army (and one vassal), I still won the game due to my diplomatic relations.
Happiness & Cultural Aspects of Religion
Each religion in a city grants +1 culture if there is no state religion. Temples add +1 culture, monasteries +2, and cathedrals +50%. These are substantial benefits whether you are in a land-grab mode, trying to maintain your border integrity, or are pursuing a culture victory.
Having a state religion adds +1 happiness in a city. Temples add +1 (regardless of state religion) and cathedrals +2 (or +3 with certain resources).
Thus, optimal cultural generation involves having no state religion, while happiness is highest by having a state religion. Either way, a religious civilization will likely have large cultural powerhouse cities, limited only by health.
In my game, Isabella ended up with many large cities due to the Expansive trait's health bonuses and cheap buildings. This vertical growth in turn supported the economy and boosted production.
Religion and Wonderspamming
Many wonders indirectly benefit a religious strategy, particularly those that generate great prophets. Prophets are key for building holy shrines and provide a significant early game hammer and gold boost. Prophets are also handy for lightbulbing expensive techs like Theocracy and Divine Right. And once you get Divine Right, you would be surprised to learn that Prophets can be used to lightbulb a lot of non-religious handy technologies.
Good "religious" wonders include Stonehenge, the Temple of Artemis, the Oracle, Sistine Chapel, Anghkor Wat, Notre Dame, the Spiral Minaret, the University of Sankore, Chichen Itza, and of course the Apostolic Palace.
The Apostolic Palace, in particular, is the crown jewel of religious wonders and efforts should be made to secure it if possible in a religious game. Just remember that your religious-swapping ways may come to an end once the AP is built; you may be loathe to lose control of the AP by switching to another faith.
In my game, due to having marble, I built the Temple of Artemis, Oracle, Spiral Minaret, AP, and the Colossus (I had a nice coastal location on a Pagaea map with several island cities).
Optimal starting techs and traits for the Religious Strategy
Spiritual is the obvious first choice here. Cheap temples and no-anarchy civics and religion changes are very powerful in a religious strategy. You can successfully pursue a religious strategy with a non-Spiritual leader but it will be suboptimal.
Other good choices include Expansive (more health supports bigger cities with high religious happy caps; cheap granaries and workers), Charismatic (more happiness for bigger cities), Imperialistic (cheap settlers help offset slower early production), Philosophical (more prophets!), and of course Financial for obvious reasons.
The best starting techs are Mysticism and Fishing, which frequently allows you to work a 2-commerce tile on turn 1. Of course, if you start with gems, gold, silver, riverside Wine or other 2-commerce tile adjacent to your capital, that works too.
Thus, we have the following leaders optimized for a religious strategy:
- Isabella (Spiritual/Expansive; Mysticism + Fishing paired with a lake/coastal start). Arguably, Isabella is the best for the strategy due to the ease of finding workable lake/coast tiles on turn 1. Expansive just makes her that much better to get out workers and grow her cities early.
- Monty or Brennus (Spiritual/Aggressive or Charismatic; Mysticism + Hunting paired with a furs start)
- Gandhi or Asoka (Spiritual/Philosophical or Organized; Mysticism + Mining)
- Saladin (Spiritual/Protective; Mysticism + Wheel). Madrassa a bonus for early prophet generation.
- Justinian (Spiritual/Imperialistic; Mysticism + Wheel).
These leaders can pursue a religious strategy effectively but are hampered by either not being Spiritual or not starting with Mysticism:
- Ramesses or Hatty (Spiritual/Industrious or Creative; Agriculture + Wheel)
- Mansa Musa (Spiritual/Financial; Mining + the Wheel)
- Huayna Capac (Industrious/Financial; Mysticism + Agriculture)
- Wang Kon (Financial/Protective; Mysticism + Mining)
- Pacal (Financial/Expansive; Mysticism + Mining)
Opening Strategy
Assume you have a leader, civ, and start that are conducive to pursuing an early religion or three.
There are three key elements to the opening strategy:
1. Get an early religion
2. Expand your empire sufficiently
3. Defend yourself from barbarians
This all sounds basic, but in practice it is tricky at higher levels. If you spend too much timing chasing religious techs, you will be dead meat when the barbs arrive and the AI civs will expand right up to your border while you were neglecting worker techs and expanding.
Dealing with barbarians can be accomplished in several ways: (1) build military units (2) spawn-busting (3) the Great Wall. Due to tech considerations, spawn-busting with warriors is probably the best choice if you are pursuing the religious strategy. On some maps and starts, barbarians are virtually a non-issue.
In my game, I was on the coast on a Pangaea map. Land-based barbarians were irrelevant, but I did have to build a navy to deal with barb galleys. I eventually had four galleys and four triremes to deal with sea lane defense.
I also had an easier time in the expansion aspect of the game as most of my expansion was on islands; other than founding my second city, I was not competing with the AI for land for most of the game.
Lastly, I managed to worker-steal early on against Pacal, which greatly aided my early game development, freeing up Madrid to build workboats and harvest my seafood, which in turn boosted my religious research.
