I had thought I had done this one, but guess not. So lets take a look at Pantheons.
My usual guide:
A - Religion is good as is.
C - Religion is a little too weak or too strong, or just not interesting enough.
F - Religion is too weak or too strong, and needs some love.
Ancestor Worship: +1 Faith/3 citizens. +2 culture from councils.
(A). This one is fine as is. Scale decently well, can give some good culture early.
Earth Mother: +1 Faith/Gold from Mines on Improved Resources. +2 Production from Monuments.
(C). I think this one is close. The prod bonus is nice and comes easier than some other pantheons. However, it gets no starting faith. I don't mind that, but this isn't enough payout to be worth it.
God of All Creation: +2 Faith in Capital. +1 culture and happiness for Pantheon Founded (caps at 8).
(A). Still the best default belief to me. Some are stronger in some scenarios, but this one is never bad, and tends to get its bonuses quickly which makes it great. The difference is now some of the other pantheons scale better late game making them more competitive.
That said, I wonder if its worth dropping to +1 Faith and making it a more Faith-Lite Pantheon...its culture bonus is really good and comes very quickly in the game.
God of Commerce: +1 Faith per 30 GPT. +3 Faith/+2 Gold in Cities with a City Connection.
(N/A). Never taken this one myself. I actually think Goddess of Wisdom trumps this one (I can't remember is the GPT is before or after expenses...that makes a big difference). The issue here is that while the faith from connections is good, connections tend to come pretty late, and your going without any faith for a while. On the other hand, this actually encourages you to get those connections earlier.
God of Craftsmen: +1 production/+1 gold from Quarries/Stone Works. +3 Faith in Cities with a specialist.
(C). I want to like this one. For a Tradition player its got the early faith you want. I like more hammers especially...but there are just better choices out there. I sometimes feel that this and earth mother should be combined (+3 faith from cities with a specialist, +2 prod from monuments).
God of the Expanse: +25% faster border growth. Gain 20 Faith when a city expands its border (Era Scale).
(C). Ultimately the question is, with a border expand strategy (which is why you would take this)...does the late game faith pan out? In theory this might be a great mid to late game faith generator compared to some others.
Now that polices have been changed where some border expansion policy strategies might be worth playing around with (A Tradition 2/Honor 2/Piety 3 kind of thing), this might be an A in niche scenarios.
God of the Open Sky: +1 Culture for every 2 Plains or Grassland tiles (without hills or features) worked by a city. +1 faith and gold from pastures.
(F). So the key here is that after clarification, this bonus does not apply to a bonus resource on a grass or plains tile. So early game you are unlikely to use it. Even later game, it takes 16 tiles to get the same culture bonus as God of all Creation...and we don't get happiness. The pastures bonus is decent because pastures are very common, but its too late for this to pay off.
God of the Sea: +1 Faith/+1 Production from Fishing Boats and Atolls. +3 food in coastal cities.
(A). This is one of my favorites, and is good example of what a faith-lite pantheon should look like. Early game, you are going to have to work to get your religion going with this pantheon, but it gives you a solid growth bonus is return, and helps make coastal or island cities much more production with the extra hammers.
God of the Stars and Sky: +1 Faith, +2 culture, and +2 production from Tundra Tiles with Improved Resources.
(N/A). Some people think its great, others think its most OP thing in this list. I can't remember that last time I got a tundra start and could really try this out, it certainly looks amazing for that type of start.
God of the Sun: +2 Food, +1 gold from Granaries. +1 Faith and +2 culture from Farms on Wheat.
(A). Another good Faith-Lite pantheon. You get a solid food bonus to a very common building, but really its the culture that makes this thing worth it. If you get wheat early on, its always on the list.
God of War: +50% increase in ranged combat strength. Gain faith if you win a battle.
(N/A) Never taken this one. Now one question is with power warring, does the bonus here beat the faith of God of the Expanse? If not, than its the city ranged strength vs faster border growth. +50% ranged strength is no joke, but its not the bonus I usually want. This might have good synergy with Aztecs or Celts perhaps.
God-King: +1 culture, faith, gold, and science for every 8 followers of your pantheon in owned cities.
(A). Now one clarification I want to check here. It says only from owned cities, I actually thought this one was all cities?
Going from what it actually says. This is a faith-lite pantheon, so it needs to have a strong scaling to make it worth it. Ultimately there are pantheons that provide more faith and culture, and pantheons that provide better gold and science...but this one does it all.
I certainly don't think this one is OP anymore, and it takes a very wide playstyle to make it worth it, but it has its niche.
Goddess of Beauty: +2 faith and +1 culture from World Wonders. +15% production for Pre-Renaissance Wonders.
(C). I am basing this pantheon on the assumption that you get it with Stonehenge. Even with that, its just ok. At this point in the game, culture often drives the speed of wonder building more than hammers. Therefore culture driven pantheons actually have as much if not more advantage in getting those wonders.
The one sneaky benefit of this pantheon is it get converted into tourism late game, which is a nice little side benefit, and what keeps it a C for me.
Goddess of Fertility: +1 food and +1 faith from shrines/wells. +15% growth rate.
(C). Basically you are picking this to commit to a strong growth strategy...but in an area without rivers, which can make that tricky. Its also not the strongest faith generator. I think there are better ones to do the job, I also agree with others that it should add to watermills too. Its already a narrow niche, it doesn't need to be that narrow.
Goddess of Festivals. +1 Faith, +2 culture, and +2 gold for each unique luxury you control.
(A). The faith tone down I think brought it down from OP status. It is still a great pantheon, still one of the best to me, but its no longer completely automatic.
Goddess of Love: +10 faith and +10 GAP for each citizen born (Era Scale).
(F). Ultimately I think there are many pantheons that do this better. God of all Creation will give more GAP overall with the happiness, lots of pantheons give more faith overall. (I think god of the expanse gives better burst faith).
This one just doesn't have anything solid going for it.
Goddess of Nature: +1 Faith and Culture for every 2 mountains within 3 tiles of a city. +3 Faith and +2 culture for Natural Wonders.
(F). I know others like this one, I just do not see the appeal. Ancestor Worship can bag me more culture and faith overall than this one, even with heavy mountain areas. Natural Wonders I just don't find commonly enough to settle to be worth it....maybe its the maps I play?
I guess if you have the unique spot where you start out surrounded by mountains AND natural wonders in close reach than this becomes worth it....maybe. I just feel like there are other pantheons that give as much of a burst, and scale better long term than this one.
Goddess of Protection: +10 hp healed in friendly territory. +1 culture and +1 faith to palace, walls, and barracks.
(N/A). I've been meaning to try this one. Ancestor Worship ultimately is stronger in culture and faith....but double healing is no joke for warring. I don't know, I wonder if this would be better to just take out and lump in with the defender of the faith reformation belief...which also needs some love.
Goddess of Purity: +1 food and faith on Lakes, Oasis, and Marshes. +1 happiness on rivers.
(C). There is a niche for this one, and that is for a strong capital play on a big lake with a river Ultimately I think a god of the sea or god of the sun will not you more food overall, but the faith can be nice and immediate (not requiring any work). The happiness is okay, hard to put all of your cities on rivers to get the same benefit as a God of All Creation. To me the marsh and oasis benefit is minimal, its really the lakes that could make this work.
I think overall there are better ones, but if I ever get that magical lake start I'll see how strong it really is.
Goddess of Renewal:+1 faith and +1 culture for every 2 jungle or 2 forest tiles worked by the city. +1 science and +1 faith from Herbalists.
(C). I think this is missing just one thing. Give it a +1 faith out of the box, and its good to go. Ultimately this is a niche one, but the niche is solid. I think it can be a decent one, it just needs a little starting faith to get it moving.
Goddess of Springtime: +1 Faith and +1 culture from Plantations. +2 gold from Markets.
(F). Plantations come later than many other improvements and take a while to build, so this one is a very faith-lite pantheon, and the payoff isn't worth the benefit. There are other pantheons that give more gold, more culture, and more faith (Goddess of Festivals for one).
It looks so tempting for those plantation heavy cities...but its not worth the payout.
Goddess of the Hunt: +1 Faith, +1 Food, and +1 culture from Camps.
(A). Perfect. Camps come decently early, and there are many starts that have a lot of camps in the area. This gives a nice suite of benefits, nicely balanced, one of my favorites.
Goddess of Wisdom: +1 faith for every 15 science per turn. +1 science and +2 faith in every city.
(A, maybe C for OP). I've been trying this one out lately, and man is it good. It actually gives quite a bit of early faith, getting your second city (which you will likely do early) already gives you +4 faith with this guy, and then once you hit your first 15 science that's +5 faith....that's a great platform to build a religion. In fact, I don't think any other pantheon can really match its early game Faith with the possible exception of God of Commerce if you push those early connections or are Carthage.
The science is a good bonus this early in the game, though tapers off later. However, the Faith scaling for this belief is also quite good, not hard to get +50-+60 faith out of this later in the game. Only ancestor worship or goddess of the expanse with crazy border growth is likely going to net you those kind of numbers.
My usual guide:
A - Religion is good as is.
C - Religion is a little too weak or too strong, or just not interesting enough.
F - Religion is too weak or too strong, and needs some love.
Ancestor Worship: +1 Faith/3 citizens. +2 culture from councils.
(A). This one is fine as is. Scale decently well, can give some good culture early.
Earth Mother: +1 Faith/Gold from Mines on Improved Resources. +2 Production from Monuments.
(C). I think this one is close. The prod bonus is nice and comes easier than some other pantheons. However, it gets no starting faith. I don't mind that, but this isn't enough payout to be worth it.
God of All Creation: +2 Faith in Capital. +1 culture and happiness for Pantheon Founded (caps at 8).
(A). Still the best default belief to me. Some are stronger in some scenarios, but this one is never bad, and tends to get its bonuses quickly which makes it great. The difference is now some of the other pantheons scale better late game making them more competitive.
That said, I wonder if its worth dropping to +1 Faith and making it a more Faith-Lite Pantheon...its culture bonus is really good and comes very quickly in the game.
God of Commerce: +1 Faith per 30 GPT. +3 Faith/+2 Gold in Cities with a City Connection.
(N/A). Never taken this one myself. I actually think Goddess of Wisdom trumps this one (I can't remember is the GPT is before or after expenses...that makes a big difference). The issue here is that while the faith from connections is good, connections tend to come pretty late, and your going without any faith for a while. On the other hand, this actually encourages you to get those connections earlier.
God of Craftsmen: +1 production/+1 gold from Quarries/Stone Works. +3 Faith in Cities with a specialist.
(C). I want to like this one. For a Tradition player its got the early faith you want. I like more hammers especially...but there are just better choices out there. I sometimes feel that this and earth mother should be combined (+3 faith from cities with a specialist, +2 prod from monuments).
God of the Expanse: +25% faster border growth. Gain 20 Faith when a city expands its border (Era Scale).
(C). Ultimately the question is, with a border expand strategy (which is why you would take this)...does the late game faith pan out? In theory this might be a great mid to late game faith generator compared to some others.
Now that polices have been changed where some border expansion policy strategies might be worth playing around with (A Tradition 2/Honor 2/Piety 3 kind of thing), this might be an A in niche scenarios.
God of the Open Sky: +1 Culture for every 2 Plains or Grassland tiles (without hills or features) worked by a city. +1 faith and gold from pastures.
(F). So the key here is that after clarification, this bonus does not apply to a bonus resource on a grass or plains tile. So early game you are unlikely to use it. Even later game, it takes 16 tiles to get the same culture bonus as God of all Creation...and we don't get happiness. The pastures bonus is decent because pastures are very common, but its too late for this to pay off.
God of the Sea: +1 Faith/+1 Production from Fishing Boats and Atolls. +3 food in coastal cities.
(A). This is one of my favorites, and is good example of what a faith-lite pantheon should look like. Early game, you are going to have to work to get your religion going with this pantheon, but it gives you a solid growth bonus is return, and helps make coastal or island cities much more production with the extra hammers.
God of the Stars and Sky: +1 Faith, +2 culture, and +2 production from Tundra Tiles with Improved Resources.
(N/A). Some people think its great, others think its most OP thing in this list. I can't remember that last time I got a tundra start and could really try this out, it certainly looks amazing for that type of start.
God of the Sun: +2 Food, +1 gold from Granaries. +1 Faith and +2 culture from Farms on Wheat.
(A). Another good Faith-Lite pantheon. You get a solid food bonus to a very common building, but really its the culture that makes this thing worth it. If you get wheat early on, its always on the list.
God of War: +50% increase in ranged combat strength. Gain faith if you win a battle.
(N/A) Never taken this one. Now one question is with power warring, does the bonus here beat the faith of God of the Expanse? If not, than its the city ranged strength vs faster border growth. +50% ranged strength is no joke, but its not the bonus I usually want. This might have good synergy with Aztecs or Celts perhaps.
God-King: +1 culture, faith, gold, and science for every 8 followers of your pantheon in owned cities.
(A). Now one clarification I want to check here. It says only from owned cities, I actually thought this one was all cities?
Going from what it actually says. This is a faith-lite pantheon, so it needs to have a strong scaling to make it worth it. Ultimately there are pantheons that provide more faith and culture, and pantheons that provide better gold and science...but this one does it all.
I certainly don't think this one is OP anymore, and it takes a very wide playstyle to make it worth it, but it has its niche.
Goddess of Beauty: +2 faith and +1 culture from World Wonders. +15% production for Pre-Renaissance Wonders.
(C). I am basing this pantheon on the assumption that you get it with Stonehenge. Even with that, its just ok. At this point in the game, culture often drives the speed of wonder building more than hammers. Therefore culture driven pantheons actually have as much if not more advantage in getting those wonders.
The one sneaky benefit of this pantheon is it get converted into tourism late game, which is a nice little side benefit, and what keeps it a C for me.
Goddess of Fertility: +1 food and +1 faith from shrines/wells. +15% growth rate.
(C). Basically you are picking this to commit to a strong growth strategy...but in an area without rivers, which can make that tricky. Its also not the strongest faith generator. I think there are better ones to do the job, I also agree with others that it should add to watermills too. Its already a narrow niche, it doesn't need to be that narrow.
Goddess of Festivals. +1 Faith, +2 culture, and +2 gold for each unique luxury you control.
(A). The faith tone down I think brought it down from OP status. It is still a great pantheon, still one of the best to me, but its no longer completely automatic.
Goddess of Love: +10 faith and +10 GAP for each citizen born (Era Scale).
(F). Ultimately I think there are many pantheons that do this better. God of all Creation will give more GAP overall with the happiness, lots of pantheons give more faith overall. (I think god of the expanse gives better burst faith).
This one just doesn't have anything solid going for it.
Goddess of Nature: +1 Faith and Culture for every 2 mountains within 3 tiles of a city. +3 Faith and +2 culture for Natural Wonders.
(F). I know others like this one, I just do not see the appeal. Ancestor Worship can bag me more culture and faith overall than this one, even with heavy mountain areas. Natural Wonders I just don't find commonly enough to settle to be worth it....maybe its the maps I play?
I guess if you have the unique spot where you start out surrounded by mountains AND natural wonders in close reach than this becomes worth it....maybe. I just feel like there are other pantheons that give as much of a burst, and scale better long term than this one.
Goddess of Protection: +10 hp healed in friendly territory. +1 culture and +1 faith to palace, walls, and barracks.
(N/A). I've been meaning to try this one. Ancestor Worship ultimately is stronger in culture and faith....but double healing is no joke for warring. I don't know, I wonder if this would be better to just take out and lump in with the defender of the faith reformation belief...which also needs some love.
Goddess of Purity: +1 food and faith on Lakes, Oasis, and Marshes. +1 happiness on rivers.
(C). There is a niche for this one, and that is for a strong capital play on a big lake with a river Ultimately I think a god of the sea or god of the sun will not you more food overall, but the faith can be nice and immediate (not requiring any work). The happiness is okay, hard to put all of your cities on rivers to get the same benefit as a God of All Creation. To me the marsh and oasis benefit is minimal, its really the lakes that could make this work.
I think overall there are better ones, but if I ever get that magical lake start I'll see how strong it really is.
Goddess of Renewal:+1 faith and +1 culture for every 2 jungle or 2 forest tiles worked by the city. +1 science and +1 faith from Herbalists.
(C). I think this is missing just one thing. Give it a +1 faith out of the box, and its good to go. Ultimately this is a niche one, but the niche is solid. I think it can be a decent one, it just needs a little starting faith to get it moving.
Goddess of Springtime: +1 Faith and +1 culture from Plantations. +2 gold from Markets.
(F). Plantations come later than many other improvements and take a while to build, so this one is a very faith-lite pantheon, and the payoff isn't worth the benefit. There are other pantheons that give more gold, more culture, and more faith (Goddess of Festivals for one).
It looks so tempting for those plantation heavy cities...but its not worth the payout.
Goddess of the Hunt: +1 Faith, +1 Food, and +1 culture from Camps.
(A). Perfect. Camps come decently early, and there are many starts that have a lot of camps in the area. This gives a nice suite of benefits, nicely balanced, one of my favorites.
Goddess of Wisdom: +1 faith for every 15 science per turn. +1 science and +2 faith in every city.
(A, maybe C for OP). I've been trying this one out lately, and man is it good. It actually gives quite a bit of early faith, getting your second city (which you will likely do early) already gives you +4 faith with this guy, and then once you hit your first 15 science that's +5 faith....that's a great platform to build a religion. In fact, I don't think any other pantheon can really match its early game Faith with the possible exception of God of Commerce if you push those early connections or are Carthage.
The science is a good bonus this early in the game, though tapers off later. However, the Faith scaling for this belief is also quite good, not hard to get +50-+60 faith out of this later in the game. Only ancestor worship or goddess of the expanse with crazy border growth is likely going to net you those kind of numbers.