Viability of aiming solely for later religions?

[DystopianYuri]

I've been reading up on Civ4 to try and get a feel for what the game will be like when I can get it (I'm a mac user so I've got some long months ahead of me) and I've been wondering about the viability of a more "thematic" approach to the game. More specifically, I've been wondering how basing a game around discovering and propagating (whether by prophet or sword) a single religion.

Now, with the earlier religions I don't see much of a problem. Say I wanted to found a great empire dedicated to Shiva, I'd pick Asoka (I know I'm silly but I like the idea of the civilizations associated with a religion founding it), rush to get Hinduism and sweep onwards from there. The earlier the religion comes the easier it is both to maintain your state and convert others. With a few choice wars, you can also raise the holy cities of other religions before they spread too far then mop up the other heathens.

It's basing a state solely around a later religion that worries me. Say I was playing Saladin and I wanted to spread Islam to the four corners of the globe. Now, to found a wholly Islamic state, I'd have to hold off on discovering other religions (easy) whilst expanding without the cultural and happiness boost of an early religion (challenging but doable) and keep my borders firmly closed and guarded to prevent the spread of other religions (again, challenging but doable). Now, the impression I've gotten from reading the forums is that actively closing my borders whilst dodging religions prior to Islam will ****** my economy to a serious degree, possibly to the point where I fall woefully behind in the tech race and possibly can't even found my chosen religion, let alone make it the dominant one on the planet.

However, as I said at the start I don't have the game making this entire post 100% theorycraft. So, I'm hoping that someone has tried this, or at least something similar, and can tell me just how difficult it would be to create a solely Islamic, or for that matter a Confucian or Taoist, state.

 

[Speciou5]

Other than historical fun, why exactly do you want for a sole religion (especially a late one?) I can't think of any advantages, as you can simply convert your state religion later and spread the religion into every city you control. Then you can spread the later religions to your neighbours but it will be more challenging as you'll probably have worse relations with them and you have to compete with already established ones (slows down the spread). Otherwise there really is no gain in only having a single later religion as your cities will function just as well with multiple religions (even better since you get more temples!) and neighbours will like you better if you can convert them to your later religion.

And, as you've already figured out, it is more challenging to compete with the earlier religions. If you want to do the pure religion thing, you'll have to close borders until you grab the Theology (for the civic) which will hurt early game. Otherwise, yes it is possible to play the religion game with a later religion. And the early game hurt that can be fixed by warmongering at the beginning .

 

[ndthsmdy]

My game has this nifty little bug where it crashes if I try to convert a city or build a shrine , so I've been playing so far without founding ANY religions.

I'd say your vision is possible, depending on which civ you play as and where you start. The civ you pick is very important: you would not believe how much easier foregoing religion is if you do it as Cathy (Cre/Fin). Aggressive civs with easy access to iron work nicely as well. Saladin...not so much.

In the end I think it would come down to building enough of an advantage with the time that you don't spend spreading your early religion to be in a good position to take off with your late religion.

 

[DystopianYuri]

Historical fun is the sole point of this idea. After I finally beat Civ3 on deity, variants and thematic games kept me hooked for a very long time and I tend to find whenever I play now that not having some kind of variant handicap makes the game boring for me.

Besides, this idea has really been growing on me. In fact, I think I'll write it up as a variant challenge for anyone who wants to try it out. Here goes...

The Crusader Variant
Overview:
- Chose one religion and spread it throughout your empire, and then, the world!
- This variant is best suited for a variation on always war, aiming for a domination or conquest victory. Never the less, any victory mode should be possible.

The Rules:
- Chose your desired religion at the start of the game. For a moderate challenge chose an ancient religion, for a hard one chose a medieval one.
- Do not found any other religion.
- Do not adopt any other religion nor allow them to spread within your borders.
- You may spread your religion peacefully but beware not to brake the above rule in doing so.
- The holy cities of all other religions must be destroyed.

For an added challenge:
- Chose a civilization that historically matches your religion, regardless of how its traits would help or impede this variant.
- Any city that follows another religion must be razed, not occupied.
- You may not go to war with any civilization that adopts your religion. If they declare war on you you can protect your borders but must try and restore peace as soon as possible.

If anyone finds this idea appealing and wants to try it out I'd love to hear how it goes for you.

 

[dh_epic]

You don't have to avoid all the other religions before you discover Islam. I'm pretty sure that in real life, the Arab people had Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian roots. Islam just showed up and became the religion of choice. In terms of the game, that means you can have minority religions in your borders before you pick up a late game religion. Heck, your state religion could be Buddhism for years until you discover Taoism.

Generally speaking, in any game, the religion the human chooses can become the world's most powerful religion. The human is the only personality with enough perseverance to build that many missionaries.

I've seen all the religions -- except Islam -- become the #1 religion in the game. Sometimes it's better to grab other non-religious techs at the start, get an advantage in another department, and then pick up a later religion.