What cool things can I do with religion?

[CoconutTank]

More specifically, can my religion evolve any further once it's maxed out on tenets and holy sites\?

So far, it seems like once I reach that point, I can't get any further fame or mechanical growth from my religion. At which point, it sounds like it might be better to just get State Atheism at that point? I can't pick tenets or build holy sites, but if I'm maxed out on both it doesn't matter right?

I'm not necessarily discouraged by this; I'm assuming this combines well with Religious Hostility for building up excuses to swing a stick. Just mostly curious if going for State Atheism + Religious Hostility is the usual end game for religion (at least when it comes to warfare) or if there's anything else it can do.

 

[Siptah]

I haven‘t abolished my religion since quite a few patches ago. Is it any good now?

I often play religious focused to get the tenets I want, and in the later stages of the game (especially if I had some faith producing EQs) at least half of my claims come from religion. So my religion end game is more religion

 

[CoconutTank]

Yeah that's basically what I'm wondering about, what am I supposed to do with religion after it's maxed out on tenets and holy sites? If it's mostly just to generate grievance and ways to either steal regions or go to war, then alright, I guess I didn't miss anything.

I also haven't tried running Secularism nor Atheism yet, so I'm not actually sure if it's worth doing. I'm mostly just theorizing its supposed synergy with Religious Hostility, though I think "Hersey" and "Opium of the Masses" are different applicable grievances?

 

[Saxo Grammaticus]

I also tend to focus on religion, but in games where it is a fun challenge, the four tiers might come together all at once in the Early Modern, and where I am a frontrunner from the start, I can often breeze through those tiers very early on. Either way, it is too easy to reach the limits. I have not yet tried Secularism or Atheism either, but now I am thinking, why not give it a go? Thanks!

 

[CoconutTank]

Coming back to this, but again, is faith basically a dead resource past mid game? The only use that comes to mind is to build Angkor Wat and convert faith into food, but that seems to be it. I'm not sure if there's much merit in faith-only bonuses like those from Notre Dame or Saint Basil's Cathedral.

 

[Siptah]

There's a mod that improves the secularization & state atheism choices, adding some bonus % to all fame. This makes it an interesting decision to abolish religion. Otherwise, I still think the bonus from the tenets and the free claims are almost always the better choice compared to abolishing your religion.

 

[CoconutTank]

And yeah, there was one game that forced me to choose Secularism in order to fit in with my neighbors. I decided to try it out since it'd be free, but I also found that it wasn't worth losing the bonuses from my religion.

But anyway, it sounds like getting more faith late game is generally pointless

 

[Siptah]

Maybe we could have a (late game) civic in the government branch that turns your state into a religious state (unlocking more stages of tenets? Money from districts that produce faith?) or a religious society (Giving stability/influence based on faith output?). Would probably be situational to unlock it and to really invest in one of the choices, but it could be a late game faith use.