What is your favorite religion?

[Onionsoilder]

I would have to say mine is Runes of Kilmorph. I really like the overall feel of it in-game, and the songs that play with it are really cool. I'm not a huge gold person, but I am a huge science person, and RoK often lets me run the tech slider on 100% while still earning a nice surplus. In addition, a lot of the philosphies of RoK have some meaning to me, mainly the dedication to your work, though the lack of charity is a little offputting. I'm also very parsimonius, which goes perfectly with RoK as well. Heck, if RoK was a real religion, I might actually follow it.

Second would probably by Empyrean. While I don't like the music that much(and I think the improvement art style is hideous and needs a makeover), it's still a pretty good religion. As I mentioned earlier, I'm a big science person, so the bonus from temples is nice. A few of the values here ring true as well.

 

[Treason]

When playing as any of the elves: Fellowship of Leaves.

When playing as the Amurites: Ashen Veil or Council of Esus.

..Other than that, I don't generally adopt a state religion.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

My favorite is OO. Decent music, favorite lore out of the bunch, strong enough to be viable and has a lot of synergy with some of my favorite civs.

Strongest is empyrean by far. All the defense you could want with blinding light spam, killer offense soon after you get it with Chalid, and becomes unstoppable on the attack once you get extra crown-casters. And science boosting on top of that to get you to those points quicker.

 

[JonathanStrange]

Fellowship of the Leaves. All sorts of benefits for Elves from giving them use of their "March of the Treants" World Spell, culture-bombing Disciples, Priests with Forest Bloom and Summon Tigers spells, Leaf Temples increasing Treant defense, High Priests who summon permanent Treants, religious heroes like Yvain and Kythiel, free drinks at Elven taverns, and much much more. Does this intrigue you? Would you like to subscribe to our newsletter?

 

[DarkxL0rd]

I always play FoL but voted Esus. it's just so cool!

 

[WCH]

I have no idea what Stewards of Inequity is, but that's my vote and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Itherael]

RoK for me as I just love it and often play the dwarves in a religious style.

OO is another good one, it always fits the bill just as I am getting tired of struggling to get a new civ to "work" for me.

 

[Micky Onimusha]

Thematically, Esus appeals to me most. In gameplay terms, RoK trumps it for me. Features in almost every game I play because that Gold boost does so much to help me maintain my empire

 

[zup]

In terms of lore Esus wins hands down. Riders of Nox Noctis are an awesome concept.

But Esus lacks cure disease so other religions beat them in the game.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I have no idea what Stewards of Inequity is, but that's my vote and I'm sticking to it.

The Stewards of Inequity are a religion devoted to Mammon. Mammon actually has more worshipers than any other god, but the vast majority of them have no idea that they serve the God of Greed. They think they are just looking out for themselves, which is how Mammon likes it. The Stewards are a secret society, similar to conspiracy theorists' version of the Masons and Illuminati. They use a lot for obscure symbols that honor Mammon, but only the highest up have a clue what these mean. Pretty much all Stewards are very wealthy, although none of them actually earned this wealth. They tend to be merchants, bankers, insurers, lawyers, and tax collectors. They probably invented the concepts of taxation, imminent domain, and fractional reserve banking, and if the game went on longer would probably invent fiat money too. There are Stewards in every civilization, but they have the most power among the Balseraphs. They aren't very concerned with the war between good and evil, they only care about staying obscenely wealthy without having to do any honest work. They gladly finance Bannor Crusades as well as their enemies wars, but charge exorbitant interest. As their name implies, they are devoted to maintaining or increasing inequity, making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Although they are not listed as a religion in the game, they do show up in at least one event, involving counter fitting. If they were implented as a religion, the Bazarr of Mammon would probably be their holy shrine. They are closely allied with the Council of Esus, but the Stewards are far more civilized and less violent. They only rarely order murders, and when they do they are careful to make sure it cannot be traced back to them. Most of what they do is technically legal (although it shouldn't be), as they have enough influence over lawmakers that they can get them to make a lot of little loopholes for them to abuse. Most members appear to be fine upstanding members of society.



Given that the Luonnatar, Stewards of Inequity, and Cult of the Dragon made the list, I'm a bit surprised that the Emrys did not. We may not know much about it other than that it is most popular among mages, it worships Ceridwen, and it is the most devoted to destroying the world, but in my mind it is one of the most interesting. I like to think of it as a dark Gnostic religion with some Buddhist elements, which admits the existence of The One but claims he was an evil demiurge and that Ceridwen is an older and greater power who came into Creation in order to liberate both men and gods from his tyranny. It may claim she killed The One already, which is why he hasn't been present for so long, but that those gods who would not see him for what he was continued to resist the freedom she offered. For a soul to find nirvana it must free itself from its attachments by destroying all it loves, and for the unwilling souls to find rest all that was created must be undone. I like to think that its teachings were made to mirror the truth so closely that when the Luonnatar began preaching everyone would think they brought the teachings of Ceridwen, so the most goodly nations would put a stop to it.

 

[Worm4life]

Ignoring civ specifics (elves with leaves)...


Pure early/mid game power: Octopus and Ashen Veil with drown/stygian/ritualist. Ashen Veil edges out OO later on though.

Empyrean: If someone beats you to Chalid there's not much bothering with this. The high priest spell is good but I'd rather get an AoE spell MUCH earlier with Ashen Veil ritualists.

Runes: Never tried it.

Order: I'm starting to think is the weakest religion. One decent and one good hero. Their other bonuses just don't stack up to the others.

Council of Esus: Tricky. It CAN be devastating against the AI, but is pretty worthless against human players. I take it when I'm wedged in by a civ I have no hope of taking on conventionally. Giddeon Gibbeon Glenngarry Glenn Ross can be the best hero in the game in this regard. Try to convince the civ to be at war with someone, then have GG take them over. Suicide their entire military against enemy cities then waltz in when you regain control of your civ. For extra meaness, set all his citizens to idle and let his cities starve.

Fellowship of Leaves: Pretty meh unless you're elves.

 

[cabbagemeister]

For economic power, RoK is amazing.

For military might, AV is probably the best, just because you can conquer just about anything by spamming enough Ritualists.

For coolness of the religion's lore, I'd have to go with OO. They're crrraaaaazy!

For "religion that I want to like but I can't stand playing", I'd go with Empyrean. The theme of the religion is really neat, but (1) Overcouncil is dumb, (2) Blinding Light spam is a silly way to wage war, and (3) the only real strength of the religion is Chalid, who's so much of an "I win" button that he's not fun to play with.

 

[Worm4life]

That's why it was funny in my last game when I kept right clicking Super Saverous (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=329880) to wipe out an enemy stack. By that point he was killing everything without taking any damage, but after that stack was wiped out I noticed something nicked him for 0.4 damage. Then I noticed "Chalid Astraken has been killed!" in the message box.

From then on I always refer to him as Chalid "speedbump" Astraken.

 

[loocas]

I have no idea what Stewards of Inequity is, but that's my vote and I'm sticking to it.

They are these guys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ-KZyniB4c

 

[JonathanStrange]

They are these guys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ-KZyniB4c

"Who keeps the Dwarves up most nights? Who helps the Elves win some fights? We do! We do!
Who controls the Balseraph crown? Who keeps the Luichirps' golems down? We do! We do!
Who sets inflation up so high? Who wants that Red Dragon Acheron to die? We do! We do!" -- Stewards of Inequity, sung to the tune of the "StoneCutters Song"

 

[Onionsoilder]

Given that the Luonnatar, Stewards of Inequity, and Cult of the Dragon made the list, I'm a bit surprised that the Emrys did not. We may not know much about it other than that it is most popular among mages, it worships Ceridwen, and it is the most devoted to destroying the world, but in my mind it is one of the most interesting. I like to think of it as a dark Gnostic religion with some Buddhist elements, which admits the existence of The One but claims he was an evil demiurge and that Ceridwen is an older and greater power who came into Creation in order to liberate both men and gods from his tyranny. It may claim she killed The One already, which is why he hasn't been present for so long, but that those gods who would not see him for what he was continued to resist the freedom she offered. For a soul to find nirvana it must free itself from its attachments by destroying all it loves, and for the unwilling souls to find rest all that was created must be undone. I like to think that its teachings were made to mirror the truth so closely that when the Luonnatar began preaching everyone would think they brought the teachings of Ceridwen, so the most goodly nations would put a stop to it.

Ah, see I wasn't aware of the existence of the Emrys, otherwise they would have made the list. That's why I added the 'other' option in.I'm sure there's a few more I'm missing as well...

 

[Aeon221]

The Stewards of Inequity are a religion devoted to Mammon. Mammon actually has more worshipers than any other god, but the vast majority of them have no idea that they serve the God of Greed. They think they are just looking out for themselves, which is how Mammon likes it. The Stewards are a secret society, similar to conspiracy theorists' version of the Masons and Illuminati. They use a lot for obscure symbols that honor Mammon, but only the highest up have a clue what these mean. Pretty much all Stewards are very wealthy, although none of them actually earned this wealth. They tend to be merchants, bankers, insurers, lawyers, and tax collectors. They probably invented the concepts of taxation, imminent domain, and fractional reserve banking, and if the game went on longer would probably invent fiat money too. There are Stewards in every civilization, but they have the most power among the Balseraphs. They aren't very concerned with the war between good and evil, they only care about staying obscenely wealthy without having to do any honest work. They gladly finance Bannor Crusades as well as their enemies wars, but charge exorbitant interest. As their name implies, they are devoted to maintaining or increasing inequity, making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Although they are not listed as a religion in the game, they do show up in at least one event, involving counter fitting. If they were implented as a religion, the Bazarr of Mammon would probably be their holy shrine. They are closely allied with the Council of Esus, but the Stewards are far more civilized and less violent. They only rarely order murders, and when they do they are careful to make sure it cannot be traced back to them. Most of what they do is technically legal (although it shouldn't be), as they have enough influence over lawmakers that they can get them to make a lot of little loopholes for them to abuse. Most members appear to be fine upstanding members of society.

Eminent domain.

So, did Ron Paul think up this religion?

 

[Opera]

I don't care much about gameplay, so it's Octopus Overlords. Aside from the slavery abuses, I really like it, especially the description Kael made of its temples in "Any redeeming quality for OO?" (in the FFH Lore forum). I would certainly be a follower of OO if it existed.

 

[cabbagemeister]

"Who keeps the Dwarves up most nights? Who helps the Elves win some fights? We do! We do!
Who controls the Balseraph crown? Who keeps the Luichirps' golems down? We do! We do!
Who sets inflation up so high? Who wants that Red Dragon Acheron to die? We do! We do!" -- Stewards of Inequity, sung to the tune of the "StoneCutters Song"

Hilarious.

 

[heisenberg]

RoK for me~
Its always kinda fun to run a priest early for the Tablets to run an engineer from it to rush the Mines for a very dead neighbour
But yea... its all about the , Arete , early Bambur, and the Mines... and not bothering about their religious units except maybe just a priest to cast their buff