Where are the religious civs?

[Sufyan]

It is true that Judaism was very influential in world history (mostly by being a precursor to Christianity and Islam), but if someone curiously claims that there are exactly three major faiths (as jsciv69 did), then Judaism shouldn't be one of them.

 

[Mort_Q]

I'm surprised that Frederick Barbossa doesn't have a religion tie-in. Maybe they just haven't mentioned it?

 

[jsciv69]

It is true that Judaism was very influential in world history (mostly by being a precursor to Christianity and Islam), but if someone curiously claims that there are exactly three major faiths (as jsciv69 did), then Judaism shouldn't be one of them.

The Jewish faith is still prominant expecially in America. Perhaps I misjudged how large it is worldwide. But since it is the root of both Christianity and Islam , as well as influentual among Mormons and others, it still holds sway.

 

[Haggbart]

As mentioned above, several of the leaders not yet announced by Firaxis are a natural fit for religious bonuses.

However interviews I've read with the devs suggest that they want cVI to have more flexibility in your play than CiV. They mentioned government/social policies as an example of a flexible system for refocusing, and talked about how you did not need to decide on victory condition in the beginning of the game.

Also, from the civs that have been revealed so far, it seems that most have diverse bonuses, and I will take a guess that since religion becomes available early on, and since a huge early game religious/faith bonus can shoehorn you into playing for one victory type, that early game religious bonuses will be rather small. There might be bigger bonuses tied to later buildings or enhancing religion, which is comparable to tourism bonuses we've seen some civs get in the late game.

But it would be surprising for me if we get an early religious powerhouse civ ala the Celts in CiV, where both the UA and UU are geared towards religious play right of the bat.

 

[Gintoki89]

I'd say Japan and Brazil should definitely be considered potential religious civs - Japan because Holy Sites can be built in half the time and, like all their districts, can benefit from the strengthened adjacency boosts, and Brazil because they have possible the highest early faith potential depending on the rainforest territory as well as the Great Prophet being cheaper.

And like others have said, I'd be surprised if civs like Arabia, Spain, and others don't have some kind of faith boost, so I'm sure there will be plenty to stand out.

 

[isau]

Arabia will surely be a religious powerhouse. Probably India this time too.

Remember the only reason India didn't have this in Civ V was they actually existed before Religion was reintroduced into the game.

Civ IVs version of religion was... quite different. But India was pretty spiritual there, at least in terms of AI flavors.

 

[Colmar]

I do find it odd to have a religious victory as a concept with only two Civs from the Middle East. This is the area that gave rise to three of the world's major faiths. The fact that Persia and Babylon have been excluded is cause for wonder. That Jerusalem is featured as merely a city-state is also very curious if religious victories are to be in the game.

I think that Jerusalem would not make any sense not being a city-state, especially in terms of a "religious victory." Jerusalem's most important role is of a city that is contested by three different groups throughout history. Rarely was Jerusalem in control of its own land, or religion.

When we're talking about Christianity and Islam, it was outside groups that really controlled the religion and used it to benefit (the Arabs and several Europeans), not Jerusalem. Jerusalem's strongest link of political-religious power is of course Judaism, and there's no way one could say that Judaism had goals of religious victory or has achieved some sort of hegemonic hold on religion.

 

[Martinus]

The Jewish faith is still prominant expecially in America. Perhaps I misjudged how large it is worldwide. But since it is the root of both Christianity and Islam , as well as influentual among Mormons and others, it still holds sway.

But then Judaism comes from influences of Babylonian, Phoenician and Egyptian religions as well - and one wouldn't claim these religions are influential today.

 

[Dehumanizer]

But then Judaism comes from influences of Babylonian, Phoenician and Egyptian religions as well - and one wouldn't claim these religions are influential today.

That's not really correct. Judaism is very different in its core from the religions you mentioned. Also, Judaism didn't just "influence" Christianity and Islam - they are based on Judaism. They share the same basic principles, the same prophets, etc.

 

[King Jason]

How come the table didn't factor in the fact that Hojo builds holy sites in half the time? This would result in him beating many others to first religions due to the Great Prophet points being generated earlier than other civs if you're shooting for a religion. Not to mention you can get your faith output online quicker than other civs in general.

 

[Abraxis]

There are plenty more faith bonuses currently than gold bonuses, I'm wondering where the trade and commercial district focused empires are. So far there is only Egypt, and she seems like she'll be too busy trying to build wonders (Petra and pyramids most likely) to really focus on developing an early trade city.

Of the unannounced civs, the only ones who seem like they could be gold focused are Arabia and Spain, but this really conflicts with all the speculation here.