[NFP] Which T3 religious building do you choose and why?

[Francel]

Assuming all choices are available, what do you usually select? Do you tend to pick the same one regardless, or is your choice contingent on other factors?

I am often unsure myself. I think the synagogue, wat, meeting house, and mosque are top contenders though.

-The fire temple, while cool, is just worse than the synagogue, given how faith scales over time, right?

-Amenities are like tap water and don’t really do much. Same for housing.

In retrospect, maybe the pagoda is best because the diplo favor can be sold for so much gold?

 

[8housesofelixir]

It really depends on particular situations.

If it seems I am lack behind science then Wat, if it seems I don't have much food then Gurdwara, if I have Work Ethnic then why should I choose Meeting House. On the other hand Cathedral is too niche to pick IMHO.

For warmongers and min/maxers then Pagoda is the best.

 

[CoconutTank]

I generally prefer Pagodas or Meeting Houses. In my experience, Meeting Houses tend to be picked up pretty quickly, but Pagodas are usually available for awhile. If I had to dip any further, then perhaps Wat or Synagogue.

To me, the Dar-e Mehr seems like the worst choice currently. Potentially a huge amount of faith yield, but depending on a Holy Site to stay safe from any disasters or pillagers for an entire session seems unreasonable. The Dar-e Mehr also has to stay intact for 3 or more eras before it has a better return than a Synagogue, but why not just choose the Synagogue for more consistent high faith yields.

Mosque is just kind of there. The bonus charge is generally more useful for Missionaries than for Apostles, though I wish Mosques did something for Gurus and Inquisitors as well. Not great, but at least its bonus doesn't just completely reset like with the Dar-e Mehrs.

I kind of wish there were more choices. What about a worship building that gives +2 faith per turn, but also gives +1 movement to any faith-bought unit in that city?

 

[ezzlar]

To me the choice has always been production, science or amenity depending on what my civ misses at the moment.

 

[LMT]

Wat if it's there, but it usually isn't.

So usually Mosque. I don't usually go for a RV, but I do like to spread my religion to another civ or two. Mosque helps wit that.

 

[Lord Lakely]

Amenity or Diplomatic favor. Synagogues and the Fire Temple are back-up choices. The rest only provide a weak +2 yield, why bother? They're garbage.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

This is one area where FXS have done a good job avoiding "one right answer", all of them have their place depending on how your game is going and what your aims are.

I chose Cathedral in a recent Culture game where the first artist was going to produce Religious Art.

 

[ezzlar]

Amenity or Diplomatic favor. Synagogues and the Fire Temple are back-up choices. The rest only provide a weak +2 yield, why bother? They're garbage.

There are many strategies/civs nowdays that can produce (work ethic) or buy (faith) those T3 buildings early game and with 6-7 cities a +14 science is not that bad. And early bonuses are valuable.

 

[Uberfrog]

To me, the Dar-e Mehr seems like the worst choice currently. Potentially a huge amount of faith yield, but depending on a Holy Site to stay safe from any disasters or pillagers for an entire session seems unreasonable. The Dar-e Mehr also has to stay intact for 3 or more eras before it has a better return than a Synagogue, but why not just choose the Synagogue for more consistent high faith yields.

I think you are right that the Synagogue is generally better (more yield earlier is usually better than the promise of more yield later), but since the NFP religion patch the Dar e mehr can no longer be destroyed by natural disasters.

 

[Tech Osen]

Usually Stupa for amenities, I like growing my cities. If I have a civ that already has an amenity bonus, or if I start on tundra/desert I go for Gurdwara.
While I do think the Pagoda is the most powerful I usually don't plan for a diplomatic victory early on. It's more a back up victory if for some reason I have trouble catching up to a runaway culture/science civ.

 

[kaspergm]

I also like the amenity one. While I wish lack of amenities had bigger impact on the game than it has, I still think it's harder to generate more amenities than to generate most of the other yields (and/or less rewarding to build entertainment complexes than the other districts), so I feel I get more value for my faith there. Also the diplomatic favor one sort of stands out from the others.

 

[bite]

i always tend to go for the Meeting Hall because production is always handy

 

[Lily_Lancer]

I usually don't choose any until late game. None of them worth an apostle to unlock, at least in mid game. (Maybe only Arabia?)

Why don't I spend the faith on Settlers, Builders, Army or Rock Bands?

 

[OmegaDestroyer]

Since it has been buffed, I have been taking the Gurdwara more often than not. I find the food and extra housing very useful. Barring that, I build the Stupa a lot due to it often being one of the few options available to me by the time I pick a structure.

 

[Vargas1]

I almost never have my pick of worship buildings because I typically don't take one as part of my initial beliefs (unless I'm going for a RV, in which case I might take mosque. But usually not even then - I prefer the ones that allow discounts to buying missionaries/apostles or religious units to ignore terrain). So when I get around to it, usually synagogue, wat, and a few others are already gone. If I'm going for RV, mosque is usually what I'll pick - that extra charge is big, especially when you get good apostle promotions like translator. Otherwise, I'll often pick stupa - I usually won't end up building Tier 3 buildings until pretty late in the game, at which point I usually have solid yields but may start running into amenity problems from big cities. So tossing a couple of stupas into the mix can help.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I think these buildings are one of the few places where I don't have a rote strategy or "normal" pick. It's always situational for me.

 

[Minou]

They seem too expensive for me to use them most games, unless Arabia is there. I have been considering trying Stupa to get cities happy after they ruined Amenity balance. Possibly worth it for the +5% yields, though that presupposes you have Holy Sites in your productive cities and that the +1 will actually make a difference.... Probably a bad idea.

But usually these buildings just seem way, way too expensive. The easiest comparison is Meeting House. It costs 190h and gives +2h+3f. Let's say for sake of argument 1f=0.5h. That means it takes 54 turns just to break even! I feel these T3 buildings need some sort of buff to even be worthwhile, for example letting an Apostle use one charge to build one would be pretty cool and make them worthwhile.

When I play One City Challenge games I often go for Mosque, since I basically spend the whole game spreading religion for Cross-Cultural Dialogue. In a normal RV game I think Mosque is not worth sacrificing the Apostle, but in OCC it works out as a net positive.

 

[IsabelBraganca]

It depends on the map. I have been playing few games on Highlands. I really need the food and housing. There was few spots for farms. Sometimes I don't pick any buildings with the first believe. I might pick Jesuit Education or some of the believes that give gold, culture, faith or science per followers depending on my victory objectives: gold for domination victory, culture for science victory, science for culture victory and faith for religious victory.

 

[8housesofelixir]

It depends on the map. I have been playing few games on Highlands. I really need the food and housing. There was few spots for farms. Sometimes I don't pick any buildings with the first believe. I might pick Jesuit Education or some of the believes that give gold, culture, faith or science per followers depending on my victory objectives: gold for domination victory, culture for science victory, science for culture victory and faith for religious victory.

The whole point of religion (besides Religious Victory) can be understand as a compensation for what you are lacking.

 

[Archon_Wing]

None. Worship buildings are bad, except as Arabia, where the actual building doesn't matter. You need to burn a minimum of 300'ish faith just to unlock the building.

.Sometimes if I really need the era score, but it doesn't really matter what I'll pick.

Normally I pick the Pagoda, but after the favor selling nerf, it really doesn't matter. I guess Mosque is good for Religious Victory but I usually don't go for it.