whose religion to adopt

[johncross21]

Religiosn seems to me pretty indispensible if you want to keep people happy and productive (or not ?)

but its a pain to found a religion so I normally wipe out my nearest rival and steal his religion -

however it doesn't always work out for the best so I probably need to think more carefully about which one

do you prefer to have a

* religion that only you have

* the religion that your allies have

* a religion that your rivals have (this seems a little odd to me given the extra war weariness caused by "fighting brothers and sisters of the same faith"

* any and all religions - just build temples as and when

* bah I can't be building temples when I could be mass producing cavalry instead


Inmy latest game I had a good relationship with Charlemagne largely beacuse he was on another continent and I had no intention of invading him. he was relatively small. it woyuld have been fine to have his religion (budhism) but he wasn't sending out missionaries. How would I solve that problem

 

[6K Man]

I always try to have a shrine somewhere along the line - I can never seem to keep afloat financially without one. If I found a religion early, I try hard to spread it to my neighbours - especially allies, but enemies as well - for the shrine income. I'm fine with AIs spreading other religions to my cities for the most part - the happiness benefits in Free Religion (and the ability to build Temples, otherwise) seem to outweigh the foreign espionage/income risks.

 

[Silver Marmot]

I'll usually try to have the same religion that the biggest threat near me (i. e. Monty) has, which will in many cases (but not all) prevent a war. This either means I'll found one, spread it to them, and prevent them from founding one themselves, or simply adopt theirs if they've already founded one.

Sometimes I'll go without a religion though. In a recent game I was on the same continent with Monty, Isabella, and Shaka, all of whom had founded different religions. Instead I simply built the wonder that enables all religious civics (which I have no clue how to spell) and adopted Free Religion, and let the three of them fight it out until they were far behind me in technology.

 

[KMadCandy]

which religion i adopt, if any, depends on a bunch of things. but this:

* bah I can't be building temples when I could be mass producing cavalry instead

isn't an issue if i'm in slavery. temples don't take all that long to build, they're my favorite thing to two-pop whip .

it would have been fine to have his religion (budhism) but he wasn't sending out missionaries. How would I solve that problem

religion can spread naturally but only where there's a potential trade connection between your city and the holy city, and only if your city doesn't have a religion yet. so if he was over ocean it couldn't happen until after astronomy, and if all your cities had religion already you'd have had to make a new one and just hope to get his first.

i suppose you could go to war to capture one of his cities, make a missionary or 3 to send home, and give him his city back. but that might mess up the "being friends with him" part of the plan

 

[stoots]

I'm only just making the move up to emperor but I normally only open up my borders to the founders of each religion after the first 4 religions are founded.
Once each religion has entered my borders I'll wait and see which ends up dominating the game or at least my neighbours and adobt that one.

 

[vicawoo]

Temples are pretty expensive (80) unless you're spiritual. In most cases, you're better off building a warrior if you're using hereditary rule.

 

[LlamaCat]

I find religion to be pretty situational. I've had plenty of games where I do without it, or if it spreads to me I just make do with it to my diplomatic advantage depending on the situation. Shrines are the most overrated thing in the game... all the hammers and time spent spreading it for a measly +1 gold in a single city is not worth it in most games. Temples are not that great overall... again, wasted hammers when civics will do the same job for happiness, and the benefit of having priest specialists is very situational. Temple only gives you a single priest, so you need multiple temples to get more of those specialists! The theme I'm talking about here is hammers and time invested in things and whether it's worth it over the course of most games.

 

[Graven]

It depends on the civ I am playing, but assuming I do not start with mysticism, I will do the early game normally and then use the Oricle to found Confusionism. I'm currently playing on Prince, so I imagine as I move the difficulty up, I'd have to change my strategy.

Note: I have tried not founding a religion at all, but the unhappiness usually plagues me too early for it to be worth it.

 

[Brownie]

I also tend to get confusionism myself, but I rarely use the oracle for it. On Prince (I don't usually even try for the Oracle above Prince), my early research tends to be mining (if I don't start with it), BW, ag (if I don't start), wheel, myst (if I don't start), polytheism, priesthood, pottery, writing, then COL and Iron Working. I get metal casting with the Oracle. I can usually get SH and Oracle, and unless I've over expanded, I tend to found confusionism. If I don't get Oracle, the AI tends to get monarchy rather than COL with their Oracle. Usually at the end of the wonder building phase, I'll have three decent cities, room to expand, and be pumping out troops. I'll also have a banked GP for the Shrine from SH.

However, even when I found confusionism, I may only stay in it for long enough for it to spread to my cities. If everyone is rolling Hindu, I'll do so myself, for early tech trading.