An idea I had, that would be a big change but does a few things.
Anyway, the idea is, is that a religion can only pick one religious building. Each religious building also has a unique wonder that is not policy locked, that can only be built if the religious building is in the city. The free religious buildings from wonders would be removed.
Byzantium's UA wouldn't be changed, so they can pick a second religious building if they want and build both wonders. Makes it a bit more of a toss-up, instead of picking a second founder nearly always.
Cathedral - Currently attached to Notre Dame (though there is also Cathedral of St. Basil which grants Orders
Church - Currently attached to Hagia Sophia
Mandir - Currently attached to Angkor Wat
Mosque - Currently attached to University of Sankore
Order - Currently attached to Cathedral of St. Basil.
Pagoda - No wonder
Stupa - Currently attached to Borobudur
Synagogue - No wonder
Ideas for wonders
Order related wonder - Malbork Castle/Marienburg Castle. The largest castle in the world measured by land area. The base of the Tectonic Knights.
In terms of its bonus, I would be tempted to move Alhambra's unique cavalry bonus to it, and maybe it would grant some free Knights upon building the wonder instead of 10% extra culture.
Synagogue related wonder - Temple Mount. The site of the Jewish temples, and has since also held Christian and Muslim religious buildings and worship.
A large amount of faith and maybe a bonus to science, production or 'We Love the King Day'. Not sure.
Also more for flavour than anything, an instant booth of faith upon conquering it. Representing the contested nature of the site.
Mosque related wonder - Could use Sankore. But maybe the Great Mosque of Mecca/The sacred Mosque. The largest mosque in the world, and the centre of worldwide pilgrimage in Islam
For bonuses, something that gives bonuses to conversion or trade routes. Golden age points, gold or faith can all work. Golden age points would work with Mosques extra culture.
Stupa related wonder - Could use Borobudur. A lot of options really. Could shift the bonus to a more tourist and trade pressure focused. While free missionaries would be a generic religious wonder, that isn't tied to any religious building.
Pagoda related wonder - Songyue Pagoda is the earliest surviving Pagoda. The Porcelain Tower could also be moved, though it is too late in the tech tree. A lot of options.
So a bonus from different religions, or different civs, further boosting the crossroad bonus of the base Pagoda. And maybe, any religion, once in the city can't be reduced below 1 so the bonus has staying power.
Church-related wonder - So many options really. Hagia Sophia could be used, St Basil could be used, St Peter's Basilica could be used etc.
Selecting a reformation belief at 15% instead of 20% should be a generic wonder, not tied to a building (particularly not the extra pressure one). I would also lean to Free Prophet also being a generic religious wonder thought it could work. The Church wonder bonus could be something like a free Great Artist or Musician to boost the 1+ faith from Great works. Or a 'We Love the King Day' bonus.
Cathedral related wonder - Also a lot of options, many already mentioned. Notre Dame works, though this is one you would have to be careful about since your wonder whore neighbour could grab it if you spread it too much. Might be a bit too late.
The Extra gold on many tiles, works well with the free golden age. So no real change needed.
Mandir related wonder - Angkor Wat could work. Food and anti-spy bonuses don't really mesh with border growth. Border growth should be attached to a more generic wonder, so maybe a bonus when the city or empire grows in population to reward food. Angkor Wat is a tad early as Classical wonder, and we don't want to spread the religious wonders around too far in terms of era.
Tradition's University of Sankore could be boosted with something else, aside from yields on GPP since it loses the free Mosque. Maybe a free early University. Or a boost to trade routes or generic faith, since it was crossroads of trade.
I've also mentioned generic religious wonders, I was also thinking that
Would all be generic wonders, buildable by any civ with a holy city. BUT you can only build one. So you can go all-in on conversion, settle for staying small, or rush to enhancing/holy site/very strong but limited conversion. The only change I would make is buff the Reformation Belief one, like reduced foreign religious pressure on own cites (so a small defensive religion) or maybe removes all negatives from Inquisitors (which is also defensive, but could be used offensively, if you like taking and smashing holy cities religions). Though smashing foreign enemy cities would help with going wide.
- Reduces wonder hoarding a bit, sectioning off wonders like policy tree finishers
- Removes anti synergy, such as mosques and tradition finisher wonder. Makes a building (extra culture in golden ages) that works great with Tradition (longer golden ages) not really worth picking, because the free one in the capital is where the bulk of the yields come from. I often don't bother picking religious building beliefs, if I can just grab the related wonder and the bonus in the capital is the bulk of the bonus. Like building St Basil in the city with the Heroic Epic, particularly if I have Zealotry and can build all my units in one city. The faith production is weakened, but another religious belief is better than one you've already bought the non-faith bonus for, in this case, the EXP.
- Adds an additional religious complexity, and removes double religious building which is a bit silly. Not out of the question, with Churches, Cathedrals and Orders all being religious buildings. And makes pressure insane with some builds.
- Adds an additional way of balancing religious building, since weaker buildings can have a stronger wonder attached, and vice versa.
Anyway, the idea is, is that a religion can only pick one religious building. Each religious building also has a unique wonder that is not policy locked, that can only be built if the religious building is in the city. The free religious buildings from wonders would be removed.
Byzantium's UA wouldn't be changed, so they can pick a second religious building if they want and build both wonders. Makes it a bit more of a toss-up, instead of picking a second founder nearly always.
Cathedral - Currently attached to Notre Dame (though there is also Cathedral of St. Basil which grants Orders
Church - Currently attached to Hagia Sophia
Mandir - Currently attached to Angkor Wat
Mosque - Currently attached to University of Sankore
Order - Currently attached to Cathedral of St. Basil.
Pagoda - No wonder
Stupa - Currently attached to Borobudur
Synagogue - No wonder
Ideas for wonders
Order related wonder - Malbork Castle/Marienburg Castle. The largest castle in the world measured by land area. The base of the Tectonic Knights.
In terms of its bonus, I would be tempted to move Alhambra's unique cavalry bonus to it, and maybe it would grant some free Knights upon building the wonder instead of 10% extra culture.
Synagogue related wonder - Temple Mount. The site of the Jewish temples, and has since also held Christian and Muslim religious buildings and worship.
A large amount of faith and maybe a bonus to science, production or 'We Love the King Day'. Not sure.
Also more for flavour than anything, an instant booth of faith upon conquering it. Representing the contested nature of the site.
Mosque related wonder - Could use Sankore. But maybe the Great Mosque of Mecca/The sacred Mosque. The largest mosque in the world, and the centre of worldwide pilgrimage in Islam
For bonuses, something that gives bonuses to conversion or trade routes. Golden age points, gold or faith can all work. Golden age points would work with Mosques extra culture.
Stupa related wonder - Could use Borobudur. A lot of options really. Could shift the bonus to a more tourist and trade pressure focused. While free missionaries would be a generic religious wonder, that isn't tied to any religious building.
Pagoda related wonder - Songyue Pagoda is the earliest surviving Pagoda. The Porcelain Tower could also be moved, though it is too late in the tech tree. A lot of options.
So a bonus from different religions, or different civs, further boosting the crossroad bonus of the base Pagoda. And maybe, any religion, once in the city can't be reduced below 1 so the bonus has staying power.
Church-related wonder - So many options really. Hagia Sophia could be used, St Basil could be used, St Peter's Basilica could be used etc.
Selecting a reformation belief at 15% instead of 20% should be a generic wonder, not tied to a building (particularly not the extra pressure one). I would also lean to Free Prophet also being a generic religious wonder thought it could work. The Church wonder bonus could be something like a free Great Artist or Musician to boost the 1+ faith from Great works. Or a 'We Love the King Day' bonus.
Cathedral related wonder - Also a lot of options, many already mentioned. Notre Dame works, though this is one you would have to be careful about since your wonder whore neighbour could grab it if you spread it too much. Might be a bit too late.
The Extra gold on many tiles, works well with the free golden age. So no real change needed.
Mandir related wonder - Angkor Wat could work. Food and anti-spy bonuses don't really mesh with border growth. Border growth should be attached to a more generic wonder, so maybe a bonus when the city or empire grows in population to reward food. Angkor Wat is a tad early as Classical wonder, and we don't want to spread the religious wonders around too far in terms of era.
Tradition's University of Sankore could be boosted with something else, aside from yields on GPP since it loses the free Mosque. Maybe a free early University. Or a boost to trade routes or generic faith, since it was crossroads of trade.
I've also mentioned generic religious wonders, I was also thinking that
Would all be generic wonders, buildable by any civ with a holy city. BUT you can only build one. So you can go all-in on conversion, settle for staying small, or rush to enhancing/holy site/very strong but limited conversion. The only change I would make is buff the Reformation Belief one, like reduced foreign religious pressure on own cites (so a small defensive religion) or maybe removes all negatives from Inquisitors (which is also defensive, but could be used offensively, if you like taking and smashing holy cities religions). Though smashing foreign enemy cities would help with going wide.
