Apolyton CS: Civilization III: The List v1: Religion

RELIGION
-Summarized by Thread Master: Stefu-
tatuahpo@pelu.jns.fi

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The thread Religion was meant to be channel for ideas concerning religion, or whether that feature should even be in. Please Note: If use I use the term "Some say" (or anything like that), it's my way of indicating that the idea was supported only by a few people.

1. CIVILIZATION 3. RELIGION. 65 IDEAS TOP

1.1) RELIGIONS AS INDEPENDENT AI PLAYERS: The central part of this idea is that religions in Civilization III are born independently and grow (mostly) independently. They are born as some prophet begins preaching his dogma in one of cities. Government can set its status to be persecuted, tolerated, encouraged or fundamentally worshipped: These choices affect the happiness and growth of particular religions. There are, of course, multiple religions, and there can even be multiple religions born in one civilization. Religions have political power. Their growth can be encouraged by money.

1.2) HOLY CITIES & CRUSADES: In this idea, the city where the religion pops up hosts a holy shrine, which could increase happiness etc.

1.3) DOUBLE POLITICAL CENTERS? You would have to build some kind of religious center (Hagia Sophia, St. Peters, Kamakura Buddha) in the capital or a different political center would arise around religion.

1.4) CRUSADES: If the holy city is taken, religion could ask for a crusade to take it back. Religion could also declare crusade whether government likes it or not.

1.5) GOVERNMENT TYPE SETS WHICH TOLERATION LEVELS CAN BE USED: For instance, in SMAC terms this means that pacifist (-3 Police) nations wouldn't be able to persecute, while Fundamentalist Government nations would have to fundamentally worship one religion. In Civilization terms, Democracies and Republics couldn't persecute, while communists couldn't fundamentally worship (alternate: cannot set higher than Tolerated level).

1.6) NOT DENY, JUST MAKE IT HARDER: Some say that government types shouldn't deny religious choices, just make it harder. Communism should have a more difficult time spreading religion, Democracy should have hard a harder time persecuting and so on.

1.7) ANIMISM / MONOLITHS: In this model, all civilizations start out with Animism and can build Megaliths to increase the chance that more advanced religions will develop. When a religion pops up, a ruler can either accept or reject it, with risk of schism.

1.8) TOLERANCE LEVEL OF RELIGIONS: Religions would have a Tolerance level, which would set how one religion gets along with another religion.

1.9) CLERICS/MISSIONARIES: Some think that if you fundamentally worship one religion you could spread it by means of Clerics/Missionaries. Maybe for monetary and definitely for political gain. If there would be flock of converts in some city, the population would go to your side more easily and would get unhappy in case of war (like in C:CtP)

1.10) VICTORY CONDITION: UNITE THE WORLD IN SAME FAITH: In this victory, you would have to unite entire world to the faith you are using.

1.11) NOT MISSIONARIES, BUT PROPAGANDISTS: In this model instead of Missionaries there would be Propagandists, spreading their agendas (religion being one) to cities. This model also includes some cities being more open to, for instance, Fascism than other cities and being more easily bribed by Fascist nations.

1.12) TEMPLES DEPENDENT ON WHETHER YOU HAVE A RELIGION: Some think that you should only be able to build religious structures if you have at least one supported religion, and that only followers of that religion would get some good out of that.

1.13) EFFECTS OF TEMPLES DEPEND ON RELIGION: Some have said that the effectiveness of temples would vary depending on your religion, for instance Buddhist would have less use for a Cathedral (or any kind of other big religious structure) than pagans who wish to honor their gods.

1.14) HOW IS RELIGION BORN?: Things that could affect the birth of religion could be war, three nasty events (disasters) in a row, random event (new prophet) and such.

1.15) PERSECUTION, THE ATROCITY: Some want Persecution to be an atrocity, especially in modern times. Also, persecution would have other drawbacks, such as revolts and loss of population. The persecuted religion could also "win" and backfire against the whole strategy. There could be some morale and such bonuses for unifying the country religiously and driving out all who have alien beliefs.

1.16) DEVOTION/GROWTH: Each religion would have a Devotion/Growth level, which would decide how it fares in competition against other religions. In time, high-rate devotion religions should replace low/rate devotion ones. If the religion has been around a long time, it should have a higher rate of devotion.

1.17) RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: There should be bonuses for religious freedom in the form of immigration and science. However, diversity would also create friction and possibly happiness penalties.

1.18) UNHAPPINESS: Unhappy people should be more willing to convert to new religions.

1.19) NO "BEHIND THE SCENES" Some say that religion shouldn't work behind the scenes as model 1 proposes. They say that would make a really frustrating game.

1.20) REAL RELIGIONS: Some people hold that real religions should be used. This side has had serious opposition, especially if they propose bonuses and minuses depending on these religions. People ask who would decide the bonuses and minuses?

1.21) DEAD RELIGIONS: In this model, all religions would be those already dead to avoid legal and other problems.

1.22) REAL "CLASS" RELIGIONS: Others prefer religion classes (like polytheism, monotheism and animism). There could be several religions that belong to the same class. This is maybe the most popular idea, but there are people who hold that this could also offend people, especially if pluses and minuses are implemented.

1.23) SAME CLASS, DIFFERING RELIGION: For instance, Russian Paganism would be different from Babylonian Paganism. They would have same benefits, but could still be hostile towards each other.

1.24) RANDOM, FICTIONAL RELIGIONS: Some prefer fictional religions. This side usually thinks pluses and minuses should be random, too. Others feel this might ruin the game's atmosphere.

1.25) RELIGION DEFINED BY ITS FACTORS: For instance, is it Pacifist/Militant, Proselytizing or not, and does it support your government or not? There have been suggestions in this area by all camps.

1.26) NO RELIGION: Some don't want Religion at all. Their primary reason being that you cannot do it without offending someone.

1.27) RELIGIONS LIKE SOCIAL ENGINEERING, MODEL 1: In this model, religions can be customized like Social Engineering in SMAC. You could decide primary factors like Monotheism, Polytheism or Mysticism, important aspects such as afterlife and status of priests and TENETS such as Ascetic, Maltheism or Monastic. In order to enact changes, you need DOGMA, which you could get from priests (city profession) or religious wonders. Dogma then slowly changes your religion. The religion master screen would show the percentages of religions in game; you could also edit religions or set their STATE ACCEPTANCE. Religions also have FERVOR status which shows how highly the religion is held: high FERVOR multiplies the effects. DOGMA can be spent to increase FERVOR.

1.28) RELIGIONS LIKE SOCIAL ENGINEERING, MODEL 2: This isn't as complex - Religious models would be chosen from Social Engineering. Suggested models are Animism, Polytheism, Philosophical, Monotheism, Reformed, Fundamentalism, Deism and Atheism. There would be a Theocracy Government choice instead of Fundamentalist. There would be bonuses if the civilization is both Fundamentalist and Theocracy. And finally, like in SMAC, civilizations with differing religious choices would be likely to be hostile towards each other.

1.29) PHILOSOPHY SOCIAL ENGINEERING: This idea sticks to the same social engineering idea but replaces Religion with Philosophy. Philosophical choices would affect diplomatic relations, government types available, speed of research, happiness level of citizens, and productivity of citizens. The idea of replacing religion with philosophy would be that it would step around all legal problems while effectively having the effects of religion.

1.30) EVIL RELIGIONS: Some suggest that there should be evil religions just to cause harm to civilizations, others warn to steer clear of them. One suggested name is Diabolism.

1.31) BONUSES AND MINUSES: There has been discussion about whether or not differing religions should be given bonuses and minuses. If real religions are used, this is particularly a sensitive issue.

1.32) THE TYPE OF GOD SETS BONUSES/MINUSES: In this idea, the religions pop up at random. They have different bonuses and minuses, depending on what kind of god they worship. If the religion is pantheistic, it gains small bonuses in several areas, but has increased inefficiency and upkeep costs. If it is monotheistic, it gains bonuses depending on what kind of god, for instance is he clockmaker, judge or executioner?

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