• Gods and Kings adds modular religion to Civilization 5

    Religion In Civilization 5 Gods and Kings

    Religion is one of the main features that God and Kings on Civilization 5. Religion was in Civilization 4 and even so it was intended to go into the original Civ 5 it was omitted from the game, as Apolyton found out. Now with Civilization 5: Gods and Kings, religion returns.

    Religion does not just return, but returns in a new form to Civ 5. In Civ 4, it just flavored the game the benefits the various religions game very similar. In Civ 5: G&K, religion is modular, it is based on building blocks: The Beliefs.

    The Beliefs group into four categories, the Pantheon Beliefs, the Founder Beliefs, the Follower Beliefs, and Enhancer Beliefs. The Pantheon Beliefs are basic Beliefs and constitute a pre-religion. The pre-religion can be turned into a full religion by adding a Founder Belief. A Founder Belief can be added by a Great Prophet. Founder Beliefs only benefit the founder of a religion. To a religion two Follower Beliefs can be added. Follower Beliefs benefit anyone who follows the religion. And finally an Enhancer Belief can be added, to enhance the spreading of the religion.

    In brief here is the list of beliefs to be chosen:

    • Pantheon Belief
    • Founder Belief
    • 1st Follower Belief
    • 2nd Follower Belief
    • Enhancer Belief
    • Sixth Belief

    The sixth Belief is only available to the Byzantines. For each of the six categories only one Belief can be chosen. And if a Belief has been chosen nobody else on the map can chose that Belief. This means you have to hurry to choose chose the Beliefs you want for your religion. Obviously, you will end with an individual and highly customized religion. But to choose your Beliefs you need Faith.

    Faith is a new resource in the game you can collect and you need to get Great Prophets and Beliefs. Faith can also be used to buy unique buildings (like Cathedrals) and units (like Missionaries), or to buy normal Great People. This needs the right Social Policy for the desired Great Person type:

    • Order for a Great Engineer
    • Autocracy for a Great General or a Great Admiral
    • Freedom for a Great Artist
    • Rationalism for a Great Scientist
    • Commerce (probably) for a Great Merchant

    Faith has also a symbol, it is the Dove of Peace . Faith can be collected from exploring ancient ruins, from religious buildings, religious wonders, or from special abilities like the Celts who can collect Faith from forest tiles, or get it from their Pictish Warriors who gain Faith in combat.

    Great Prophets

    Great Prophets are religious units they show up when a civilization has accumulated at least 300 . With each turn of enough Faith the probability that a Great Prophet shows up increases. The first Great Prophet enables you to found a religion, adding to your Pantheon Belief, a Founder Belief, and a Follower Belief. The second Prophet enables you to add a second Follower Belief and an Enhancer Belief. The Beliefs can be immediately chosen when a Great Prophet has shown up. Great Prophets like Missionaries can convert cities directly and remove the influence of other religions. Great Prophets can also build special Holy Site tile improvements.

    Founding religions

    Each player can found a religion. However, the costs of Faith increase with each religion on the map, so that practically only half of the civilizations on the map can found a religion. It may be advantage to not found a religion, because founding and pursuing a religion gives benefits, possibly up to a religion victory, but also costs for building shrines temples and other religious activities. If you don't found a religion you can still benefit from the Follower Beliefs of other religions. If you found a religion you can chose from a list of symbols and names. The names can be changed to your likings. The symbols and names are just that names and symbols they do not give you any benefits. The benefits are chosen by the beliefs. Here is the list of symbols and names you can choose from, there is also a wiki link to each to get an idea what these religions are in the real world:

    Symbol

    Name

    Info

    Buddhism wiki
    Christianity wiki
    Confucianism wiki
    Hinduism wiki
    Islam wiki
    Judaism wiki
    Shinto wiki
    Sikhism wiki
    Taoism wiki
    Tengriism wiki
    Zoroastrianism wiki

    When a religion is founded. Also a Holy City is designated. A Holy City has a high influence on the surrounding cities. If a civilization loses a Holy City, then the Founder benefits are lost. This means the conqueror does not get the founder benefits, but they are just not available, until the founder civilization reconquers the Holy City. Religions cannot be destroyed by destroying civilizations.

    Spreading Religion

    A full grown religion spreads within 10 tiles on its own. How the religion spreads is determined by the time and the religious pressure. The religions pressure is within the 10 tiles the same. The religious can be increased by Missionaries and decreased by Inquisitors. Missionaries and Inquisitors are bought with Faith. Missionaries have a strength of 1000 Faith and thus can convert two times. Prophets have a strength of 2000 Faith and can thus convert four times. The Missionaries and other items that are that can be bought with Faith are getting more expensive at the end of the Renaissance, until they can't be hardly bought in the Industrial Age. So spreading religion is done early in the game, when the minds for the truth of the believers is not too much clogged by reality. This also influences diplomacy, other civilizations will consider your religion while negotiating. They will consider it more during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and will consider it less during the Industrial and Modern Ages.

    Beliefs

    Pantheons

    Pantheons are basic beliefs. Pantheons can be chosen when a civilization has collected 10 Faith. However, this increases with each civilization that has founded a Pantheon on the map. Each civilization can only chose one Pantheon from a pool of 23 known Pantheons. The symbol of a Pantheon is a lightning bolt. Pantheons spread automatically to each city that was founded by the Pantheon founder civilization. Pantheons do not spread beyond the borders of the founder civilization. Pantheons give mainly basic bonuses, concerning Food, Production, Culture, and Faith, which are tied to certain terrain types. Here are the details:

    Name

    Effect

    Ancestor Worship +1 Culture for every Shrine in your civilization
    Dance of the Aurora +1 Faith from Tundra tiles without Forest
    Desert Folklore +1 Faith from Desert tiles
    Faith Healers +30 HP healed per turn if adjacent to a friendly city
    Fertility Rites 10% faster Growth Rate
    God of Craftsmen +1 Production in cities with population of 3+
    God of the Open Sky +1 Culture from Pastures
    God of the Sea +1 Production from Fishing Boats
    God of War Gain Faith if you win a battle within 4 tiles if your city
    Goddess of Festivals +1 Culture and +1 Faith for each Wine and Incense
    Goddess of Love +1 Happiness from cities with population of 6+
    Goddess of Protection +30% increase in city Ranged Combat Strength
    Goddess of the Hunt +1 Food from Hunting Camps
    Messenger of the Gods +2 Science in cities with a Trade Route
    Monument to the Gods +15% Production of Ancient/Classical Wonders
    Mother Goddess Gives a Food bonus
    One with Nature +2 Faith from Natural Wonders
    Oral Tradition +1 Culture from Plantations
    Religious Idols +1 Culture and +1 Faith for each Gold and Silver
    Religious Settlements +15% faster border growth
    Sacred Path +1 Culture from Jungle tiles
    Sacred Waters +1 Happiness from cities on rivers
    Stone Circles +2 Faith from Quarries

    Founder Beliefs

    Founder beliefs give bonuses only to the founder of the religion. Follower beliefs give direct bonuses for each city that follows the religion. So the more cities the religion follow whether own or foreign the bigger are the bonuses. This rewards spreading the own religion. There are 10 known Founder beliefs, here are the details.

    Name

    Effect

    Ceremonial Burial +1 Happiness for each City following Religion
    Church Property +2 Gold for each City following Religion
    Flourishing of the Arts +10% Culture if not at war
    Initiation Rites +100 Gold when each City first converts to this Religion
    Interfaith Dialogue Gain Science when a Missionary spreads this religion to cities of other religions
    Papal Primacy +15 to Influence resting point with City-States following this religion
    Peace Loving +1 Happiness for every 5 followers of this religion in non-enemy foreign cities
    Pilgrimage +1 Faith for each foreign city following this religion
    Tithe +1 Gold for every 4 followers of this religion
    World Church +1 Culture for every 5 followers of this religion in other civilizations

    Follower Beliefs

    Follower Beliefs give bonuses to all cities that follow the religion, whether they belong to the founder or not. This way, civilizations without a religion can profit from the bonuses a religion gives. Follower Beliefs give either general bonuses to the city, or to buildings or wonders that are built in the city, or they allow the city to built faith buildings that are built with Faith and give bonuses to the city. There are 16 known Follower Beliefs, here are the details:

    Name

    Effect

    Asceticism Shrines provide +1 Happiness in Cities with 3 followers
    Cathedrals Use Faith to purchase Cathedrals (+1 Faith, +3 Culture, +1 Happiness, Artist Specialist slot)
    Choral Music Temples provide +2 :Culture: Culture in Cities with 5 followers
    Divine Inspiration Each World Wonder provides +2 Faith in city
    Feed the World Shrines and Temples provide +1 Food each in city
    Guruship +2 Production if city has a Specialist
    Holy Warriors Use Faith to purchase pre-Industrial land units
    Liturgical Drama Amphitheaters give +1 Faith in cities with 3 followers
    Monasteries Use Faith to purchase Monasteries (+2 Faith, +2 Culture, more with Wine or Incense)
    Mosques Use Faith to purchase Mosques (+3 Faith, +2 Culture, +1 Happiness)
    Pagodas Use Faith to purchase Pagodas (+2 Faith, +2 Culture, +2 Happiness)
    Peace Gardens Gardens provide +2 Happiness in city
    Religious Art Hermitage provides +5 Culture in city
    Religious Center Temples provide +2 Happiness in cities with 5 followers
    Religious Community +1% Production for each follower (max +15%)
    Swords into Plowshares 15% faster Growth rate for city if not at war

    Enhancer Beliefs

    Enhancer beliefs enhance the spreading of religion. There are 9 known Enhancer beliefs, here are the details:

    Name

    Effect

    Defender of the Faith +20% Combat near friendly Cities that follow this Religion
    Holy Order Missionaries and Inquisitors cost 30% less Faith
    Itinerant Preachers Religion spreads to cities 30% further away
    Just War +20% (+30%?)Combat near enemy Cities that follow this Religion
    Messiah Prophets 25% stronger and earned with 25% less Faith
    Missionary Zeal Missionary conversion strength +25%
    Religious Texts Religion spreads 34% faster (68% with Printing Press)
    Religious Unity Religion spreads to friendly city-states at double rate
    Reliquary Gain 50 Faith each time a Great Person is expended
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