Mechanics of Religion spreading

[johnmcd]

Originally posted by joncnunn
Actually, in my experence, Rivers appear to be the top vector for religion spread. Mostly because they are already in place and don't need to be built.

I guess I meant the most vector with the greatest liklihood of success, not the most common.

[speerross]

Originally posted by Hauptman
a city absolutly possitivly CANNOT HAVE PASSIVE RELIGIOUS SPREAD when it already has a religion in that city.
.

wtf yes it does it happens all the time. unless the AI is programmed to spam missionaries...I get messages such as "taoism has spread in city A" every turn in mid game

[Willem]

Originally posted by johnmcd
Also, I’ve never seen a city that already has a religion spontaneously pick up another.

I have, in fact it happens all the time in my cities. I'm pretty diligent about getting religion established in my own cities ASAP, and every so often out of the blue another one will establish itself. It's more difficult however to do after a religion has already established itself. I've noticed that with my Missionaries as well; I have a higher failure rate with cities that already have another faith in it.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Hauptman
a city absolutly possitivly CANNOT HAVE PASSIVE RELIGIOUS SPREAD when it already has a religion in that city.

Any city that has NO religion has a random% chance to pick up any religion it has a trade route with... And it does not appear to require connection to the holy city. as I have played continents games where a continent had no religion on it until i sent a caraval with a missionary to spread it. it then spread on its own BEFORE i got astronomy. and wasnt likely the ai was making missionaries as it hapens rather fast in a barren environment, but it could have been possibly missionary spread...

If you get new religions in your cities that already had religion, it is because they just sent a missionary at you. I've watched for that as well.

That's not true at all. I'm pretty uptight when it comes to Open Borders and I've seen another religion pop up in my empire even when my borders were closed. So there's no way a Missionary was involved.

[johnmcd]

Originally posted by Willem


That's not true at all. I'm pretty uptight when it comes to Open Borders and I've seen another religion pop up in my empire even when my borders were closed. So there's no way a Missionary was involved.

Pop up in a city with another religion already present?

[Willem]

Originally posted by johnmcd


Pop up in a city with another religion already present?

That's right. Like I said, I'm pretty diligent about spreading my religion. I'll build Missionaries and try to get it started in a brand new city right away, so it's pretty rare that I don't have a religion in place when a foreign one pops up. And it does happen even though my borders are closed. It's not terribly common, but it's not rare either.

[Hauptman]

and you had NO open borders with anyone?

I have watched the ai's move missionaries into my lands so i know they do it. and i have never had religios spread without one. its even listed as impossible within the game rules.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Hauptman
and you had NO open borders with anyone?

I have watched the ai's move missionaries into my lands so i know they do it. and i have never had religios spread without one. its even listed as impossible within the game rules.

No, I don't normally open my borders to anyone until my territory is fully developed. It may be more difficult but it certainly isn't impossible.

[guermantes]

I confirm Willem's experience. I have never had open borders agreements in any game and yet one of my cities suddenly changed to a religion that I had not acquired myself within the empire. And I say change becasue it was not religion free.

[Jabutron]

Originally posted by Hauptman
and you had NO open borders with anyone?

I have watched the ai's move missionaries into my lands so i know they do it. and i have never had religios spread without one. its even listed as impossible within the game rules.

I've only seen one AI missionary in the ~10 games I've played so far, and I've got it set to track all movement. I also keep borders closed until I'm established, and if I share close borders with an AI religion, it'll spread to my cities.