Early game happiness w/o religion

[Bambul]

I normally beeline for Polytheism at the start of the game, but recently I've been trying out different opening plays tech wise. Only problem is, without religion I can't seem to get my cities bigger than 5 or 6 due to unhappiness.

What's the solution here? Is there an easy way of making my people happy that doesn't rely on religion? Should I go for Monarchy early on? Is it a mistake to focus on growth that early at all?

Usually by the time I discover happiness improvements enough religion has spread in my cities that I can just make my people happy that way.

Any help?

[petermarkab]

Hi Bambul,

religion is a good way for happiness but it comes at the price of alienating some of your competitors. This translates into a negative diplomacy rating. This is the main reason i choose not to found a religion. Monarchy gives Hed Rule for the +1 happiness per military unit so yeah, thats an option. You could also try building the pyramids and adopting Representation for the +3 happiness in 5 largest cities. This is especially useful and the only limit to your growth tends to be health. You've also got the terrain improvements for Ivory, Gold, Sugar, Dye, Incense etc but you're likely to get only one or two of these unless you trade. Which leaves the option of not growing your cities beyond size 5 or 6. Instead, run slavery and pop-rush everything. combine high food cities with a granary and pop-rushing and you've got very fast production. You can also run specialists to eat up the extra food.

So there's lots of ways to counter the happiness problem and as you play at higher difficulty levels, you need to be aware of and use more and more of these tactics.

Hope this helps!

[Common Sensei]

If you've got Warlords, the Charismatic trait plus a Monument (or Stonehenge for monuments everywhere) makes for a secular religious replacement. You get +1 for the trait and another +1 for the Monument until Calendar.

[MattDoyle]

I can generally get by enough with hapiness resources. Occasionally I can't get by with them and just whip. I play on Noble though, so that may not work on the higher levels.

[ben04]

Happiness resources are great. If that isn't an option go for a religion and if that fails to go for monarchy. It's on the religious tech path I think. Pump out cheap warriors or archers and you can easily grow to any size you like.

Monarchy however is only worth it when you have really high food cities with like 4 food resources. Otherwise you will not need that much happiness anyway. A cap of about 6 or 7, supposing that you have had at least a bit of luck with resources, is all you need in the early game in most situations.

Another great feature of monarchy is that you don't have to whip in the city in which the people get angry. You can just whip in another and move that warriors that are no longer needed.

I'd go so far to say that:
monarchy + warrior = cheapest non resource happiness in game

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Common Sensei
If you've got Warlords, the Charismatic trait plus a Monument (or Stonehenge for monuments everywhere) makes for a secular religious replacement. You get +1 for the trait and another +1 for the Monument until Calendar.

And you get free Creative.

[UnOrthOdOx]

Not 'free', you gotta build stonehenge or monuments, and it's only 1/2 strength.

But, speaking of creative, and definately off the beaten path, there's always theaters. I've never been fond of religion, and thus am typically not close to monarchy, but Literature is always a goal for the great library, and drama is right there. Theaters poprush nicely, especially in recently captured cities...

Not saying this is the best choice, but it is a choice that is often overlooked. And if you're creative, it's all the better.

[Virdrago]

Originally posted by petermarkab

religion is a good way for happiness but it comes at the price of alienating some of your competitors. This translates into a negative diplomacy rating. This is the main reason i choose not to found a religion.

Hey Peter:

A little OT: If you are alienating certain people you don't want to annoy, why don't you change to No State Religion after? At first, when you have a religion, you'll get the happiness bonus, which will help earlier, and will bring better early returns (larger city, more production, science, etc.). Then, when happiness isn't as much of a problem, and you want to stay on good terms with someone, change to NSR.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
Not 'free', you gotta build stonehenge or monuments, and it's only 1/2 strength.

Stonehenge is really cheap as Ind or with Stone.

[petermarkab]

Originally posted by Virdrago

If you are alienating certain people you don't want to annoy, why don't you change to No State Religion after?

Hi Vindrago,

of course, its a good idea. You can also endeavor to spread your religion quickly using missionaries and the religious shrine early in the game. When I do play for a religion (or usually 2 or 3) I also build the religious wonders (spiral minaret, sangakore etc) which means i want to hang on to a state religion for as long as possible. the effects of these wonders are lost once a switch is made to no state religion.

[couerdelion]

The default path to happiness is acquiring resources and their corresponding bonus buildings (forges, markets) which appear a little later.

Religion is also a nice source because it can come quite early in the game where happiness can be more of a problem.

But failing religion and the resources, the two main alternatives are

a) Hereditary Rule and military garrisons - works better for financial civs
b) Drama, Theatres and use of culture slide.

Finally, if you still have happiness problems then use the whip (slavery is the best civic for controlling happiness)

[ben04]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker

Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx
Not 'free', you gotta build stonehenge or monuments, and it's only 1/2 strength.

Stonehenge is really cheap as Ind or with Stone.

In my eyes it's one of the most of the most expensive wonders there is. To get it you have to build it early when you are in deep need of settlers and workers to get your economy going. This is what makes it so expensive.

Also stone can be a problem. For it you need 1 worker + wheel + stone working (not a first choice tech at all) + quarry + road. Until you have all that set up a rival may have completed the wonder.

[Kuciwalker]

Stone is something you want to get hooked up anyway, though.

[couerdelion]

Originally posted by ben04

In my eyes it's one of the most of the most expensive wonders there is. To get it you have to build it early when you are in deep need of settlers and workers to get your economy going. This is what makes it so expensive.

Also stone can be a problem. For it you need 1 worker + wheel + stone working (not a first choice tech at all) + quarry + road. Until you have all that set up a rival may have completed the wonder.

Getting stone hooked up early enough to grab Stonehenge can be tricky so it tends to be built either the hard way or using an IND trait.

But I would not call it expensive. The early priest can make for a very strong opening play which will repay the henge investment. And the culture boost is a nice bonus which can save quite a lot of hammers and may even culture flip a city.

For me, you usually get your money's worth with Stonehenge so the question is more about whether you can build it rather than whether you should.

[MattDoyle]

Today my stonehenge city culture flipped a city just after it became a holy city for judaism. Now that was an investment