Is the following a good strategy for religion?

[NFIH]

In my current game I haven't founded any religions and my rivals own the wonders that accrue additional cash for buildings of those various religions. Is it a good idea for me to forgo building temples and spreading religions around my cities so as to deny the cash to my rivals or should I build them anyway for the happiness and cultural boosts?

I'm afraid of the civs ahead of me pulling too far ahead before I'm in position to crush them militarily. I figure if I inadvertently fund their unit-creation capability I'll only be hurting myself in the long run despite the short-term benefit to me. Maybe it's good enough to share the religion of the leader--so as to ward off attack--and leave it at that?

[jbp26]

the gains they'll get from a few of your temples are trivial, and at worst, nothing close to insurmountable. don't worry about it. if you really want to fix the problem, just smash the civ with those wonders and take them yourself.

[MoonWolf]

They will not get any gold from your temples. They only get 1 coin pr. city with the religion that their shrines have (this is of course multiplied by market, bank etc)

[Ming]

Yeah... a good strategy is to hope your neighbors religion spreads to you, have them build the shrine, and while they are busy spreading it, you build an army and take the city with the holy shrine

You get the best of both worlds that way!

[NFIH]

Yeah, my strategy is in fact to conquer the cities with the shrines, and I've already taken out two enemy civs. But it just so happens that neither of them had founded any of the religions. The remaining civs are going to get theirs, if you know what I mean. In time. LOL!

[Ming]

I'm glad you can tell if it's a holy city when you are attacking.

The one thing that really ticks me off in Civ IV is that you can't take a look in the city BEFORE it asks if you want ot raze it or keep it.

[snoopy369]

If you're in happiness crunch, allow the spread (as 1GPT << 1 citizen's work). If you're in a situation where most cities have lots of happiness extra, then don't spread it until you have a need, if you're talking about a large number of cities.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Ming
I'm glad you can tell if it's a holy city when you are attacking.

The one thing that really ticks me off in Civ IV is that you can't take a look in the city BEFORE it asks if you want ot raze it or keep it.

That's what spies are for

[Ming]

Originally posted by snoopy369

That's what spies are for

Yeah... I know. But that means you actually have to build some of them

You would think that you would get a chance to look around before deciding what to do with the city.

[wodan11]

There are a lot of things that do that (don't let you look around)... like events and AP/UN votes. It's annoying.

Wodan

[Willem]

Originally posted by Ming
I'm glad you can tell if it's a holy city when you are attacking.

The one thing that really ticks me off in Civ IV is that you can't take a look in the city BEFORE it asks if you want ot raze it or keep it.

It's not hard to see which is a holy city. There'll be a small star, or something like that, in the religion icon. You just need to be aware of it before you sack the city.

[Willem]

Originally posted by snoopy369

That's what spies are for

You don't even need spies if your espionage rating is high enough. With enough points you can double click any enemies cities just like you can your own.

[johnmcd]

Originally posted by Willem


It's not hard to see which is a holy city. There'll be a small star, or something like that, in the religion icon. You just need to be aware of it before you sack the city.

Just evening knowing which wonders are there, or if much infrastructure will survive the assault is handy.

[Ming]

Originally posted by Willem
It's not hard to see which is a holy city. There'll be a small star, or something like that, in the religion icon. You just need to be aware of it before you sack the city.

As I said... Holy Cities are easy to identify.
My problem is when I don't have a spy or a high enough advantage on points to see the city BEFORE I choose to raze it or keep it.

[Virulent]

Originally posted by Ming


As I said... Holy Cities are easy to identify.
My problem is when I don't have a spy or a high enough advantage on points to see the city BEFORE I choose to raze it or keep it.

3.13 added an option to random events dialogs to let you check a city before making a choice. It would have been nice if a similar option was added to the keep/raze dialog box.