When to go for Buddhism for sure?

[Willem]

Originally posted by rah
yes, at anything but the lower levels, unless i start with myst and have at least 3 coins at the start, I won't go for the bud.

You're being paranoid. Most of the time, like about 95%, I'll get it if I only have a single gold tile. At least in BtS on Noble.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Zealot

What I'm after is indeed the "average" levels, the ones we play on multiplayer games and where the AI doesn't have any bonus.

So there are too many variants on Civ 4 to be able to claim the first to reach Buddhism, regardless of one's best effort, but, on the other hand, how often do all those events DO happen?
In the end, what I was looking after might have been answered already. Have Mysticism for starters, being Financial is a big plus, and have an oasis or a coin producing square next to a river. The odds that another civ is in the same situation or even better get pretty slim.

Do you agree?

Well then, you'd be looking for advice for the Noble level. And as I mentioned, I probably get it 95% of the time with just a single gold tile to work. Having an Oasis and Financial pretty much means a 100% chance at that level, maybe 99.99%

[Zealot]

Originally posted by joncnunn
Well, I play choose religions on, and so I pick Buddhism as my first religion when there is neither nearby stone nor marble nearby.

Anyway I only go research Meditation if:
1. I started with Mystism
2. My starting area doesn't look good enough to go for the bi religious capital. (The Polytheism-Masonary-Monotheism beline)

Why not having either stone or marble makes any influence on the religion you go after?

I usually also go for Polytheism-Masonry-Monotheism as well. Getting two or only one, in a worst case scenario, plus Organized Religion early on, is a big boost either against AI or in MP games.
But if I would manage to get Buddhism first with a very high probability of success, I would then try to get ALL THREE of them and do some serious damage to some of my opponents.
Me, for example, can't really play well if I don't have at least one .


@TriMiro
Thank you for your explanantion, it was very interesting and enlightning, but I still don't understand what the map size and the game speed has anything to do with this. Yes, more religions increase the theoretical chance that someone may be better off than me from the start, but the game speed affects us all, so we're all equal.

@Willem
You say that you get it with only one tile, but how much is your city tile producing? 1? Or 2? I think that is the big question.

[TriMiro]

@TriMiro
Thank you for your explanation, it was very interesting and enlightening, but I still don't understand what the map size and the game speed has anything to do with this. Yes, more religions increase the theoretical chance that someone may be better off than me from the start, but the game speed affects us all, so we're all equal.

In order to beat someone to a tech you need to produce more beakers than your opponent, however, that is not enough. As one can see in the example that I gave above, even if one produces 11 vs 8 beakers, the 8 beakers cans till get the tech first. The advantage of the 11 beakers accumulates over time and after some number of turns, 11 would be guaranteed to succeed, but not before then. Basically the more expensive the tech, the higher your chances of success are by simply getting more beakers than the opponent. On larger maps and slower speed techs cost more and thus if you have beaker advantage you are more likely to succeed.

[Zealot]

Hi guys, I just started a new game on Noble to test what we've been talking about and, lo and behold, I start with an Oasis, by the sea, and with fresh water on the capital tile [Grassland 2 1 1 ].
I was playing with the Portuguese (Fishing & Mining, so no Mysticism), and I put the pop to work on the Oasis [3 , 2 ] and on the Coast [1 , 2 ] when it hits 2 pop.
I tried to rush to Buddhism, but some civ with Mysticism must have got it. So there you have it, if you don't start with Mysticism, don't bother or expect to go for Buddhism. I was 4 turns short to get it, so it was still a great start.
Unfortunately this loss of time made me lose Hinduism as well, even though I changed research to Hinduism as soon as I lost Buddhism, so I only got Judaism.
The time I lost focusing on instead of meant that I made my first worker, settler, and archer quite late in the game, around 2800 BC, so I might have hurt myself quite a bit. The Celts already have lots of cities, even though that they are far south.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Zealot
@Willem
You say that you get it with only one tile, but how much is your city tile producing? 1? Or 2? I think that is the big question.

Just the usual amount.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Zealot
So there you have it, if you don't start with Mysticism, don't bother or expect to go for Buddhism.

Unless of course you manage to pop it from a hut on the first turn. I've had that happen as well. Even Polytheism is usually pointless unless you have Mysticism IMO. Your odds are better but still not very good. In that situation I'll go for Code of Laws and grab Confucianism, I can almost always count on that one. Usually if I grab Buddhism or Hinduism, then I'll end up with Confucianism as well.

[Zealot]

Indeed, the difference between Confucionism and Christianism is very small, you can go for either one.

[rah]

Originally posted by Willem


You're being paranoid. Most of the time, like about 95%, I'll get it if I only have a single gold tile. At least in BtS on Noble.

I never play at noble unless it's an MP game so I do consider that a lower level. No offense intended.

But if I get that rare start where my city is founded on wine or one of the other resources that will give you the second coin on you capital square, and next to an oasis or lake (fishing required) giving you 4 coins (6 if financial), then I'll go for it every time if I start with myst. Once of the few relatively sure things.

[Supr49er]

I never worry about the early religions, unless they fall into my lap due to a great starting location.

I'll adopt a rivals religion to keep them happy while I beeline military techs.

[guermantes]

Supr49er, I couldn't agree more.

[rah]

I usually ignore the first couple also. Conf. is the one I'll usually end up with since it's on the path to macemen.

[Zealot]

Originally posted by Supr49er
I never worry about the early religions, unless they fall into my lap due to a great starting location.

I'll adopt a rivals religion to keep them happy while I beeline military techs.

On a Multiplayer game?

[Willem]

Originally posted by Supr49er
I'll adopt a rivals religion to keep them happy while I beeline military techs.

You don't get the Shrine income by adopting someone else's religion, plus you may end up strengthening a future enemy because they do.

[trev]

Personally I find it is much more important to develop and grow the city rather than worry about religions, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Mining, Bronze Working, Iron Working, Wheel, Pottery are all much more important, get city growth, get your swords out and capture a holy city, much better way of doing things AND you may win on immortal with a lucky break or two.
Your stuck on your noble/monarch if your main concern is religion.