Rank the Traits: Religious

[kobo1d]

Hi all. Long time reader, 1st time poster.
I was curious how everyone would "rank" the traits.
This time: religious

On a scale of 0-5, 0 being totally worthless and 5 being the best, how would everyone rank the Rel. trait?

Update

Religious averaged 3.5 after 40 votes.
3rd highest ranked.

Chart coming soon.

[vmxa1]

I went with 4 as I put it at the same level as Sci. It has value, but I don't use it a whole lot.

[kobo1d]

updated stats

[Jon Shafer]

4 for this one. The early and cheap Temples are great, especially on high difficulty levels (which I play most often), and later on the cheap Cathedrals are even better (who wants to spend 160 shields for 3 happy faces?). The switching governments can also be powerful... saving a bunch of turns of anarchy is definitely cool.

[vulture]

Cheap temples are nice, and the long anarchy of non-religious can be a pain, but it just doesn't seem to make the difference for me that other traits do.

[Arrian]

Quatro.

Cheap temple nice. Cheap cathedral nice. Fast anarchy really nice.

-Arrian

[kobo1d]

updated stats

[Mountain Sage]

Culture is always 'useful'. On higher levels and with 1.22, it seems that the AI beelines for Writing, then Map Making and Philosophy.
A religious civ starts with Alphabet, ergo...
And of course, you cannot afford 15+ turns on anarchy.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Religious is my favourite trait, followed by seafaring

[Arrian]

Originally posted by Mountain Sage
Culture is always 'useful'. On higher levels and with 1.22, it seems that the AI beelines for Writing, then Map Making and Philosophy.
A religious civ starts with Alphabet, ergo...
And of course, you cannot afford 15+ turns on anarchy.

No, religious starts with ceremonial burial.

Commercial and Seafaring civs start with Alphabet.

The starting tech is one small downside to the religious trait (though it gives you a leg up on a Monarchy beeline, if you want).

-Arrian

[eris]

This is my favorite trait for several reasons, many of which have already been mentioned (like despising turns of anarchy!!), but I have one word to offer: "Temples"

I am a culture hog. (Remove the "g" for a more explicit self-description.) Nothing pleases me more than getting the first temple in the game and watching my culture graph slowly slide in my favor. Ancient temples get even better. I'm sure they interfere with my REX, but everybody gets a temple sooner or later. It makes them happy. I am benevolent to my people, and it combines well with luxury slider usage. Temples increase culture borders and gives me a way to claim borders. Mostly, I envision myself as some divine immortal controlling this empire of peons and governors. Of course they have to build temples in my name! Getting those temples for half price just helps them fulfill their obligations to my divinity.

Temples!

voted 5

[yxhuvud]

I think this is the trait that has lost the most as people have realized that the traits that gives something that gives real production advantages (agri, comm and industrius) are just stronger.

Sure, cheap temples are kinda nice, but lately I've found that they really impares my early economy. Build them if you have the time, but more focus on rexing and military pays off a LOT more.

(especially when you are building enough workers. when you do, you will catch up to the people who has built early temples in no time, since your cities will be more productive overall. Production is everything.)

[Cerbykins]

3.

Pays nice when I have it (being on random civs! ), but isn't a real biggie. Worst of all is the wonder path to the golden age being difficult if stuck on a lousy UU or not being able to whack a good war out when the UU is at hand.

Gov switch is nice, but only occurs a couple of times a game, really.

Cheap temples also being good when not on mobilisation-wars
Developing a thing for cathedrals lately, so it also pays there.

Nice, but not awe-inspiring.

[kobo1d]

updated stats
religious rose 1 spot

[Arnelos]

The utility of this trait is a strict function of difficulty level. The higher the difficulty level, the more necessary the trait. 1/2 price temples and cathedrals become more and more valuable as the number of pop points born content reduce and the opportunities to claim many luxuries in short order diminish. Turns of anarchy become more and more painful to bear as difficulty increases and thus the efficiency and production of your AI enemies increase.

If you're playing on Chieftan to Regent, probably even Monarch, religious is nice, but it is easily beaten by other far more useful traits. Starting on about Emperor, however, religious becomes one of the best to have.