Why is there going to be no religion?

[Brundlefly]

I suspect they'll just drop Great Prophets.

I hope not.. I was counting on a new corporation being added which utilizes Great Prophets. Perhaps it would be available with Mass Media and be called, hmmm i dont know, "The 420 Club"? It would generate a cash bonus but also a beaker penalty as people are taught to trust religion over science..

[Lord Avalon]

I hope not.. I was counting on a new corporation being added which utilizes Great Prophets. Perhaps it would be available with Mass Media and be called, hmmm i dont know, "The 420 Club"? It would generate a cash bonus but also a beaker penalty as people are taught to trust religion over science..

Actually, if it has tax exempt status as a religious organization, then there wouldn't be any cash for your government.

[Ming]

Given a choice over religion and corporations, I would vote to keep religion and get rid of corporations. IMHO, they never really handled corporations well. It seemed to me to be a broken concept. If corps are still going to be in the game, I hope they have rethought how they will work.

[MxM]

The problem with corporations is that they come way too late in the game.
The problem with religions is that they are IDENTICAL. (Corporations are not). They do not add strategic depth because of this, only micromanagement, especially when you decouple it from diplomacy.
And for obvious reasons, they will not be able to make religion A having different (and thus potentially better) effects than religion B. It is a dead end.

[Ming]

Religion has had far more impact on history than corporations

Yes, corps come way to late, but no way to really get around that. Corporations are kind of like playing the Americans... you're UU and UB come very late in the game. If you want to play a builder strategy and play into the later era's, fine. I've played many games late, but with most of the civ releases, it becomes boring. Sure, the race to AC can get exciting, but it seems like too much micromanagment at that point of the game and not enough action.

As far as religion goes, you raise an interesting point... but while it might be a dead end, it was very important in the early eras, and it will be a loss to the game to have them removed. Like it or not, religion was important.

[wodan11]

The problem with religions is that they are IDENTICAL. (Corporations are not). And for obvious reasons, they will not be able to make religion A having different (and thus potentially better) effects than religion B. It is a dead end.

There is a quite easy and flexible way to make religion A have different effects to religion B.

The "obvious reasons" you speak of are that nobody wants to tie a specific benefit to specific religions. Then we'd get all kind of complaints and people up in arms "why does MY religion give X while THAT religion gives Y? Are you saying my religion is inferior?" And such nonsense.

So what if they aren't tied together? The answer is simple: give the player the choice of benefit when the religion is founded.

Instead of being a negative, it becomes empowering. Each player can choose the benefit he or she feels is appropriate for or beneficial to a religion when they found it.

Quite simple, actually.

[rah]

Yeah, I like that concept. Especially if some benefits where better than others. Make it a bit more exciting to risk going for the earlier religion by making the reward a bit better. I would miss the early diplo aspect also.

I agree with ming that the corps come to late. By that point I'm gunning for state property and ignore them all together since the game usually doesn't last very much longer at that point.

[wodan11]

I agree with ming that the corps come to late. By that point I'm gunning for state property and ignore them all together since the game usually doesn't last very much longer at that point.

Rise from Erebus is a mod where corps (they're called Guilds of course) can come quite early. Can make a big difference in the game.

[Blaupanzer]

Corps can come as early as banking withot too big a stretch. Guilds and banks served that roll in medieval Europe. In the Muslim world were similar trade groups. But the Civ IV implementation is very heavy-handed as though there was no competition between corporations except for resources. Better to treat them like national wonders, no more than 2 per city affecting transportation, production, medical, finance, food, seafood, etc. Pick any two for defined benefits at banking and build a building, then jumps up at corporation, again at industrialism undsoweiter.

Anyone hear if corporations are still in the game?

[Ming]

Yeah... I like the "concept" of having corporations, but I don't like how it was implemented. Your suggestions are interesting...

[SpencerH]

The only corporation that was occasionally worth founding was ethanol, if oil was rare.

[Guynemer]

Really?

Sid's Sushi ****ing ruled. Ungodly amounts of extra food = extra specialists = profit!

[wodan11]

Corps also let you do a fast late-game Culture Victory.

[Dinner]

I honestly never really understood or used the corporations that much. Did you get extra money if you "converted" a city with the resource the corp specialized in or did you just get a bonus the more you spread the corp? Did they give you access to resources you didn't have other wise?

[wodan11]

No, yes (though it's not an "either or" situation), and sometimes.