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Hey guys!
Actually, my favorite trait is Industrious (see my thread on the virtues of being industrious), with Religious coming in a close second for me.
The way I look at the Religious trait is two-fold:
First, you're quite right, cheap temples are great....that's inexpensive happiness for your citizens, plus a kick to culture (faster border expansion being its chief virtue).
Second and far more important in my mind though, is the one turn of anarchy when you switch governments. Now, I'll grant you, you don't wind up making all that many governmental switches during the course of the game, but for non-religious civs, it could well be the case that when you switch governments is largely dictated to you by in-game events (ie - when you're neck deep in a war, that's a pretty bad time to paralyze your economy for x turns while you struggle to shift gears)....so even if you WANT to make some or other switch, you can't till you get some breathing room.
Not so with Religious Civs....if you need a three to five turn commie boost to do some more pop rushing or whathave you....crank it up, and then slam your government type back to something kinder and gentler.....if war weariness is getting the better of you, you have no difficulty switching gears in mid war to something more resistant.
IMO, the MOST wicked, durable combination in the game is Industrious/Religous....making the Egyptians my favorite civ to play....you get cheaply bought happy citizens, exquisite control, and hyper-built road networks....and in truth, of all of those, the rapid construction of a good military road network is heads and shoulders more important than anything else.
With that in place more rapidly than any of your near neighbors, you can ransack them at will, regardless of their traits, or their size, relative to yours. Even if you're squaring off against a Civ markedly larger than your own, all you gotta do is goad them into your territory and use your superior mobility thanks to that road network to pick them apart, then counterinvade when the dust settles and the stench from all the dead enemy troops has cleared a bit.
The control over the game environment that the industrious trait gives you is....mighty hard to top. Coupled with the control over your own governmental destiny and the happiness of your citizens brought to you by religious....that's a durable combination indeed.
-=Vel=-
Actually, my favorite trait is Industrious (see my thread on the virtues of being industrious), with Religious coming in a close second for me.
The way I look at the Religious trait is two-fold:
First, you're quite right, cheap temples are great....that's inexpensive happiness for your citizens, plus a kick to culture (faster border expansion being its chief virtue).
Second and far more important in my mind though, is the one turn of anarchy when you switch governments. Now, I'll grant you, you don't wind up making all that many governmental switches during the course of the game, but for non-religious civs, it could well be the case that when you switch governments is largely dictated to you by in-game events (ie - when you're neck deep in a war, that's a pretty bad time to paralyze your economy for x turns while you struggle to shift gears)....so even if you WANT to make some or other switch, you can't till you get some breathing room.
Not so with Religious Civs....if you need a three to five turn commie boost to do some more pop rushing or whathave you....crank it up, and then slam your government type back to something kinder and gentler.....if war weariness is getting the better of you, you have no difficulty switching gears in mid war to something more resistant.
IMO, the MOST wicked, durable combination in the game is Industrious/Religous....making the Egyptians my favorite civ to play....you get cheaply bought happy citizens, exquisite control, and hyper-built road networks....and in truth, of all of those, the rapid construction of a good military road network is heads and shoulders more important than anything else.
With that in place more rapidly than any of your near neighbors, you can ransack them at will, regardless of their traits, or their size, relative to yours. Even if you're squaring off against a Civ markedly larger than your own, all you gotta do is goad them into your territory and use your superior mobility thanks to that road network to pick them apart, then counterinvade when the dust settles and the stench from all the dead enemy troops has cleared a bit.
The control over the game environment that the industrious trait gives you is....mighty hard to top. Coupled with the control over your own governmental destiny and the happiness of your citizens brought to you by religious....that's a durable combination indeed.
-=Vel=-
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