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I believe we want religion eventually. The Theocracy civic can grant our units +2 experience, but only if we have a state religion to use. We could get one from outside, of course, but that means that our religion might be supporting another civ monetarily through that religion's holy shrine, and other civs with the same state religion would be able to spy on our cities.
The Sarantium negotiations have led me to look at the tech tree. I looked at what we'd need to do to found a religion (everything except Hinduism and Buddhism is still untaken) and things aren't looking good.
Judaism would mean researching Mysticism + Polytheism and Masonry, and then going for Monotheism. I'd bet that Vox (founders of Hinduism) will get to Judaism first.
Confucianism is founded by the first to Code of Laws. This tech requires Writing + Priesthood or Currency. Currency is the long way round and would probably leave us beaten to the religion (Writing+Math+Currency+Code of Laws=1600 beakers), so I think we'd be looking at going through the religious branch once more (Mysticism+Meditation+Priesthood+Writing+Code of Laws=941 beakers). A bit more viable than the currency route, but it requires us to research three religion techs totalling 270 beakers, along with Writing somewhere and then another 500 beakers for CoL itself. Something to consider, but it's a hefty price when we could be investing in the first part of Metal Casting and its Forges, or Alphabet and its tech trading, or Mathematics and its catapults and road to Currency and extra trade routes.
Taoism requires Philosophy, which is a ways down the road, and requires us to combine Meditation with either Drama (which requires Alphabet) or Code of Laws (which gives us a chance at religion in itself). The Drama route might be worth consideration given that it unlocks the Theatre, a strength of our Creative trait, but it's a ways down the road and means we risk losing out on native religion if we don't grab this one.
Christianity requires Monotheism and Writing, so we'd basically looking at going for Judaism and then researching Writing and then Theology (a 715 beaker tech) if that failed.
Lastly, Islam requires Divine Right, which requires Theology and Monarchy and is not even a necessary tech. Last ditch option in my view and very likely not worth pursuing.
It seems to me that it would simply be very hard to get to a religion without detouring from other techs, though we might have a shot at Taoism later on if we pursue the Alphabet trade with Sarantium. However, later religion has two problems: less options left if we fail to grab it, and the more time that passes without a religion we can spread ourselves, the more time available for someone else's to spread around our cities, which would negate the anti-espionage benefit of founding a religion. I'm thinking that as much as it would be cool to have our own religion (which we could try to not spread around, thus keeping others from spying on our empire) we may have try to bring one in from outside once we want it (perhaps Sarantium's Buddhism). The downside to this is, there will be at least one other civ using that state religion; complete secrecy of our troop movements will not be possible.
The Sarantium negotiations have led me to look at the tech tree. I looked at what we'd need to do to found a religion (everything except Hinduism and Buddhism is still untaken) and things aren't looking good.
Judaism would mean researching Mysticism + Polytheism and Masonry, and then going for Monotheism. I'd bet that Vox (founders of Hinduism) will get to Judaism first.
Confucianism is founded by the first to Code of Laws. This tech requires Writing + Priesthood or Currency. Currency is the long way round and would probably leave us beaten to the religion (Writing+Math+Currency+Code of Laws=1600 beakers), so I think we'd be looking at going through the religious branch once more (Mysticism+Meditation+Priesthood+Writing+Code of Laws=941 beakers). A bit more viable than the currency route, but it requires us to research three religion techs totalling 270 beakers, along with Writing somewhere and then another 500 beakers for CoL itself. Something to consider, but it's a hefty price when we could be investing in the first part of Metal Casting and its Forges, or Alphabet and its tech trading, or Mathematics and its catapults and road to Currency and extra trade routes.
Taoism requires Philosophy, which is a ways down the road, and requires us to combine Meditation with either Drama (which requires Alphabet) or Code of Laws (which gives us a chance at religion in itself). The Drama route might be worth consideration given that it unlocks the Theatre, a strength of our Creative trait, but it's a ways down the road and means we risk losing out on native religion if we don't grab this one.
Christianity requires Monotheism and Writing, so we'd basically looking at going for Judaism and then researching Writing and then Theology (a 715 beaker tech) if that failed.
Lastly, Islam requires Divine Right, which requires Theology and Monarchy and is not even a necessary tech. Last ditch option in my view and very likely not worth pursuing.
It seems to me that it would simply be very hard to get to a religion without detouring from other techs, though we might have a shot at Taoism later on if we pursue the Alphabet trade with Sarantium. However, later religion has two problems: less options left if we fail to grab it, and the more time that passes without a religion we can spread ourselves, the more time available for someone else's to spread around our cities, which would negate the anti-espionage benefit of founding a religion. I'm thinking that as much as it would be cool to have our own religion (which we could try to not spread around, thus keeping others from spying on our empire) we may have try to bring one in from outside once we want it (perhaps Sarantium's Buddhism). The downside to this is, there will be at least one other civ using that state religion; complete secrecy of our troop movements will not be possible.
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