Can You Take Over a City with Religion in Civ 6? The Spiritual Conquest Explained
In Civilization 6, religion provides a powerful tool, but it doesn’t directly grant the ability to simply “take over” a city. You cannot, through religious conversion alone, annex a city and make it part of your empire. Instead, religion acts as a powerful influence, swaying a city’s population, providing substantial bonuses, and indirectly weakening your opponents in preparation for other forms of domination. Think of it as a spiritual siege that prepares the ground for military or cultural conquest.
The Power of Religious Influence
While religion doesn’t allow you to outright claim a city, its influence is far from negligible. By converting a city to your religion, you gain several strategic advantages:
- Loyalty Pressure: A city that follows your religion exerts loyalty pressure on nearby cities. This can be crucial in weakening rival cities, potentially leading them to become Free Cities, ripe for conquest or conversion through loyalty flipping.
- Economic and Production Bonuses: Religion provides substantial bonuses to your civilization, impacting everything from production and science to gold and culture. A strong religious foundation can significantly accelerate your overall progress, putting you in a better position to conquer through other means.
- Diplomatic Advantages: Sharing a religion with other civilizations can improve diplomatic relations, fostering alliances and trade agreements. This can be invaluable in securing your borders and gaining allies against common enemies.
- Cultural Impact: Religion is intertwined with culture. Religious tourism generated by religious wonders and artifacts can contribute to a cultural victory.
- Military Advantages: Certain religious beliefs provide direct military bonuses, enhancing the strength and resilience of your troops. These buffs can prove decisive in wars of conquest.
Converting Cities: The Path to Religious Influence
The primary method of spreading your religion is through the use of Missionaries, Apostles, and Rock Bands (with the appropriate promotion). These units spread religious pressure to nearby cities, converting citizens to your faith. The stronger your religion and the more charges your religious units have, the faster and more effectively you can convert cities. Converted cities will then exert loyalty pressure to nearby cities, which might give you an opportunity to take them over either peacefully or after declaring war.
Why Religion Matters Even If You’re Not Aiming for Religious Victory
Even if your goal isn’t a religious victory, a strong religion is a valuable asset. The bonuses it provides can significantly enhance your other victory conditions. A religion focused on production bonuses, for instance, can fuel a domination or science victory, while a religion focused on culture can propel you towards a cultural triumph. Essentially, religion acts as a force multiplier, amplifying your strengths and compensating for your weaknesses.
Religion is also important for preventing other civilizations from achieving religious victory. You can attack their religious units with your own Apostles (with the appropriate promotion) to eliminate religious presence or declare war and eliminate their units. This is especially important if a civilization has a strong religious bonus or wonders that improve their religion strength.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are some frequently asked questions about religion and city control in Civilization 6:
1. Can I use religion to flip a city to my control peacefully?
Yes, indirectly. A city primarily following your religion exerts loyalty pressure on surrounding cities. If a city’s loyalty drops to zero, it becomes a Free City, and you can then exert further loyalty pressure to peacefully flip it to your control. This will take a very long time and many civs have bonuses against losing cities to loyalty pressure.
2. What happens to a city’s religion when I conquer it militarily?
The city’s religious makeup remains the same after conquest, but the religious pressure from your founded religion will slowly start to convert the city. You can use religious units to quickly spread your religion. The old religion will continue to be followed by some citizens until fully converted to your religion or religion from nearby cities.
3. Can city-states be converted to a religion?
Yes, city-states can be converted to a religion. Once a city state is converted to a majority religion, its suzerain bonus will match the religion.
4. How does religious pressure work in Civ 6?
Religious pressure is exerted by cities with a majority religion, spreading that religion to nearby cities. The strength of the pressure depends on factors like the number of followers, the presence of religious buildings, and the influence of religious leaders.
5. Can I eliminate a religion from the game completely?
Yes, though it’s difficult. By eliminating all cities and religious units that follow a particular religion, you can effectively eradicate it from the game. It also helps to have open borders to allow your religion to convert any newly founded cities by that religion.
6. What are the best religious beliefs for domination victories?
For domination victories, consider beliefs that provide military bonuses (e.g., increased combat strength for religious units), production bonuses (to fuel war machine), or faith generation bonuses (to support a continuous stream of religious units).
7. How do Rock Bands affect religion in Civ 6?
Rock Bands can spread your religion to cities through their concerts, but only if they have the appropriate promotion. This can be a surprisingly effective way to convert cities, especially those resistant to traditional religious units.
8. Can I convert a city back to my original religion if it’s been converted by another player?
Yes, you can use Missionaries and Apostles to reconvert a city to your original religion. This can be challenging if the opposing religion is strong, but it’s definitely possible. Also, the Inquisition apostle promotion allows for great religious combat strength.
9. What role do Great Prophets play in religious control?
Great Prophets are essential for founding and enhancing religions. Without a Great Prophet, you can’t establish your own religion. They also help spread your religion.
10. Are there wonders that enhance religious influence?
Yes, wonders like Hagia Sophia, Mahabodhi Temple, and others can significantly enhance your religious influence, providing bonuses to faith generation, religious spread, and apostle abilities.
11. How does the Inquisitor unit work?
Inquisitors remove foreign religion from cities in your empire. They are essential for maintaining religious purity within your own borders and can be trained once you have researched the Theology civic.
12. What’s the difference between a Pantheon and a Religion?
A Pantheon is an early-game belief system that provides initial bonuses. A Religion is a fully developed belief system founded by a Great Prophet, offering more comprehensive and powerful bonuses.
13. How important is religious combat?
Religious combat is crucial for eliminating competing religions and protecting your own religious units. Apostles with combat promotions can be powerful tools for defending your faith.
14. Can I see a city’s religious pressure?
Yes, you can view a city’s religious pressure in the city details panel. This will show you which religions are present in the city and the amount of pressure they exert.
15. Does difficulty level affect religious conversion?
Yes, difficulty level can affect religious conversion. On higher difficulties, the AI is more aggressive in spreading their religion, and their religious units are stronger.
The Spiritual Path to Victory
While you can’t directly “take over” a city with religion in Civilization 6, its influence is undeniable. By strategically using religion, you can weaken your opponents, strengthen your own civilization, and pave the way for victory through other means. Whether you’re aiming for domination, science, culture, or even a religious victory, a strong religious foundation is a valuable asset. Remember to think of religion as a force multiplier that can amplify your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses. For more insights into gaming and learning, visit the Games Learning Society at GamesLearningSociety.org.