Is Religion Good in Civ 5? A Deep Dive

In short, yes, religion is unequivocally good in Civilization V, especially with the Gods & Kings and Brave New World expansions. While not a mandatory mechanic like science or production, a well-tailored religion can significantly boost your chosen victory path and provide crucial advantages throughout the game. Ignoring religion entirely is akin to playing with one hand tied behind your back. Religion offers powerful bonuses, known as beliefs, that can enhance your economy, culture, military, or even your faith generation itself, creating a powerful snowball effect. While there isn’t a dedicated religious victory, as there is in Civilization VI, religion significantly enhances your ability to achieve other victories, particularly culture and domination.

The Power of Beliefs: Tailoring Your Faith

The core strength of religion lies in the diverse range of beliefs you can choose when founding and enhancing it. These beliefs provide passive bonuses that can drastically alter your game. Let’s explore some key categories:

• Founder Beliefs: These benefit your civilization based on the number of cities following your religion in other civilizations. A great example is Tithe, which provides gold for every city that follows your religion. If you plan on aggressively spreading your faith, Tithe is a money-making machine. Another strong choice is Church Property, which grants +2 gold in your cities that follow the religion.
• Follower Beliefs: These directly affect cities that follow your religion. Pagodas are widely considered one of the best, providing happiness and culture. In a game where managing happiness is crucial, Pagodas provide a steady source of it, allowing you to expand more easily. Other excellent options include Mosques (faith and culture), Monasteries (culture and faith from strategic resources), and Religious Community (production in cities with the religion).
• Enhancer Beliefs: These improve your religion’s ability to spread. Religious Texts makes your religion spread faster to cities, while Itinerant Preachers increase the religious pressure range of your cities.
• Worship Beliefs: These are buildings that your religion can construct. Cathedrals and Mosques (again) are great choices for culture and faith, while other options can provide happiness or other resources.
• Reformation Beliefs: Available after researching the Reformation technology, these are powerful, game-changing beliefs. Jesuit Education allows you to purchase buildings with faith. To the Glory of God grants culture for every city you convert. Holy Warriors allow you to buy pre-industrial military units with faith. The choice depends heavily on your victory strategy.

The key is to choose beliefs that synergize with your civilization’s unique abilities and your overall victory goals.

Spreading the Word: Religious Pressure and Conversion

Religion spreads through religious pressure. Cities with followers of a religion exert pressure on nearby cities, potentially converting citizens. This pressure is influenced by factors like the number of followers in the originating city, the proximity of the cities, and the presence of religious units like Missionaries and Great Prophets.

Managing religious pressure is crucial. If a neighboring civilization is aggressively spreading their religion to your cities, you can use Inquisitors to remove the foreign religion. Alternatively, you can spread your own religion to their cities to exert counter-pressure. Diplomatic options to stop religious spread are usually ineffective, and sometimes war is the only way to protect your religious integrity.

How Religion Fuels Victory

While religion doesn’t offer a direct victory condition in Civ 5, it plays a critical role in other paths:

• Culture Victory: The most significant impact. Having a shared religion with another civilization provides a +40% tourism bonus towards them. This dramatically accelerates your progress towards cultural dominance. Founding a religion and spreading it to civilizations with wonders (like France) or unique luxury resources (like Morocco) can be a game-winning strategy.
• Domination Victory: Reformation beliefs like Holy Warriors can provide a significant military advantage, allowing you to purchase units with faith. Additionally, the extra gold from Tithe or Church Property can fuel your war machine.
• Science Victory: While less direct, beliefs that provide science or production bonuses (such as Religious Community) can help you research technologies and build spaceship parts faster.
• Diplomatic Victory: A shared religion can improve your relations with other civilizations, making it easier to secure votes in the World Congress.

Ultimately, mastering religion in Civ 5 is about understanding the interplay between beliefs, religious pressure, and your chosen victory path. By carefully tailoring your religion and strategically spreading it, you can unlock powerful bonuses and significantly increase your chances of success.

For further exploration of the strategic elements within Civilization and similar games, consider exploring the resources available through the Games Learning Society or GamesLearningSociety.org, where the intersection of learning and gaming is deeply examined.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How do I found a religion in Civ 5?

You need to accumulate enough Faith (at least 200 in a Standard speed game) to generate a Great Prophet. Once you have a Great Prophet, move them to a Holy City (your capital or a city with a Holy Site) and use their “Found Religion” ability.

2. What is the best religion to choose in Civ 5?

There is no “best” religion, as the ideal choices depend on your civilization, map, and victory goals. However, generally strong beliefs include Pagodas (happiness), Tithe (gold), Religious Community (production), and Holy Warriors (military).

3. How do I stop another civilization from spreading their religion to my cities?

Use Inquisitors to remove the foreign religion from your cities. You can also use Great Prophets and Missionaries to spread your own religion back. Declaring war and eliminating their religious units is sometimes necessary. Diplomatic requests are usually ignored by the AI.

4. Can I destroy a religion in Civ 5?

Yes, but only after capturing the Holy City of that religion. Then, move an Inquisitor to the Holy City and use the “Remove Heresy” ability. This permanently removes the religion from that city and weakens its overall influence.

5. How do I get more Faith in Civ 5?

Build Shrines and Temples in your cities. Found a religion and choose beliefs that generate Faith. Befriend religious City-States. Build wonders that provide Faith, such as Stonehenge and Notre Dame.

6. What is the best religious building to build in Civ 5?

Shrines and Temples are crucial for early Faith generation. Later on, the best choice depends on your beliefs and needs. Cathedrals and Mosques are great for culture and faith, while others may provide happiness or other resources.

7. Can City-States adopt a religion in Civ 5?

Yes. City-States can be converted to a religion through religious pressure from nearby cities or the use of Missionaries and Great Prophets.

8. How does religious pressure work in Civ 5?

If a city has followers of a religion present, the city starts exerting religious pressure for the respective religion on all other cities and City-States within 10 tiles. This pressure results in the conversion of citizens in those cities.

9. How do I use a Great Prophet effectively in Civ 5?

First, use them to Found and Enhance your religion. After that, you can use them to spread your religion to cities that need conversion, or use their “Holy Site” ability which turns it into a permanent source of faith.

10. How important is happiness when using religion in Civ 5?

Happiness is critical. Unhappy cities suffer production penalties. Pagodas are an excellent follower belief for this reason, as they provide a steady source of happiness.

11. Can I rename my religion in Civ 5?

Yes! When you found a religion, the game gives it a default name (e.g., Buddhism, Christianity). You have the option to rename it to anything you like.

12. How do I get a Culture Victory with religion in Civ 5?

Focus on spreading your religion to civilizations with high tourism output or wonders. The +40% tourism bonus from shared religion dramatically accelerates your culture victory progress.

13. What are the best Reformation beliefs in Civ 5?

Jesuit Education (purchase buildings with faith) is incredibly powerful. To the Glory of God (culture for converting cities) is great for a culture-focused religion. Holy Warriors (purchase units with faith) is excellent for domination.

14. What happens if I don’t found a religion in Civ 5?

You miss out on the significant bonuses that beliefs provide, and you’re vulnerable to other civilizations spreading their religions to your cities, potentially hindering your chosen victory path. You can still win, but it’s significantly more difficult.

15. What is the difference between a Missionary and a Great Prophet?

Great Prophets are primarily used to found and enhance religions. They can also spread religion a limited number of times. Missionaries are cheaper and specifically designed for spreading religion to cities, but are weaker than Great Prophets.