User Guide

THE RELIGION ADVISOR
Press [F7] or click on the “Religion Advisor” button on the
Main Screen to access the Religion Advisor screen.This screen
displays your civilization’s current religious status – which cities
have which religions, the percentage of population in each city
which follow each religion, and so forth. On this screen you can
adopt or change your “state religion” (see below).
FOUNDING A RELIGION
If you are the first civilization to discover the associated tech-
nology, the religion is founded in one of your cities. It is
extremely useful to have a city where a religion has been
founded; it allows a prophet to create a “shrine” in that city (see
below).
ACQUIRING RELIGION FROM OTHER
CIVILIZATIONS
You can acquire religions from other civilizations that possess
them. This occurs without any specific actions from you –
though it is more likely to occur if you have Open Borders
with the civ. Acquired religions are just like founded religions,
except that since they were founded elsewhere, you cannot
build a “shrine” for that religion (unless you capture the found-
ing city, of course).
STATE RELIGIONS
When any cities in your civilization possess one or more reli-
gions, you may choose to assign one as the “state” religion.
Having a state religion tends to make your cities possessing that
religion happier and more productive; it also increases the
effects of many religious buildings and religious civics.
SPREADING RELIGIONS
Religions spread from two sources. Religions spread from holy
cities to other cities they come in contact with (via trade route,
for instance). Some religious buildings (see below) increase the
speed at which a religion will spread, and a civilization’s reli-
gious civic (see “Civics,” page 82) can have a great effect upon
the spread of religions, as well. “Missionaries” allow you to
increase the spread of a state religion (see next section).
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MISSIONARIES
Civilizations can construct special “missionary” units to spread
the state religion. A civilization can have only a limited num-
ber of missionary units in play at any one time.
Building Missionaries
Civilizations using the “Organized Religion” civic (see page
90) can construct missionaries in any city with the state reli-
gion; if a civilization is not following Organized Religion, it
can build missionaries only in cities with “Monasteries."
Moving Missionaries
Once constructed, missionaries can move about the map like
any other unit.Your missionaries can freely enter your territo-
ry or neutral territory; they cannot enter another civilization’s
territory until you have an “Open Borders” agreement with
that civ (see “Diplomacy,” page 99).
How Missionaries Spread Religion
When the missionary is in the target city, click on the “spread
religion” order in the missionary’s action box (see “Units,” page
32); if the attempt is successful the missionary’s religion is now
in the target city.
Note that you can spread religion into your own cities as well
as foreign cities; in fact, religions spread more easily into other
cities within the missionary’s civilization. It is easier to spread a
religion into a city with few or no religions already present;
each resident religion decreases the odds of success.There is no
limit to how many religions may be present in a single city.
The missionary is consumed in the conversion attempt, suc-
cessful or not.
BENEFITS OF RELIGION
City Benefits
All cities that possess your state religion receive one extra happy
face and produce one additional culture per turn. Spreading
your state religion is thus a good way to expand cultural bor-
ders in the early stages of your civilization. The holy city for
your state religion also receives an additional bonus of five cul-
tures per turn, allowing it to expand its borders very quickly.
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