Civilization 5 Religion Guide
Follower Beliefs in G&K and BNW
| Converting & Religious Pressure | Pantheons | Founder Beliefs | Follower Beliefs | Enhancers | Reformation |
You are able to choose one Follower Belief when Founding a Religion and a second when you Enhance the Religion. These affect Cities that have taken up your Religion as the Majority, or at least 51% of the Population. Religious buildings are not very good for very small empires, while they are incredible for boosting Faith and Culture in larger empires. Some of these are quite poor bonuses, and I'll help steer you away from them. People who disagree can share why in the comments section.
| Belief Name | Game Description | Tips and Strategies |
| Asceticism | Shrines provide +1 Happiness in Cities with 3 Followers. | You're better off choosing one of the Faith-purchased Buildings than taking this, for they can give you culture and Faith in addition to Happiness and you will get plenty of Faith to buy the buildings in all your Cities over time. |
| Cathedrals | Use Faith to purchase Cathedrals (200 Faith) | Cathedrals give +1 Happiness, Culture, and Faith but also feature a Great Work of Art slot, valuable in the early game due to scarcity, that is guaranteed to give +2 Culture and +2 Tourism that may be upgraded with later Social Policies. It is a good way to fit early works of art for Theming Bonuses |
| Choral Music | Temples provide +2 Culture in Cities with 5 Followers | Like a few other bonuses, this will give you an early return on investment but in the long-run it'd be better to be able to build a Religious building that gives you more bonuses. |
| Divine Inspiration | Each World Wonder provides +2 Faith in a City | I like this in games when I will chase many Wonders, and it pays off very well when I succeed in doing so. I recommend it if you're playing Egypt or combining with the Pantheon/Social Policy to get extra production toward Wonders. You may get this in combination with those boosts, then take +15% Production when you enhance the Religion to help you build even more Wonders. |
| Feed the World | Shrines and Temples provide +1 Food each in the City | As redditor daltin pointed out to me, this is better than I initially first believed when compared with Swords into Plowshares. This gives you a flat +2 food per City, while Swords into Plowshares would need you to have a surplus of nearly 12 food to give the same effect. Turns out this is the best direct boost to growth rate available from Religion all on its own and will help throughout your game. |
| Guruship | +2 Production if the City has a Specialist | By the time Cities all have Specialists to take advantage of this, the +2 production is not as significant.. though I will say that a Workshop stationed with an Engineer is great coupled with this, along with Religious Community for early-mid development, it just loses usefulness by the late-game. However, for early-game Domination, it can really work out for you! |
| Holy Warriors | Use Faith to purchase Pre-Industrial Land Units. | This should specify Military, because you can't get Caravans, Workers, or Settlers from this, but that doesn't make it useless. Civs that are warlike and choose to rely heavily on Faith will find that Faith costs are about 2x the hammer value of a Unit, so 80 Faith buys an Archer - and that's quite easy to come by. It can help significantly in early war, so do not overlook this Follower Belief to help you fuel aggressive play. |
| Liturgical Drama | Amphitheaters provide +1 Faith in Cities with 3 Followers. | Absolutely horrible, skip and find something much better for your Civ. |
| Monasteries | Use Faith to purchase Monasteries (200 Faith) | Monasteries give +2 Culture and +2 Faith, but lend an additional +1/+1 for each Incense and Wine worked by the City - incredibly potent with the Goddess of Festivals Pantheon, so definitely use these when you find yourself on a strong wine/incense start. |
| Mosques | Use Faith to purchase Mosques (200 Faith) | Mosques give +3 Faith, +2 Culture, and +1 Happiness and have nothing else special about them - they are just balanced to give more Faith than the other building options. |
| Pagodas | Use Faith to purchase Pagodas (200 Faith) | The Pagoda is the most balanced building, giving +2 each to Faith, Happiness, and Culture for a City |
| Peace Gardens | Gardens provide +2 Happiness in a City | Gardens can only come to Cities next to Rivers/Lakes and are not available until Theology. The Hanging Gardens does guarantee a Garden in a City despite its location, but this is a rather weak bonus compared to others here - go with Pagodas if you want +2 Happiness and you'll grab +2 Faith and Culture to boot. However, if you always have access to Gardens because of City placement, it can be great. You may also try this with Indonesia, as their Candi can be built in any City! |
| Religious Art | Hermitage provides +5 Culture and +5 Tourism | Now, this isn't much unless you are building your Hermitage in a City that is intended to be a Tourism powerhouse - look at the Cultural Victory page to see just how much you could bump this. It is a rather situational selection here, while others provide more flexible bonuses. |
| Religious Center | Temples provide +2 Happiness in Cities with 5 Followers | I'll repeat what I said for Asceticism - You're better off choosing one of the Faith-purchased Buildings than taking this, for they can give you culture and Faith in addition to Happiness and you will get plenty of Faith to buy the buildings in all your Cities over time. |
| Religious Community | +1% Production for each follower (max +15%) | 15 Followers in a City will take a long time coming, so for a while you will only see +5% production or so in the bulk of your Cities. Later, it really shines - so I do recommend this one if you have other means of generating culture/faith and don't need the religious buildings so much. |
| Swords into Plowshares | 15% faster Growth if City not at War | Knowing now how much better Feed the World is than I originally thought, I would only pick this Follower belief in combination with that or on its own for a One-City Challenge (or while playing Venice). |
| Converting & Religious Pressure | Pantheons | Founder Beliefs | Follower Beliefs | Enhancers | Reformation |
Share Tips and FAQs (9)
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JaggedMallard says...
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I find that Religious art is quite good if you are doing a One City challenge or playing as Venice since most of the other benefits provide smaller benefits.
ReplyFlag216th September 2013 3:20pm
Grigori Rho says...
Pantheon = Fertility Rites
Founder = Ceremonial Burial
Follower = Religious Community
Follower = Divine Inspiration
Enhancer = MessiahWe like a mushroom civilization, starts out tall & cultured then spreads out wide and friendly... you can routinely exhaust yourself trying to spread out early, but saving your energy for the cusp, where you can suddenly make large land grabs before the other civs can grow too much lets you focus on quality and production capacities first. Enjoy!
Founder = Ceremonial Burial
Follower = Religious Community
Follower = Divine Inspiration
Enhancer = MessiahWe like a mushroom civilization, starts out tall & cultured then spreads out wide and friendly... you can routinely exhaust yourself trying to spread out early, but saving your energy for the cusp, where you can suddenly make large land grabs before the other civs can grow too much lets you focus on quality and production capacities first. Enjoy!
6th March 2014 10:32pm
Ken says...
If I was playing as Indonesia and chose Peace Gardens as my follower belief, would I still get the benefit from it? Indonesia has the Candi, which replaces the garden, so I've been wondering.
Thanks!
Thanks!
9th March 2014 10:32pm
Grigori Rho says...
Typically, and probably as a rule, the replacements for buildings or units are better than the units or buildings they replace, as these are given as benefits for the player choosing whichever civilization they pertain to.
(Have seen this answer posted elsewhere but not anything that might contradict it.)
(Have seen this answer posted elsewhere but not anything that might contradict it.)
Admin:
Right, they replace that building and just have different effects so they will also serve to meet any requirements for Religious beliefs, Social Policy bonuses, or National Wonders where applicable. The Indonesian Candi will benefit from Peace Gardens, and any Civ with a Market (Arabian Bazaar) or Temple (Egyptian Burial Tomb) replacement would need those in their non-Puppet Cities to make the East India Company or Grand Temple.
Ultimately, that would be a very good choice of Follower belief for Indonesia, since they could have that building in every city! :)
Ultimately, that would be a very good choice of Follower belief for Indonesia, since they could have that building in every city! :)
10th March 2014 10:46pm
Khan says...
Does religious comunity affect each city induvidualy. if my capital has 15 followers i get 15% production but only in the capital ? If my next city has only 5 followers it will only have 5% ? I just need this clarifying.
If so it can be very powerfull but must require a strong hold of your religion on all citys and will take considerable time to fully kick in
If so it can be very powerfull but must require a strong hold of your religion on all citys and will take considerable time to fully kick in
22nd December 2015 4:09am
Warren says...
I think the +happiness and +culture for shrines and temples beliefs are actually quite useful. This is because the AI religions on higher difficulties get founded fast and have a good chance of snatching up all the purchasable faith buildings. In that situation, you can transfer those buildings' culture or happiness benefits onto your shrines/temples, which you'll probably have in all your cities anyway.
Also, since you retain the benefits of the purchased buildings if your city converts to a different faith, you can change your cities' religion to get the buildings and then change back. This is a neat trick if you can manage it, but it's hard to do it in all of your cities.
Admin:
I am in a game right now using the +2 Happiness in Cities with 5 Followers, along with Pagodas. Immortal, Standard, Continents playing Inca. It is useful to get the +2 Happiness, and I notice the AI doesn't seem to pick the Enhancers that spread religion faster very often. I may do some minor revision to some of these pages, but think people will notice comments like yours and glean some wisdom from them.
Great tip on Immortal+ Religious buildings. The AI does gobble them up. It's actually fairly smart of them given how much faith they must generate already, and that they sem to like playing wide so much. When a Great Prophet converts my city, I always check to see if I'm able to get a building before I turn my city back. I am usually protecting my Cities with Inquisitors parked nearby. One can do a lot, since you can run back and forth on roads, outpacing the GP and stop him from spreading. it can really tie them up :D
But yeah, great to get those buildings despite the AI snagging them. On upper difficulties it just gets harder and harder to keep your religion dominant, so this is a good use of Faith. The amount of missionary spam from some Civs can be absolutely overwhelming.
Great tip on Immortal+ Religious buildings. The AI does gobble them up. It's actually fairly smart of them given how much faith they must generate already, and that they sem to like playing wide so much. When a Great Prophet converts my city, I always check to see if I'm able to get a building before I turn my city back. I am usually protecting my Cities with Inquisitors parked nearby. One can do a lot, since you can run back and forth on roads, outpacing the GP and stop him from spreading. it can really tie them up :D
But yeah, great to get those buildings despite the AI snagging them. On upper difficulties it just gets harder and harder to keep your religion dominant, so this is a good use of Faith. The amount of missionary spam from some Civs can be absolutely overwhelming.
30th April 2014 9:11am
Bill W says...
Asceticism and Religious Center are actually really good for domination wins. Most of your cities will be puppets which you cannot purchase (Pagodas or Cathedrals) in, but the puppets will build shrines and temples. The main difficulty with Domination is unhappiness, these two beliefs give +3 happiness per puppet from buildings normally built anyway. Even better with the Piety social policy that lets shrines and temples get built 50% faster.
11th August 2014 4:51pm
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