Religion (Civ6)

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Religion is a returning feature in Civilization VI, but its role has been greatly expanded both in scope and in importance, becoming the focus of a new victory condition. Religion is primarily based around the Faith stat, which you can gain through various means including buildings, theological combat, and Wonders.

Establishing Religion

Creating a Religion

Once a Great Prophet is obtained, a civilization which has already adopted a Pantheon may found a religion in any Holy Site District or the Stonehenge wonder, if it exists. Note that Great Prophets are not obtained through simple accumulation of Faith! You will need a source of Great Prophet Points, such as a Holy Site. The number of Religions possible is still limited, and is always less than the number of players on the map, so you will need to race the others if you want your own Religion.

As before, players must choose from available symbols for their new Religion; this time there are some custom symbols which may be assigned to custom Religion names. Two Beliefs are assigned initially, one of which is mandatory a Founder Belief, and the other may be either a Follower or a Worship Belief.

Later, you may add two additional Beliefs to your Religion using an Apostle's Evangelize Belief action. This will destroy the Apostle and let you choose a Founder Belief. You may add these Beliefs whenever you wish - that is, there is no time limit to this possibility, and the limited number of Religions that can be created ensures that you will always have some Beliefs to choose from.

Note that both Pantheon and Religious Beliefs already belonging to a Religions may not be chosen.

Maximum Number

The total number of religions that can be founded is determined by map size, by half the default amount of players plus one:

• Duel: 2
• Tiny: 3
• Small: 4
• Standard: 5
• Large: 6
• Huge: 7

Adding extra players via Advanced Setup will not increase the maximum number of religions. Once the limit is reached, no further Great Prophets may be recruited, and the Revelation policy card will become obsolete.

Special cases

A Religion can only be founded after you have founded a Pantheon, even if you already have a Great Prophet! This is important in the event a player manages to build the Stonehenge wonder before accumulating enough Faith to adopt a Pantheon. In this case the player will have to work towards a Pantheon first, and only then will be able to use the Great Prophet.

In Civilization VI you cannot capture Great People; this means that you can't capture the Great Prophet of another player and Found a Religion with it.

There is a very special case which may occur with the Arabian civilization, or with any civilization which manages to attract a Prophet without having either a Holy Site or the Stonehenge wonder (yes, it's possible: all it takes is the Revelation Policy and other civs which are utterly uninterested in religion). Namely, they will be unable to Found a Religion! Although this will be extremely rare, it may happen; and you may see this Prophet wondering about, sad and wayward, while the maximum number of religions stays one short. Unfortunately, you can't do anything about it - the game won't let you capture that Prophet, no matter what; and it will be already impossible to attract another Prophet.

Spreading a Religion

Converting Citizens with Religious Units

Religion can be spread with a Missionary or Apostle of that religion, both of which can spread their Religion three times per unit (without any special effects or promotions). A city of a given religion will only purchase religious units of that religion. You can easily tell how many charges they have left based on how many characters are visible on the unit's tile. The strength of the spread is equal to the current Religious strength of the unit x 2. Note that this strength diminishes if the unit is injured. Therefore, it is usually more sensible to heal an injured religious unit before using it to spread your relition

Once more than 50% of the Citizens convert to a particular religion, it becomes the city's dominant religion.

Religious Pressure

After converting to a particular religion, the city starts exerting religious pressure for this religion, and may use its Belief benefits. Thanks to this pressure, left on their own nearby cities will eventually also convert to this religion. The amount of Religious Pressure your cities exert decides how fast or how far your Religion will spread. If there is, however, another religion which also exerts pressure over these cities, the two will start competing, converting Citizens at the same time. Eventually, the religion with the stronger pressure will win and convert the other city.

The amount of religious pressure on a particular city for a particular religion depends mainly on the number of nearby cities exerting pressure for it.

Theological Combat

The final, most dramatic way to spread a Religion is when the agents of two different religions clash in a contest of faith. For more information on this most interesting new feature in Civilization VI, check here.

Religions

There are twelve default religions in the game, and some leaders have a preferred religion that the AI will choose:

Religion	Leaders that prefer this religion
Buddhism	Hojo Tokimune
Catholicism	Catherine, Frederick, Jadwiga, Pedro II, Philip II
Confucianism
Hinduism	Gandhi
Islam	Saladin
Judaism
Eastern Orthodoxy	Peter
Protestantism	Harald Hardrada, Teddy Roosevelt, Victoria
Shinto
Sikhism
Taoism	Qin Shi Huang
Zoroastrianism

In addition to the above, there are also twelve icons for "custom religions" for which a player will be asked to type in a name. The AI will never found a custom religion; if they have no preferred or theirs is already taken, they will randomly choose from one of the default religions.

Beliefs

There are three main types of Beliefs in the game. They are, in the order in which you get to pick them:

Follower Beliefs

These focus on bonuses for the cities that follow the religion, regardless of whether they belong to the founding civilization or not. So, even foreign cities will benefit from Follower Beliefs. These must be chosen upon founding.

Belief	Effect
Divine Inspiration	All world wonders provide +4 Faith.
Feed the World	Shrines and Temples provide Food equal to their intrinsic Faith output.
Jesuit Education	May purchase Campus and Theater Square district buildings with Faith.
Reliquaries	Relics have triple yield of both Faith and Tourism.
Religious Community	Shrines and Temples each provide +1 Housing Housing.
Work Ethic	+1% Production for each follower.
Zen Meditation	+1 Amenities Amenity in cities with 2 specialty districts.

Worship Beliefs

These allow for the construction of special buildings in Holy Site Districts of follower cities, which means that they can also be constructed in cities that do not belong to the founding civilization. These buildings may be purchased with Faith. Note that each Holy Site may contain only 1 Worship building, which stays there permanently! If the Dominant religion changes later, and the new one has a different Worship Belief, you won't be able to replace the Worship building already existing.

Belief	Effect
Cathedral	+3 Faith; 1 slot for religious art
Gurdwara	+3 Faith; +2 Food
Meeting House	+3 Faith; +2 Production
Mosque	+3 Faith Missionaries and Apostles +1 Spread Religion charge
Pagoda	+3 Faith; +1 Housing Housing
Synagogue	+5 Faith
Wat	+3 Faith; +2 Science

Founder Beliefs

These bestow bonuses on the civilization that founded the religion. It doesn't matter whether it's your own cities or foreign cities that follow the religion; the bonuses will always benefit only the founding civilization. You gain up to 2 of them by using the Evangelize Belief action of an Apostle once for each.

Beliefs from both groups listed below are available the first time you Evangelize Belief but only those in Group 2 will be available the second time you Evangelize Belief.

Group 1 (only available the first time you Evangelize Belief)

Belief	Effect
Church Property	+2 Gold for each city following this Religion.
Lay Ministry	Each Holy Site or Theater Square district in a city following this Religion provides +1 Faith or +1 Culture respectively.
Papal Primacy	Type bonuses from City-States following your Religion 50% more powerful.
Pilgrimage	+2 Faith for every city following this Religion in other civilizations.
Stewardship	Each Campus or Commercial Hub district in a city following this Religion provides +1 Science or +1 Gold respectively.
Tithe	+1 Gold for every 4 followers of this Religion.
World Church	+1 Culture for every 5 followers of this Religion in other civilizations.

Group 2 (available both times you Evangelize Belief)

Belief	Effect
Defender of the Faith	Combat units gain +10 Combat Strength near friendly cities that follow this Religion.
Holy Order	Missionaries and Apostles are 30% cheaper to Purchase.
Itinerant Preachers	Religion spreads to cities 30% further away.
Crusade	Combat units gain +10 Combat Strength near foreign cities that follow this Religion.
Missionary Zeal	Religious units ignore movement costs of terrain and features.
Monastic Isolation	Your Religion's pressure never drops due to losses in Theological Combat.
Scripture	Religious spread from adjacent city pressure is 25% stronger. Boosted to 50% once Printing Press is researched.

Pantheons

Main article: Pantheons (Civ6)

As in Civilization V: Gods & Kings, Pantheons precede established religions, and are founded automatically as Faith is accumulated. Unlike in Civilization V, a civilization's Pantheon will not get overwritten by foreign religions converting your cities. Pantheons worship a number of minor gods, usually related to nature and natural phenomena, and provide minor bonuses, usually based on terrain.

In Civilization VI, all Pantheons require 25 Faith (at Standard speed), regardless of how many other Pantheons have been created already.

For clarification, Pantheon belief stays with you for the rest of the game even after the adoption of a formal religion and associated beliefs.

Icon	Name	Description
	City Patron Goddess	+25% Production toward districts in cities without a specialty district.
	Dance of the Aurora	Holy Site districts get +1 Faith from adjacent Tundra tiles.
	Desert Folklore	Holy Site districts get +1 Faith from adjacent Desert tiles.
	Divine Spark	+1 Great Person Points from Holy Sites (Prophet), Campuses (Scientist), and Theater Squares (Writer). +1 Great Person Points from Holy Sites (Prophet), Campuses with a Library (Scientist), and Theater Squares with an Amphitheater (Writer).
	Earth Goddess	+1 Faith from tiles with Charming or Breathtaking Appeal. +1 Faith from tiles with Breathtaking Appeal.
	Fertility Rites	City growth rate is 10% higher. When chosen, receive a Builder in your capital. City growth rate is 10% higher.
	Fire Goddess	+2 Faith from Geothermal Fissures and Volcanic Soil.
	God of Craftsmen	+1 Production from Mines over improved Strategic resources. +1 Production and +1 Faith from improved Strategic resources.
	God of Healing	Increases units' healing by 30 in Holy Site districts, or any adjacent tiles.
	God of the Forge	+25% Production toward Ancient and Classical military units.
	God of the Open Sky	+1 Culture from Pastures.
	God of the Sea	+1 Production from Fishing Boats.
	God of War	Bonus Faith equal to 50% of the strength of each combat unit killed within 8 tiles of a Holy Site district.
	Goddess of Festivals	+1 Food from Wine, Incense, Cocoa, Tobacco, Coffee, and Tea Plantations. +1 Food from Wine, Incense, Cocoa, Tobacco, Olives, Coffee, and Tea Plantations. +1 Culture from Plantations.
	Goddess of the Harvest	Harvesting a resource or removing a feature receives Faith equal to the other yield's quantity.
	Goddess of the Hunt	+1 Food from Camps. +1 Food and +1 Production from Camps.
	Initiation Rites	+50 Faith for each Barbarian Outpost cleared. +50 Faith for each Barbarian Outpost cleared. The unit that cleared the Barbarian Outpost heals +100 HP.
	Lady of the Reeds and Marshes	+1 Production from Marsh, Oasis, and Desert Floodplains. +2 Production from Marsh, Oasis, and Desert Floodplains.
	Monument to the Gods	+15% Production to Ancient and Classical era Wonders.
	Oral Tradition	+1 Culture from Bananas, Citrus, Cotton, Dyes, Silk, Spices, and Sugar Plantations.
	Religious Idols	+2 Faith from Mines over Luxury and Bonus resources.
	River Goddess	+1 Amenity to cities if they have a Holy Site district adjacent to a River. +2 Amenities and +2 Housing to cities if they have a Holy Site district adjacent to a River.
	Religious Settlements	Border expansion rate is 15% faster. When chosen, receive a Settler in your capital. Border expansion rate is 15% faster.
	Sacred Path	Holy Site districts get +1 Faith from adjacent Rainforest tiles.
	Stone Circles	+2 Faith from Quarries.

Added in the Rise and Fall expansion pack.
Added in the Gathering Storm expansion pack.

Religious Victory

Main article: Victory (Civ6) § Religion

It Civilization VI it is possible to win the game by becoming the most dominant Religion in the world. This is done by having 50% of every extant civilization's cities following your Religion. To clarify, you need to reach 50% of each civilization's cities, and each civilization that you do this with counts as one point towards the victory, so if you are playing a game with only four civilizations and one of them only has two cities, if you convert one of those cities, then you would be 1/3 of the way to achieving this victory, even if the other civilizations have several more cities.