Theological combat (Civ6)

Theological combat

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Civilization VI brings about a veritable clash of religions, and this is not just figurative speaking! Religious units in the game may engage in theological combat, calling with Scripture in hand upon the powers of God to destroy their opponents (meta)physically. Thus, the new Religious Victory acquires a new strategical depth, when different players seek to not only spread their religions in the normal way, but also defeat the religious agents of other religions.

Basics

Theological combat happens when two agents of two different religions enter into a contest. For this to happen, they need to be in neighboring tiles (just like melee attackers), and the attacking unit be physically able to enter the defender's tile. Right-clicking on the enemy unit will initiate the combat, just like a normal attack.

Note that only Apostles and Inquisitors can initiate theological combat (attack, that is) against other religious units. Missionaries and Gurus may become the target of such an attack, but they may not initiate it themselves.

It is also interesting to note that a Religious unit staying in the same tile as a friendly military unit is not protected - since religious units move in their own layer, a potential attacker may physically access this tile regardless of the presence of an enemy military unit, and can thus initiate an attack. However, a unit may still hide in a City Center or an Encampment - enemy religious units may not enter such tiles, and a defending unit will be safe there. Terrain features such as Rivers may also become means of defense (or at least impediment) for enemies, just as they are in normal military combat. For instance, a Religious unit still needs 3 remaining Movement to cross a River. Note, however, that the normal defense bonuses physical terrain confers do not apply here - it won't matter if the defending unit stays on a Hill or on the opposite bank of a River, for example. Although Forts still grant defensive bonus.

Theological combat cannot happen between two Embarked units; however, it can happen between an Embarked unit and another one on the shore if they are immediately adjacent to each other (and the attacker has enough MPs to enter the defender's tile). In this case, the Amphibious attack penalty does not apply if the attacking unit is the Embarked one - after all, this isn't physical combat.

All religious units exert zone of control against each other, which further restricts movement just as in a physical battle. Additionally, City Centers and Encampments also exercise ZOC if you're at war with the civilization that owns them, which makes maneuvering in enemy territory even more difficult. This forces players to plan battles with multiple religious units just as they would do a real physical battle...taking into account that religious units may only attack each other in melee and receive certain combat bonuses. (See below.)

Finally, note that units of civilizations which have formed a Religious Alliance cannot attack each other, nor can units owned by different civs which belong to the same religion.

These rules may sound a bit restrictive, but the fast speed of all religious units (they all have 4 MPs) and the fact that all of them (excluding the Inquisitor) may freely enter enemy territory even without Open Borders makes organizing theological contests quite easy.

Creating Religious Units

All religious units may only be purchased with Faith in a city which has a Holy Site and a Majority Religion. Note that all units purchased in a particular city will belong to the religion that the city is following at the moment of purchase.

Additionally, the Missionary requires a Shrine, the Apostle and the Guru require a Temple, and the Inquisitor requires both a Temple and an Apostle of the same Religion as the current Majority Religion in the city to have previously Launched an Inquisition.

The Faith price of the units grows every time one is Purchased. In fact, the only time the price diminishes is when you adopt Theocracy, which provides a discount to all Purchases with Faith.

Whenever you Purchase an Apostle, it may select a special Promotion at the beginning of the next turn. It is given a choice between three of the special list of Religious Promotions. Note that the Apostle cannot earn XP towards more Promotions (despite the UI suggesting otherwise), so choose which Promotion you want wisely. Their effects are very interesting, and good for a wide range of activities in the game: some help it spread its Religion more effectively; others make it more effective in theological combat. A full list of available Promotions can be found here.

If you are the Suzerain of Yerevan, you may choose from the entire list of Promotions instead of from just three random ones. Additionally, if you have constructed Mont St. Michel, every Apostle will receive the Martyr Promotion for free, and in addition to any other it chooses normally. Note, however, that this limits the list of choices for a second promotion to two. Finally, in Rise and Fall, Moksha the Cardinal allows any Apostle (and also Warrior Monk) Purchased in the city in which he is established to get two Promotions instead of just one.

All religious units' qualities remain the same throughout the game. Unlike military units, they don't gain experience and don't upgrade to more powerful units. There are other factors, however, which influence any particular theological contest and make them distinct and interesting, so do not think that the strategic part has been swept under the rug.

The Battle

A theological contest is not like a regular battle, despite looking like one. Both units cause damage to each other, with the exact HP loss determined by the difference between the Religious Strength of the two combatants. However, unlike a regular battle, the terrain bonuses that apply have nothing to do with the physical qualities of the tile where the battle is fought - instead, they are related to whose territory this tile belongs to. Furthermore, every "blow" directed against an enemy unit appears in the form of a thundercloud forming over the enemy unit, shooting down lightning to injure or kill the enemy unit.

Since the Fall 2017 Update, Flanking and Support bonuses apply in theological combat, so if you use swarms of units in battle and manage to move them into position, you will gain a significant advantage. As mentioned above, however, all religious units exert zone of control, which makes maneuvering with and against large armies a nightmare (despite religious units being among the most mobile in the game). Otherwise, theological combat follows the same rules of engagement as melee combat: the attacking unit must be next to the target and have enough MPs left to be able to move onto the target's tile.

Injured religious units do not Heal in the normal way - that is, if they stay in one place, even inside your own territory, they will not regain lost HP. Instead, they Heal only when standing on or next to a Holy Site in their own territory. The parent city's religion is irrelevant; a Holy Site in foreign lands won't heal foreign religious units even if the parent city follows their religion, and a Religious unit will heal next to a Holy Site in its home territory even if the parent city doesn't follow the unit's religion. The healing capability differs from one Holy Site to the next, as the HP gained per turn is equal to 3 times the Faith output of the Holy Site. So, when organizing incursions into foreign lands, know that your units won't be able to heal unless you have the new Guru unit, which is able to heal allied religious units in the field.

Bonuses

There are multiple bonuses which may alter the Religious Strength of the contestants. Many of them are available since the early game, but many others only become available later with civic development. They may be organized into the following categories:

• Government and policy bonuses:
  • Theocracy confers a +5 bonus to all units in all situations.
  • Religious Orders confers a +5 bonus to all units in all situations.
  • Inquisition confers a +15 bonus to all units in friendly territory.
• Location bonuses (which are effective only when the unit is defending):
  • Being in the territory of a city following this religion confers a Holy Ground bonus of +5.
  • Being in the territory of the Holy City of this religion confers a bonus of +15.
  • Being in a Fort.
• Flanking and Support bonuses apply in the relevant situations.
• The Debater Promotion confers a +20 bonus in all situations.
• Basil II's unique unit, the Tagma, provides a +4 bonus to adjacent units.
• If the player has a Religious Alliance of Level 2 or higher, their units receive a +10 bonus (against all units but those of the allied player's religion).
• Inquisitors excel at defending against enemy religions, receiving a +35 bonus in their owner's territory. They also receive the bonuses from Wars of Religion, Defender of the Faith, and Crusade.
• Gurus owned by a player who builds the Meenakshi Temple provide a +5 bonus to adjacent units.
• The World Congress World Religion resolution (Option A) confers a +10 bonus in all situations.
• Some general bonuses and special abilities of the type "+X Combat strength vs Y" - for example, the Diplomatic Visibility difference bonuses ("Intel on enemy movements") - also work in theological combat.
• Damaged units suffer a penalty to their Religious Strength, just like military units suffer a penalty to their Combat Strength.

An example of a non-religious bonus is the permanent Movement boost that religious units can gain if they happen to pass by Mount Everest - this "Altitude Training" promotion allows them move on Hills more quickly.

Battle Results

Both the attacker and defender lose HP in theological combat, and a unit reduced to 0 HP dies. If the defender is killed, the attacker enters its tile, just like in melee combat. What's more, the news of this duel of faith will sway the people in all cities within 10 tiles: the influence of the winner's religion will increase there by 250 Religious Pressure, while simultaneously decreasing the influence of the loser's religion by the same amount. This effect also happens when a Warrior Monk with the Disciples promotion kills a unit.

When a hostile military unit uses the Condemn Heretic action on a religious unit, the same effect is observed; however, only the losing side loses religious influence, the Religious Pressure lost is halved (125 Religious Pressure), and it only affects cities within 6 tiles. The religion of the military unit does not gain influence.

A civilization whose religion has the Monastic Isolation Belief does not suffer drops in Religious Pressure due to theological combat losses.

When an Apostle with the Martyr promotion is defeated in theological combat, a Relic will be created. If there is no Relic slot left in your empire, it will be "shelved" until there is a slot made available.

See also

• Religious Emergency