Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Religion. Religion and espionage are the main dishes of Civilization V: Gods & Kings How religion spreads
The most popular topic in civ forums at the moment is, of course, hexes. But in terms of emotional overtones, the news about the abolition of religions probably had the greatest effect. How so!? The most successful discovery of the Fourth Civilization has been consigned to the furnace? Why???
Let's figure out what the abolition of religions threatens us with. I answer right away - nothing! In order to be convinced of this, it is necessary to make a couple of digressions. One is lyrical, the other is mathematical.
Why does Civilization stand out so much among all other strategies? An experienced player will immediately give a lot of arguments, but intuitively we all feel that we love Civilization for its realism. Because in this game everything is like in life. But there are a lot of games in which, it would seem, the degree of realism is much higher than in Civilization! Take any military-historical strategy - it will have much more realism. But compared to Civilization, it will still seem like a toy. But Civilization is not. Why? Maybe because in Civilization you can win not only by military means? But there are other games in which the diplomatic component is worked out much better and, most importantly, more realistic. Remember the political simulator Tropico? So why does Civilization imitate reality more accurately than all other strategies?
I believe we are very lucky with the creators of the game. I don’t know any of them personally, but I’m sure that Civilization is developed by those people who themselves play strategy games. I can’t prove this, but when I played any other game, a thought arose from time to time, which over time turned into a cry from the soul: “Well, haven’t you, the authors, tried to play your creation yourself?!” In some cases (Heroes of Might and Magic) I thought about it with slight regret, like: “Eh, it’s a pity that the developers don’t play strategy games. It could have been a great game if it were here and here...” In other cases (Disciples) realized with irritation that the authors didn’t understand anything at all about turn-based strategies. Because if they had played at TBS themselves, they would never have come up with this.
In most strategies, towards the end of the game there comes a moment when it is already clear - that’s it, I won. And from this moment on it becomes downright boring to play. An intellectual duel with a living opponent or with artificial intelligence turns into a boring pursuit of enemy units and finishing them off on the outskirts of the map. This melancholy can last for long hours, when the game itself is no longer a joy. The elation from superiority over the opponents gradually dissolves and turns into despondency, which by the end of the game covers all the players (at such moments it seems to me that even the computer is playing sadly).
So, there is no such moment in Civilization! Emotional tension increases throughout the game. And even after achieving an advantage in something, you cannot relax. You went ahead in terms of technology - and enemy armies appeared on the borders, assembled a mighty tank armada - and the enemy invented aviation, you dominate culturally - but didn’t you forget about espionage?
I can swear that the people who develop Civilization think the same thing and are constantly working on it themselves. Of course, I’m not saying that every designer and programmer is a fan of Civa, but the fact that people who make decisions on the development of the game themselves are fascinated by it is 100%. I guarantee it!
And these people know better than anyone else what a turn-based strategy should be!
Now let's reveal the main game secret of Civilization. Our second thesis is mathematical. Attention! Every modder should know this!
Everything we have in the game is subject to the main law - the law of limited efficiency. This Law of Mechanics of Civilization No. 1. According to it, any player’s tool (unit, resource, wonder of the world, technology) brings tangible benefits only for a limited time. After this time, the tool (unit, resource, wonder of the world, technology) becomes ineffective and is replaced by another tool.
Here's a simple example:
This is the ideal (realistic) game mechanics. A gaming instrument must have a ramp-up period during which its use is either expensive, difficult, or ineffective (the child grows and learns). Then comes a period of maximum efficiency (the person is already sufficiently educated and still full of strength), but it must not be very long. And it certainly shouldn’t stretch out until the end of the game. During the period of inhibition (aging), the effect of this tool either weakens, or becomes unnecessary, or does not provide an advantage over other players. Then this tool must either leave the stage (it is no longer possible to build archers), or be replaced with something more appropriate to the era (the modernization of the spearman into an infantryman), or acquire a new quality that has only decorative value (the castle no longer protects the city, but only brings some cultural points).
Here are a couple more examples:
I believe the working of the First Law is clear. For the game to be interesting and realistic, all factors and tools must work in accordance with this law. Of course, this also applies to religion.
Let's look at religion from the perspective of the First Law.
Let's look at the real world first. Founding a religion and spreading it in ancient times was not easy. There was no Internet then, and even with the full support of the authorities, a lot of time, resources and lives were wasted on spreading even the most convenient religion for the population. Fire and sword. But the centers of these religions, with the right approach, received a hefty bonus. If you want, shovel the money; if you want, give the order and the army of your fellow believers will go to devastate the lands of the infidels. Now that time has passed. Yes, religious centers have enough to earn a living, they enjoy authority (cultural influence), but they have not ruled the world for a long time.
What about Civilization? From the point of view of religious victory, everything was done correctly. You can only win this way for a certain period of time. The influence of religion on culture, science and production is also fine. During the “period of maximum efficiency” all this is present, then gradually fades away. There was only one flaw - the cash flow from the main temples. This is a violation of the First Law. Having exerted myself once in ancient times and founded a religion, I receive (after building a mega-temple) a guaranteed influx of money, which only increases until the end of the game. Without even any effort on my part. And this source of money for the dominant religion will not be outweighed by anything until the end of the game.
Founded a religion and successfully helped spread it a thousand years ago? You don't have to think about money anymore. Not founded? Didn't distribute it? You will do your best to earn money in other ways until the very end!
This behavior of a religious instrument introduces a serious imbalance into the game. Are religious leaders in charge of global finance in the 21st century?
However, this is just a particular drawback of the religious system in Civilization. And, of course, this is not a reason to abandon religion completely. And there is no reason for us to rejoice that the element of imbalance has finally been removed.
My point is that it doesn’t matter what our new gaming tools will be called in the Fifth and subsequent Civilizations. The creators, for example, say that advanced diplomacy will replace religion. So be it. Let us have many factors that obey the First Law. Maybe they will be called differently: political parties, a single currency area, customs unions, etc. The main thing is that all diplomatic factors must have a limited period of maximum effectiveness.
For some factors, the peak of efficiency will occur in ancient times, for others - in modern times. Some instruments rapidly gain effectiveness as the game progresses, and then just as quickly lose it. Others have a flatter timeline, allowing the player to use it over two or three eras. Some are very effective at their peak (even to the point of ensuring victory), while others provide only minor benefits. Some influence all areas of life, others act locally.
ATTENTION! The game is in development, so the information provided below may be inaccurate or even far from reality. Since more and more information will appear before the game's release, this page will be constantly updated. Last update: September 10, 2016.
Religion works in a similar way as in Civilization V. First you need to found a pantheon, and then with the help Great Prophet religion is founded. However pantheons are separated from the religion and your pantheon will remain even if the city was converted to someone else's religion. For religion, you can still choose a name and icon, the number of which has increased. When founding a religion, the player chooses 2 beliefs, and when strengthening 2 more. You also need to separately select a building for the faith: synagogue, cathedral, mosque, and so on. Religious buildings provide different bonuses. Since this building will be located in the “Holy Place” area, it will most likely not be possible to have buildings of different religions as before.
In addition to the fact that you can receive all sorts of bonuses for faith, now it really has power! For example, you can buy a new district for your city for your faith. And religious wars reach a new level with inquisitors, apostles and other religious units. Dennis Shirk
How to found a pantheon?
To found a pantheon you need a certain amount of faith, after which you can choose your pantheon. This pantheon will work for you throughout the game, even if your cities are converted to a foreign religion.
Here the problem arises of how to accumulate faith so as not to found a pantheon. This is necessary if you want a pantheon of someone else's religion.
How to start a religion?
To start a religion you will need Great Prophet, which can be obtained in two ways. The first way is to build, which gives Great Prophet points. Once you have accumulated enough points, you can choose your prophet. The interesting thing is that all players see how many points other players have accumulated and it will be obvious who and when will receive the prophet. The second way is to build Stonehenge who will immediately give you a prophet. Founding a religion through Stonehenge is not for everyone, as the wonder requires level ground next to the stone.
Once you have received a prophet in a religious area or in Stonehenge, that prophet can found a religion.
How does religion spread?
The most basic way is religious pressure. It works the same as in Civilization 5. A city converted to religion puts pressure on neighboring cities within a 10 tile radius. The holy city exerts more pressure than ordinary cities. In the religion lens, each city has a circle. Inside this circle there is a "radar" that shows the religious pressure of this city: the brighter it is, the greater the pressure on neighboring cities.
Another way to spread religions is with a missionary unit, which has several charges to convert a city to your religion.
Religious battles
With help inquisitors And apostles religious battles take place. Missionaries cannot attack, only defend. An attack by a unit occurs in the same way as with military units, except that the animation looks as if magic was added to the video and lightning strikes from the sky. After an attack, the apostles lose some of their health and can be healed in the religious area.
To build the apostles, it is necessary to build a temple. Apostles can receive various promotions; it is not clear where they come from.
Inquisitors are used to protect against foreign religions. To be able to purchase inquisitors, you must first spend an apostle on creating an inquisition.
Religious victory
A religious victory has been added to the game. For a religious victory, you need more than 50% of cities in all civilizations to follow your religion.
Pantheons
| Name | Bonus |
|---|---|
| Aurora Dance | Religious district gains +1 faith for adjacent tundra tiles |
| Desert folklore | Religious district gains +1 faith from adjacent desert tiles |
| sacred path | Religious District gains +1 Faith from adjacent Rainforest tiles |
| Lady of the Reeds and Marshes | +1 production from swamps, oases and floodplains |
| God of the Sea | +1 production from fishing boats |
| Goddess of the hunt | +1 food from camps |
| God of Open Heaven | +1 culture from pastures |
| Cromlechs | +2 faith from quarries |
| Religious idols | +1 faith from mines on luxury resources and bonus resources |
| God of artisans | +1 production from mines on strategic resources |
| Goddess of Festivals | +1 food from plantations on wine, incense, cocoa, tobacco, coffee and tea |
| Oral tradition | +1 crop from plantations of bananas, citrus, cotton, dyes, silk, spices and sugar |
| divine spark | +1 great person point from the Holy Place (Prophet) district, Campus (Scholar) district, Theater Square (Writer) district |
| River Goddess | +1 amenity for cities with a religious area near a river |
| Monument to the Gods | +15% to the construction of ancient and ancient wonders |
| God of Blacksmithing | +25% to the construction of ancient and antique military units |
| Fertility rites | +10% to city growth rate |
| Religious settlements | +15% to the speed of border expansion |
| God of healing | Increases healing of units by 30 in the religious area and on adjacent tiles |
| Rites of passage | +50 faith from each barbarian camp destroyed |
| god of War | For each enemy unit killed within a radius of 8 tiles from the religious area, you receive faith in the amount of 50% of the unit's strength. |
| Goddess of the Harvest | Gathering resources or removing terrain features gives faith equal to income. For example: we cut down a forest and get production and faith. |
Founder's Beliefs
| Name | Bonus |
|---|---|
| Church tithe | +1 gold for every 4 followers of this religion |
| Church property | +2 gold for each city of this religion |
| Secular clergy | +1 faith and +1 culture in the "Holy Place" and "Theater Square" areas in a city with this religion |
| Managers | +1 science and +1 gold in the "Campus" and "Commercial Center" areas in a city with this religion |
| Primacy of the Pope | +50% bonuses from city-states with your religion |
| Pilgrimage | +2 faith for each city with this religion from other civilizations |
| World Church | +1 culture for every 5 followers of this religion in other civilizations |
| Holy order | Purchasing missionaries and apostles is 30% cheaper (30 silver coins:)) |
| Defender of the Faith | +10 attack power for combat units near friendly cities with this religion |
| Crusade | +10 attack power for combat units near foreign cities with this religion |
| Fanatical Preachers | Religious units ignore terrain when moving |
| Monastic retreat | Your Religious Pressure never drops after losing Theological Battles |
| Traveling Preachers | +30% to upset religious pressure |
| Religious texts | +25% strength of religious pressure on neighboring cities +50% of the strength of religious pressure on neighboring cities after the discovery of the Printing Press technology |
It seems that the time for big expansions has passed, with more micro-portions of DLC in use. Here are toy soldiers for a dollar, wonders of the world for a fiver, civilization for a tenner... But no. Global changes are still happening. The oldest strategic series in 2010 marked a brilliant fifth part. And only two years later the authors decided to expand the boundaries of the universe with the help of a new, independent addition called Gods & Kings. Many joys await fans, and the biggest of them is the return of religion.
If we express knowledge in dry encyclopedic figures, then “Gods and Kings” will add to the existing set of 27 types of troops, 13 buildings, 9 wonders of the world, the same number of civilizations, each with its own leader. Thus, players will have access to: Maya, Austria, Byzantium, Carthage (the Romans should add the “sprinkle the earth with salt” function), Celts, Ethiopia, Huns, Sweden, the Netherlands.
In addition, the addition is going to change the balance of battles and improve artificial intelligence. Finally, spies will return, with whose help they can destabilize the political situation in neighboring states, steal technology, and influence election results. This is done through a simple “Espionage” menu, where the knights of cloak and dagger are given instructions and the progress of their implementation is demonstrated.
We had the honor of trying out new game features in the preview version of “Gods and Kings” and getting to know the main thing - religion. It’s even strange that such an important component of human history was omitted from the original Civilization V. Fortunately, after a couple of years the creators came to their senses.
The add-on has a new resource called Faith; it is generated automatically after building a sanctuary in the city (and then a temple, and generally depends on the number of followers). When 10 faiths are collected, it becomes possible to form your own pantheon, the most primitive belief system.
Since the existence of the pantheon is associated with the deification of nature, then you need to choose those bonuses that are related to the natural resources nearby. Faith alone speeds up production if there are mountains nearby. Another gives residents happiness if the city is based on a river, and so on. The list of options is quite impressive, but you need to choose one thing.
When a Great Prophet is born in a state, he allows him to found his own religion. This is done quite simply: you just need to decide on a symbol, come up with a name and select a number of commandments (bonuses), which will subsequently help in the economic, cultural and military spheres, depending on the spread of the religion and the number of followers. The choice, again, is large. And the advantages are sweeter than each other.
Religion does not necessarily have to preach asceticism and philanthropy. If desired, you can form a cult of rabid fanatics obsessed with war. Or turn religion into a profitable business, skimming the cream off the cities and parishioners who have fallen under the influence.
At the same time, religion becomes a convenient political lever. Some states themselves willingly accept your commandments, others need to send missionaries who are bought, again, for points of faith. And when state leaders believe in the same ideals, it is much easier to make friends with them.
The game has an interesting strategic layer. Religion gives bonuses, with its help, friendly relations are established with other countries, and it helps in war. It is difficult to develop, even more difficult to spread, but it becomes an excellent auxiliary tool for government management. But not the only one.
It is still important to cultivate the land, expand borders, negotiate with neighbors, trade, and unite in alliances. As before, barbarians with clubs break into the fields and kidnap peasants and settlers. As before, the war takes place in the style of a sophisticated chess game, the enemy kings either cowardly pay off with gold at the sight of your armored cavalry, or fight to the last with their chins held high. Artificial intelligence sometimes creates the impression of a living person, who is characterized by resentment, betrayal, and generosity.
As soon as a civilization reaches the Renaissance, another way to influence foreign countries appears: espionage. Each spy is a separate person with a name and, so to speak, a career. As he achieves results, his professional level grows, and he turns into a special agent, steals technology, rigs elections in your favor, and monitors what exactly the enemy is doing now.
However, the neighbors also do not hesitate to use the services of the newly minted Bourns and Bonds. Therefore, counter-espionage is an important part of the game, and it is useful to leave special agents in your own cities to catch enemy ones. If good relations have been established with a neighboring state, then its leader should simply kindly ask to stop monitoring.
Analysis
Civilization V: Gods and Kings is a huge expansion, not just a collection of new civilizations, troops and buildings. Religion and espionage are two new strategic layers, skillfully integrated into politics, economics, culture and war. They provide powerful bonuses, but they are a double-edged sword. It’s not easy to spread your faith. Enemy agents pose a threat. You have to fight all this. Thanks to this, the game has become more flexible and exciting: development proceeds differently, attention is concentrated on other things, more variables need to be taken into account. It’s not the sixth part yet, but with this addition the series won’t need an update for a long time. Almost ideal.
Ed Beach fires off phrases as he talks about Gods & Kings, the Civilization V add-on recently announced by Firaxis. How can you blame him for this? Ed really has something to say.
The game's lead designer and developer, with significant experience working on many strategy games, had just half an hour to give me a quick rundown of Civilization V: Gods & Kings and what it will bring to the genre. Therefore he had to speak quickly.
The main innovations of Civilization V: Gods & Kings are religion (taking into account its transformation after its appearance in the fourth part of the series) and espionage (giving access to the secret plans of computer opponents). There will also be many new tasks from city-states and changes to the combat system (for example, the transition from 10 to 100 health points for units).
Firaxis also indicates that there will be new leaders, factions, buildings, units, technologies, and basically everything you can expect from Civilization. There's a lot of new stuff there.
Even old features will be updated.
“Religion will appear in the game in a form never seen before”- says Beach. “We see it as a completely new way to create your own path to victory and take advantage of your playstyle, depending on your chosen winning goal.”
You'll start the game with a "pantheon" - several deities from, say, Greek or Norse mythology. Over time, the religion will develop and expand, spreading to cities around the world, making it somewhat similar to the existing system of “culture”.
In total, there will be 11 religions in the game, among which there will be both well-known all over the world and not the most common ones, for example, Zoroastrianism. Each religion has a set of upgrades, called beliefs, that help keep the inhabitants of the civilization in good spirits.
There are four categories of beliefs: founder beliefs, follower beliefs, empowered beliefs, and pantheon beliefs. Each category has its own bonuses - for example, “Goddess of the Hunt” increases food growth, and “Holy Order” allows you to hire missionaries to spread religion throughout the map.
There will also be Great Prophets, special units that can turn your nascent religion into a global phenomenon.
Relax, atheists: Gods & Kings does not force the use of religion. You can complete the game without touching this topic at all. You'll miss out on some benefits, but you can easily ignore this feature if it doesn't suit your beliefs. One way or another, by the end of the game religion will no longer matter.
“Religion plays an important role in the first two thirds of the game, and then its influence gradually diminishes,” says Beach.
This is where spies come in handy. Perhaps the most interesting of the new features in Gods & Kings is espionage, as well as religion, which has returned from previous games in the series and sparkled with new colors. Spies will be available during the Renaissance, and with their help you can infiltrate enemy cities, steal technology, and even start revolutions.
However, this was possible in previous games. A distinctive feature is now the ability to predict the actions of computer opponents, revealing their deepest intentions.
"You'll suddenly learn secret information if your spy is in the right place at the right time," Beach says. - “You may find out that the enemy plans to attack you in 15 turns.”
It's right: artificial intelligence smart (and sneaky) enough to plan betrayal 15 moves ahead. And you can use spies to find out about it. They grow in level, developing their information gathering skills so that you can find out not only the fact of betrayal, but also the city on which the attack will focus.
This information can be used in the updated diplomacy system. You will be able to directly tell your opponent about the disclosure of his plans or ask someone else for help.
Spies can also be sent into city-states, rigged elections and create alliances, in the old school tradition.
“Think about the Cold War,” Beach says. — “The USA and the Soviet Union fought with the help of third world countries. Such features make the game world much more realistic."
In this guide, we will look at gameplay changes related to religion, new units, explain how to increase the generation of Faith points, and give useful tips. This material is an addition to the main guide.
How to start a religion in Civilization 6?
First of all, let's explain to new players how religion works in Civilization 6 and how to start a religion. If you have played, you can skip this paragraph and go straight to the next one.
Immediately after the foundation of the City Center, the generation of a certain, small number of Faith points will begin, it depends on the number of inhabitants and the number of hexes capable of giving faith under your control.
To significantly increase generation, you must first build a Sacred Place, and it will give Great Prophets points, and not just Faith points. You can also manually place residents into hexes. You can learn more about the districts and residents in Civilization 6 from our guides.
The preparatory stage for obtaining a religion is the Paneton of the Gods, for the foundation of which you need to accumulate 100 Faith points. It has various beliefs - this could be a bias towards science, culture, production, gold, food or the generation of Faith points.
Choose the Pantheon in accordance with your strategy, since during the subsequent stages - the founding and strengthening of the religion, your choice will be limited to the continuation of this strategy.
In Civilization 6, you can start a religion only the Great Prophet from the corresponding Great Men menu, and only he can strengthen her. If you have enough money or faith points, you can buy it. Keep in mind that Faith points go to your menu, and to generate a Great Prophet you need to build a Sacred Place, a Miracle, or enlist the support of a city-state - this way you will start receiving Great People points.
As soon as the Great Prophet appears, you must immediately activate it in the Sacred Place, after which you will have to choose the name of the religion and the symbol for it, as well as select the belief of the founder.
You found religions in Civilization 6 according to your plans and strategy, so don't look at their name or what you know about them. In Russia there may be Islam, in Spain there may be Confucianism, and in Arabia there may be Christianity; in Civilization 6 it is just a name and a symbol, and you can call the religion by your name and give it another, not a well-known symbol.
In the next menu you will be asked to choose two beliefs of the founder - this can be a bias in science, culture, production, gold, food, or in the generation of Faith points. The founder's choice of beliefs depends on the chosen Pantheon.
For example, choosing a production like Pantheon will not offer you science or culture as a foundation belief - only production. Alternative options would include improving the city's parameters - housing and food, or increasing the generation of Faith points.
The Pantheon you choose will be unique to your civilization, it cannot be replaced with another, and it cannot be distributed either.
The process of strengthening religion takes place in a similar way, but the choice there will be a little wider. Players have already calculated that the range of options for founding or strengthening a religion is almost the same as in Civilization 5: Brave New World, and is expanded only by other new gameplay mechanics.
Important! When you move into a new era, usually after a few dozen moves, you will be able to choose another Great Prophet, do not forget make the strengthening of religion as early as possible.
New Civilization 6 religious units and gameplay changes
In Civilization 6, culture and religion are completely decoupled, faith and religion are no longer part of a cultural victory, they are independent functional parameters and are included in a separate victory. The gameplay mechanics surrounding education and religious development in Civilization 6 are very similar to what we saw in .
If earlier there were Prophets, Inquisitors and Missionaries, now Apostles have been added to them, but from a functional point of view everything has changed. Now only a Great Prophet can found a religion and make your capital a Holy City, which must be obtained from the pool of Great People:
Yes, after the founding of the City Center, a small amount of Faith points will begin to be generated, but they will go to their own menu, and to generate a Great Prophet you need to build a Sacred Place, a Miracle, or enlist the support of a city-state - thus, you will begin to receive Great People points. The Prophet is the rarest of them all, as his appearance is possible only in the first two eras.
For faith points you can found the Pantheon of the Gods, which is almost completely similar in its perks to the Paneton from Civilization 5: Gods and Kings, but you can found a religion only Great Prophet. If you have enough money or faith points, you can buy it.
The range of available actions is limited - he can only found a religion or strengthen it. Cannot participate in a new type of inter-unit interaction - theological battles.
The function of spreading religion is assumed by Missionaries and Apostles, and the protection of religion is carried out by Inquisitors.
Missionaries are the same weak units that lose their strength the further they are from their coreligionists and are capable of spreading the religion to other cities 4 times. They are inexpensive, so use them to convert other cities in your civilization to your faith and support the fortunes of those cities where it was already widespread. They defend themselves, but do not attack in theological battles.
Apostles are the most powerful units; they combine many functions. Like Prophets from Civilization 5: Gods and Kings, they spread religion (up to 4 times) with more power than Missionaries and do not lose power based on range. Perfect for converting distant cities to your faith.
It is impossible to produce Apostles and Missionaries, can only be bought with faith points, and a Temple must be built in a Sacred place. The more and the more often you buy Apostles and Missionaries, the more their cost increases - pause for a while to reduce the cost. In addition, you cannot maintain more than 5 Apostles at the same time.
Religion has its influence within the boundaries of the city, you can look at it through the appropriate lens or by choosing any of your religious units:
The space flooded with yellow light is your religion, the red light is any other religion, the space not flooded with any light is a neutral territory in which there may be other cities.
The fully or partially filled pie scale in this view shows how many people in that city have converted to your religion. If the scale is red, these are residents who have converted to another faith. Transparent space - residents who have not converted to your religion.
What are theological battles and how to cure the Apostles
Apostles may engage in theological battles against apostles and missionaries of other religions. Missionaries can only defend and not attack, while Apostles can both initiate combat and defend against other attacks - like military units among themselves.
Simply bring your Apostle to the enemy Apostle and give the order to attack. The developers of Civilization 6 implemented the battles in a very interesting way - you will see lightning, explosions, fog and so on, be sure to try it!
If your Apostle or Missionary loses the battle, then the winning religion increases its influence within a certain radius and increases the number of co-religionists in nearby cities. If you win, then the enemy religion loses its influence and co-religionists.
This mechanic works in conjunction with the ability to spread religion to a city, does not consume Apostle charges, moreover, you can participate in battles with other Apostles, win and increase your influence without spreading religion across cities.
To heal an injured Apostle (restore health points), simply move him to a Holy Place from a city with your religion and leave him alone for a few turns. If you see that the Apostle will be destroyed, it is better to spread the religion, maintaining your influence in this territory and denying the enemy the opportunity to receive a powerful religious boost when your Apostle is defeated.
Important! If a city with your faith was converted to another faith, then the Apostles, Missionaries and Inquisitors from that city when purchased will be of the converted religion, not yours.
The situation can be corrected if in another city with your religion buy an Inquisitor who will destroy the heretics, after which the influence of your religion in the previously converted city will be restored. This is more rational than using Apostles or Missionaries to regain your influence.
Inquisitors can also engage in theological battles and, like Missionaries, are relatively inexpensive. If you find several enemy Missionaries near you, and there are not enough faith points for the Apostle, then summon the Inquisitor and destroy the Missionaries before they cause harm. Or attack the Missionaries with military units, but this will mean a declaration of war.
To achieve a religious victory, you must have several Inquisitors at hand, since in a serious struggle the blow of the enemy Apostles can be directed at any state that has already converted to your faith and you will have to urgently save the situation, and the Inquisitors are created for this purpose.
What are relics in Civilization 6?
An important feature of the gameplay of Civilization 6 were relics - this is an item like a masterpiece, but it is obtained when an Apostle with the “martyr” ability dies. The relic must be sent to a Sacred Place, and each relic gives 50% more faith from the area or Wonder where it is located. In later eras, relics provide a powerful influx of culture.
To increase the growth of faith at the expense of relics, you can become an ally of the city-state of Kandy (it requires its presence in the current game and previous discovery in order to immediately influence this GG, and not fight for it later).
The advantage of Kandy is that you will receive a relic every time you open a Natural Wonder, and the generation of faith points in the Sacred Place will increase by 50%. Also, the number of faith points is added for the number of ambassadors.
***Thank you for your attention!***