Post by V.I.R.O.S. on Aug 7, 2010 4:12:50 GMT
Religion is one of the five ways to win the game. Your religion can be spread via trade routes, contact with other civilizations, military, or missionary work. Religions are developed in much the same way as species. You will choose a Pantheon, several traits, and divide up religion points amongst the stats available. Religion requires maintenance and interest. Maintenance simply means that you have to pay attention to the religion and make your choices based off it. Interest is how many people believe in your religion. Interest is noted by percentage of population of a planet that believes. Interest will degrade if you don't routinely perform "maintenance" as was mentioned earlier.
Creating a Religion
This is very similar to creating a species. Simply select a pantheon type, and divide up 200 points between the stats and buying traits. Religious stats have a maximum of 100 points, but there is no limit to how many traits you can have. The cost of a trait is listed at the end of its description.
Pantheon
Monotheistic: Monotheistic religions are very hard to get a population to embrace, but once they do, interest will not degrade unless something truly bad happens. So long as your nation continues to be successful, interest in a monotheistic religion will never degrade.
Nontheistic: Nontheistic religions are based entirely on the holiness sentient soul. It is easy to get a population to embrace these religions, but interest will rapidly decline if you don't maintain a very moral public image. If your nation starts a war, or does something widely disliked, interest will decline sharply.
Duotheistic: Duotheistic religions are based off of two opposing entities. Good and evil. Light and dark. Matter and nonmatter. This religion venerates one entity, and despises the other. Interest in these religions is easy to generate and maintain, but if interest gets too high, you may run the risk of another religion appearing, which worships the opposite entity that the original does.
Polytheistic: Pantheistic religions have many, many entities that they worship. Interest in these religions appears easily and rarely degrades, but you run the risk of many offshoots appearing, each with minor changes to the pantheon.
Traits
Trait costs are listed at the end of the description.
One Leader: This religion has a single leader, who leads the entire movement. All of your power has been invested in you by a higher power, or multiple higher powers. Any planet you send your leader to will automatically get a small boost to religious interest. The planet that your leader lives on will never degrade in interest, so long as the leader remains alive. 25
Clergy: A clergy acts both as spiritual guides and religious police. Any religion that has the clergy trait automatically installs a Clergy on any planet with at least 75% interest in it. The Clergy will prevent the planet from being converted by religious means. 30
Good Afterlife: Almost a staple for all religions, this afterlife represents everything that the followers want. You designate what criteria for getting into the "Good" Afterlife is. So long as you follow this criteria, interest will slowly increase on any planet you visit. 15
Bad Afterlife: Almost a staple for all religions, this afterlife represents whatever the followers would find most awful. You designate the criteria that gets you in the "Bad" Afterlife is. So long as you don't do any of the "bad" stuff, interest will degrade much less slowly on any planet you visit. 15
Ancient: This religion is very, very, very old. It has been around for a long time, and is met with a different respect than new age religions. So long as you rigidly obey all of its laws and tenants, interest will never degrade, and other religions will not challenge you. - The Ancient and New traits are mutually exclusive. 20
New: This religion is new and fresh. People are always interested in new takes on the universe, so planets that have a 10% or more interest in this religion will rapidly gain more and more interest. So long as you continue recruiting, interest will not degrade. - The Ancient and New traits are mutually exclusive. 20
Zen: This religion is focused on peace and compassion. So long as you maintain a calm and kind public image, interest will never degrade. The Zen and Crusading traits are mutually exclusive. 20
Crusading: This religion wants nothing more to convert and destroy those who won't convert. So long as you don't associate with people not of your religion frequently, interest will not degrade. The Zen and Crusading traits are mutually exclusive. 20
Xenophobic: Your race is the center of the universe. So long as you don't associate with anyone outside of your race, interest will never degrade. The first time you do associate with a race besides yours in any way but conquest, interest falls sharply. 20
Religious Stats
Appeal: This is how much your religion appeals to nonbelievers. High appeal religions attract lots of followers, but need a lot of maintenance to keep interest.
Fervor: This is how much belief your believers have. The lower this stat, the more iffy they are about it and the easier it is to convert a population of a different religion to this religion. Conversely, it is easy for other religions to convert religions with low fervor. Religions with high fervor are hard to convert people to and from, but interest degrades very slowly with them.
Rigor: This is how strict your religion is. The higher this stat, the harder it is to get forgiveness for transgressions. Strict religions require less maintenance from a leader, but they also don't look very appealing to outsiders.
Creating a Religion
This is very similar to creating a species. Simply select a pantheon type, and divide up 200 points between the stats and buying traits. Religious stats have a maximum of 100 points, but there is no limit to how many traits you can have. The cost of a trait is listed at the end of its description.
Pantheon
Monotheistic: Monotheistic religions are very hard to get a population to embrace, but once they do, interest will not degrade unless something truly bad happens. So long as your nation continues to be successful, interest in a monotheistic religion will never degrade.
Nontheistic: Nontheistic religions are based entirely on the holiness sentient soul. It is easy to get a population to embrace these religions, but interest will rapidly decline if you don't maintain a very moral public image. If your nation starts a war, or does something widely disliked, interest will decline sharply.
Duotheistic: Duotheistic religions are based off of two opposing entities. Good and evil. Light and dark. Matter and nonmatter. This religion venerates one entity, and despises the other. Interest in these religions is easy to generate and maintain, but if interest gets too high, you may run the risk of another religion appearing, which worships the opposite entity that the original does.
Polytheistic: Pantheistic religions have many, many entities that they worship. Interest in these religions appears easily and rarely degrades, but you run the risk of many offshoots appearing, each with minor changes to the pantheon.
Traits
Trait costs are listed at the end of the description.
One Leader: This religion has a single leader, who leads the entire movement. All of your power has been invested in you by a higher power, or multiple higher powers. Any planet you send your leader to will automatically get a small boost to religious interest. The planet that your leader lives on will never degrade in interest, so long as the leader remains alive. 25
Clergy: A clergy acts both as spiritual guides and religious police. Any religion that has the clergy trait automatically installs a Clergy on any planet with at least 75% interest in it. The Clergy will prevent the planet from being converted by religious means. 30
Good Afterlife: Almost a staple for all religions, this afterlife represents everything that the followers want. You designate what criteria for getting into the "Good" Afterlife is. So long as you follow this criteria, interest will slowly increase on any planet you visit. 15
Bad Afterlife: Almost a staple for all religions, this afterlife represents whatever the followers would find most awful. You designate the criteria that gets you in the "Bad" Afterlife is. So long as you don't do any of the "bad" stuff, interest will degrade much less slowly on any planet you visit. 15
Ancient: This religion is very, very, very old. It has been around for a long time, and is met with a different respect than new age religions. So long as you rigidly obey all of its laws and tenants, interest will never degrade, and other religions will not challenge you. - The Ancient and New traits are mutually exclusive. 20
New: This religion is new and fresh. People are always interested in new takes on the universe, so planets that have a 10% or more interest in this religion will rapidly gain more and more interest. So long as you continue recruiting, interest will not degrade. - The Ancient and New traits are mutually exclusive. 20
Zen: This religion is focused on peace and compassion. So long as you maintain a calm and kind public image, interest will never degrade. The Zen and Crusading traits are mutually exclusive. 20
Crusading: This religion wants nothing more to convert and destroy those who won't convert. So long as you don't associate with people not of your religion frequently, interest will not degrade. The Zen and Crusading traits are mutually exclusive. 20
Xenophobic: Your race is the center of the universe. So long as you don't associate with anyone outside of your race, interest will never degrade. The first time you do associate with a race besides yours in any way but conquest, interest falls sharply. 20
Religious Stats
Appeal: This is how much your religion appeals to nonbelievers. High appeal religions attract lots of followers, but need a lot of maintenance to keep interest.
Fervor: This is how much belief your believers have. The lower this stat, the more iffy they are about it and the easier it is to convert a population of a different religion to this religion. Conversely, it is easy for other religions to convert religions with low fervor. Religions with high fervor are hard to convert people to and from, but interest degrades very slowly with them.
Rigor: This is how strict your religion is. The higher this stat, the harder it is to get forgiveness for transgressions. Strict religions require less maintenance from a leader, but they also don't look very appealing to outsiders.