Highlights
- Civilization 6's high degree of mechanical complexity makes it challenging to master, especially when it comes to understanding each civ's strengths and weaknesses.
- Religion in Civilization 6 offers various benefits through Beliefs, which are crucial to building a religion. Choosing the right Beliefs is important for both religious victory and useful buffs.
- There are four types of Beliefs in Civ 6: Founder, Follower, Worship, and Enhancer Beliefs. Each type offers different bonuses and affects different aspects of the game, such as City-State relations, production, and faith generation.
Civilization 6 isn't the hardest game to learn, but it can be tough to master. This mainly stems from the game's relatively high degree of mechanical complexity. It can take a long time for players to wrap their heads around each civ's strengths and weaknesses. Civilization 6 also gives players many options for building their civ after the game begins.
Some of Civilization 6's more complicated mechanics revolve around Religion. In addition to pursuing a Religious Victory in Civ 6, Religions offer various benefits to the Civilizations that follow them. Many of these buffs come from the Religion's Beliefs, and choosing the right Beliefs is crucial to building a religion. Whether the player is actively seeking a religious victory or just wants to take advantage of useful buffs, it's worth understanding how Beliefs work in Civilization 6.
Civilization 6's Beliefs
Religions in Civilization 6 consist of a Pantheon and multiple Beliefs. However, whereas pantheons are tied to the Civ and benefit all of its Cities, Beliefs only affect Cities where that Religion is dominant. Players choose two Beliefs when they found the Religion and can add up to two more by activating the Apostle's single-use Evangelize Belief power.
Apostles are religious units unlocked by the Classical Era Theology Civic. They cost 400 Faith by default, and players can train them at Holy Sites with a Temple. Apostles are destroyed after using Evangelize Belief. Players can use their Apostles to add Beliefs at any time, but Religions can only add Beliefs that another Region hasn't already claimed. Therefore, it's advisable for Civilization 6 players to add Beliefs as soon as they unlock Apostles.
The Four Types of Beliefs in Civ 6
Civ 6 divides Beliefs into Founder, Follower, Worship, and Enhancer Beliefs. One of the first two Beliefs must be a Founder Belief, and the other must be either a Founder, Worship, or Enhancer Belief. The current version of Civilization 6 features nine Beliefs of each category with the Gathering Storm DLC installed. This does not count the scenario-specific Beliefs unique to Gifts of the Nile, Jadwiga's Legacy, and Path to Nirvana Scenarios.
Founder Beliefs offer civ-wide bonuses, several of which strengthen as the Religion spreads. Papal Primacy and Religious Unity affect City-State relations, while the rest provide new ways of producing Gold, Science, Culture, or Faith. These bonuses usually only apply to the civilization that founded the Religion, though Civ 6’s Congolese Leader Mvemba a Nzinga ignores this restriction.
Enhancer beliefs focus on spreading the Religion to new Cities, though Crusade and Defender of the Faith also benefit military units. This makes them especially useful for Civilization 6's Byzantines and Indonesians, whose unique abilities intertwine religious and military strength. As with Founder Beliefs, only the Religion's founder and Mvemba a Nzinga benefit from Enhancer Beliefs.
Worship Beliefs unlock the Religion's third Holy Site building. Cities can build the building belonging to their majority Religion, regardless of whether it matches the Civilization's Religion. The building does not change if the City changes Religion. All Worship buildings produce three points of Faith per term except for the Synagogue, which produces five, and the Dar-e Mehr, which produces an additional one Faith for every Era since its construction. The other buildings provide a second, different resource or a buff to the City where they were built. The Cathedral, Pagoda, and Wat stand out for their usefulness in Culture, Diplomatic, and Science Victories in Civilization 6.
Follower Beliefs affect every City where the Religion is dominant, regardless of who owns it. Some, like Choral Music, Divine Inspiration, and Warrior Monks, lean the civ toward Cultural or Religious victories. The rest offer benefits, no matter the player's long-term goal.
Civilization 6 is available on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
