Improving Spiritualism/Materialism (Religion)

[ResolutionBlaze]

I have some ideas on how to improve this, beccause these are surprisingly shallow, because no, not all religious/spiritualist ideologies get along, and in a universe full of contradicting philosophies? You can bet your♥♥♥♥♥that there should be some conflict among each other, even with Materialist empires. So I've made a system that can complicate this.

Essentially, you can choose your Spiritualist Religion or Materialist Philosophy, which will grant you certain benefits and modifiers for other factions. These are basically Sub-Ethics for your Government.

Please note: I will be making two separate threads since these will be long if I include both Spiritualist and Materialist changes. I'll link the threads to each other when they're done.

Here are some examples:

Monotheism

“With the immenseness of the universe, it’s Creator must be powerful enough to guide us toward our fates on its own desire. It is the only sensible conclusion.”

Benefits:

Easier pop. conversion, especially against Polytheists.
Increases Governing Ethics attraction for believers.
If Authoritarian, provides 0.1 Influence for every convert outside your home planet.
Increases Unity output for every convert outside your home planet by 0.2.


Costs:

If Egalitarian, more easily converted to Secularism. If Fanatic Egalitarian, it no longer increases Governing Ethics attraction.
Slower rate of religious expansion.
Influence gain from discovering other empires is reduced by 50% and shrinks for every species discovered (scales to the amount of species present in a galaxy).

Polytheism

“If there are different species like us in this finite universe, it is only reasonable to assume that there are different gods beyond it.”

Benefits:

Easier conversion against Xenophile nations (does not count for Xenophile races that are also Spiritualist - Monotheistic)
Faster rate of religious expansion
Increases the Unity gained from Temples by 1.
Easier conversion against Pantheism


Costs:

More easily converted to Monotheism.
Reduces Faction Influence gain by 25%
Reduces Governing Ethics attraction by 5%

Pantheism

“We interact everyday with the gods, or with a god; every moment living in this universe is another moment in their presence.”


Benefits:

Easier conversion against Materialist philosophies.
No longer receives an Influence bonus from discovering other empires, but instead every discovered empire increases Influence and Unity input by 0.5 for ten years, after which it reduces to 0.1 Influence and Unity indefinitely.
Temples are reduced in cost by 15%


Costs:

More easily converted to Polytheism
Happiness reduced by 5% in the presence of Materialist philosophies.



Religious Ethics:

Sub-ethics for your chosen religious path. Some are only available for some types of Theism. At least one must be picked, but can pick up to three.


Animism:
“All things have purpose, meaning, and soul. Good and evil are mere primitive designs compared to the divine point of view.”

Used by all religions. Reduces Edit Cost by 20% (stacks). Slows research speed by 5%.


Monolatry:
“All gods are simply a part of a greater whole; the whole that is the supreme, complete god.”

Only used by Monotheism and Polytheism. Improves opinion with any Polytheist/Monotheist empire. Decreases starting game Influence by 20%.


Nontheistic:
"The universe takes on the role of god; there is nothing divine, nothing otherworldy, for we already exist within it."

Only used by Pantheism. Decreases opinion by other religions. Increases opinion and conversion rate of Materialist empires. Incompatable with any ethic used by Monotheism or Polytheism.


Prophecy:
"Our people have a prophecy, passed down by our ancestors, given to us by the divine. It holds true to this day, and unites our people with its mysteries."

Used by all religons. Increases unity by 10%. Incompatible with Deism.


Mysticism:
"The absence of self is the only way to become in touch with the divine."

Used by all religions. Increases happiness by 5%. For every tradition accepted in the Mysticism tree, it increases by another 1% permanently.


Deism:
"The gods, or god, already have everything set in motion; they would have no interest in intervening in what would otherwise be their wonderful creation."

Only used by Monotheism and Polytheism. Reduces risk of pops converting to Materialism. Incompatible with Mysticism and Prophecy.


Eutheism:
"The divine are truely benevolent, and only want was is best for their creation."

Only used by Monotheism and Polytheism. Increases Religious and Governance Attraction by 10%


Autotheism:
"If we strive enough, we too can achieve godhood."

Only used by Pantheism and Polytheism. Increases leader experience gain by 20%. Increases any leader modifiers effectiveness as they grow in experience levels. Negative modifiers are also increased in any debuffs it has.


Pandeism:
"There is no discernable difference between the universe and god; they are so alike in power that they are of equal importance and significance."

Only used by Pantheism and Monotheism. Increases conversion rate with other Monotheists and Pantheists.


Kathenotheism:
"Each god is supreme at a given time. No god has the power to be supreme across all places."

Only used by Polytheism. Gives a random planetary modifiers to each colonized planet. Increases happiness of pops on colonized planets by 5%. Incompatible with Monolatry.


Pleasure Seekers:
"To become in touch with the divine, we must indulge in every sense experience possible. Our biological tendencies and urges are a gift from the divine; we must oblige in its excess."

Used by all religions. Increases reproduction rate by 15%. Incompatible with Mysticism. If another empire has Mysticism, decreases opinion by 1000.


Religious Commandments:
"Our religion has set rules and customs that have been unchanged - and will remain unchanged - since our race began."

Used by all religions. Decreases piracy. For every tradition accepted, Unity rate is increased by 1.



This is a start, I think. I'll add more ideas if anyone wants to suggest some for fun. What do you think?


Here is the link to the Materialist Page (when I complete it): __________

[fuser]

I like it but may be make space for Henotheism to correspond to rl religions like Zorostranism, Hinduism etc.

[ResolutionBlaze]

Originally posted by fuser:

I like it but may be make space for Henotheism to correspond to rl religions like Zorostranism, Hinduism etc.

Thought about adding that but I wanna include downsides to each of these but my creative juices are running thin >_<