Why are you guys chosing anything other than Harverst Godess?

[Tardigrade]

So. This provides essentially unlimited builders and settlers (with golden age pick Monumentality), and a ton of faith purchased units / great people. Add that to Mr. 50% chop bonus with no unit depop on settler build and you have an astoundingly strong proposition.

Why would anyone in their right mind swap that for any other Pantheon? It is SOOO OP and I love it, because without it, builders aren't really affordable on giant maps.

[Lord Haart]

This is what I thought. I always go harvest.

[Gentlest Giant]

Divine spark for cultural games fueled by religion.
Dance of the Aurora/Desert Folklore for Russia, Canada or Mali
God of the Sea on fishy maps
God of the Open Sky for when you have a boatload of non-fishy animals

That's not to say Harvest Goddess isn't super good. If you intend to chop your territory it is immense value, but with the nerf to overflow in general this is less appealing than it used to be.

[wardibald]

My favorite is actually Lady of the Reeds & Marshes. This provides a production bonus that is available very early and will continue to be significant all the way to the end of the game.
200 faith from a harvest is all well and good, but it's a one time hit and you lose the bonus resource.
If you're on a 400+ faith output / turn (doable to have that by the time you're nearing the medieval era), that one hit loses much of its significance.

Oasis, marsh & floodplains aren't rare at all and provide the ability to settle in deserts much more easily with this pantheon.

[Gentlest Giant]

Originally posted by wardibald:

Oasis, marsh & floodplains aren't rare at all and provide the ability to settle in deserts much more easily with this pantheon.

Hm I've been eyeing this one fairly often as of recent but never found myself with enough such features. I thought it was only desert floodplains but seems like that's wrong. Normal floodplains are plentiful!

[FinalKingdomHearts]

Divine spark = more great people = more era points

[gimmethegepgun]

I wish Marshes could be farmed without having Rice on them. It would make me feel a lot better about taking Reeds and Marshes.
That said, this is vanilla, not GS. It should be quite a lot better in GS since floodplains aren't restricted to deserts any more.

[MarioFanaticXV]

Divine Spark is my favorite. More great people are always welcome, especially early on.

[Lady Crimson (RIP)]

It's not unlimited.. it's just a lot if you like depleting your resources for the short run benefit.

Divine Spark is great early game, but generally is limited in use since you don't really need the great prophet points once you get it once.

Lady of the Reeds and Sea God are both great production options if the land you have favors it.
Earth Goddess is always good (+1 faith is on about 50% of the tiles you'll work).
Dance of Aurora/ Desert Folklore are both ridiciulously good options depending on your civ (like Russia or Mali).. and general luck.

Most patheon picks can be really great with the right circumstances.. yours is rushing for tons of faith by murdering your tiles which is your strategy and that's fine.

[Lady Crimson (RIP)]

Originally posted by gimmethegepgun:

I wish Marshes could be farmed without having Rice on them. It would make me feel a lot better about taking Reeds and Marshes.
That said, this is vanilla, not GS. It should be quite a lot better in GS since floodplains aren't restricted to deserts any more.

yeah, although I did hear that it might only be desert flood plains, but I haven't tested it.

[Lemurian1972]

Originally posted by Lady Crimson:

I
Earth Goddess is always good (+1 faith is on about 50% of the tiles you'll work).

I love Earth Goddess, when you can get it. Bugs me that certain things are a 100% first pick for any AI that gets them, like Earth Goddess and Warrior Monks. That was something that deserved to be looked at when GS was being made.

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by Lemurian1972:

Originally posted by Lady Crimson:

I
Earth Goddess is always good (+1 faith is on about 50% of the tiles you'll work).

I love Earth Goddess, when you can get it. Bugs me that certain things are a 100% first pick for any AI that gets them, like Earth Goddess and Warrior Monks. That was something that deserved to be looked at when GS was being made.

Yep. And then they don't even USE the Monks.

[Synavix]

Earth Goddess if you're planning to go really wide is just an endless amount of faith. I played a game as Russia where I ended with 30+ cities without ever declaring war or producing a settler with production. Entirely with faith + monumentality and a couple of captured barbarian settlers. And with Ancestral Hall each one spawns a free builder as well.

My second favorite is probably divine spark.

[gimmethegepgun]

Earth Goddess is very unreliable to get though, since it's the first thing every AI picks every time. Unless you start with a faith luxury or find a religious CS immediately you probably won't get it.

[Furry Profile Pic]

Originally posted by Lady Crimson:

Originally posted by gimmethegepgun:

I wish Marshes could be farmed without having Rice on them. It would make me feel a lot better about taking Reeds and Marshes.
That said, this is vanilla, not GS. It should be quite a lot better in GS since floodplains aren't restricted to deserts any more.

yeah, although I did hear that it might only be desert flood plains, but I haven't tested it.

It doesn't affect non-desert floodplains, likely because that would be an extremely powerful bonus to already useful tiles. The benefit largely comes from turning tiles that are either unfarmable (marshes) or tyoically surrounded by useless tiles (oasis and desert floodplains being surrounded by desert) into relatively strong tiles. Giving such a bonus to normal floodplains would be a bit overkill.

[BLÀde]

God of the Sea + maori