I don't really get Pantheons

[Assault Potato]

There are civs who found Pantheons very early in the game (first dozen of turns), and I for one can never found a Pantheon. The wiki wasn't very helpful about it either. The only thing I managed to catch is that once you have enough faith you may found a pantheon belief. I'm at turn 200+ in the industrial era and have gained a respectable amount of faith and yet I can't found a pantheon yet?

This is my second game, and in my first game I only gained a religion pretty late in the game and only because a Great Prophet was born in my civ. How in the world do I found a Pantheon and develop a religon early in the game?

[retjero]

Civs that found Pantheons early either get lucky with ruins that give faith, settle near a natural wonder that provides faith, become friends or ally with a religious city-state, have a unique ability in their civ to gain faith, etc. The advice I would give is build scouts early to get more chances for good things. Perhaps build a shrine early. If you are playing at a fairly easy difficulty level, you might try to build Stonehedge. Other posters will have more ideas soon.

[Austellus]

You need 10 + (5 x the number of founded pantheons) faith to form one. Aside of building shrines super early (Not recommended on higher difficulties, as the AI start with the tech to do so and will beat you to it that way) you can meet religious city-states, find natural wonders or use the special abilties of certain civs like Ethiopia or the Celts.

Also, you can only found a pantheon if no-one has expanded their religion with a second great prophet. There's an exception, you can still found a pantheon if the religions cap hasn't been hit.

[zarb]

When you mouse over the faith icon it'll tell you much faith is needed to found a pantheon/religion. And how many religions left that can be founded.

[retjero]

Founding a pantheon and then a religion the first few games can be fun and instructive. But once you have the mechanics down, don't obsess on getting a religion every game. You can still utilize many of the benefits when foreign religions creep into your cities.

[Acken]

You cannot found a religion (and even less a pantheon) during industrial age.
You also cannot found a religion once the religion number limit has been reached.
You also cannot found a pantheon if someone enhanced his religion (and there are already as many pantheons as the religion limit).

Now that you know when you can't get a pantheon let's see how you can:
Pantheons cost 10 + 5xAlreadyFoundedPantheons. The cost therefore increases with time. Once you have enough faith you'll be able to found.
You can get early faith in the following ways:
-Shrine gives +1 per turn
-Finding religious City states gives 4 or 8 if you're the first
-Allying/Friending city states will give +4/+2 per turn (early ages)
-Working faith wonders can give from 4 to 8 per turn
-Some civilizations have unique abilities and buildings giving early faith bonuses.

[Ciceronulus]

To get a pantheon, and later, a religion, you need to get your faith at a specific amount.

[civ]

Pick the celts settle your city on a tile with 3 adjacent forests, get pantheon 99% of the time and if you settle a few cities near forests early the religion too provided you buy shrines.

[Sir Sprinkles]

Or, a Civ with a Desert starting bias. It might not be the most intuitive desicion, but once you GET a Pantheon, The faith provided by "Desert Folklore" can be rediculously high, aiding in founding a religion, then getting Cathedrals first. For getting a Pantheon, spam Shrines and Temples, hope you find a Faith wonder/Religious Citystate/Ruins, or play Celts

[Austellus]

Originally posted by Sir Sprinkles:

Or, a Civ with a Desert starting bias. It might not be the most intuitive desicion, but once you GET a Pantheon, The faith provided by "Desert Folklore" can be rediculously high, aiding in founding a religion, then getting Cathedrals first. For getting a Pantheon, spam Shrines and Temples, hope you find a Faith wonder/Religious Citystate/Ruins, or play Celts

Why cathedrals? Pagodas and mosques are both better.

[Sir Sprinkles]

Cathedrals have free Great Artwork slots, a Tourism boost is better than more Happiness or Faith