Siptah wrote:

It's apparently easy to miss the option to evolve your religion, as numerous people don't seem to be aware of it. The AI always sticking to Shamanism/Polytheism doesn't help either. 

Whenever you can choose a tenet, there is a dropdown to reform your religion to a historical one right above the holy site graphic. Just convert to Judaism, Islam, or Christianity, and pretend things are different now.

For real? I have hundreds of hours and never knew. now I got to try it out lol thanks very helpful post. wish they made it more obvious. I'm sure like 95% of players never knew this.

Siptah wrote:

It's apparently easy to miss the option to evolve your religion, as numerous people don't seem to be aware of it. The AI always sticking to Shamanism/Polytheism doesn't help either. 

Whenever you can choose a tenet, there is a dropdown to reform your religion to a historical one right above the holy site graphic. Just convert to Judaism, Islam, or Christianity, and pretend things are different now.

That sort of defeats the point some people would rather have the option from the beginning and be able to play the game in a way that reflects how they would like their culture and civilization to be. I personally don't see why this one particular option always seems to breed a somewhat negative response. I mean since other starting tenets are already there having another option is not an unreasonable ask. 

I think if you add a monotheism you need to add a schism too. Maybe it can happen when main faith upgrades (some believers may keep old beliefs if they don't like new) or it can be made by someone who pretend to be a religious leader. It would be interesting religion mechanics.

I think schism should happen regardless, add some 'reformation tenets' and leave an ability for those who adopted the religion but aren't the head of it to break off, like, once per era/major religion, replacing one of the tenets with one from the reformation list, so that there are some breaks on the unlimited growth for religion that we currently have. As it is right now your religion will either grow to dominate the world (atheists in later eras aside, unless you specifically picked some juicy faith production boosters) or will be eaten the moment you come into contact with better established religion. It would be nice to have the major religion break apart every now and then, so that smaller ones can grow and find new believers in the shade of warring splinters.

Gwanelle wrote:

Historically all ancients religions are polytheism or shamanism  .

If you want , You can change his name with a real monotheism religion name   when you unlock a new tenet

Thats technically inaccurate. here is the proof. 

Definition from Brittanica as one example:

"shamanism, religious phenomenon centred on the shaman, a person believed to achieve various powers through trance or ecstatic religious experience. Although shamans’ repertoires vary from one culture to the next, they are typically thought to have the ability to heal the sick, to communicate with the otherworld, and often to escort the souls of the dead to that otherworld."

Definition:

"monotheism, belief in the existence of one god, or in the oneness of God. As such, it is distinguished from polytheism, the belief in the existence of many gods, from atheism, the belief that there is no god, and from agnosticism, the belief that the existence or nonexistence of a god or of gods is unknown or unknowable. Monotheism characterizes the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and elements of the belief are discernible in numerous other religions. Monotheism and polytheism are often thought of in rather simple terms—e.g., as merely a numerical contrast between the one and the many. ...(100 of 4113 words)"

Definition:

"polytheism, the belief in many gods. Polytheism characterizes virtually all religions other than Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which share a common tradition of monotheism, the belief in one God. Sometimes above the many gods a polytheistic religion will have a supreme creator and focus of devotion, as in certain phases of Hinduism (there is also the tendency to identify the many gods as so many aspects of the Supreme Being); sometimes the gods are considered as less important than some higher goal, state, or saviour, as in Buddhism; sometimes one god will prove more dominant than the others without attaining ...(100 of 4143 words) "

TLDR
Polytheism is one distinct thing, shamanism is also distinct, as is Monotheism. There really needs to be a proper representation.

goldenfalcon123 wrote:

FaeBriona wrote:

goldenfalcon123 wrote:

I wish someone would mod this idea. I do find it odd that for starting tenets religion they left you with only 2 options

That's because historically the first religions were only poly-theistic or shamanistic.  If you want monotheism, then select one of the real world religions when you select your first tenet.

Respectfully that is not the point. Even if you believe that historically, the fact of the matter is it is a game which is allowing you to have customization therefore their should be more options especially a game that is about humankind.

Its an inaccuracy anyway. The earliest religion types were Monotheism and Polytheism. Shamanism came AFTER. It is more recent than monotheism. thats a fact. lol For the purposes of the game it makes sense to have animism as the original default and there be a trinity of choices. I mean, it literally makes no sense to have polytheism in there if ur not even gonna have mono. 

DNLH wrote:

I think schism should happen regardless, add some 'reformation tenets' and leave an ability for those who adopted the religion but aren't the head of it to break off, like, once per era/major religion, replacing one of the tenets with one from the reformation list, so that there are some breaks on the unlimited growth for religion that we currently have.

I like this idea. And of course, this should heavily deteriorate relations between empires that just had a schism.

AquilaSPQR wrote:

All current monotheisms evolved from previous polytheisms. Yep - both Judaism and Islam started as a polytheism and only reforms enforced the monotheism. So it's perfectly fine right now.

Even modern Christianity is a quasi-polytheism now, with all those patron-saints and the good old Mary - typical feminine goddess-mother.

Nothing you said is true, but I really want to point out that Judaism didn't originate from polytheism, clearly it was always monotheistic if you look at history, it stood out in its time because of that. As you said,  most other early religions were polytheistic. Christianity certainly isn't becoming polytheism either. Saints aren't gods. Plus, if you are not catholic, saints aren't even very special. All this to say, they need to add monotheism because its inherently different from the other 2 options.

Gwanelle wrote:

Historically all ancients religions are polytheism or shamanism  .

If you want , You can change his name with a real monotheism religion name   when you unlock a new tenet

What history is that? Not reality, that's for sure.

Despite all of the talk of it I've yet to see anyone mod it as a starting tenet.

Does anyone know if a monotheism mod as a tier 0 tenet has been created anywhere?

If this were to be modded how could be added to tier 0 tenets furthermore, what would be unique about it.

For anyone interested I made an idea for monotheism as a starting tenet so, if you like and follow it, it could maybe added to the game.

Gwanelle wrote:

Historically all ancients religions are polytheism or shamanism  .

That's actually not accurate. Definitely you have those influenced by Zoroastrianism in the Middle East as part of late ancient history. In India you have different Monist religious traditions which date back into antiquity. I am lead to believe there are African monotheistic religions prior to the spread of Islam and Chrisanity. Not sure about indigenous Americas.