Part 7: Revolução em Paz

As discussed previously, Portuguese religious tradition has historically played an integral role in its cultural development. Portugal shortly after being recognized as an independent monarchy, was treated as a vassal state of the Pope, and church and state were only formally separated by the Constitution for the first time in 1911.



In the present day, approximately 80% of Portuguese people identify as Catholic, with the next largest religious minority being "undeclared". In general, Portugal in the modern day is a liberal democracy where religious affiliation does not afford either special privileges or disenfranchisement. Still, the long and consistently Catholic history of Portuguese religious tradition bears a noticeable impact on the Portuguese national character...



For today, I am going to dispense with the comedic historical-saga presentation I have been using for the most part to talk a little more about the finer points of game mechanics, especially now that we have a Religion. Our religion causes our Capital to become designated a Holy City, which now exerts Religious Pressure, a kind of pseudo-resource. Pressure causes cities within 10 tile to convert citizens to that religion one at a time, but different sources of pressure stack, leading to faster conversions the higher the pressure score is. There are other ways to get the religion to spread and the pressure score to increase, but we will get to that with time and a replenishment of our Faith score.



Per thread recommendation, the Trireme will make a second circumnavigation of coastal waters to get a more complete picture of our surroundings.



Remember that movement speed.



The warriors continue to patrol, mostly so that they can stay in sight of fogged territories and hopefully get the drop on Barbarian spawns in the unlikely event that they occur again.



And so, we have ourselves a Pharos. The free Lighthouse is not going to be relevant to Lisboa thanks to a lack of sea resources, but the +1 Movement and Sight will absolutely help out for the entire game. Another Wonder also means more Great Person points, but we will get to that when the time is right.



Philosophy also completes, and with Lisboa freed there is a convenient opportunity.



Lisboa can now make a 3-turn Temple to take advantage of double construction speed and other later benefits to be afforded by the Piety tree.



At this point, we take a more serious look at the tech tree. As has been pointed out before, our isolation is both a boon and a curse since we can focus on science, culture, or economic development without having to focus even remotely on a military budget, but at the same time it makes for limited opportunities to accrue science or trade from neighbours. Thus, our priority is to aim for Astronomy and get the Portuguese UU in the Nau. The tree shows us how to get there, as it shows the tree of dependent technologies we will need to get there, looking something like this:

Astronomy will require Compass and Education.
Compass will require Optics (check) and Theology.
Education will also require Theology and Civil Service.
Theology will require Philosophy (check) and Drama and Poetry
Civil Service will also require Drama and Poetry, Horseback Riding (check) and Currency.
Currency will require Mathematics.

Thus, we will actually require only a few technologies to get to the point where we can cross those Ocean tiles, but the route we take to get there will determine what sort of benefits our empire accrues in the meantime.



To this end, I decide to get Drama and Poetry next, so that we can look at a possible improvement in one aspect of the game I haven't looked into very deeply yet.



Warriors take a run through the hills...



...and the Trireme uses its newly expanded movement and sight range to stop by Vancouver. Vancouver are now our friends, and will not react negatively to the presence of our military unit.



A couple of turns later, Vancouver gives another mission, but this one is for a Great General, which will only occur if we suddenly go into the Honor tree or get into a lot of land battles, neither of which is likely at this point, so I am somewhat disappointed that we won't be fulfilling that quest anytime soon.



Meanwhile, since we have confirmed isolation, we'll offer to protect Riga for the 5 free Influence.



Our Sugar is now ready for the harvest, and our Happiness goes back into the positive. Dona Maria's sweet tooth has saved us for now.



The Workers will now race back to Lisboa to build another Horse Pasture, since we want to make the absolute most of the bonus Production those will give.



This shot is to highlight the Trireme's increased sight range also making it clear that the Ocean tiles around us stretch at least 3 spaces.



Luanda is coming along decently, but the issue is that their tiles have very few Production points tied to them, so we will use the power of the Wheel and a nearby river to contribute to their Food and Production within the city in order to hopefully get some returns there (though I should have done one other thing which you will see me do later). The fact that it has completed its Library has an additional benefit:



We can now construct the National College, which is a National Wonder. National Wonders are one-time buildings with prerequisite conditions for construction that can be constructed by all Civs, and generally provide excellent bonuses to only one city. In this case, we will be giving Lisboa +1 Culture, +3 Science, and 50% extra Science over that total. This will boost our Science score significantly for a long period, and doing so ahead of turn 100 is a real boon to our ability to rush Astronomy even in isolation.



With 11 turns, we can make it there before turn 100, but be careful: The requirement for getting that National College is a Library in every owned City, so if we do something like, say, buy a Settler unit and settle another available spot, we will freeze progress on that National College until the new City gets a Library as well.



We also show off the increased movement range of the Trireme.



Though our isolation is indeed assured.



At this time, we get the notice that another Civ has made the Temple of Artemis, to which I think that it's about time given the fact that we are on Turn 84.



A couple more turns, and Trireme exploration reveals ice tiles. My narrative sailors probably aren't too happy about being that close to the South Pole, but this at least clearly establishes that we are a southernmost landmass in this world.



The workers arrive, and it's time to get back on the horse.



Vancouver now has a Worker of its own, and gets to mining a Hill for a production bonus. The fact that Vancouver has Mining tech and we don't will make it into a future narrative post.



Here's the point at which I look at Luanda again and realize that mistakes were made. With 4 population, there is 1 more Citizen than improved Tile in action, and consequently, they are wasting their time with an unimproved Grassland going after 2 food.



So we buy Mt. Kilimanjaro, which is worth 3 Food and 2 Culture. An improvement to Culture, no matter how incidental, is worth it at this early-ish stage.



We get a notification that Buddhists are on the scene, meaning that an Eastern or Central Asian civ with a slightly lesser focus on religion is on scene. The fact that it is Buddhism, however, tells me only one thing:

Ramkhamhaeng is in this game. Looks like we will be going elephant vs. elephant with all the City-States going to the winner.



Drama and Poetry finishes, and the next phase of my plan can begin soon after.



With our Culture policy now available, we go get that sweet sweet Reformation, and look into the bonuses offered therein:



At this time, I will ask the thread to determine which Reformation bonus to pursue. Reformation bonuses are generally very strong, but some are also much stronger than others, and in this case we have a couple of clear front-runners that I will endorse:

Jesuit Education allows the purchasing of Science buildings with Faith. This is huge as it is useful for the life of our Civ and allows us to spend Faith on cities beyond just Pagodas. It will benefit from other parts of the Piety tree and will be especially good in isolation to help us keep up with a Science-focused Civ.

Charitable Missions increases the effects of Gold gifts to City-States by 30%. I didn't get into this before, but we have the option of getting Influence with City-States by providing Gold gifts in certain increments, and part of the Patronage tree also features a 25% boost to the Gold-for-Influence formula which stacks with this bonus. If we are considering more beneficial relationships with City-States, we pick this.



Next, I will ask which Technology do we aim for next, with the goal of rushing for Astronomy? Our next available options are Theology and Mathematics. The decision you make here will impact some future tech and building project choices, so I think that even this split vote will be interesting to follow. Additionally, if anyone in the thread experienced with the game wants to recommend an order of technologies to pursue in order to rush Astronomy, then by all means make a recommendation, and if I like it I'll pursue it.

Finally, in the interest of further refining our plans for the future of our island, I have one very important question: Do we, or do we not make an attempt to get the Oracle? The Wonder gives +1 culture and a free Social Policy upon its completion, meaning that it is an acceptable boost but generally a second-tier Wonder, so if you believe it is worth pursuing or not, then speak up. Just note that if we do create it, I will likely determine which Social Policy we get from it.

Voting will close in two days per usual.

Até Quarta!