Priests where to put em?

**jimpalus** · April 10, 2009, 02:21 AM

Hi all! Ive got a simple question, where shold i position my priests in a territory? Out on map, in church or in a city. ! guess church but im not sure??? Or maybe it doesnt matter?

**occer** · April 10, 2009, 02:26 AM

In a rival religion's city?

**jimpalus** · April 10, 2009, 02:32 AM

yeah if you want to sabotage for another country, but i thinking about to risen my peoples faith, in this case protestantism!

**Holzschuh** · April 13, 2009, 04:14 AM

Originally Posted by occer

In a rival religion's city?

Tried this in Morrocco once, in 3 turns i lost 3 of my 4 priest to assassination...

**Lord Leopold** · April 13, 2009, 03:08 PM

I don't know about Priests they seem to be almost worthless to me. I did notice after having one Priest in a region it was taking forever to convert so I demolished the old churches from the previous faction and replaced them and it seemed to convert faster.

**Octovon** · April 13, 2009, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by Holzschuh

Tried this in Morrocco once, in 3 turns i lost 3 of my 4 priest to assassination...

Whenever I've sent priests to Morocco or Tunisia, they've also been assassinated. It wasn't until I defeated both nations completely that I no longer had any problems with assassinations. Their rakes are just darn good at killing priests.

**Collic** · April 13, 2009, 06:21 PM

You have to be careful with your missionaries if you're trying to convert Islamic or Hindu heathens. One other thing you have to remember as well is Eastern scholars don't duel, and neither do thugees so gentleman are no protecton against assasination. If I'm sending missionaries ahead to ease future conquest of an Islamic/Hindu faction as a European power I make sure I bring plenty of rakes. It's your only way of hitting back against non-european agents.

I typically lose a priest or two, but If you have rakes with them, at some point they'll miss and appear on the campaign map giving you a shot at taking them out. I have no idea if you have a greater chance of revealing thugees if you have a rake nearby. It would make sense, but I have no idea if it's actually the case.

Assassinating rival priests/Imans is also a very good idea and will help no end in converting the population - you won't get many converts if there are enemy holy men around, and religious buildings still standing. As far as I've noticed religious characters seem to have far more effect on the conversion rate of the population than the buildings themselves, so taking out opposing religious agents should be a priority.

I think the religious buildings are useful primarily for spawning your agents, and for the happiness bonus once your factions religion is the dominant one - they won't get you many converts (or any at all if there are lots of enemy agents around) on their own. It's probably a good idea to note that missionaries get better (generally) as they convert a population, where as the conversion rates for the different buildings won't.

I've mostly made mention of the eastern vs european religions (or vice versa) because as far as I've noticed religious unrest is a far bigger problem when you're trying to subdue those areas. I've also noticed far more assasinations attempted or otherwise trying to convert muslims than I have trying to convert catholics, for example; the AI seems to be a lot more aggressive with it's agents if your religion is drastically different to theirs. I haven't played a GC with an eastern faction yet, so my points are written from a european perspective.

**Varaaki** · April 10, 2009, 02:39 AM

It would be pleasant if putting a cleric into an affiliated religious structure would amplify their conversion effects, but it doesn't seem to matter where they are, as long as they're in the province somewhere.

**Thanatos** · April 10, 2009, 02:41 AM

Thread moved to Gameplay and Strategy Discussion.

**DarkArk** · April 10, 2009, 02:41 AM

As Russia it's always fun to make everyone Orthodox. Orthodox Indians, nothing stranger

**mir24** · April 10, 2009, 03:06 AM

Originally Posted by DarkArk

As Russia it's always fun to make everyone Orthodox. Orthodox Indians, nothing stranger

That would be strange... As an Ottoman player, an Islamicized Balkan area doesn't seem strange, nor does a Muslim India... But I'm about to conquer Italy and a Muslim Rome sounds, well, kinda odd...

**ElementUK** · April 10, 2009, 05:37 AM

I have left about 8-10 priests in a region to only have a very slow effect. After waiting for many many turns I decided to put around 4 of them in the city. The next turn the region had switched. Maybe it's because the main number of that regions populace are in that city. Maybe the smaller towns help.

**Nikos** · April 10, 2009, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by DarkArk

As Russia it's always fun to make everyone Orthodox. Orthodox Indians, nothing stranger

Actually, there are Indian Orthodox Christians. They were the first Indians to become Christians. The story goes that Saint Thomas came to India and established a church.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Orthodox_Church

**mir24** · April 10, 2009, 03:04 AM

Originally Posted by jimpalus

Hi all! Ive got a simple question, where shold i position my priests in a territory? Out on map, in church or in a city. ! guess church but im not sure??? Or maybe it doesnt matter?

I'm assuming you're asking about where to place them to spread your religion? Anywhere. As long as your priest is in a region, he will convert the populace to his religion. You can test this out by opening your region tab and moving a priest/imam in or out of the region. Watch the religion indicator change...

Personally I put my Imam's in my cities so I can keep track of them.

**jimpalus** · April 10, 2009, 06:27 AM

Big thx Mir24, what making me wonder about this is, sometimes i think my population in a certain region doesnt convert to my religion even tough ivè owned the region for a long time and have multiple priests hanging around. And one thing i noticed is the other nations priests is always in their churches unless they are on the "offensive" trying to convert other nations regions. could it be that some people just resisting my religion because theyre stubborn hellspawned bastards? Possible bug maybe, altough i love this game the bugs is making me a sad little man =(

**MyKingforahorse** · April 10, 2009, 07:36 AM

They actually seem to acquire different traits at different speeds depending on where they are located. They earn more traits, faster while located in other regions not owned by you it seems.

Also, its neigh on impossible to incite religious rioting for the PC due to the bonuses that it receives and the insane fervor for which it already builds religion buildings.

This changes slightly in some of the more popular mods though where it is possible to utilize the priest as a first landing invasion force to convert the populace so that when you take over the region they are that much less likely to rebel.

**~~nilats~~** · April 10, 2009, 01:08 PM

I put them in the pleasure palace line buildings they seem to like it there

**Frederf** · April 10, 2009, 03:27 PM

Place them out in the middle of a region for a greater chance that you won't forget they're there. A town or capital all you get is the icon, strictly your preference as it doesn't matter. If you place them on the edge of a region in the direction you think they'll be needed next that gives you a reminder of which way to send him plus more movement points.

Priests work on the population so converting a huge population is really difficult. During expansion try keeping priests ahead of your expansion and once its your build a church there.

**Billmonaghan** · April 10, 2009, 06:36 PM

It doesn't seem to matter where in a region they are, the conversion rate seems about the same. I tend to put them in enemy regions w/ a different religion that I plan to conquer. I locate them somewhere where I want a little window in the fog of war