Overview
The easy, 100% legal to obtain a religious victory and the “Nirvana” achievement.
The Easy Way
There are two ways to get any victory, the easy way and the hard way. This guide will provide you with an easy way to obtain a religious victory and the coveted Nirvana achievement.
This guide doesn’t use any saved games.
To obtain a Religious Victory, you need to convert 50 %of each civilization’s cities. If a civilization has four cities, you need to convert at least two. This counts for one point. If you’re playing against four civilizations, you will need to convert half of each civilization’s cities.
In this guide, we pit you against a single opponent, Mvemba of the Kongo Empire.
Game Set-up
Leader: You will want to pick a civilization specializing in religion or with high faith output and a strong early start. Egypt is a good choice because of its wonder production bonus from rivers and faith output.
There are others with high faith, like India, Russia, Arabia, and Scythia.
Game Difficulty: This is up to you. There’s just you and one other civilization. Choose your preferred difficulty.
Map Type: You’ll want to select “Pangea”. A single land mass will cut down on your exploration time and enable you to quickly find the other civilzation.
Map Size: You’ll want the smallest one. You don’t need a lot of space. Just enough to build your capital and generate enough faith to purchase a missionary.
Other Civilization: Select Mvemba A. Nzinga, Kongo Empire. He’s the ideal choice because his civilization cannot found a religion.
Advance Set-up Options
- turn off barbarians (because they suck and you don’t want to lose your missionary or apostle unit to these filthy heathens)
- (optionally) turn off all victory conditions except for “Religious Victory”
- You can choose whether to leave tribal villages on
Research and Building Priorities
If you’re fortunate, you will have an ideal starting place with a river and a nearby stone resource. If not, you can still win but it takes more time.
For research, select Astrology. It has Stone Henge and the Holy District, your two early-game faith builders. Stone Henge will provide a substantial faith bonus and your first Great Prophet. The Holy District will generate faith and allow you to build a shrine and other faith-generating buildings.
For civics, you can pick the ones that makes the greatest sense.
Send your warrior off to explore the vast unknown. It will eventually stumple upon the Kongo Empire.
After you’ve built your capital, construct your Monument and Granery. Upon completion of Astrology, begin Stone Henge followed by the Holy District. If you lack a stone resource in your borders, purchase the nearby tiles containing it. If you lack stone then build your Holy District and shrine immediately.
Now that you’ve generated enough faith purchase a missionary at your earliest opportunity and send it to the Kongo Empire. The earlier the better because he will have few cities. If Mvemba has three cities built, you will need to convert two.
He will welcome your faith with open arms and you will earn the Nirvana achievement.
Victory!
