Civilization VI’s use of missionaries can help alter the course of a tough situation, be it war or famine. Their ability to spread religion will bring sympathy from like-minded countries, as well as offers unique bonuses such as added income, or production. The use of missionaries acts as an alternative unit type from military and civilians, able to partake in their own form of combat and perform their own unique actions. Theological combat is not only a powerful tool against aggressors’ loyalty but provides your nation with heightened combat bonuses with holy war civics attached.
In Civilization VI, missionaries are one of the first ways to spread your religion. As such, they cannot engage in theological combat with another unit but can defend against it. In addition to spreading religion, these units can also pass through borders without restrictions. Due to their ability to pass through enemy borders without military engagement, these units make excellent spies and scouts. By inspiring the lands they enter for or against your faith, missionaries can not only change how an army fights, but also inspire opportunities!
Acquiring Missionaries
A city acquires missionaries in Civilization VI primarily through religious points. In order to purchase missionaries of your religion, you must have a majority of the population believe in your religion, making missionaries only of your primary religion. Missionaries are initially cheap to produce but slowly increase in price as you make more. In order to produce these units, a city must have a holy site with a shrine or equivalent.
Accruing Faith Points Early
The easiest way to acquire faith points early in Civilization VI is to maintain the god-king civic and all accompanying religious civics. By building Stonehenge and religious sites as soon as possible, you gain religious points that can be spent on better units. Invest in at least two apostles to create new bonuses for your religion. When it comes to accruing religious points, cultivating your faith through new beliefs and tenements is key. Spread your religion as quickly as possible, as the more nations under your religion, the more passive missionaries will be produced!
One of the easiest methods of creating a steady amount of Missionaries is to increase the number of cities you have available. The more holy sites with shrines you hold, the more religious points you can acquire, allowing for a more steady supply of religious units. If another nation follows your religion and attempts to produce missionaries, they will passively affect your own nation’s benefits. It’s always important to try and change your neighbors, and your allies to your religion as quickly as possible to ensure further reach.
Religious Sites
Religious sites are one of the main districts of Civilization VI cities and the most important ones for religious victories. These places allow for the construction of religious units and infrastructure that can directly influence the points accrued. Always construct these religious sites as soon as a city is constructed and adequately can sustain itself. A well-established religious site allows for the production of shrines which can open up missionaries in gameplay. Most importantly, once a city hosts a religion it will gain immediate loyalty bonuses key for keeping these cities in your control.
Religious stat card
These sites are unlocked early on once the astrology technology has been researched. Once done, they can gain a bonus depending on the landscape which sits around them. Most importantly, if you host a natural wonder or mountain tile, place these holy sites near there for the maximum bonuses available. These religious sites also grant the ability for great people to be formed, allowing for great prophets to come to your nation quickly. Remember, these sites are great for obtaining religious points, so pay attention to them if you’re running for a religious victory!
Shrines
Holy sites are most important for creating missionaries because of shrines. In addition to providing additional great prophet points, shrines are the main infrastructure needed for building simple religious units. A building should acquire these buildings before moving on to more advanced units in religious combat. Each nation should receive its own shrine if you place a holy site. In addition to being great for prophet points, these shrines can also accrue religious points. During Civilization VI games, missionaries can be constructed from as many cities as possible!
Missionaries Action Economy
The effective use of Missionaries is to try and spread as much faith as possible and scout out other nations. Their unique ability to ignore military units and national borders makes them far more effective than the standard scout unit. In a sense, missionaries can move faster than most scout units early game and can avoid massive troop movements that may be approaching them. Missionaries are excellent at converting citizens of a city towards their chosen faith, allowing you to expand your nation’s bonuses for that religion.
the target range for converting cities
Though they are unable to initiate theological combat, missionaries are distinctly capable of defending against other religious units. Defensive strategies can ensure other religions stay away from you, as well as bolster your theological loyalty! A missionary can spread their religion a total of three times in their basic form but can level up through use like any other unit type in Civilization VI. Missionaries have a basic health of 100, and a movement speed of four, vital for long journeys, and surviving against other missionaries they encounter!
Spreading Religion
The primary function of a missionary is to spread their religion, converting as many citizens as they can. In this respect, they are granted three charges which can be used on military units with certain perks enabled, and cities that missionaries are close to. Converting military units is highly dependent on if the missionary has received the perk to do so through their promotions. When converting troops, units can be swayed into your own nation’s military. In cases of converting cities, a missionary will be able to try and convert that city’s populace over time towards their religion. This process takes a number of turns, and often multiple missionaries but can ensure any missionaries produced from this area are of your faith!
Theological Combat (Defensive)
Theological combat differs from military combat in Civilization VI because land terrain and population strength do not apply. The basis of theological combat focuses on the religious strength of two or more units. Often the result of these battles is a loss of loyalty to nearby cities, or better yet, a gain of faith. If the victor’s nation wins, that religion will gain loyalty and faith in that city, which allows for better bonuses. If you lose, you will lose loyalty, a religious unit, and religious power in nearby cities.
Shrine description
It’s important to remember that religious combat and military combat are separate in battles only. Military forces near a victorious battle of faith will have bonuses to their strength, movement, or defense. Constructing large groups of missionaries allows for theological combat to be withstood, keeping your nation safe from foreign religions. With a high amount of health, missionaries are great for repelling other religious forces from your location. With their speed and relative cheapness, they can encircle and box in other religious units.
Movement
As with cavalry, missionaries gain bonuses to move on terrain very early. A missionary with a terrain bonus can traverse a sprawling map more quickly and efficiently than most scouts. As a result of their religious nature, they are able to pass national borders and avoid enemy capture. For trade and defense, high movement speeds allow the missionary to contact the rest of the world before it can make alliances among itself. A missionary’s high speed can easily encircle and stop other religious units from entering your cities.
Religious Civics
Although religion can spread like wildfire on its own, certain religion-based civics can help missionaries thrive! Whenever you’re looking for a religious victory, consider these abilities. Your promotions and civics will make the missionary shine as more than a simple unit! In addition to religious civics, those designed to impact the growth of great people, production, and gold resources will aid greatly in your campaign.
A city with good religious sites
God King
One of the first civics your nation should attach to itself if it seeks a religious victory is God King. This powerful civic not only grants a bonus to gold income per turn but also gives faith points right off the bat. God King is one of the more potent abilities which can last for a long period of time in Civilization VI, however, can quickly become outclassed by trading and theocratic civics beyond itself. As a starter, it grants your nation the early bonuses it needs in order to start a religion first!
Theocracy
By acquiring religious points, theocracy increases the number of military forces and influence acquired. Adding five points of faith to religious units is crucial to a religious victory. While theocracy is active, loyal citizens will increase their faith points by half a point. Their conversion equates to more faith points per turn, making them more defensible and worthy of acquisition. This government style is essential to religious victories, building up stacked bonuses with other civics.
Religious Order
By implementing Religious Order as a civic, you can quickly increase the religious strength of your units. All religious units receive five points of religious strength, making it great for all situations! As a bonus to their religious strength when combined with theocracy, units will get ten points more! Armed with these civics, missionaries can not only better safeguard their nations, but also spread their religion. As a shield of faith, missionaries with these perks deal solid theological damage to enemies who attack them.
Temporary Religious Disadvantages
Inquisitions may seem beneficial in cases of religious victories, but this is not the case. In the name of religious strength, civics like this slow down your empire’s production because they harm science research, and even culture. When necessary, these civics should be used in limited quantities to avoid the loss of other resources. These perks can increase your empire’s religious power, but harm production and ability in large-scale religious conflict. Instead, use traders or a theocracy to spread religion and grow power.
Converting a City
A missionary can convert a city by being just outside of it, and then converting it. Using multiple missionaries at once allows you to apply greater amounts of religious pressure. It takes several turns to convert a city with a rooted religion, however, if they hold no faith or barely any, it can be done in three turns. The religious units produced in a city that holds your religion as its primary faith will passively grant bonuses to your nation.
It’s important to note that other nations will constantly seek to convert your cities to their religion, thus knowing the defense to this is key! Using missionaries as a defensive barrier between other faiths and your own will keep your bonuses alive and well. Additionally, producing more religious buildings, and upgrading the overall loyalty a city has with your religion can help negate being lost. Faith bonuses gained from converted cities can build up over time, and a single city lost can create a terrible domino effect.
God’s Soldiers of Faith
The missionary serves as a simple means of increasing your political power through the might of god. There is truly no end to the religious combinations you can create, whether it’s your own faith or an idea you’d like to try. In addition to presets, you can make your own religion if it’s not one of the presets! A wide variety of faiths; powerful monks, potent crusaders; and legendary apostles create a world of possibilities. Religious victory can travel the world peacefully or by storm, as missionaries serve as only part of the powerful chain of religion!
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