Religion

[GenghisKhan44]

Not the Bible-thumping, altar-calling, "believe our you'll burn in HELL!" sort of religion that y'all think of when you hear the term. (Nor the theologically, philosophically precise; sacramental; organised religion I think of.)

I mean the statue-worshipping, tree-worshipping, animal-sacrificing, crude rock altar-building, call-down-the-gods and they will bless you type religion. You know. The stuff we see in video games. The stuff we think the old guys thunking rocks together believed in. There must be SOME way to put this into this totally awesome game!

I mean, come on. Religion is a part of life. Something's missing without some kind of ground in the metaphysics of the game. And it can be really fun - even for us boring philosophical types. The old religions and their gods were really earthy. There's got to be some meaningful way to make this part of the game. Especially since we have nidbanes and dolmens and graves, and still haven't added the altars back yet.

[Jacobian123]

There was an ancestral worship system back in legacy that I'd like to see re-implemented in one way or another.

[GenghisKhan44]

Here's an idea, kinda mixing things from other games (like Age of Mythology and Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom):

Allow a player to pick different deities to which he is dedicated - up to a group of, say, four. Each one would have different requirements for abilities or skills. I have a few ideas off the top of my head:

Freyr - God of Warriors. Requires: 100 STR, 75 MC, 100 UA; research steelmaking, rage; discover Shield, a sword, Bear Cape. Grants swords +15 attack when defending. Can sacrifice an entire bear at an Altar to Freyr so that the next ram only costs 3/4 the brimstone it usually would. (High-tier fighting god of some kind; again it's just an idea.)

Sif - Goddess of Fertility. Requires: 45 Farm, 33 PER; discover straw hat, barley and at least 2 other crops, something from a tamed animal (hide, meat from a pig, tame sheep, cow). Small (~10%) chance to tame a wild animal instantly. Drops from plants (straw, poppy flowers, beet leaves, etc) have 50% chance to double. A sacrifice of a raw animal hide at an Altar to Sif would give you a living version of that animal. (mid-tier farming goddess.)

Jorbtar - Troll Gods. Requires: stat and research cap. 1,2500k LP. Discover troll hide and every troll accessory; all armor; all melee weapons. Must also have a gold, 1-year subscription. Grants immunity to murder and nidbanes (though you can still be KO'ed and stolen from, and killed by non-player entities and environs). Sacrificing your gift hat to an Altar of Jorb or an Altar of Loftar makes you win the game. (An uber high-tier god only for the 1337.) Comes with a real nice "I pray to jorbtar and all I got was this stupid shirt" cosmetic shirt.

[ven]

The general idea of implementing mechanics for religion is nice, and I've made a lot of suggestions in that line too, related to religion, cultures, kingdoms, lawmaking, player lore and so on, but the final position seems to be that such features would lead to metagaming and exploits, and because of that they will hardly be ever implemented. Alts ruin everything.