Civ 5: Removing The Holy City – Is It Worth It?

It’s true that using a prophet to convert a holy city will only result in a temporary change. The original religion will eventually reclaim the city. The only way to permanently remove a holy city’s religious affiliation is by capturing it and then using an Inquisitor to eliminate the non-player religion. This action will completely and forever destroy the enemy holy city.

Let’s break down the process:

1. Capture the Holy City: You’ll need to wage war and successfully conquer the holy city in question. This can be challenging, but it’s the first step in permanently removing its religious status.

2. Utilize an Inquisitor: Once you control the city, you’ll need to build an Inquisitor unit. Inquisitors are powerful units designed specifically to combat religion.

3. Eliminate the Non-player Religion: With your Inquisitor in place, you can then initiate the “Purge” action. This will permanently eliminate the non-player religion within the holy city.

Important Notes:

Religious Victory: Removing a holy city from the game can be a crucial strategy for players aiming for a Religious Victory. By eliminating an opponent’s holy city, you weaken their religious influence significantly.
Diplomacy: Be aware that capturing and eliminating a holy city will likely cause severe damage to your relationships with other civilizations. This could make it difficult to form alliances or even negotiate peaceful agreements.
The Impact on Units: While the holy city’s religion is removed, you may still encounter units that were associated with that faith (like Monks or Apostles). Be prepared to deal with these units accordingly.

You can’t raze a Holy City in Civilization 5 if you capture it. This rule was introduced in the Fall 2013 patch to protect these important religious centers. However, there is a way to remove the Holy City status. You can use an Inquisitor’sRemove Heresy ability on a Holy City to unmake it.

Let’s dive a little deeper into what this means. A Holy City is the city where a religion was founded. It’s a very important city for that religion because it provides the most faith, the best religious units, and the strongest religious buildings. So, it makes sense that the developers wanted to protect Holy Cities from being destroyed. The ability to raze a city allows you to completely demolish it and remove it from the map. The rule was implemented because it was considered unfair and disruptive to the game to be able to destroy the heart of a religion in this way.

The Remove Heresy ability is a powerful tool for religious warfare. It allows you to spread your own religion and undermine the influence of other religions. Using it on a Holy City can be a significant strategic advantage. It can disrupt the spread of a religion and weaken its influence on the map.

It’s also important to note that the Remove Heresy ability is not always available. You need to have a high enough level of religious influence to use it, and it can only be used on cities that have a different religion than your own. This is why Remove Heresy is a powerful tool for religious warfare but it is not a guaranteed win. You have to be strategic about when and where you use it.

You can use Inquisitors to remove competing religions from your cities and fight against their religious units. But remember, you need to found your own religion before you can purchase Inquisitors. Apostles and Inquisitors are powerful units that can be used to attack and destroy your opponent’s religious units. This is called Theological Combat.

Let’s break down how Inquisitors work. Imagine you’re playing as a civilization with a strong religious presence, but a rival civilization has spread their religion to some of your cities. You want to bring those cities back under your religious control. That’s where Inquisitors come in. They are specifically designed to combat other religions. By moving them into enemy cities, they can weaken the opposing faith and convert those cities back to your religion.

Inquisitors can be especially effective in situations where your religion has a significant Religious Pressure advantage over your opponent’s. This means your religion has a stronger influence in a city, making it easier for Inquisitors to succeed. Remember, however, that Inquisitors are more powerful when targeting cities that follow a different religion. If they encounter a city with the same religion, they’ll convert it to your religion, but the process will be much slower.

Theological Combat is a great way to directly confront a religious opponent, especially when they’re trying to spread their faith at your expense. By deploying your own Apostles and Inquisitors, you can actively combat their religious influence. For example, if your opponent is sending Apostles to your cities, you can use your own Apostles to defend them or even use Inquisitors to eliminate the enemy Apostles and prevent them from converting your citizens.

Keep in mind that Inquisitors are powerful units, but they’re not invincible. They’re vulnerable to attacks from military units, and if they’re surrounded by enemy religious units, they can be overwhelmed. The key to using Inquisitors effectively is to strategize. Think about where your opponent’s religious units are located, and plan your attack accordingly. You might want to use your Inquisitors to target a city with a weak religious defense, or you might want to send them alongside a military force to give them extra protection.

You can move units to target cities and use their Spread Religion ability to convert citizens to your religion. These units can convert citizens when they’re in or right next to the city. Converting Pagan cities (those that have no majority religion yet) is usually easier.

Let’s break down how religion works in Civ 5:

Spread Religion: When your missionaries or apostles are in or adjacent to a city, they can use their “Spread Religion” ability. This ability allows them to convert some of the city’s citizens to your religion.
Influence: The amount of influence your religion has in a city determines how quickly your religion spreads. Factors that affect influence include the number of religious buildings in the city, the number of followers of your religion, and the presence of religious wonders.
Converting Pagans: Pagans are cities that don’t have a dominant religion. These cities are easier to convert because they lack the strong religious influence of an established faith.
Conversion Rate: The conversion rate depends on factors such as the level of your unit, the number of followers of your religion in the city, and the influence your religion has.

Keep in mind, spreading religion is a strategic endeavor. You’ll want to use your units wisely to maximize your chances of converting cities. Consider these tips:

Early Game Expansion: Early in the game, use your missionaries to spread your religion to nearby cities, especially those that are Pagan. The sooner you establish a religious foothold, the more influence you’ll have over the long run.
Religious Buildings: Build religious buildings in your cities to increase your influence and speed up the conversion process.
Apostles: As you advance through the game, invest in upgrading your missionaries to apostles. Apostles have a stronger conversion rate and can spread your religion more effectively.
Wonders: Religious wonders like the Parthenon or the Hagia Sophia provide significant bonuses to your religion. Try to build these wonders to give your faith a competitive edge.

Good luck spreading your faith!

You can get rid of a religion in Civ 5, but only after you capture the Holy City for that religion. Once you capture the Holy City, move your Inquisitor to the city and choose the option to remove the religion. This will permanently destroy the religion and allow you to replace it in other cities without worrying about the constant pressure from the Holy City.

This is a powerful tool for controlling the spread of religion in your empire. You’ll be able to replace unwanted religions with ones that are more beneficial to your civilization. The Inquisitor is a key unit in this process. They’re powerful units that can be used to spread your chosen religion throughout your empire and even force other civilizations to convert.

Keep in mind that the Holy City for a religion is a very important location. It’s the birthplace of the religion and has a significant influence on the spread of the religion throughout the world. Capturing the Holy City is a major victory that will give you a lot of control over the religion. It also gives you the ability to prevent other civilizations from gaining control of the religion. The Holy City also provides a lot of bonuses to the religion, such as increased production of Great Prophets.

Removing a religion is a permanent action, so make sure you are certain that you want to remove it before you do. This will also affect any cities that follow that religion. You will want to consider the long-term impact of removing the religion before making the decision to remove it.

You can’t destroy your own cities in Civilization 5. The game prevents you from razing cities you founded. However, you can choose to disable city razing altogether in the Advanced Game Options before starting a game. This option, called No City Razing, prevents anyone in the game from destroying any cities.

This rule is designed to ensure that players can’t easily wipe out their own civilizations. It also adds a sense of permanence to the game, since cities you found are there to stay.

You might think that being able to destroy your own city would be a useful feature, but there are a few reasons why it’s not allowed in Civilization 5. For example, imagine if you were trying to expand your empire, but you accidentally built a city in a terrible location. You might want to destroy it and rebuild it somewhere else, but you can’t. This ensures that your cities are strategic and well-planned from the start.

Another reason for this restriction is that it adds an element of balance to the game. If you could destroy your own cities, you could easily wipe out your entire civilization and start over. This would make the game much easier and less challenging.

In the end, the restriction against destroying your own city is a good thing for Civilization 5. It adds to the game’s depth and complexity and makes it more fun and engaging.

In Civilization 5, you can get a diplomacy penalty if you engage in too much warfare. This penalty is triggered when you exceed a leader’s threshold of tolerance for war. The penalty comes with a description that reads, “They believe you are a warmongering menace to the world!”

This penalty can be a real pain, as it makes it much harder to build alliances and trade with other civilizations. The penalty is most severe in the vanilla version of Civilization 5 and the Gods & Kings expansion. In the Brave New World expansion, the diplomacy drop-down menu includes four different levels of anger to indicate how much a leader dislikes you.

The exact threshold for triggering the warmonger penalty varies depending on the leader. Some leaders are more tolerant of war than others. For example, Genghis Khan is known for being a warmonger, so he is likely to have a high threshold for war. On the other hand, Gandhi is a pacifist, so he is likely to have a very low threshold for war.

The warmonger penalty is calculated based on a number of factors, including the number of wars you have started, the number of cities you have captured, and the number of units you have lost. The penalty is also affected by your diplomatic stance with other civilizations. If you are on good terms with a civilization, you are less likely to get the warmonger penalty.

The warmonger penalty can be a real challenge to overcome. However, it is important to remember that it is not impossible. There are a number of things you can do to mitigate the penalty, such as avoiding unnecessary wars, making peace with your enemies, and building diplomatic relations with other civilizations.

You can remove a holy city status by using the Inquisitor to “Remove Heresy” on the city. This will immediately remove the holy city designation. However, the city can regain the status if the targeted religion becomes dominant again.

To avoid this, you can use the Grand Provost to permanently remove the city’s holy city status. This option is more reliable and ensures that the city won’t be a holy city again.

Why Would You Want to Remove a Holy City?

Removing a holy city status can be useful in a few scenarios. Let’s say you’re playing as a religion that’s trying to expand its influence and you’ve come across a holy city of another religion. You might want to remove the holy city status to weaken your opponent’s religious strength and make it easier to convert their cities to your religion.

In other cases, you might want to remove a holy city status to prevent it from being a target for other players. A holy city is an important strategic asset, and players will often target them to weaken their opponents. By removing the holy city status, you can make your city less attractive to potential attackers.

Remember, removing a holy city status can have both positive and negative consequences. Carefully consider the potential effects before making a decision.

Let’s talk about Holy Cities in the context of games, particularly strategy games. In these games, Holy Cities hold a special significance for religions. They are often powerful and influential, and sometimes, you might need to strategize how to remove their Holy City status.

One way to do this is to annex the city. This means taking control of it by force, usually through warfare. Once you’ve annexed the city, you’ll want to focus on converting the surrounding cities to your own religion. Grand Priests (GPs) are helpful for this, as they can quickly spread your religion. If you have just one or two cities left to convert, it’s a good idea to save a Grand Priest for spreading your religion.

Once you’ve established your religious dominance around the Holy City, the next step is to remove heresy from the city itself. You can do this by using the Inquisitor unit. The Inquisitor can remove the Holy City status, which can significantly weaken the religion’s influence and power.

Remember, conquering a Holy City is a challenging task and requires careful planning and execution. It’s not something to be taken lightly. You’ll need to carefully consider your options and the potential consequences of your actions.

Here’s a deeper dive into what happens when you remove a Holy City’s status:

Religious Power: The religion loses a significant amount of its religious power, making it less attractive to other players.
Faith Production: The city’s ability to generate Faith points, a crucial resource for religious activities, is drastically reduced.
Influence: The religion’s spread and influence can be significantly hampered, as it loses its central hub of power.
Religious Units: The strength and effectiveness of the religion’s specialized units are diminished.

By strategically removing a Holy City’s status, you can gain a significant advantage in the game, weakening your opponent’s religion and giving you a greater chance of victory. However, it’s important to remember that this is a complex process and requires careful consideration and planning.

You can actually remove the Holy City status from a city by using an Inquisitor’s Remove Heresy ability. This ability will get rid of all religions in the city except for the Inquisitor’s own religion. If the Inquisitor doesn’t belong to the religion represented by the Holy City, then the Holy City status will be removed.

Let’s break down how this works in more detail. The Remove Heresy ability is a powerful tool that Inquisitors can use to cleanse a city of unwanted religious influence. The process works by targeting the city’s religious makeup. If a city has been declared a Holy City, it means that it’s considered a center of faith for a particular religion.

When an Inquisitor uses Remove Heresy on a Holy City, they’re essentially targeting the core belief system that defines the city’s religious significance. The ability will automatically purge all religions except the Inquisitor’s own, effectively transforming the city into a hub for the Inquisitor’s chosen faith. This also has the effect of stripping away the Holy City designation, as the city is no longer considered a center of faith for the original religion.

To summarize, if an Inquisitor wants to remove a city’s Holy City status, they simply need to use Remove Heresy and ensure their own religion is the only one remaining. This simple action can dramatically change the religious landscape of a city, and it’s a powerful tool for Inquisitors to shape the world according to their beliefs.

A holy city is a place of immense religious significance, often associated with the life or teachings of a revered prophet or religious figure. It’s a place where followers of a particular faith gather to pray, celebrate, and connect with their beliefs.

Think of it this way: imagine a city where a great prophet lived and founded a religion. That city becomes holy because it holds a special place in the hearts of believers. It’s like a sacred birthplace for their faith.

Here’s a deeper look at what makes a city holy:

A place of pilgrimage: Holy cities attract pilgrims from all over the world who come to visit sacred sites, pray, and participate in religious rituals. These pilgrimages are often considered acts of devotion and faith.
The source of religious inspiration: These cities are often the sites where important religious texts were written or where significant events in religious history took place. This makes them places of immense inspiration for believers.
A center of religious learning: Many holy cities are home to religious schools, universities, and centers of learning that help preserve and spread religious knowledge.
A symbol of faith: Holy cities are often seen as symbols of their respective religions, representing the core beliefs and values of the faith.

While the city where a religion is founded often becomes a holy city, it’s not always the case. Sometimes, other locations associated with important religious figures or events can also hold immense religious significance.

For instance, Jerusalem is considered a holy city by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, each for different reasons. The city is significant to each of these religions due to its connection with their religious history.

The importance of holy cities goes beyond their religious significance. They often contribute to the economy and cultural development of their regions, attracting tourists and scholars from all over the world. They act as centers of cultural exchange, where people of different backgrounds can come together and learn about each other.

Getting rid of holy cities? | CivFanatics Forums

To get rid of a Holy City status, you need: 1. To own the city. 2. Two inquisitors. On the same turn use the first Inquistor to remove all followers from the holy city and the second to remove holy city status. Note that you have to do this the same CivFanatics Forums

Civ 5 Religion Guide: Religious Pressure and

When you have control of a City and use their Remove Heresy ability, the other Civ’s religion will finally be wiped away from that City, and it will no longer be a Holy City and exert Pressure on itself and Carl’s Guides

Can you convert a holy city? :: Sid Meier’s Civilization V General …

If you capture a holy city, an inquisitor will completely wipe out their religion, and revoke it’s Holy City status. This does require capturing it though. You can also send a great profit, which will cleanse all other religions in the cities you use them on, including holy cities. Steam Community

Protip: use inquisitor to remove holy cities : r/civ – Reddit

I just realised today you can use the inquisitor to remove a holy city’s religion. Especially useful if your religion has the tithe belief and you want to maximise it after taking over an AI’s capital or holy city, especially since the pressure from a holy city will always exist Reddit

Holy City (Civ5) | Civilization Wiki | Fandom

Note, however, that you can in fact unmake a Holy City by using an Inquisitor’s Remove Heresy ability on it. This will remove all religions except the one to which the Inquisitor belongs from the city, and it will fandom.com

PSA: How to eliminate a religion permanently : r/civ – Reddit

You will need: -A great prophet of your religion -An inquisitor of your religion -An army to conquer targeted religion’s Holy City. First, you must conquer the Holy City whose religion you want to destroy. Annex the city, and make sure all the cities around it are converted, Reddit

civilization 5 gods and kings – Eradicate A Religion – Arqade

Razing the holy city (assuming it’s not the capital) is an option, but since Holy Cities produce 5x the normal pressure (though self-targeted), you’ll need at least 5 nearby cities (within 10 squares) of your religion to keep it down (if it’s already your Arqade

In civ 5 is there a way to wipe out holy city status without … – Reddit

It is not possible to entirely eradicate a religion without taking the Holy City, however, you can severely weaken its influence through conversion. If you manage to convert the nearby cities to your religion, you might have a strong enough pressure to counteract his when it Reddit

Inquisitor (Civ5) | Civilization Wiki | Fandom

A useful tactic for Inquisitors is to allow a player to permanently remove a competing religion from the game. This can only be done after capturing the Holy City for the religion. Once it is captured, move the Inquisitor to the city and remove the religion. fandom.com

My Holy City was Converted :: Sid Meier’s Civilization V General …

A hostile neighboring nation sent two great prophets and converted my holy city. Now when I create a missionary, it’s in the other nation’s faith. 1) How do I convert my holy city back? 2) Hoe do I prevent great prophets from other nations from converting my cities Steam Community