Managing religion can seem like a daunting task in Attila Total War. Players are flooded with confusing terms such as religious influence, religious osmosis etc. that are not explained well enough in the game. However when you memorise a few terms and grasp a few underlying concepts, you will soon realise that religion is actually quite a delicate system that can add an extra flavour to your faction management. So, let's get to it.

*Abbreviations used:
Greco-Roman Paganism = GRP
Latin Christianity = LC
Arian Christianity = AC
Religious composition = RC
Religious influence = RI
Religious equilibrium = RE
Religious differences = RD
Religious osmosis = RO

Let's start by looking at the province of Italia. In the province details tab, you are provided with the religious composition of that province, as well as detailed breakdown of religious influence for each religion.


Here is a table that summarises religion of Italia, in the example shown above:


Definition of some terms:

*Religious composition (RC): current ratio of the population in that province who follows that religion (although there is no concept of population in Attila Total War). For example, if the province of Italia had 100 population, and GRP has RC of 64%, 64 people would be following GRP

*Religious equilibrium (RE): what the RC of a province would eventually reach, if the current set of RI in the province stayed unaltered. If the current RC of a province is anything other than the RE, the RC will slowly drift towards RE, until it reaches RE. More details on RE below.

*Religious influence (RI): factors in a province that determine the RE of that province. In any province, RI of one or more religions can be present.

Where RI can come from:

1. Regional development:
-Any buildings in the province that give RI
-Any Wonders in the province that give RI
-If there is a priest stationed in the province who has 'High Priest' trait (acquired at level 6), there will be +5 RI from this trait that is registered under 'Regional development'.

For example, in the screenshot above, Mt Vesuvius (Wonder) gives +10 RI for GRP. Circus gives another +3. These two add up to give +13 RI points for GRP.

2. Local traditions: every province has a FIXED set of local tradition points for one or more religions. Local tradition points are permanently fixed for every province and cannot be altered (even if you raze & recolonise), unless of course you use a mod.

3. Characters: if there is a Priest stationed in the province, the effect of his/her 'Spread Religion' will be registered here.
**Note: Priests of other religions that are captured by your faction will exert RI of his/her original religion. This is of course detrimental, so these priests should not be stationed in your provinces.



4. Religion (they couldn't come up with a more specific term): if the province has a religious-related edict, its effect will be registered here. Note that the religious effect of an edict is multiplied by the number of settlements you own in that province. Look at the screenshots below:



The edict 'Will of Jupiter' has been issued in Italia. The description of the edict (Religious influence: +4 Roman paganism) is misleading, since the effect is applied PER settlement. If you own all 3 settlements of the province, you will enjoy a total of +12 RI points, registered under 'Religion'.

Same goes for any religion-related traits of a governor / governor's wife. For example a general can have the trait 'Religious' (see screenshot below). If the general is appointed governor, the trait will exert +12 RI points in the province, if you own all 3 settlements of that province.



A governor's wife may have the trait 'Priestess', that follows the same rule: '+5 state religion' means +15 RI if you own all 3 settlements of the province.




For Italia, since local tradition points exist for more than one religion, it is impossible to make Italia 100% of any one religion. However provinces that have local tradition points for only one religion can be converted 100% to that religion. For example, province of Scandza has local tradition points only for Germanic Paganism, which means you can make Scandza 100% Germanic Pagan if you do not introduce any other RI points there.


<100% conversion is possible in selected provinces>


Religious Equilibrium (RE)

Here's how to calculate RE of a particular religion in a province.

1. Add together RI points of ALL religions in a province. For Italia above, 16 for GRP + 4 for LC + 3 for AC + 2 for Manichaeism = 25
2. Divide RI points for GRP (16) by what you got from above (25). 16/25 = 0.64

Hence, the RE of GRP in Italia is 64%. This means that if the current RC of GRP in Italia is anything other than 64%, it will slowly move towards 64%.

If there is an alteration of RI in a province, the existing RE will be disrupted, and the RC of the province will start moving towards a new RE.

For example, if a Hunnic Priest suddenly walked into Italia, a new religion, Tengri, will gain RI. If the Hunnic Priest exerted 10 RI for Tengri, then the new RI breakdown for Italia would be:

RI:
16 for GRP
4 for LC
3 for AC
2 for Manichaeism
10 for Tengri
Sum of all RI points: 16 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 10 = 35

Therefore the new RE would be(rounded to 2 decimal points):
GRP: 16/35 = 0.46
LC: 4/35 = 0.11
Arian Christianity: 3/35 = 0.09
Manichaeism: 2/35 = 0.06
Tengri: 10/35 = 0.29

Hence, the RC of of GRP will start falling from 64%, until it reaches 46%, as long as the Hunnic Priest stays in Italia. RC of Tengri will start rising from 0% until it reaches 29%. If you assassinate the Hunnic Priest, RI points for Tengri will become 0, and the RC of Tengri will start to diminish towards 0.

One more thing, Imperial Cult Basilica (Tier 4 religious building for GRP) has +1 religious osmosis.

*Religious osmosis: where the presence of a religious building in a province exerts RI points to its neighbouring provinces. Provinces that are neighbours by sea does not count.



Now here's a question. Can you, as the WRE, convert to Greco-Roman Paganism, then later reconvert back to Latin Christianity? The answer is YES. Theoretically. Here's how:

1. You need to find a province where local tradition points for Latin Christianity is greater than 35% of all local traditions combined. This is because 35% is the minimum requirement for conversion of state religion.

2. Insulae Occidentalis is the only province in the whole map that fills the above criteria. It has 3 local tradition points for GRP and 3 for LC, which means if you do not introduce any external RI points, the province will have a RC of 50% GRP and 50% LC.


<One and only>

3. Raze your ENTIRE empire except Insulae Occidentalis.

4. If Insulae Occidentalis already has greater than 35% LC, convert.

5. If it doesn't, do not introduce any external RI points, and wait until the ratio of LC climbs above 35%. Once it hits 35%, convert. Halleluiah!

Using the method above, it is theoretically possible to convert your faction into any religion you want. Just look for a province where the religion you want has enough local tradition points.

The only other way I can think of is, if there is another Latin Christian faction alive in the game (usually one of the rebel factions that liberated from the WRE, such as Illyria / Gaul), capture a priest from that faction and have him spread heaps of Latin Christianity in your lands.You will likely need to capture a few priests if you want to raise the level of LC above 35% from your entire empire.

Provinces will have varying degrees of public order penalty due to 'religious differences'. This will determine the minimum public order requirement for that province, thus having a bearing on your province planning. Hence, it is important to understand the underlying mechanics of religious difference (RD).


<This one needs a closer look>

It is intuitive to think that, the higher the RC of your state religion in a province, the less RD it will have. I wish it was that easy. Consider the screenshots below:




In Scandza, the ratio of GRP is 50%, with RD of -3. In Sahara, ratio of GRP is 54% which is higher than Scandza, but RD is -8 which is worse than Scandza.

Clearly, the RC of your state religion does not have a clear inverse proportional relationship with RD of that province.

The important factor that determines RD in a province is what other religions are also present in the province. Most religions do not cause too much public order penalties, keeping the value of RD to below -4. However there is one religion in the game that will wreak absolute havoc on your public order. Any guesses? Latin Christianity? No. Considering that the advent of Latin Christianity was historically one of the main factors for the Roman Empire's demise, Latin Christianity mixes surprisingly well with GRP in the game without causing too much RD. The correct answer is Semitic Paganism. Whenever you see this religion in the game, watch out.

The official page for Empires of Sand Culture Pack gives some hint regarding public order penalties caused by three religions that was newly introduced with the pack (Semitic Paganism, Judaism, Eastern Christianity):



However it's only Semitic Paganism that stirs up a lot of public order problems, at least while playing as the WRE. The other two, Judaism and Eastern Christianity, are fine. For example, the province of Arabia Magna has local traditions for Judaism and Eastern Christianity, but RD is -4 which is relatively minor.


<Judaism and Eastern Christianity are fine>

There are 3 provinces in the game that have local tradition points for Semitic Paganism, and RD is simply out of control in these areas. Here's where they are:



The values of RD above assumes presence of Circus in the province, and ownership of Stonehenge (which reduces public order penalties due to RD).

Playing as the WRE you probably won't reach these three provinces until very, very late in the game anyway, but if you do expand to these areas, I would advise having governors issue the 'Will of Jupiter' edict to counter the presence of Semitic Paganism.

The exact formula for calculating the value of RD is not disclosed by CA. The best thing we can do is to wait for RC of a province to reach RE, then record the resulting RD.

One thing to note: since either Circus (+3 RI points for GRP) or Great Theatre (+5 RI points for GRP) is required for every province, RE should be recorded when at least +3 RI for GRP is present. This will allow you to plan your province templates knowing the accurate value of RD and minimum public order requirement.

Example of how to record RD of a province (taking Arabia Felix as an example):


1. Arabia Felix does not have a Circus. It has a whopping public order penalty of -20 due to RD.


2. Circus has been built, and the ratio of GRP is on the rise. However we must wait for RC to reach RE.


3. RC of Arabia Felix has reached RE, so the value of religious difference you see now is the one you should record.

Hence, Arabia Felix will have a 'base' RD of -18.

For many provinces, Great Theatre (+5 GRP) is used instead of Circus (+3 GRP). Great Theatre has higher RI points than Circus, so provinces with Great Theatre may gain an extra +1 public order point.

Here is a table of RD for all WRE starting provinces. Remember that the values recorded assume the presence of +3 RI points for GRP (from Circus), and ownership of Stonehenge which reduces public order penalties due to RD.



You can see that all of WRE's starting provinces have RD of either -3 or -2, which is relatively minor. In fact, even if you expand to the rest of the map, RD will remain less than -4 most of the time, bar the three troublesome provinces that I have mentioned above.

Confused? I don't blame you. Religion is not an easy topic to understand in Attila. Unfortunately I will be uploading one more guide regarding religion, so do bear with me.

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