There are five types of temples you can build when playing as the WRE. Here they are:

1. Imperial Cult Basilica - for public order purposes. Discussed in detail below.
2. Serapeum - 20% increase in wealth from culture.
3. Basilica of Isis - useless
4. Basilica of Hermes - 20% increase in wealth from commerce.
5. Basilica of Sol Invictus - useless

The first thing I want to mention is that these temples take up A LOT of food. In fact, the food requirement of 125 is the highest out of all the WRE buildings. Now we know that food is a precious resource in Attila that needs to be allocated judiciously in province planning - so are the temples worth the enormous food cost? Three of them - Imperial cult Basilica, Serapeum and Basilica of Hermes - show some promise. I will go through them one by one to investigate their utility.

*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

With Imperial Cult Basilica, the building itself gives +10 public order, but the main public order bonus comes from the extra priest that can be recruited and stationed at the province. The priest will raise public order from the following sources:

1. 'Spiritual Leadership' (activates 'Inspire Populace' ability) gives +6 public order - this is registered under 'Characters' in the public order breakdown section of the province details tab. Few things to note:

a. The ability description panel for Spiritual Leadership says '+3 public order', but this is misleading. Level 1 Spiritual Leadership gives +3, and level 2 gives +6.


<This explanation is misleading>


<Refer to the province details tab for accurate answer - there is +6 public order effect when level 2 Spiritual Leadership is deployed>

b. When more than one priest is stationed at the province and both activate Spiritual Leadership, the last priest to activate the ability will exert its effect on the province, nullifying the effect of the first priest. For example if there is one priest in the province who is already deployed with level 2 Spiritual Leadership (+6 public order), and another priest enters the province and deploys level 1 Spiritual Leadership (+3 public order), the province will just gain +3 public order, making the effort of the first priest go to waste. See the following screenshots:


There is currently a level 10 priest in Sahara (the one on the right), with level 2 Spiritual Leadership deployed. Province details shows +7 public order under 'Characters' (+6 from the Priest, +1 from the faction leader who happens to have a public order increasing trait).


A second priest moves into the province and activates level 1 Spiritual Leadership. You just get +3 public order from the second priest.


Also note, if you move the second priest out of the province again, public order takes 1 turn to 'reset' - here you can see that the public order effects from both priests has temporarily disappeared. One turn later, the effect of the first priest will return.

2. When a priest reaches level 6, he will acquire 'High Priest' trait, which gives up to +5 public order from presence of GRP (note the High Priest trait also gives +5 RI). This is registered under 'Religion' in the public order breakdown, and most of the time just gives up to +4 public order unless you can make the RC of GRP super high (even with Imperial Cult Basilica and a level 10 priest pushing up the RC of GRP up to 84%, the public order increment still did not go beyond +4).


3. Some priests come with the passive 'Senator' ability, which gives extra +4 public order. This is registered under 'Characters' in the public order breakdown.


4. RI from the temple and priest will raise public order due to reduction of RD.

Imperial Cult Basilica exerts +8 RI - this will be registered under 'Regional developments' in the RI breakdown.

Priests exert RI from the following sources:
a. 'Spread Religion' - this keeps growing as the priest levels up. Maximum value is different with every priest. Its effect is registered under 'Characters' in the RI breakdown.
b. When a priest reaches level 6, he will acquire 'High Priest' trait, which gives +5 RI - this is registered under 'Regional developments'. Note the High Priest trait also gives up to +5 public order boost from presence of GRP.


<Different priests have different maximum value for 'Spread Religion'>

As I discussed in Part III, there is no formula for telling how much RD will diminish as a result of RI boost. All you can do is to let the RD fall, then record its final value when it has finished falling. Here is a result I got from Sahara:

a. Base RD (with Circus and Stonehenge) = -12.
b. When Imperial Cult Basilica was built (no priest), RD fell to -7.
c. When a level 10 priest (+23 RI from 'Spread Religion') was stationed at the province, RD fell to -3.


<With Imperial Cult Basilica and level 10 Priest, RD fell considerably>

Note that the large gaining of public order in Sahara is possible only because the province started off with a large degree of RD in the first place. In most other provinces where RD is less than -4, public order cannot be gained more than the degree of RD it started off with.

In summary, by building Imperial Cult Basilica at a province and having a priest stationed there, you can expect the following public order benefits:

1. +10 from the building itself
2. +6 from 'Spiritual Leadership' of the priest
3. +4 from 'High Priest' trait of the priest
4. +9 from reduction of RD (will vary in different provinces and with different priests)

There is a total of +29 public order increment which is SUPERB, and from public order point of view it is well worth the food cost. Hold your horses though, the problem with any tier 4 temples is that, unless the province is blessed with either wine or olive, either Circus or Governor's Palace will have to be given up in order to secure enough food for the temples. Some loss of income is inevitable, since the temples do not contribute directly to province wealth. Nevertheless, in the three provinces with Semitic Paganism (Sahara, Arabia Felix, Aethiopia) where RD is high, Imperial Cult Basilica sounds like a promising option for public order management.

What we need now is to formulate province designs with and without Imperial Cult Basilica / priest, and compare the overall province income from different scenarios. So, here they are:


1. Province model that does not utilise any temples. Total income is 9187.


2. Imperial Cult Basilica and Circus used. Total income is lower than the first template.


3. Imperial Cult Basilica + Great Theatre. Ditto.


4. Imperial Cult Basilica + Governor's Palace. Ditto.
Note for this model, the +4 RI from Circus is missing, which will lower public order by 1 or 2.

For scenarios 2,3 and 4, switching Leatherworker to Gem Market will give you an income boost due to export of gem, but gem is not considered because:

1. It is much easier to acquire gem from elsewhere (eg. Germania) where RD is not as big as Sahara.
2. As WRE, if your game has reached a stage where you are developing gem from both Germania and Sahara, chances are you won't have enough trade partners left in the world to export 100% of the gem produced.

See Part 5 for further explanation on why gem is not such a great idea.

Anyway the experiment above shows that NOT using Imperial Cult Basilica yields the best income result from Sahara. Result will differ in Arabia Felix / Aethiopia, but even in other provinces I am doubtful whether Imperial Cult Basilica can outdo Circus or Governor's Palace in terms of income. Only consider it if income is not so important, and your priority is public order management.

Let's now consider Serapeum and Basilica of Hermes. Will having these temples lead to an increase of province wealth? Again, we need to design provinces with and without the temples, then compare the projected province wealth for each scenario.



For this experiment, provinces with wines / olives are used, since only these two resources can support the enormous food requirement of the temples. Baetica, Venetia and Magna Graecia are chosen, as these provinces have 1,2 and 3 ports respectively, allowing us to experiment in a wide range of province conditions.

The temples will give RI which will reduce the public order penalties from RD. Again, exactly how much RD will diminish cannot be foretold, but since the provinces used in the experiment have base RD of -3, the maximum public order increment you can expect from the temples is 3. I will assume public order increment of 3 from the temples (0 RD).

3 province designs for Baetica with no temple, Serapeum, Basilica of Hermes, respectively:




3 province designs for Venetia with no temple, Serapeum, Basilica of Hermes, respectively:




3 province designs for Magna Graecia with no temple, Serapeum, Basilica of Hermes, respectively:




What do you know. For all three provinces, NOT utilising the temples yields the best income result. The main reason for this is that, when temples are present, all ports need to be developed into Fishing Ports in order to satisfy the enormous food requirement of the temples. Not having the temples on the other hand allows at least one port to be converted into Trade Port, which will of course give an income boost.

Take note - for scenarios using Serapeum and Basilica of Hermes, the province designs are identical except the two temples - this is because I could not find any other province design that yielded a superior income result.

So here's the final verdict:

1. Imperial Cult Basilica - consider building if the province has large RD, and public order management is a priority. If income is a priority, do not build
2. Serapeum - ditch
3. Basilica of Isis - useless
4. Basilica of Hermes - not needed
5. Basilica of Sol Invictus - joke

Rebuttals are welcome.

In Part 5 I will be discussing resources, which is another big factor in province design.

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