Temples worth keeping

[dulsin]

As a rule trashing captured temples to keep down the natives is a good idea but there are a few temples that may make it worth keeping around or even nuturing so that when you capture them they are at full value.

My next Bruti game will make a goal of getting at least one partheon form each of these.


Neptune (Scipii) Most powerful forge god in the game with Horus being slightly worse. I like these for upgrading my ships and if you are a Roman faction you can produce the best ships in the game.

25% Happy
1 Armor
1 Light Weapon
1 Hvy Weapons
10% Law

Mercury/Hermes (Bruti/Greeks) Best trade in the game. If possible you most build or keep these in Crete and Athens.

25% Happy
5 Trade
10% health
1 Experiance

Mars (Bruti) Best war temple.

25% Happy
3 Experiance
1 Moral
10 Health
2 Trade

Artemis (Macedonia) Hands down the best archery temple in the game.

25% Happy
5 Missiles
2 Trade
10% law

[dulsin]

One way to nurture a city is to capture a temple you want ... grow the city and build all the city upgrades .. give it back to the original nation long enough to upgrade the temple.

Snatch it back later with all the buildings but the temple being your faction.

[SMZ]

Good post :) - I've also found that one of the healing temples can be a nice addition if you can't get them. In one campaign I managed to capture an Awesome Temple to Asklepios. I then set about using that city as my quarantine camp. Any time I had a plagued agent or character I sent them to Antioch. The big health bonus helped to contain the outbreaks. The city of course quickly plummeted in population since it had a steady stream of plaqued persons entering it, but it worked well.

Another great one to capture if you can is a horse temple if you're Roman. If the Spanish or the Gauls build a lvl3 temple to Epona, a Roman can take the province and then upgrade that temple to lvls 4 & 5. This leaves you with:

25% Happy
5 experience

Which seems to be even better than the war temples as regards training troops.

---

Also, for keeping the peace, consider the Egyptian temple of justice:

35% Happy
25% Law
10% Health
1% Growth

that's 70% total boost to public order!

[dulsin]

Forgot the healing temples. These are very nice since there is one Roman, Greek, and Eastern version. If your faction is in one of these groups you can have without any culture penalties.

Jano/Imhotep/Asklepios (Bruti/Egypt/Seleucids)
Happy 25%
Health 25%
Trade 2
Experiance 2
(Churgeon Ancilerary)

[Aesculapius]

Another great one to capture if you can is a horse temple if you're Roman. If the Spanish or the Gauls build a lvl3 temple to Epona, a Roman can take the province and then upgrade that temple to lvls 4 & 5.

Eh?! Since when can a Roman upgrade a temple to Epona? Are you making this up, or have I been missing something?

[Ryanus]

Can barbarians upgrade there temple further than the minor city level if you take there city, upgrade the city, and then give it back to them?

[SMZ]

You've been missing something :) - fear not - until I registered on these boards I was ignorant to this feature also.

Apparently that's the only available case like this. But it must be a temple to Epona and it must already be lvl 3. Then and only then a Roman conqueror can adopt the diety and upgrade the temple further. The natural Gauls and Spaniards of course cannot upgrade the temple farther than lvl 3. Only the Romans can. It's my understanding that the text in the temple description explains how the Roman legions did do this historically. I have not personally seen it yet however, I'm working toward attempting it in my current campaign.

However I checked the Data txt files... and it's in there.

I think this is one of the reasons I love RTW. The replay value is amazing, there's always new tricks to find that keep showing the game has more levels and complexity than meets the eye.

[dulsin]

He is right! There are 2 upgrades to the temple of the horse that can only be constructed by a roman faction but they can not build the first 3 levels.

So capture a Large Temple of Epona (Gual or Spain) and any roman faction can upgrade to ... Drum roll please!

Epona Parthenon
25% Happy
5 Experiance

As a pure military temple this is definatly the best. I am realy curious about the adoption of Epona by the Romans now. This looks well worth doing a history Grad study on if acurat.

[dulsin]

Can barbarians upgrade there temple further than the minor city level if you take there city, upgrade the city, and then give it back to them?

No sorry Barbs can not build anything past level 3 temples

[Aesculapius]

You've been missing something :) - fear not - until I registered on these boards I was ignorant to this feature also.

Fascinating! Humble apologies - and thank you for educating this ignorant ancient!

[Aesculapius]

Neptune (Scipii) Most powerful forge god in the game with Horus being slightly worse.

Simply not true. Neither of these are Forge gods - Neptune is a Naval god and Horus is a god of Law. Hephaestus (Seleucid) and Vulcan (Scipii) - both true Forge gods - offer the same bonuses as well as +2 experience (at Pantheon level).

Mercury/Hermes (Bruti/Greeks) Best trade in the game. If possible you most build or keep these in Crete and Athens.

25% Happy
5 Trade
10% health
1 Experiance

... but bear in mind the adverse effects of trade temples (Awesome and larger) on your governors - you may end up as a Girl-chasing Gambler with Expensive Tastes! Of course, this is irrelevant if you are not planning to have a governor in the town.

[dulsin]

Top Happiness temple. This little gem is well worth the culture hit. At 50% it is 15 points better than the #2 fun temples Athena (greek), Anahit (Armenia), Zorastra (Parthia).

Dionysus/Bacchus (Thracia or Selucids/Julii)
50% Happy
10% law
1% growth

Possible alternative

Set (Egypt) Justice
35% Happy
25% Law
1% Growth
10% health

[SMZ]

heh - I couple of weeks ago I made the same response you did - I was comparing Vulcan and Mars in a guide to the strengths and weaknesses of the Roman factions and somebody said something about Epona being better than either...

my response, strongly hinted at the poster possessing a degree of mental instability, and I then of course had to eat my words - lol

[SMZ]

dulsin - definantly check out Aesculapius's Guide there on breeding governors

the temples of fun there are not worthwhile in the end... while they have a large bonus to public order - they will turn your governors into druken, lewd sots who spend their time staggering in search of the nearest person, place or thing with an appropriately sized hole...

on the other hand Set being a god of justice will promote several good traits for upstanding governors as well as providing a larger bonus than the fun gods - much, much better in the final anylasis :)

[dulsin]

You are both right but I stand on my original opinions for both.

Fun temples should be avoided at all costs by your goveners. As long as you keep those cities empty of coruptable Romans these should take care of themselves with little unrest and plenty of income for the rest of the empire.

A temple of Set would certainly be nicer for your goveners but I would rather have one of the trade temples... Call me a greedy Bruti. (no prejudices here)

You are of course correct about there being lots of good forge temples. I selected Neptune over them simply because I will use the Horse or War temples for my troops but Neptune will make the greatest ships. For a non-Roman faction I completly agree with you though.

[lismore]

.

However I checked the Data txt files... and it's in there.

.

Hi

Thanks

The data txt file? Ill check it out, do you think others could be modded in?

Lismore

[Brutus]

You are aware that temples like Mars and Bacchus/Dionysus give governors bad traits, are you? Right now my Julii legions are conquering Brutii territory and several of my governors (The Fabulous Lucanus Brothers) are ruling cities with Awesome Temples of Mars in it. It gives them Anger-Vices and both have already become "The Wrathful" in about 5 turns or so. However, as I have enough governors, I can't really be bothered by that, but it can be a real pain in the early game. Bacchus/Dionysus gives governors Drunk-traits. Otherwise, the idea is very good

[dulsin]

Actualy all the Bruti temples give bad and good traits

Mars
Anger 10%
Bloodthirsty 10%
Energetic 15%

Juno
HaleAndHearty 10%
Hypochondriac 10%

Mercury
GoodTrader 10%
Cheapskate 8%
Embezzler 3%
DeceiverVirtue 10%