Short Guide to Festishist Cults

[RedBstrd]

Having just finished the Hoarder achievement (after a few failures because some of the details of cult acquisition aren't entirely clear), I thought it might be useful to write up a short guide on the mechanics.

First of all, to be clear, I'm discussing cults unlocked by nations with Fetishist religions (i.e. Sub-Saharan African nations that aren't Muslim). If you are one of these nations, you'll start with 3 different cult choices that are geographically determined.

• Central Africa (Kongo river basin, Great Lakes region, Mutapa region) has 3 cults: Cwezi, Mlira, Mwari
• Madagascar has 3 cults: Enkai, Waaq, Zanahary
• West Africa (Benin, Mossi, Fulo area, etc.) has 3 cults: Roog, Nyame, Yemoja

Edit: With the map rework of the Ethiopia region, the two Fetishist nations there should have 3-6 starting cults (Cwezi, Mlira, Mwari, Roog, Nyame, Yemoja). I have run 2 test games there and had different results (once only getting 3 cults and having the other 3 locked out, once getting all 6 cults). I'll test further and update...

All nations within those specific regions should have the same set of cults.

If you ally or go to war with a fellow Fetishist nation in one of these other areas, you have a chance (MTTH event) of gaining a new cult. Sometimes you can get more than one in a single war. I got all three from the Madagascar region, for example, at the same time upon invading one of the nations there.

The quickest way to get a cult from another nation seems to be by engaging them in battle (either naval or land). You'll likely trigger all 3 cults at once by doing so.

Consequently, a valid strategy as a Fetishist nation is to ally or attack Benin, Kongo or Mutapa, and someone in Madagascar (not the Sunni state). As Benin, for example, you can colonize in Luanda (by Kongo), ally Kongo, colonize in Cape, colonize in Ile Bourbon, and attack Madagascar. Doing so will net you all 9 cults unless something goes wrong (like the Sunni nation unifying and converting Madagascar).

In addition to the traditional African cults, you can gain other cults from heretic and heathen nations. Again, these are gained from allying a nearby (doesn't need to be exactly neighboring but that seems to help) nation or by attacking them. Update: It's now possible to unlock a cult by owning provinces of that religion.

• Buddhist branches (Mahayana, Theravada, Vajrayana): Buddhadharma
• Central American faiths (Nahuatl and Mayan; note: not Inti from South America): Teotl
• Christian denominations (Catholic, Coptic, Orthodox, Protestant, Reformed): Christianity
• Dharmic religions (Hindu, presumably Sikh as well): Sanatana Dharma
• Muslim denominations (Ibadi, Shia, Sunni): Islam

Finally, there are 3 difficult to obtain cults (that you don't need for the achievement). You get these by allying or attacking a nation that owns them (if they are of the official religion of that province). The best way to get it then, is by conquering the territory and returning the core, then allying or attacking the new nation (Semien or Persia) that should follow the faith of their sole province. Edit: It's now possible to unlock a cult by owning the relevant province (Semien, Yazd) before it's converted to a different religion. Update: There are now 2 Jewish provinces in Ethiopia.

• Jewish (only from Semien before it's converted): Haymanot
• Norse (only in Random New World with fantasy options): Freyja
• Zoroastrian (only from Yazd before it's converted): Mazdayasna

If you are going for the achievement, one of your first ideas should be Exploration. You only need 13 cults, so all 9 of the traditional African cults plus 4 of the 5 major world religion cults (and none of the 3 difficult ones) will trigger the achievement for you. Islam is the easiest of the major religions since it's native to Sub-Saharan Africa. Christianity is also easy since the colonists will come to Africa. The Hindu cult could be picked up in Indonesia by starting a colony adjacent to Majapahit and allying them. If Pagarruyung still exists, you can do the same to them for the Buddhist cult, as they are Theravadan. Once you have the cult(s), you could break the alliance(s). The Teotl (Nahuatl/Mayan) one easily comes from colonizing Tamaulipas (in northern Mexico, just north of Totonac). You could ally a Nahuatl or Mayan nation or just declare war on one, then peace them out once you have your cult.

Update: With the Ethiopia region rework, playing as Welayta can be one of the easiest ways to get the Haymanot cult (by invading Ethiopia for one of the two Jewish provinces).

As noted above, battles seem to be the fastest/most reliable trigger for the spread of cults.

Credit to this post that provided some useful info on the breakdown of the traditional African cults.

 

[RedBstrd]

I guess I should add some more info on the basics of Fetishist cults:

• Upon each ruler's assumption of the throne (or their regency period, I guess), you can pick a cult that lasts until that ruler's death.
• A breakdown of the cult bonuses is here.
• The cults each have a set of associated events (which might give modifiers to your country for the length of your ruler's reign).
  • One event might flip your provinces to the religion of your cult if it is based on a foreign faith (not traditional African Fetishist religion). For example, if you have the Christianity cult, an event might flip one of your provinces to some denomination of Christianity.
• If your cult is based on a foreign faith, you should have the opportunity to adopt that religion as your official state faith instead. For example, if your cult is Islam, you can switch to a Muslim-religion for your nation via decision.
  • The option only exists, though, as long as you have a province of that religion. You can't, for example, adopt Zoroastrianism immediately after taking the cult. Instead, you have to wait for an event that converts one of your provinces to Zoroastrianism, then you can convert to that faith (regardless of which of your cults you currently follow).

 

[SuicideSparrow]

I heard a rumor that the Fetish have an interesting cult based on Tengri? Any info on that?

 

[RedBstrd]

I heard a rumor that the Fetish have an interesting cult based on Tengri? Any info on that?

In my Butua game where I first tried for the achievement, I tried to get a Tengri cult but never found one. I don't see one on the list on the wiki either, sadly.

 

[RedBstrd]

After doing some more vigorous testing, I've cleaned up the guide a little. The only thing I'm not 100% certain about at the moment is whether or not Fetishist nations can unlock a cult just by owning a province of another faith (if you've conquered Yazd while it's Zoroastrian, for example). If it's possible, the MTTH seems to be long. I've seen Christianity and Islam unlock that way, but that could have been from other triggers.

 

[VoodooEconomist]

Huh, I expected something totally different when clicking on the thread name </juvenileantropologyjoke>

 

[HaaYaargh]

I'm playing as Bugunda, my goal was to get Victorian Three achievement, Cult Hoarder and check institution spread in Africa. But along the way I kind of forgot about Cult Hoarder achievement, and now I lack two Roog and Nyame from (assuming from OP's thread) West Africa.

I haven't got those probably, as I was pushing into Indonesia for sweet, sweet trade steering towards Zanzibar. And once I decided to attack West African nations, they were already Sunni. I was wondering. If there is a point, in converting those provinces, releasing as much as possible vassals from West Africa, break overlordship over them, attack them and hope for cult to unlock? I was looking through files, and couldn't find anything that Cults are related to nation, more like to the region.

I'll try it, too bad that I've been converting cultures, so there not many of those left. Maybe I'll try with Client States as well.

Edit: Zaraostrian cult gives you +2 Merchant. Wow, reward is really proportional to the effort.

 

[SolSys]

... I was wondering. If there is a point, in converting those provinces, releasing as much as possible vassals from West Africa, break overlordship over them, attack them and hope for cult to unlock? ...

Released nation get the religion that is present in most of their provinces; meaning, if the provinces aren't Festishist it would do little good to you.
BTW, you can also get them by maintaining positive relations [again, MTTH dependent]

 

[HaaYaargh]

I already own those provinces, I want to convert it to Fetishist, release nation (Oyo, Nupe, Hassa from Western Africa), break vassalization and attack/ally them. The thing is I don't know if they will have Roog and Nyame cults by default just from being nations from that region.

 

[RedBstrd]

I'm playing as Bugunda, my goal was to get Victorian Three achievement, Cult Hoarder and check institution spread in Africa. But along the way I kind of forgot about Cult Hoarder achievement, and now I lack two Roog and Nyame from (assuming from OP's thread) West Africa.

I haven't got those probably, as I was pushing into Indonesia for sweet, sweet trade steering towards Zanzibar. And once I decided to attack West African nations, they were already Sunni. I was wondering. If there is a point, in converting those provinces, releasing as much as possible vassals from West Africa, break overlordship over them, attack them and hope for cult to unlock? I was looking through files, and couldn't find anything that Cults are related to nation, more like to the region.

Yes, it works.

I just console annexed all of west Africa as Songhai, converted it all to Sunni, then tag switched to Kongo and took back Benin. I converted the provinces (via console) back to Fetishist, released Benin as an independent nation via return cores, attacked Benin, and got all 3 cults (Roog, Nyame, Yemoja) after defeating them in a battle.

 

[RedBstrd]

BTW, you can also get them by maintaining positive relations [again, MTTH dependent]

That's good to know. Can you confirm that you can get it from non-allies (neutral, subjects, etc.) with just positive relations? If so, the MTTH must be long.

 

[SolSys]

That's good to know. Can you confirm that you can get it from non-allies (neutral, subjects, etc.) with just positive relations? If so, the MTTH must be long.

Honestly, without delving back into the files, no.
I do remember that a war - end of war**, to be precise - is the fastest way to achieve this [mtth of 1 day].


**It says on lost war, but there are triggers for both loser and winner. Files are at the on_actions, fetishist_cults and events folders.

 

[HaaYaargh]

Yes, it works.

I just console annexed all of west Africa as Songhai, converted it all to Sunni, then tag switched to Kongo and took back Benin. I converted the provinces (via console) back to Fetishist, released Benin as an independent nation via return cores, attacked Benin, and got all 3 cults (Roog, Nyame, Yemoja) after defeating them in a battle.

I manage to do it the hard way At first I released Oyo, hoping that after truce is gone I'll attack them, but before 5 years ran out, I got one of the missing cults, so that's answer for this question.

That's good to know. Can you confirm that you can get it from non-allies (neutral, subjects, etc.) with just positive relations? If so, the MTTH must be long.

Although I noticed this on a subject, I'm quite sure that I got Buddhist cult just from neighbouring Khmer with them improving relation with me (so not maxed, around ~30). Although it was quite a long time after we started to share borders.

A moment after I released my vassal I remembered that it is easier to just Return Core, and that's how I got my second missing West African cult.