Catholic or Protestant?

[kgaa]

I'm playing England, and it's 1510 right now. I haven't got a single Protestant province, due to me not realising in time how much being papal controller with four cardinals restricts the reformation. (I know, it's very stupid of me)

I'd like to be protestant though, because of the 10% idea discount, but I'm not sure which is better. Is converting to protestant worth it or not?

 

[sinkingmist]

General Rule: If you can be papal controller reliably, better to remain catholic.
If you are going to convert, convert as soon as religion becomes available, as this will give you a lot more free conversions.

 

[gaius valerius]

New General Rule: play what you want to play, not 'what is best (according to others)'. Catholics have the cardinal game, Protestants have the taxes and lowered idea cost (which opens up monarch points for other things) and Reformists... euh Reformists... euh... well... euh... and Reformists you just get to be the only bloody one and that's pretty cool on its own Imo the cardinal game and the protestant idea cost are both quite good, so I make my choice based on preference.

I personally tend to fill it in based on history, so if I'm Sweden or any other northern German state I'll go protestant regardless, if I'm Spain or Italy I'll stay a staunch catholic. If I'm England or France I've tried several directions, one game I'll be all de Guise and Bloody Mary and another game I'll be all Coligny and Edward VI with a gist of Elisabeth I in the mix.

 

[rustic]

I'm not saying that being papal controller isn't worth it, but it certainly comes at a price for you as player. The price is playing the tedious papal influence clickfest minigame with its annoying and poor UI, until you either convert or just give it up.

But as stated, if you plan to convert, do it ASAP and hope for a flood of the "spread of protestantism" events. Be aware that the malus "Religious turmoil" deserves its name if you have a low percentage of provinces with your state religion. This can cause you to bleed both money and manpower for quite a while.

 

[StatikShocker]

you won't be able to diplo vassalize just about anyone in europe if you flip from catholic to protestant/reformed.

 

[kgaa]

But will it work if I just wait for one province to convert to protestant and then just let the rebels take over my entire country?

Because if i remember right, in one of my games it happened to me and all the occupied provinces changed religion.

 

[Novacat]

Big countries should be Catholic, small countries Protestant, never go reformed/orthodox.

 

[Bibor]

Big countries should be Catholic, small countries Protestant, never go reformed/orthodox.

As NovaCat says, catholicism is a game for the big players, since papal influence is mostly dependent on # of catholic provinces. No point in competing with these guys. I like games where Austria converts, as that assures a permanent fight between the Three continental superpowers.

 

[grandad1982]

I just finished a France game were I was the Papal controller for 2/3 of the game non stop. My hate for the stupid mini game now means I'm going to either convert ASAP in my future games or play a different religion that the reformation doesn't happen to.

I'm currently playing as Oman and being a hated Shitte is much more fun than the tedious cardinal clickfest. I really hope that PI find a way to make this much less soul destroying!

 

[Novacat]

My last game was as Shiite Sweden, with a cold war going on between me and the Blobbomans.