Dai Viet, remain Buddhist or become Confucian?

[RichardOlcese]

At the beginning of the game, there's an event that lets Dai Viet become Confucian, with Mahayana harmonized; or there's also the option of staying Mahayana Buddhist. The latter allows for an achievement (Disciples of Enlightment), which I lack. There are also some monuments in the region which give effects only to Buddhist countries. On the other hand, Confucian with Mahayana already harmonized might be a better religion for in-game purposes.

What's your advice then? Buddhist or Confucian for Dai Viet?

 

[Reni Malaj]

If youre going for the Mandate it might be better to go Confucian. If youre not by the time you get it the game spams you with an event to convert or loose stab and mandate. Maybe its better to convert early and start harmonising religions.

 

[jonjowett]

Well, if you want/need the achievement, stay Mahayana.

Otherwise, I think most/all Buddhist monuments can be activated by harmonising a Buddhist faith... so I think Confucian is viable.

 

[Ramidel]

Correct. Confucian harmonized Buddhism allows for the Buddhist monuments. It's why I'm pretty much perma-locked into Buddha as my Hindu deity in my Majapahit game, because I've taken Southeast Asia and want all of those sweet monument bonuses.

Yes, the Buddhist Temples have been helping me force Buddhists to convert to Hinduism. Religion is weird that way. (Won't happen under Confucianism, fortunately. Harmony toward all!)

Incidentally, the event that converts you to Confucianism instantly harmonizes Mahayana, so you're not losing anything there.

 

[Banedon Runestar]

If you want the achievement, stay Buddhist.

If you want to use the monuments, you’ll have to read the descriptions carefully. I *think* so long as Buddhist is the state religion or harmonized, most of them will still work. But I’m not sure if the faith of the province can be *any* flavor of Buddhist or if it has to be specifically Mahayana.

For gameplay purposes, the general forum opinion is neither Buddhist nor Confucian are great. However, as with so much in EU4, it depends on what your plans are. If you want to stay in just the Burma/Indochina/Indonesia regions, than staying Buddhist will make that easier. If you want to take the Mandate and conquer China, going Confucian will make that simpler. If you intend to expand into other parts of the globe, I believe Hindu or Muslim will work out better for you.

 

[Ramidel]

For gameplay purposes, neither Buddhist nor Confucian are great

Don't see why not. You can harmonize Hinduism and Sunnism pretty easily if you're expanding that way.

 

[Banedon Runestar]

Don't see why not. You can harmonize Hinduism and Sunnism pretty easily if you're expanding that way.

Harmonization takes a lot of time, and causes disruption while it’s happening.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Harmonization takes a lot of time, and causes disruption while it’s happening.

It's a bit less painful now than it used to be, since if you conquer Ming you get a monument to help with it. It's possible to rely on tolerance of heretics, take that, and then mostly sit at/near 100 while picking up Dharmic/Islam/Christian, which is good enough generally. Can do more if you want though. Especially after you can sit at 100, shouldn't be too large a burden for the unrest reduction in pagan. I don't think the little extra bonuses are worth it, but being +3 or more everywhere is nice.

I think Buddhism can run a conversion game these days. It's not amazing at it, but maybe good enough with the monuments as a theocracy.

 

[Banedon Runestar]

It's a bit less painful now than it used to be, since if you conquer Ming you get a monument to help with it. It's possible to rely on tolerance of heretics, take that, and then mostly sit at/near 100 while picking up Dharmic/Islam/Christian, which is good enough generally. Can do more if you want though. Especially after you can sit at 100, shouldn't be too large a burden for the unrest reduction in pagan. I don't think the little extra bonuses are worth it, but being +3 or more everywhere is nice.

I think Buddhism can run a conversion game these days. It's not amazing at it, but maybe good enough with the monuments as a theocracy.

I know it can do some conversion, as I just did the “No Mon” achievement, with a few others as opportunity allowed, and decided to convert most of SE Asia to Buddhist mostly because I could.

The fact that half of my territory started that way made it easier, but Sunni or Hindu would have made it easier if I’d been planning to expand farther afield. They can stack more bonuses, get more missionaries, and/or have large swathes of the world already following your faith.

 

[Ramidel]

It's a bit less painful now than it used to be, since if you conquer Ming you get a monument to help with it. It's possible to rely on tolerance of heretics, take that, and then mostly sit at/near 100 while picking up Dharmic/Islam/Christian, which is good enough generally. Can do more if you want though. Especially after you can sit at 100, shouldn't be too large a burden for the unrest reduction in pagan. I don't think the little extra bonuses are worth it, but being +3 or more everywhere is nice.

I think Buddhism can run a conversion game these days. It's not amazing at it, but maybe good enough with the monuments as a theocracy.

With the SEA monuments running on full, it's pretty strong - Bagan Temples is +2% and +2 missionaries. It's not as strong as Hindu-Buddhism with all monuments, but that's not really a fair comparison because only three tags can get the Buddha deity as Hindus.

 

[iClipse]

Confucianism is the stronger religion. Mahayana has the superior color. Up to you to choose what you find most important.

 

[RichardOlcese]

Confucianism is the stronger religion. Mahayana has the superior color. Up to you to choose what you find most important.

I choose color! (and the achievement)