Yes, I’d be happy with a church to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or a Satanic church or any temple dedicated to a pantheon of the gods, Greek, Roman, Asian, Indian etc, even mythic ones like Cthulhu. Freedom of religion should be a choice not locked into any one specific dogma.
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So we can’t get any architecture, food, products, flora and fauna from anywhere but central+northern Europe, and from no time but the Middle Ages there, but when it comes to religion, suddenly we need ancient temples and buildings from every culture around the world, completely not fitting in with the rest of what we can build? And even modern things like the Satanic Church or ‘religions’ created to mock religions (and I say that as an atheist myself)? Or a giant temple to Cthulhu or necromancy - in between our European Medieval houses, cheesemakers and wolf hunters?
I’m all for freedom of religion in real life - but in games, I like them to at least somewhat stay coherent with their themes.
Plus, while I can understand the hate towards organized religion, I would also understand if someone hated that their people are poisoning themselves with alcohol, or I’ve met people that hate ‘the enslavement’ of bees. Yet, taking all these things out of a game representing a more or less Medieval society? That’s just a surprising inability to roleplay as people other than your modern self.
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In reality, there is never a war waged for religion. All wars, in all places and at all times, always have an economic objective. The pretext of religion is a dressing to obtain the support of the population. Who would support a war whose stated objective is “We will attack them to enrich the ruling class”?
Of course.
Religion has previously done its work of “domestication” of minds: at that point, guiding them to the slaughter in the name of something “high”, but with the not too hidden purpose of economic and / or commercial advantages is easy.
But the opposite is also true: just think of the historical event of “Henry of Navarre”, later Henry IV of France or also called Henry the Great.
But you know: humanity is what it is …
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And your answer is exactly why the game needs to be religion neutral. It is to divisive a subject to pigeon hole one specific religion (architecture etc) into the game because religion is by it’s very nature extremely subjective and personal. Leave it out of the game. It’s not needed.
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You might want to revisit your argument here, champ.
According to the Encyclopedia of Wars, out of all 1,763 known/recorded historical conflicts, 121, or
6.87%, had religion as their primary cause . Matthew White’s The Great Big Book of Horrible Things
gives religion as the primary cause of 11 of the world’s 100 deadliest atrocities.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_war
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The little insult was unnecessary.
And no, I’m not going to modify my argument. But feel free to consider that the anecdotal (6%) is the main cause. And then, if you read your own quote carefully, it talks about the PRIMARY cause, so the economy is also present.
Have a nice day, champ. ^^
Never is pretty absolute. The “anecdotal” 6.87% pretty much invalidate your argument. So I stand by what I said, that you might want to revisit your argument.
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OK, let’s say you’re right, otherwise your insults will rain down.
Wow, that’s some pretty aggressive, general religion bashing you got going on right there. Seems self-righteous atheism isn’t so great either… 
What the popular demand for churches shows, is saying “but it’s a fictional setting, not historical” doesn’t make much of a difference.
Our idea of what this setting - fictional or not - should incude and look like is shaped by what we know. The devs drew major inspiration from the northern european medieval “era”, and it shows - beautifully I think. But expectations are shaped by this inspiration, too, because of course it’s very recognizable. And because of this, to many players it feels like there’s something missing if there’s no church (and I mean church, not temple/ mosque/ whatever), because church and its religion shaped our world at that time in a major way - for better or worse (I’d argue: both).
People like to build a medieval city, why not let them do just that? Just for immersion and making the game feel more well rounded and complete.
The more I think about it, the more my conclusion is, there doesn’t have to be a new inventive game mechanic behind religion, no deep system. The “fill a religious need by building a church” gameplay element may be simplistic, but if devs can’t come up with something BETTER, I prefer simple and mediocre (gameplay wise) over more complex and still mediocre. I’ll happily see more pagan shrines as well, because I think it would fit the setting, too.
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I find a “religious war” against religion emblematic … 
But I think it’s best to stop this. It is becoming a circular issue without the slightest construct. 
I was wondering the same thing. The Catholic church was absolutely central in the lives of medieval Europeans. There were no towns without churches.
After having read a few threads on the matter, I now understand why the developers didn’t put it in the game. It’s simply a result of the woke movement. The reality is just too much for some people to handle and they get offended by it. It’s sad to see and I don’t suspect the numerous people questioning the decision will change anybody’s mind or even make them reevaluate their decision.
My guess is that none of the developers at Crate are over 35 years old or got very high grades in history, and have probably never visited Europe. They might as well have made the settlers vegan, it would make about the same amount of sense.
Sorry to disappoint you, but having met some of them I’m pretty sure they’re well past their teen years. And some were even born in Europe.
Anyway, I think the way this thread is going shows why it’s suggested you never talk about the weather, politics or religion at dinner parties.
The devs have said while the game uses medieval/colonial themes it’s not set in that time period. They’re leaving it up to players to imagine what world/period/etc the game is set in. It has nothing to do with woke or anything else. They’ve already said they may add some more spiritual buildings.
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I disagree with the notion that “having” “religion” in a game is problematic. But the devs are asking for feedback during EA so why not just provide it in a civilized manner instead of attacking? I don’t think unfair generalizations are helping anyone here.
The devs have said they were exploring different directions to take this in, but obviously didn’t have the idea. I get wanting to give religion more of a function than it just basically being there, and if they can come up with something good, all the better.
I personally think it could be interesting to couple religion and education - not just historically this would make sense, because studies at university included theology (there wasn’t this separation of disciplines we have today). But gameplay wise it might prove an interesting concept, too.
Chapels and curches need candles and they satisfy religious needs, workers in chapels need school education, workers in churches need education from university – there’s missing something here to make it a clever concept but this would probably be my starting point if I was to develop something.
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I see, so it’s a fantasy game then? In that case never mind what I said. It’s all good.
A monastery could grow medicinal roots in its monastic garden.
Build it together with an apothecary, a hospital, some farming, a school, a brewary and some storage, put a little wall around it and make the monks live in the building itself, et voilá, you’ve got a proper little monastery built! Until it gets slowly absorbed by the ever growing town next to it.
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My plan was to be polite at first, but some of the developer’s answers really pissed me off
Should’ve stuck with the plan, though.
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Yeah I was thinking that direction. The challenge I see is how do you make this a distinct mechanic that still fits into the overall game organically.
But yeah maybe some buildings could be locked behind monastery upgrades instead of the town center, like the brewery. This would make satisfying a religious need more meaningful than if it was just another stat, because it would be tied to monastery progress. That’s a direction I’d far more like than a religious building giving a flat bonus.
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Well, yes.
I can promise you this though:
The controversy they wanted to avoid by leaving religion out never would have happened. Instead the very same decision actually caused one.
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