In this comprehensive guide, we shall enlighten you about the intricacies of Pharaoh: A New Era – Gods and Religion. Follow each step closely for a seamless experience.
Gods and Religion
The ancient Egyptians had a plethora of divine beings in their rich mythology, numbering in the thousands. However, we will only focus on five key gods for our purposes. Your relationship with the gods is purely utilitarian; keep them happy, and they shall shower you with blessings. Neglect them, and they will rain down their wrath upon you! It’s usually not too difficult to keep them pleased, as long as you don’t forget them.
The Big Five gods are as follows:
Ra – The Falcon-headed God of the Kingdom and Royalty, Trade, Popularity, and All-Over-All Goodwill. When Ra is treated with respect and kindness, he shall improve your Kingdom rating, encourage more trade, and increase your export values by 1.5x. If you neglect him or fail to pay him the attention he deserves, your Kingdom rating shall plummet, and your trade routes shall dwindle.
Osiris – The God of Agriculture and Flooding. Osiris can bless your floodplain farms, doubling their output or increasing the quality or severity of the annual Inundation. However, if you fail to honor him, the Inundation may fail entirely, or your floodplain farmers may face destruction.
Ptah – The God of Industry and Craft. He can even find coins in your couch! Beware, as angry Ptah may cause your Storage Yards or workshops to spontaneously combust. However, a kind and generous Ptah can fill your Yards with raw materials or finished items, or alleviate material shortages in any of your industries. He’s the inventor of NFTs, after all.
Seth – The God of Destruction, Conflict, and Armies. To please Seth, you must be submissive and breedable, which shall ensure that he attacks your city and protects your soldiers from foreign invaders. If you fail to do so, your forts and ships may mysteriously disappear with their occupants.
Bast – The Goddess of Hearth, Home, and Happiness. Bast is a party girl at heart, and her parties can elevate your status in front of the gods or ensure that your bazaars are full. However, beware her wrath, for when scorned, she can bring plague to your homes or set your city ablaze.
Each map shows a patron goddess, and your Overseer at the Temples shall mark your patron deity by giving you an Eye of Wadjet. In practice, the patron deity feels more entitled than the other gods to your efforts, so it’s best to pay extra attention to him or her! Your relationship with the gods can impact your city sentiment; if your citizens fear the wrathful gods, their sentiment shall plummet. To build worthwhile homes, access to temples is essential.
To appease the gods, you must build shrines or temples. You may also hold festivals to honor a particular god. Shrines are smaller and require more work than temples, which take up 3×3 blocks. While workers can build temples, shrines do not require any workers. You can only prepare for and host one festival at a time, and it takes two months to prepare, so you can’t easily spam festivals.
Troubleshooting, Frequently Asked Questions: Gods or Religion
Q: How can I determine the mood of the gods in my city?
A: One way to gauge the gods’ mood is to inspect their portraits in a temple or the Overseer. The more furious they appear, the redder their portrait.
Q: What happens if my religious coverage is lower than my town’s total population?
A: If your religious coverage is inadequate, the gods may disapprove. This indicates that you are not giving them enough attention, causing them to become increasingly agitated.
Q: What is the capacity of a Shrine and a temple for patron and local deities?
A: A Shrine can accommodate 150 people for patron gods and 300 for local deities. A temple, on the other hand, can cover 375 people for your patron deity and 750 people for local deities. The great temple complex can house 8000 inhabitants devoted to either the patron or non-patron gods.
Q: How do lightning bolts and ankhs affect my relationship with the gods?
A: Lightning bolts are a bad omen, while ankhs are a sign of blessing. Your mood towards the gods determines your chances of acquiring ankhs or lightning strikes. As you accumulate either of these, the god will either bless or curse your life. A blessing or curse erases all prior actions and moves the god closer to apathy.
Q: Can I organize a festival for a god without a Festival Square?
A: Yes, you can hold a festival for a god by Bast or yourself even without a Festival Square. This will improve the god’s mood.
Q: How can I request a specific blessing from a god?
A: I’m sorry, I don’t have that information. If blessings and curses occur, they always happen at the start of the month.
Q: What are the effects of building an altar or oracle in a temple complex?
A: The priests born from the temple complex are similar to regular temple priests but are empowered by the construction of the altar and oracle, which have map-wide consequences. A temple complex significantly increases proximate desirability. Check the in-game help on Temple Complexes to learn more about the effects granted by each god.
Q: What is Ptah’s blessing and how does it work?
A: Ptah’s blessing involves selecting a Storage Yard with surplus space and filling it to the brim with extra goods, such as pottery, linen, jewelry, and gemstones. He only accepts as much as you allow him to. For instance, if the Storage Yard can store 800 flax and has 100 flax, you can add up to 700 more. One good can be stored in the Storage Yard. His minor blessing automatically fills any Jeweler or Weaver with less than 200 units per year of raw material and workers to 200 units. His blessings combined can sometimes eliminate the need for a supply line entirely, as long as you can establish Jewelers and Storage Yards to export over 100 Jewels.
Q: What are Bast’s blessings?
A: Bast can throw a party for all gods without any preparation or cost, boosting their moods. However, this is only possible if you are not planning a party of your own. Her major blessing tops off your bazaars or houses with any goods they are currently using or selling, giving Bazaars 700 units for each food and good they sell and have in stock. Also, houses are immediately filled to capacity with any food or good they consume, but this does not apply to food and goods that are required but not being used.
