Nations and Religion

For the first few runs of the game, the goal is to research Religion to choose a Deity, then Theology to unlock Reincarnation. When you reincarnate you gain Favor (Ankhs) based on the Deity you worshipped and how much Faith you generated. Later, you will be looking to reach the Industrial Era and unlock the mysteries of Time Travel which is a completely different form of Reincarnation.
Each Deity will give you a selection of three spells. Two start locked, but can be unlocked fairly easily. once unlocked, they will be available any time you chose that Deity.
Whilst any Nation can be combined with any Deity, certain combinations are a little more efficient because the bonus of the Nation works in conjunction with one or more spells from the Deity. But the choice of each, the nation and the religion, will probably also be based on other facts like your playing style (e.g. aggressive or trading), your social policies (which can not be reset until you gained Dionysus ankhs) or the length of your run.
== Recommended Pairings ==
Chinese - Shiva
Arabs/Ottomans* - Horus
*Use Arabs for the first run, as these boost the number of Trade Routes and thereby help unlock one of the spells Horus grants. Subsequently, the Ottomans offer a boost to the value of each trade route, equaling or exceeding the value of 2 trade routes, making the spell more efficient instead.
French - Dionysus
Incas - Coatlicue & Batara Kala*
*Batara Kala is a tricky Deity to use. You may wish to postpone a run with this Deity until after you have undergone at least one Time Travel run. But it's also possible before a Time Travel.
Persians*/Vikings*/Zulus/English - Odin
*Persians offer a cheaper more powerful Lancer, making them suitable for bulking up your army - useful when you need several hundred troops to unlock one spell.
*The Viking's Berserker is a very powerful form of Longswordsman, making them useful to the end of your earlier runs.
*The Zulu and English unique units have the benefit that they upgrade Industrial Era units and are not themselves replaced as technology marches on.
Germans - any Deity, ideally used for Time Travel.
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