FAQ - Religion and Heroes

1. How do I get a hero to my city?
To get a hero to your city, you have to pay homage (in other words, give goods) to that hero until he/she is happy enough to pay your city a little visit.
To pay homage, open the Religion tab, click on the big word 'Religion' at the top to open the homage screen. Select a hero by clicking on its portrait, then select the type of good you want to give, select how much you'd like to give and click the 'pay homage' button.
Heroes appreciate more expensive items most, check the Prices List for the prices of all goods. When a hero's happiness level is at 'joyful' or 'exalted', he/she will appear in your city in a few months.
2. My city got hit by an earthquake/flood/drought. The message told me the ancestors were angry, how do I prevent this?
One cause of those disasters can indeed be angry ancestors. When you don't pay homage to your ancestors, they will eventually get angry and send disasters to your city. To prevent such disasters, keep at least one ancestral hero (Nu Wa, Shen Nong or Huang Di) at contented or above. Only when ALL ancestors get angry you'll get disasters.
NOTE: some disasters are scripted into the mission. Even if all of your ancestors are happy they occur. There's nothing you can do against scripted disasters.
3. I can't pay homage to a particular hero.
When a hero's name is listed in red, you won't be able to pay homage to him/her. You need the proper religion buildings to be able to pay homage to certain heroes:
  • For Ancestor heroes you need an Ancestral Shrine
  • For Daoist heroes you need a Daoist Temple
  • For Buddhist heroes you need a Buddhist Pagoda
  • For Confucian heroes you need a Confucian Academy
4. My homage doesn't seem to have effect.
The effect of homages on the happiness of heroes depends on a few factors:
  • the size of the offering
  • the cost of the goods offered
  • how many people in your city have access to buildings of that religion
  • the feng-shui rating of your city
For more information, see the Homage page.
5. How do I get blessings from heroes?
Move the hero to a building he/she can bless (see the heroes page for info on which hero can bless what building). If the hero is close to such a building, an icon on the hero control panel will light up. Click that button to let the hero bless the building.