Religion plays a huge role in Pharaoh: A New Era. You must keep the gods happy to get special buffs during battle and avoid plagues. You need to make sure your citizens are devoted to the gods. Each city in the game can have up to five gods, meaning you need to have a lot of devoted individuals, especially if any of your cities have a patron god; you need to keep him happy.
In Pharaoh: A New Era, the five gods that oversee your cities the most are:
- Bast, Goddess of the Home
- Osiris, God of Agriculture
- Ptah, God of Craftsmen
- Ra, God of the Kingdom
- Seth, God of Destruction
To determine which gods are active in your area, navigate to the Religion menu. If you have a patron god, they will likely require more Temples and Shrines than the other gods. The lesser gods should be given equal attention if you don’t want to incur their wrath.
How to Keep the Gods Happy
To keep the gods happy in Pharaoh: A New Era, you must build religious structures such as shrines and temples. It goes without saying that these structures are expensive to build, but there is no way around them; you need to appease the Gods, which requires you to build expensive temples and shrines in their names.
Shrines are cheaper to build, so if you’re short on money, build the shrines until you can gather funds for a temple. Always start with the patron God and make him the top priority when building temples and shrines.
Note: Build temple complexes to keep patron Gods happy. You can build only one temple complex per city.
Temples and Shrines Building Costs
| Building | Cost |
| Shrine | 70 debans |
| Temple | 105 debans |
| Temple Complex | 1400 debans |
| Temple Complex Altar | 800 debans |
| Temple Complex Oracle | 800 debans |
Arrange Festivies for the Gods
Festivities are designed to honor certain gods, and you can only honor one God per festival. So hosting becomes expensive as well, considering you’ll need to host multiple festivals a year to keep the Gods happy. Another way to keep the gods happy is by arranging festivities in their names. There are three types of festivities you can host to appease the Gods:
| Festival Type | Cost |
| Common Festival | 106 debans |
| Lavish Festival | 213 debans |
| Grand Festival | 425 debans (200 beer units) |
Appeasing the Gods can rack up quite a bit, so you’ll need to balance between festivities and building religious structures. You don’t have to host yearly festivals, but don’t go two years without a festival or two. To know which God needs appeasing, keep an eye on the Overseer Of The Temples.
How to Appease Bast
Since Bast is the Goddess of Home, keeping her happy is key to your people happy with fewer supplies and services. To keep Bast happy, you need a temple complex if she is your patron God. A temple complex will ensure she gets extra attention, but if she’s not a patron of God, you must build regular shrines and temples in his name and host festivals to keep her happy.
Benefits of Keeping Bast Happy
- Reduced food and goods consumption
- Increased effects duration of entertainers, health services, and educators
- Cures plague (Temple Complex Required)
- Infected houses get cleansed (Temple Complex Required)
- Improved overall health of the citizens (Temple Complex Required)
- Improved overall mood of the citizens (Temple Complex Required)
- Improved city sentiment and immigration (Temple Complex Required)
If Bast is unhappy with your cities, expect plagues and house fires.
How to Appease Seth
Seth is the God of Destruction; keeping him happy should be at the top of your list if he is your patron God. Build a temple complex (if he’s a patron), host festivities, and build shrines for him.
Benefits of Keeping Seth Happy
- More experience for city soldiers
- Protection for city soldiers during invasions
- Priests of Seth and reduce crime rate and capture criminals (Temple Complex Required)
- Mortuaries need less linen (Temple Complex Required)
If Seth is unhappy with your cities, expect the destruction of your first chariots and ships.
How to Appease Ra
Building a prosperous city relies heavily on Ra, the God of the Kingdom. Build temples and shrines and host festivals in his name, especially if he is a patron God.
Benefits of Keeping Ra Happy
- Improved Kingdom rating
- Improved trade profits
- Reduced interest on city debt
- Priests can calm citizens (Temple Complex Required)
- Reduced crime rate (Temple Complex Required)
- Priests can deter thieves (Temple Complex Required)
An unhappy Ra can hurt your trade routes and kingdom rating.
How to Appease Osiris
Your farming tiles can get increased benefits if you manage to appease Osiris. Build temples and shrines and hosted festivals in his name to keep him happy.
Benefits of Keeping Osiris Happy
- Increased food production
- Less harsh floods
- Priests can make the supplies last longer (Temple Complex Required)
- Citizens need fewer resources to be happy (Temple Complex Required)
- Trees grow faster (Temple Complex Required)
- Huntable animals respawn faster (Temple Complex Required)
- Increased output from fishing and hunting (Temple Complex Required)
How to Appease Ptha
Building giant structures and upgrading your housing, religious buildings, better tools and mining production, and monuments depend on how happy Ptha is. Build temples and shrines, and host festivals in his name to appease him.
Benefits of Keeping Ptha Happy
- Increased clay pots production
- Increase jewelry production
- Increased shipwrights production
- Increase gold, copper, and gemstone mining
- Increased weavers production
- Increased worker productivity in woodcutters, brickwork, and quarries (Temple Complex Required)
- Librarians and teachers use less papyrus (Temple Complex Required)
An unhappy Ptha can have a negative impact on your production lines and worker productivity.
That’s all you need to know about religion in Pharaoh: A New Era and how to keep the gods happy. For more help, check out beginner tips and the military changes guide.