Strategy to switch religions easily

[Ampalemvi]

First of all, the requirements to enable the decision are as such :

(example from the wiki for Buddhism)

Here I will only cover about how to meet the pop requirements.
As you already know there are two options :
- at least 50% of your non-slave pops in the capital following the target religion
OR
- at least 20% of the population following the target religion and have at least one of their deities in your pantheon

Passing the threshold of 20% of your population following the target religion isn't always possible, especially if you are big and the target religion has few followers.

The process of setting up your capital with 50% non-slave pops following the new religion can feel quite tricky too and might involve frustrating RNG.

Here is a strategy to go through it in a reliable way.

Step 1
Move slave pops following target religion to a territory next to your capital (as many as you can). Disable slave promotion in that territory.

Step 2
Empty your capital territory of all its slave pops so that they don't interfere.

Step 3
Set one of the cultures in your realm to slave civic rights. That culture should have enough slave pops to fill up a territory. Slave pops belonging to that culture do not need to follow any particular religion (but preferably not the target religion).

Step 4
Flood your capital territory with slaves belonging to the enslaved culture. This should create a lot of overpopulation which will result in many of your non-slave pops in that territory to migrate away.

Step 5
Your capital territory should now be mostly composed of slave pops who cannot promote. This is the part where you can bring in the slave pops from step 1. Since these pops are the only ones who can promote, that should quickly get you to the 50% threshold.

Bonus
To speed up the process, you can get the livestock trade surplus (+25% pop promotion speed) and the Social Mobility governor policy.

 

[NicoPryuz]

Nice, thanks for sharing

 

[Tidster]

Another suggestion to get to 50% in your capitol…

Get a mixed pantheon to slow conversion.

Set province policy for the province that contains your capitol to max promotion/demotion speed.

Max slave mills in your capitol to increase the slave percentage.

Move all slaves that don’t follow the intendedout of your capitol so a chunk of your population can demote to slaves, then move the ones that don’t follow your intended religion out.

Set a culture not of the intended religion as slave and move a bunch into your capitol to force promotion of other slaves.

Replace all mills with court of law and/or academy and/or forums to minimize slave percentage.

Move a bunch of slaves following the intended religion into your capitol.

Wait for enough of the pops following the intended religion to promote to freemen.

 

[nachinus]

I wish there was a simple tyrannical way to do this for Monarchies/Dictatorships within the game mechanics (decisions/character interactions) so you can do crazy tyrannical things roleplaying like we do in CK series.

I'm playing with Egypt right now, and having built the Great Library/Museum I chose to attract Jewish wisemen and translate the sacred books. I'd love to roleplay, have my king convert into judaism and force his family, courtiers and kingdom to follow his lead.

 

[Napoleon1971]

I wish there was a simple tyrannical way to do this for Monarchies/Dictatorships within the game mechanics (decisions/character interactions) so you can do crazy tyrannical things roleplaying like we do in CK series.

I'm playing with Egypt right now, and having built the Great Library/Museum I chose to attract Jewish wisemen and translate the sacred books. I'd love to roleplay, have my king convert into judaism and force his family, courtiers and kingdom to follow his lead.

Yes, there should be a "force it through" thing for monarchies and other autocracies. I mean, perhaps there should be a major stab hit along with a malus for loyalty for everyone who isn't the new religion. But, you should be able to just do it if you want.