Ok, I didn't know the Aztecs at all then. Thought the floating garden was a garden replacement, and didn't know about 15% all food rather than just surplus. Does Artemis work the same way?
The prophets are necessary with Jesuit Education. The whole point is to build the science buildings ahead of time, by saving faith before the necessary tech itself. Those prophets raise the ceiling of faith you're allowed to store for that. And the missionaries fine-tune the storage level when the next prophet was too chunky. If you don't do that, if you buy the science buildings with faith earned after the buildings are unlocked, you don't gain turns over just building them with hammers. Jesuit Education is no more hammer-efficient as a faith-sink than pagodas; the advantage is all in the timing.
TLDR: I could afford both pagodas and science buildings by not taking those prophets, but that wouldn't get the science buildings any sooner than just building them.
The prophets are necessary with Jesuit Education. The whole point is to build the science buildings ahead of time, by saving faith before the necessary tech itself. Those prophets raise the ceiling of faith you're allowed to store for that. And the missionaries fine-tune the storage level when the next prophet was too chunky. If you don't do that, if you buy the science buildings with faith earned after the buildings are unlocked, you don't gain turns over just building them with hammers. Jesuit Education is no more hammer-efficient as a faith-sink than pagodas; the advantage is all in the timing.
TLDR: I could afford both pagodas and science buildings by not taking those prophets, but that wouldn't get the science buildings any sooner than just building them.