Sandbox, cheats and quick reference

The sandbox for experiments, the cheat console for testing ideas, the log, the mistakes that sink churches, and every number worth remembering, all on one page.

The sandbox

New game → Sandbox gives you no goals: any of the 40 traditions (and its variant), any lot, any money, and any number of people (see Getting started). It's the place to:

• learn a tradition's needs: choose it, build a nave, and read the building check, then look at Staff and Church → Denomination to see how its clergy come and what its wider body asks;
• test a design before you try it in a scenario: sound, sightlines, flow through the doors;
• found your own tradition and see how it plays (see Traditions, beliefs and stances).

The books open at once, so building costs money: give yourself $10 million to experiment freely. Building needs no approval until the church first passes the building check.

The cheat console

Press Alt+C to open the console, type a command, and press Enter. Esc or Alt+C closes it. It's meant for testing ideas, not for scenarios you want to win honestly.

The log

Messages pop up above the build bar. Important ones (a problem, a decision on a project, a conflict) stop the clock until you dismiss them; routine news fades by itself. Every one goes to the Log, saved with the game, so nothing is lost when you look away.

Common mistakes

• Leaving the maintenance budget at zero. Deferred maintenance is the slow killer: failures, repairs at a premium, overdraft interest, and finally the building costing everyone 0.2 a week.
• No greeters. A visitor who isn't welcomed starts at a 0.25 disadvantage and rarely comes back.
• Counting seats against the average Sunday. Count against the busiest service and the feasts.
• A full-time pastor in a small church. Under about 75 people, it's the fastest way to overdraw.
• Spending the endowment. Drawdowns above about 5 to 6% eat the capital that pays for the future.
• Sitting in overdraft at 12% when a loan costs 6.5%.
• Proposing the unaffordable. Members vote against work the church can't fund from cash and campaign; bishops refuse it. Raise the money first.
• Ripping out pews on authority. One household in four of the opponents leaves. Consult first, do it in one go, or add seating instead.
• Ringing new bells in town before building. Complaining neighbours block planning permission.
• Overworking volunteers. Burned-out volunteers quit everything and drift away.
• Ignoring the tradition's requirements. Each missing required item costs everyone 0.08 after every service: more than a great preacher earns.
• Dropping a required obligation where the wider body approves or consents to your projects. Below 0.7 regard, it won't; below 0.3 for three months, it acts against the church or its pastor.
• Calling a costly candidate to a small church. Voters weigh the salary against a year's income; a skilled pastor at a modest salary carries the vote.
• Letting a small church stay small under a wider body that can close churches. Below 20 people for a year it warns you, and a year later it closes the church.
• Proposing what the board is against where it advises the pastor. A Catholic priest turns down work most of the finance council opposes.
• Offering what the code of life frowns on for the rent. A tenant your tradition frowns on costs members a little after every service for as long as it stays.
• A band in a Gothic nave, or an organ in a carpeted box. Match the room's sound to the music.
• A characterful item the tradition dislikes in a small nave. With few items to average against, one red score drags the whole building's fit down.

Numbers worth remembering

Controls

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