Okay, So I'm The Pope, Whats Next ???

**Bob The Fearless** · February 09, 2008, 06:49 AM

Hi All,

You may of remembered that from past threads/posts I've always struggled with the religious aspect of this game.

However last night BINGO got my Cardinal to become Pope

Okay so my question is now "Whats in it for me" ?????

What advantages do I have now my Cardinal is sat on the highest throne in the church?

Thanks in advance.

**pwijnands** · February 09, 2008, 07:30 AM

Perfect papal rating and low ratings for your enemies. None of this will stay though and I've had an enemies' rating go from 2 crosses to 8-9 crosses quickly when my pope was in place. Even if you (with perfect standing) attack a non-excommunicated faction with two or three crosses, your rating will go down quickly. After that it's building cathedrals, training priests and giving stuff to the pope again.

**shoshenq** · February 09, 2008, 08:59 AM

its gimmick mostly.

**masterbaker** · February 09, 2008, 09:31 AM

Hopefully he'll exco some of your enemies in time, so with your high favour you can ask for a crusade on one of their lands. Make sure a few factions join so they declare war and stretch your enemy, but win the crusade yourself to keep your favour high and get good traits for your generals.

**Double A** · February 09, 2008, 09:34 AM

Can you declare Crusades if the Pope is part of your faction?
And more slack?

(I don't own M2TW YET, but know enough to ask questions!)

**Bob The Fearless** · February 09, 2008, 10:01 AM

Thanks Chaps,

Yes I did notice last night that the standing of my allies was very high and enemies was quite low. Also in the voting it was nearly a clean sweep across the board for me.

I've been doing a chiverous campagin to date and it all seems to be paying off now.

Do people try to get a succession of Popes, ie the next one will be from my country as well ???

**Double A** · February 09, 2008, 10:07 AM

You can hope, right?

And were did you get that smiley on the crapping horse?

**pwijnands** · February 09, 2008, 02:27 PM

Originally Posted by Bob The Fearless

Thanks Chaps,

Yes I did notice last night that the standing of my allies was very high and enemies was quite low. Also in the voting it was nearly a clean sweep across the board for me.

I've been doing a chiverous campagin to date and it all seems to be paying off now.

Do people try to get a succession of Popes, ie the next one will be from my country as well ???

Popes can only be picked from the three prefetari (or something similar), if you don't have one in that spot you can't get a pope from your faction. I think the three most pious cardinals are picked as prefetari, but not sure.
If you own more then half of the college of Cardinals, vote for a prefetari of your allies. That will remove one cardinal from that faction, while you keep theirs. Since you are allied to that faction, your papal rating will be good as well.
The pope won't give you more slack if he is from your faction. The moment he is elected the papal standings change and after that he will act like all other popes. Meaning if factions attack other catholics their rating will go down, even for you. Although with a high standing you can safely ignore the "cease hostilities" missions, you will only lower your rating (by a great amount so don't overdo it, unless your very wealthy).

**mikeb32123** · February 09, 2008, 11:13 PM

Originally Posted by pwijnands

Popes can only be picked from the three prefetari (or something similar), if you don't have one in that spot you can't get a pope from your faction. I think the three most pious cardinals are picked as prefetari, but not sure.

Not always. I've seen an 8-piety cardinal in the Preferati while a 10-piety cardinal wasn't.

**Shazbot** · February 09, 2008, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by Double A

Can you declare Crusades if the Pope is part of your faction?
And more slack?

(I don't own M2TW YET, but know enough to ask questions!)

You can ask for Crusades regardless of who's faction the Pope came from. Your just more likeley to get it if your Pope is on top.

**Pontifex Maximus** · February 09, 2008, 11:18 PM

as far as i know, having the Pope from your faction does nothing. I was excommunicated by one of my own. Not to worry, he was duly assassinated.

**Emperor_Palpy** · February 14, 2008, 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by _Pontifex_

as far as i know, having the Pope from your faction does nothing. I was excommunicated by one of my own. Not to worry, he was duly assassinated.

Having the Pope elected from your faction does help at first, but that quickly changes.:hmmm:
I try to have my people on the throne, but if they betray me, they always die of something or other...

I find assassination a very useful tool to keep the Pope in line.

**N3rull** · February 10, 2008, 06:15 AM

Yes, the Pope's approval of your Faction definately has an effect of whether the Pope chooses your priest for a Cardinal or someone else's. In my recent Campaign I had 5 priests with 8-9 ranks and the Pope selected another faction's 5-rank priest for Cardinal. The only explanation I can think of is that I had 3 crosses of approval (for being allied with excommunicated French and aiding them in their war with Denmark once), while the other faction had 9 crosses of approval.

**Old Geezer** · February 12, 2008, 02:22 PM

I love Bob's horse doing what he's doing but really in a forum known for demanding realism we should insist that before eliminating said horse should raise its tail to a more horizontal position.

A good thing to do before you declare a crusade on an ally - cancel the alliance. I did not do this and two turns later found out that my reputation had dropped from Very Trustworthy to Despicable. After 30 turns my rep is up to Very Untrustworthy. One little slip in 160 years. The AI never forgets and you can't make up by giving it Godiva chocolates.

**pwijnands** · February 12, 2008, 11:16 PM

Originally Posted by Old Geezer

I love Bob's horse doing what he's doing but really in a forum known for demanding realism we should insist that before eliminating said horse should raise its tail to a more horizontal position.

I've seen some horses with a lot of crap on their tails, so not all of them raise their tail properly (or they have pressurized intestines).

Originally Posted by Old Geezer

A good thing to do before you declare a crusade on an ally - cancel the alliance. I did not do this and two turns later found out that my reputation had dropped from Very Trustworthy to Despicable. After 30 turns my rep is up to Very Untrustworthy. One little slip in 160 years. The AI never forgets and you can't make up by giving it Godiva chocolates.

Chocolates won't work. Occupying and releasing will.

**Mythlacar** · February 13, 2008, 08:58 AM

As mentioned the Pope being from your country is mostly just a Papal favor thing. If you vote for the pope who wins you get high favor, but if he's acually from your country you get Perfect rating, and thusly he will promote more of your priests, be harsher on those who attack you, and of course wont excommunicate you at the drop of a hat (Or the drop of a few catholic cities

) you can still lose favor if you don't listen though, and he will exommunicate you.

Best way to keep your pope favor high is to give the papal estates a small tribute (200 a turn or so should do), regular gifts, and of course assassinate any pope that doesn't like you!