The joy of Popes...

[Scamander76]

Hi all,

Well - I'm stuck in a rut. Am England and have been in a worn out war with Holy Roman Empire/Denmark. Not my fault (honest guv) They attacked me - needless to say the Papacy decided to side with the Holy bunch and eventually I was excommunicated.

Am trying to buy peace - but when I go to another faction the "ceasefire" option isn't even there. Neither is reconciliation with the Pope (even though I've been giving him pressies and my diplomacy rating is 5 stars - yet still says I'm excommunicated).

Papal States and Holy Roman Empire seem to consistently picking battles and all I want to do is buy some peace for a while - I took Tunis on a crudae request and now a crusade has been ordered against me...

So - I assume I have to wait till the faction leader dies or Pope and then try and break the cycle?

[foolfromhell]

Excommunicantion =/= War.

It just means you are now open game for other Catholic factions. The Papal States arent at war with you.

You get de-Excommunicated when A, your faction leader dies or B, the Pope dies. (I think that's it).

So, you cant buy your way back. The only thing you can do is go uninhibited war with Catholics since you are already excommunicated.

[malcolm mcdowell]

you can buy your way back into the fold sometimes. maybe you are too far gone...

[roy34543]

You can buy reconciltion.
But ive offered to gift them london and a similar city near it once for it and they still didnt accept.

[N3rull]

Don't offer lands, they sometimes think you might retake them forcefully.

Offer money. Two gifts of 4000-5000 are enough to raise your Papal favour by 3-5 crosses in one turn. Once the Papal favour rises over 5 crosses you are quite likely to be reconciled.
Sure, there are people who know better papal bribery tactics (offer 500 florins every turn yadda yadda) but since I have 400k now (130th turn of 0.5 timescale game as England) I don't really care .

[Tankfriend]

You can also try to assassinate the Pope, but that requires atleast one fully trained assassin and an enormous amount of luck to succeed.
But I guess you'll be better off paying money rather than wasting effort on assassins.
Or try and get into a battle with the Pope should he be wandering around with his army and then try everything to kill him (he acts as a general on the battlefield).

[roy34543]

I once killed 4 popes in a row turn after turn.
I wondered why they didnt think the job was cursed.

[eggthief]

I once killed 4 popes in a row turn after turn.
I wondered why they didnt think the job was cursed.

Getting the "prettiest" choir boys for one turn must have been worth it for them.

[Flipcharmer]

If you're in deep trouble then don't wait until your faction leader dies. Forcefully kill him either by pitting him against an enemy stack or put him on a boat and fight a naval battle that he won't win.

[TzuDevil]

I find that a tribute of 1000 florins per turn for 10 turns in exchange for map information usually does the trick for your papal relations and is almost always accepted. The next turn you should be able to buy your reconsilliation without much effort. I prefer that as 1000fl/ 10 turn is easier to stomach the 10,000 florins in one turn.

Cheers!

[eggthief]

I heard that u can also assasinate your own people, would save some traveling time for your assasins.

[pwijnands]

I wonder if an assassin that fails to kill your own faction leader will give dread traits for your faction leader.

[eggthief]

I think it would increase his personal security and give some negative trait, for example one that makes him paranoid.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Give him money and build churches. Especially cathedrals will do the trick. I ended as being the popes favorite excommunicated enemy



He was very willing to reconcile me and even accepted an alliance. Every one who attacked me was instantly excommunicated. Wicked me