reputation

[hellangel666]

Hey I was interested in knowing how the reputation system worked, overall and faction to faction. As of now i'm england. when i first played i annihilated the scotts on the second turn and had the pope upset at me (never excommunicated). other then that i would only counter attack assailants. this continued until i would nearly destroy them and then have the pope stop me. after the pope stopped me other factions would start to war, and soon i was at war with nearly everyone with this type of setup. I restarted the game so as to do everything the pope asks, including against the scotts. as such I've only attacked rebels, assaulted the Egyptians to help in the crusades. i've assaulted the scotts twice and then stopped due to the pope, defended or counter attacked against the French and danish.

so my question is, how do i win a war when the pope always says to stop? how do i increase my overall reputation from untrustworthy back to it's mixed so-so status. how do i keep a good reputation. and how do i stop factions from stupidly starting a war with my full stack armies when they have 2 units in theirs....

thanks for any help in advance

[NE_Passat'n]

basically not attacking catholics. having lots of priest especially in non catholic regions. Completing to popes missions as asked. Building lots of churches... Some people will send a regular tribute to the pope and/or map information. Joining crusades, being successful in the crusades. That kind of thing.

[Mithrane]

Things which hinder reputation during sieges :

- Sacking gives slight negative to your reputation
- Executing gives large negative to your reputation

Things which hinder reputation during battles :

- Being the aggressor gives a negative to your reputation
- Executing gives large negative to your reputation
- Ransoming gives slight negative to your reputation


Diplomatic ways to change your reputation :

- Giving gifts to your allies gives you a reputation boost
- Defending an ally from foreign attack gives you a good sized reputation boost.
- Keeping your alliances for a long time raises your reputation over time
- Keeping good relations, specifically with your alliances, raises your reputation over time
- Breaking an alliance for any reason gives a big reputation hit.
- Breaking an alliance by attacking gives a HUGE reputation hit
- Being allied with a country who is at war reduces your reputation with with the country they are at war with, and slightly with those they are allied with.
- Joining a Crusade raises your reputation
- Completing a Crusade GREATLY raises your reputation
- Doing chivalrous things in government gives slight bonus to reputation
- The complicated ties between alliances effect your reputation with others, and if you are seen as "working both sides" or such things, then it will adversely effect your reputation



Simple ways to raise and keep your reputation :

- Be VERY picky with who you ally with. Only ally with those you intend to stay allied with, and intend to help.
- Keep your relations with your allies as high as possible
- Keep your relations with the pope (especially if you are catholic) as high as possible
- Call for, join, and complete Crusades and Jihads.
- Act Chivalrous. Being Chivalrous is generally being "good", which is also where a good reputation comes from.


Notes :

I don't typically worry too much about reputation. Even with most of Europe at war with me, if I can get a strong base, and keep them fighting others, as well, I can do well as most countries. As Byzantium, I often play everyone against eachother, gaining very poor reputation, and then destroying them all once my reputation gets too low. As England, I tend to either be the "good catholic" and work very hard for a good reputation, making others attack me, rather than me attack them. As Russia, I am evil, pure and simple. I might try to keep my relations decent with Poland and Hungary, possibly the pope to avoid crusades, but I'm a rat bastard, and everyone knows it. Full dread, backstabbing, assassins and spies, execute those catholics, the whole bit.

[Graf Nacht]

One way to go is to ally with the pope from the start, and when someone attacks you, stay on the defensive untill they get excommed, and then wipe them off the map. Then you could also have offensive bursts taking one settlement at a time, I dont think that upsets the pope too much. Or you could also send a stack to all/most of the other factions cities, siege them all
at the same time, and preferably assault the same turn, that way u pretty much wipe out the faction before the pope or your enemy can even realize wats happening.
Another way is to flood the middle-east/orthodox lands with priests, and take control of the college of cardinals, and eventually you'll control the pope...
Also if you have a preferati, and enough cardinals to back him, but a hostile 20 year old pope who doesn't plan to die any time soon, then you could send hordes of assasins to visit him, or just take Rome. Then your preferati gets elected and voila youre at peace, have full crosses and even get to keep Rome .
And about reputation, I find it helpfull having a lot of allies and few enemies, occupying castles, and also gifting/trading an attack on the faction u plan to attack to your allies, and then warning your victim with the accept or we attack threat(I think thats like declaring war in TW). That should give you a good reputation, at least untill you start having to exterminate settlments....

Good Luck in your campaign

[hellangel666]

thanks that helps a lot. it makes sense considering that i'd run into a full stack army and in the beginning i would release them, thinking they'd disperse. but would find that i would just have to kill them again the next turn. then i started just killing them all. after that i started building massive assassins armies killing only my enemies.. guess that wasn't a good idea.

[Poach]

As mentioned above: Ally the Papal States. Send your starting diplomat there ASAP. Give him gifts and get perfect rep with him. Make many Priests and send them to Muslim/Heretical lands to control the college of cardinals and have Pope's of your faction elected as often as possible.

You'll find that if you start the odd war the Pope will let it slide, even siding with you if he dislikes the faction you attack! Playing the Pope is vital early game! Late game he's less important because you end up strong enough to take on the world and win anyway lol.

The Pope is a powerful ally if you remain his favourite kingdom. Ensure you do, and even if Europe hates you, the Pope will protect you to an extent. Plus if you go to war with an excommunicated faction, chances are high the Pope will accept a crusade request on one of their cities, giving you another stack or so of cheap mercs!

(btw Graf, love the sig lol)

[Graf Nacht]

thx Poach,
but seriously no one ever does lol