Pope missions

**Aegrim** · June 18, 2008, 08:12 PM

Why does the pope always tell me to stop attacking people i'm invading, and then allows them to attack me back?

**Theseus1234** · June 18, 2008, 08:15 PM

its called "excommunication" and its about the worst thing that can happen to a catholic faction

anyways, the pope tends to favor those who have high amount of crosses (relations with the pope) over those who have less.
anyways, the main reason the pope will threaten you is probably because you attacked first, which is very very bad. the pope will usually favor the defender

**Double A** · June 18, 2008, 08:28 PM

Unless the attacker has a lot of crosses and the defender has like 3.

Its in the manual...

**Monsieur Alphonse** · June 18, 2008, 08:29 PM

The pope tells both factions to stop fighting (read attacking). If you continue the aggression you will be ex-commend. This can happen to your opponent also. Simply don't attack during these turns. You are allowed to defend yourself.

**Aegrim** · June 18, 2008, 08:30 PM

not in this case, a marrage alliance between scottish and the english, english went against it, attacked me but got destroyed with a battle with my re-enforcements, they lost a castle and then attack the original castle they attacked. I got told to cease hostilitys so held onto the one i'd taken and sat back. Just after i posted this they pulled back to just behind their boarders, then came running back, they took one of my castles after a bloody fight.

Mission is over this turn, so my stack is sitting within striking distance.

**Strom** · June 18, 2008, 08:47 PM

It can really pay off to ally with the pope early on. During my Sicily campaign I got several cease and desist letters from the pope, obeyed them and then watched the opposition faction get excommunicated when they continued to attack me.

The nationality of the pope comes into play too, I think. So a French pope is more likely to interfere with you if you're attacking the French.

Make lots of priests as early as you can, it'll help you get friendly popes elected which makes the whole pope thing much easier to deal with.

**Monsieur Alphonse** · June 18, 2008, 08:49 PM

It is very likely that the Scottish had a lot more crosses on the pope o meter then you. You can really exploit the pope id you manage to become his pet darling. This is why a lot of people try to became allied with the pope and gift him some money every turn. And place a diplomat near Rome. The trick is to get a full pope o meter. You can then ignore his mission and take the settlement you want. Sack it and gift a lot of money (2000 to 3000) to the pope. He will thank you for that and you will gain his favor (crosses) again. I have used this once to rampage through the Catholic world while being the popes best friend

. The pope is addicted to money, so use that to your advantage

**Aegrim** · June 18, 2008, 08:52 PM

i am the scotish, and i have more crosses.

English attacked that welsh castle of mine, got beaten back, i took nottingham castle, got told to let off, english attack wales again. leave... come back, take it after a bloody battle, my stack sits one turn away waiting to attack. Mission ends, they seige and build rams, get told to let off... let off and sit in a fort right next to the castle, mission ends, attack, get told to let off.

complete pain, they attacked and now i can't do anything more about it. I guess we swapped better castles though

building nicer units now

**Monsieur Alphonse** · June 18, 2008, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by Aegrim

i am the scotish, and i have more crosses.

English attacked that welsh castle of mine, got beaten back, i took nottingham castle, got told to let off, english attack wales again. leave... come back, take it after a bloody battle, my stack sits one turn away waiting to attack. Mission ends, they seige and build rams, get told to let off... let off and sit in a fort right next to the castle, mission ends, attack, get told to let off.

complete pain, they attacked and now i can't do anything more about it. I guess we swapped better castles though

building nicer units now

Include a catapult in that stack so you can attack during your own turn. The pope will tell you to back off after you have taken the region, which you happily will do because you have to rest and retrain your men.

**Aegrim** · June 18, 2008, 09:02 PM

good plan batman!

**Wheem** · June 19, 2008, 03:55 AM

By the way, attacking enemy armies that are within your borders does not count as an offensive action, and will not cause you to fail the mission. You can also move into enemy territory, and fight defensive battles there without any issue.

Like Monsieur Alphonse said; using artillery to attack a settlement without actually sieging it will prevent the Pope's mission from forcing you to break off your attack (it can also cause you to take far less casualties during the battle).