Beef with this game (excommunication)

**English Ruler** · August 04, 2011, 01:39 AM

So im getting really pissed off at SS 6.4!!

around turn 110 im playing as france, i hold all the starting positions in N.europe plus all of moorish lands and aragonese and south of spain. I am the second most powerful military power (60% of mongols).

So i've had a marriage alliance with HRE forever and we had perfect relations then they randomly attack me. I start dominating them and the pope gives an excommunication mission. I say okay, sue for peace.

A few turn later England attacks me for no reason i take caernarvon after the english take Bruges/Rhiems (cant remember, the one east of the two).

The pope gives me ANOTHER excommunication warning so i dont do anything agressive. The next turn they just take antwerp with no consequecnes, with full stack armies coming out of nowhere.

My Beef is why am i handicapped by this exocummication while england can carve up pieces of northern france with no retribution

very annoying. ive been excomunnicated before while i dominated aragorn and i dont want to have Leon and Castille break their alliance with me again (as they did when the pope raped my ass before) because i dont have any strong armies and limited garrison forces in my spanish provinces.

WTF am i supposed to do?!?!? While all this is hapenning im in mid thrust in northern africa towards fatimid territory. im worried that HRE will go to war with me again soon as well as Genoa who somehow broke their vassalhood.

GRRR

o and by the by im playing MSC(everything but longer assimilation), BGR II, VH-VH

any thoughts comments advice concerns?

**bɑne** · August 04, 2011, 02:39 AM

The AI gets warnings as well. All depends on the individual standings and how fast you and they conquer. Feed the pope some coins and as a rule fighting defensive battles is allowed - so lure the enemy to attack and outplay them on the battlefield. You have wits on your side, they have just a few algorithms.

By the way this excommunication business is not a Stainless Steel feature.

**English Ruler** · August 04, 2011, 02:55 AM

Originally Posted by bɑne

The AI gets warnings as well. All depends on the individual standings and how fast you and they conquer. Feed the pope some coins and as a rule fighting defensive battles is allowed - so lure the enemy to attack and outplay them on the battlefield. You have wits on your side, they have just a few algorithms.

By the way this excommunication business is not a Stainless Steel feature.

really? i thought it was always very harsh on the AI in vanilla, assumed it was a 6.4 thing. thanks for the tip. just having a problem with reinforcing settlements when i cant recruit units and i get get armies by them

**ksenagos** · August 04, 2011, 05:34 AM

You don't have to wait to be butchered by the AI.If you initiate a fight inside your borders you don't get excom even if you have a warning.For example lets say the pope has ordered you to stop aggression against the English or you will get excom.If the english step foot on your lands you can attack them without facing any consequences(except maybe the loss of a cross but this doesn't count as defying orders).So you don't have to wait for the others to attack one of your armies or cities...just wait for them to trespass.

**Genuine_Intrepid** · August 04, 2011, 08:46 AM

Whenever I get this type of problem, and it has happened in my campaigns is to assasinate the pope as this usually cancels out those ceasefire missions. Also I spam as manypriests as I can and send them to convert orthodox/muslim regions to stay in the popes good books.

**Jean=A=Luc** · August 04, 2011, 11:34 AM

Just get excommunicated, who cares. Sounds like you have a strong position and no one can touch you. After you get exo-ed pay the Pope a little visit and make him an offer he can't refuse.

**Ichon** · August 04, 2011, 12:47 PM

Excommunication breaks vassals who are Catholic I think. So that is the only reason to avoid it. Otherwise it makes things more interesting. If you are at war with several Catholic factions just rotate who you attack and capture cities from. It takes much longer for Pope to intervene but I really hate bribing him so you can do that if you want or just manage things so you don't have to. When AI attacks you remember that as long as you attack on your own lands it doesn't impact Papal relations unless there is already a Papal order forbidding attacks. You'll still decrease relations with whoever has the army on your own lands but less than otherwise.

**Mr Kriegtooth** · August 05, 2011, 04:58 PM

Im on 6.1, but what I do is kill the Pope with an assassin, and get one of my guys elected <_< Your own pope will usually let you slide alot. He'll eventually start warning you, but from what ive seen, only if youre fighting a former ally or someone with higher standing than you.

**Liandro** · August 06, 2011, 07:03 PM

I'd take Rome, occupy it, then sell everything in the city, after that, give it back to him to avoid an extended excom. Alternately you can give him Corsica, I usually do that, take that bland little place the computer rarely reinforces, it's fun to give it to him cause that little island provides nothing and grows terribly. Besides I like the idea of the Pope being contained and pretty much powerless. After that I watch Moors go and take it from him, Rome I give to some other non-Catholic faction so I don't have to repeatedly hear his moaning and whining of not getting his city back.

**Kabeloko** · August 10, 2011, 01:15 PM

easy enough, if u r that strong, give the pope lots of coins to get perfect relations (10k works fine), then call a crusade somewhere far away... ur enemies will probly join first turn, as they already have full stacks, then attack them, u wont be excomunicated cause u got too much favor...
then, if u wish, spam 8 peasantry units, a

** general, and join, its cheap favor to gain just for joining if im not wrong...