Cancel trade and other questions

**mansch** · February 20, 2012, 03:48 AM

Dear all,

first off thanks for the wealth of information. I am currently playing my first (short) campaign as England. While I have read a great deal I still have a few questions and hoped you could answer then.

How do you cancel a trade agreement? If I select it while in the diplomacy window I can not make "the offer" even if I add accept of we will attack.
We engaged in a melee the AI gives the hint to stop using your archers to avoid friendly fire. But do casualties weight up against the loss of fire power?
Is there a way to avoid being ex-communicated and still conquer Scotland?
Does running around with an army though the enemies country hurt his economy?
How many turns does a short campaign take?

Thanks Mansch

**BanaanBert** · February 20, 2012, 04:45 AM

I can give you some.
- In de diplomacy window select cancel trade rights. Then you should see a gift box, a button to offer something and a red cross. Click the red cross and the trade rights are over.
- Running around with an army through enemy territory does actually hurt its economy. It causes devastation which affects their income. Devastation goes away after some time. You can see it when there is some gray scorched earth on the map.

For the others I can't really give an answer. I never play a short campaign and I also don't get excommunicated from counquering Scotland. For the archers, I always let them fire at the biggest mass of enemies.

**Leaf-Fan-Forever** · February 20, 2012, 08:31 AM

2. I try to pick targets that will avoid friendly fire casualties, but others more experienced may have different views on this.
3. Take them quickly, 1 or 2 turns preferably. Or Ally with the Pope. If the Pope likes you he will be disappointed with your attack but won't excommunicate you.
5. Depends on how fast you play. I believe for England you need 15 or 20 regions, plus Scotland and France destroyed. Some players can accomplish this in less then 20 turns, others take a more methodical approach. But it's up to you.

**Avatar** · February 20, 2012, 12:24 PM

Being excommunicated in the early game is a non-issue for England, because William the Conquerer is 50something when the game begins. If you blast your way through the Scottish armies and take them out before he dies, any papal issues will be resolved when Rufus takes over.

It's when you play the long campaign and then have to pick another catholic to attack, that it becomes more entertaining.

**In3x** · February 20, 2012, 02:12 PM

If he threatens to excommunicate you, stop attacking the Scots, they will mostly likely then attack you and get themselves excommed. If you are already besieging a city, that's fine, leave it besieging and don't add any units to the besieging force (you can take units out) don't assault and wait for the settlement to starve out, they will then sally forth from their gate (attacking you and perhaps getting themselves excommed) and you are sitting fine and dandy with the Pope because you "stopped" all your agression. Final point, do not execute the prisoners or sack the town, this sometimes gets u excommed when you have a papal warning.

**BanaanBert** · February 21, 2012, 05:13 AM

Originally Posted by In3x

If he threatens to excommunicate you, stop attacking the Scots, they will mostly likely then attack you and get themselves excommed. If you are already besieging a city, that's fine, leave it besieging and don't add any units to the besieging force (you can take units out) don't assault and wait for the settlement to starve out, they will then sally forth from their gate (attacking you and perhaps getting themselves excommed) and you are sitting fine and dandy with the Pope because you "stopped" all your agression. Final point, do not execute the prisoners or sack the town, this sometimes gets u excommed when you have a papal warning.

You can't continue sieging if the pope gave you a mission to stop hostilities. I always fail those missions when I continue with the siege without doing anything. So if the pope give you this mission with the warning that you will be excommunicated if you didn't cease hostilities, you will be excommunicated when you maintain the siege. But, it's best to let Scotland get excommunicated. That's how I defeated Portugal in my campaign.

**In3x** · February 21, 2012, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by BanaanBert

You can't continue sieging if the pope gave you a mission to stop hostilities. I always fail those missions when I continue with the siege without doing anything. So if the pope give you this mission with the warning that you will be excommunicated if you didn't cease hostilities, you will be excommunicated when you maintain the siege. But, it's best to let Scotland get excommunicated. That's how I defeated Portugal in my campaign.

I always continue sieging under threat of excommunication and never get excommunicated. Are you playing a mod? In vanilla it is possible to maintain the siege without failing the mission.

**BanaanBert** · February 21, 2012, 11:29 AM

I do play vanilla, so I'm probably doing something wrong. Maybe I do call in some more troops.

**Sitalkes** · February 20, 2012, 04:00 PM

To avoid friendly fire, keep a gap between the archers and the friendly troops in front of them, or put the archers on a hill so they are above the troops in front. Archers shooting into the backs of troops do more damage because you only count half the armour of troops from the rear - so yes shooting up your own troops is an issue. However, shooting into a melee is often a critical factor in the success of your troops so I keep doing it as long as possible - not with fire arrows though as they are too inaccurate.

**mansch** · February 21, 2012, 10:20 AM

Thanks for the replys. They are helpful. I started with a blockade and got a message form the pope to stop or be ex-communicated (7 turns). Stopped the 7 turns and are now blocking and besieging and the Pope is only disappointed (or the like). hopefully I get a quick victory and be done with Scotland.
Otherwise it is assassins for the Pope.

**stratfiend** · February 22, 2012, 10:07 AM

So far as I can tell the excom only happens if a battle/blockade initiates after the warning. However, it seems that it also happens if the faction attacks you. I've been excommed numerous times for maintaining a siege and the enemy sallying out against me, forcing a battle I didn't want yet. Even though I was technically defending myself, the Pope still damned me.

**Macunaíma** · February 22, 2012, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by stratfiend

So far as I can tell the excom only happens if a battle/blockade initiates after the warning. However, it seems that it also happens if the faction attacks you. I've been excommed numerous times for maintaining a siege and the enemy sallying out against me, forcing a battle I didn't want yet. Even though I was technically defending myself, the Pope still damned me.

I know that when under warning you can be attacked by that faction and remain unexcommunicated, but I guess you should lift your sieges when the Pope threatens you.