Making that d@mn Pope like you...

[kawligia]

What kind of stuff can you do to make the Pope like you more?

I know Crusades can do the trick but it's early and they are expensive...is there anything else? I tried building lots of churches and bishops, but it didn't seem to help.

I only allied with Catholic factions and fought with others. Didn't seem to do much.

I also tried to keep my alliances to a minimum so I could declare war on anyone who was excommunicated....thats when I started to get mad.

The Sicilians had been attacking me relentlessly for years (I was Italy). They always lost, but they still threw their bodies and ships at me to be destroyed. Of course they never got a warning, but I would get one for fighting back.

I thought no prob, I will do some Pope-happying things and he will like me and he'll cut me a little slack (or so I heard). It must be possible to get that slack, because BOTH France and Germany were fighting, and fighting, and fighting, but no one ever got a warning. I was waiting to attack the one who got excommunicated first to gain Popey's favor, but no one ever did http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-no.gif What does one need to do to get within his favor? He is very hard to please.

[Phatose]

The pope doesn't really care if he likes you or not when it comes to xcoms. Just follow the rules - no attacking catholic factions smaller then you are, no refusing crusades passages, and no attacking the pope.


If France and Germany were at roughly the same size, they could fight indefinitely with no warnings. If Sicily was smaller then you, they can attack you at will with no warnings. And any side can use the only 1-warning effect to happily war with a smaller catholic faction.

[MiniKiller]

the only think i disagree with is letting crusades path. u can still be on the pope's view of things but feel it isnt right for a crusade to pass through.

damn ai pope and is very high expectations. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-furious3.gif

[kawligia]

I've heard that if the Pope really favors you then you can bend the rules and you get a lot more men in your crusades.

Not true?

I know that I have attacked smaller factions and not gotten the warning for a while....and no, there wasn't already a warning out on me. That gave possible validity to what I heard but maybe not.

[kiwitt]

If all else fails assasinate him :-)

[kawligia]

That guy is my only real complaint in this whole game.

Why not make him to where you can be on his good side and he will back you in times like this?

And better yet, why can't he give warnings to the aggressor?

Its ridiculous they didn't refine this when making the game.

[Servius]

just so you know, there is such a thing as Papal favor, and you can have it to such a degree that even forbidding crusades to enter your territory will not get you xcommed. I've done this twice.

Going on crusades helps.
Holding the Crusader states helps a lot too, even when they are no longer GAs.

But most folks are right about the fighting smaller Cath factions and stuff. I remember reading something like 'you will only get xcommed if you are 2x the size of the opposing cath faction.'

I want to know where the diplomacy code is. I'm getting tired of, mid way through the game where I'm pretty big and powerful, not being able to end wars, gain alliances, or marry daughters off to foreign powers because I'll be at war with one or two and they're all allied with each other. It's BS.

Smaller factions at war with me should be begging me to end hostilities so I don't crush them completely. They should be paying me to marry their daughters for even more insurance. If I'm England (which I usually am) and you're Byzantium, and I own half of Europe, you should keep your alliace with me rather than the Danes when I go to war with them. Maddness I tell you.

I want to know where the diplomacy code is so I can mod in some rationality and pragmatism.

[kiwitt]

What would happen if you took over Rome, et.al. with a Moslem Faction. Loaded it with Alims to get it to 100% Moslem Religion. Back comes the pope with his returning forces.

Instant rebellion. I would have thought.

[kawligia]

Servius I think we're all pickin' up what your puttin' down.

In "Civilization" the other guys wouldbeg for mercy when you came down to it and its just so much more realistic that way. Of course everyone would still hate you unless you shared your wealth and knowledge but thats to be expected to.

The area of diplomacy is in the toilet as far as MTW is concerened, so I take back my original statement. Lack of diplomacy and the Pope are my only two complaints about this game...its still one of the best out there right now though.

Sometimes it seems as if RTW will never be out. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/handball.gif

[Servius]

RTW better have some damn pragmatic diplomacy.

Word.