Crusades

[lugh]

Im wondering how a popes requests for crusades come about? Will I get specific requests for specific provinces or will it just be like the excom crusade requests Ive already gotten Im playing the HRE and its c. 1160. I have the four provinces of the holy land but they werent requests I just did them because they were goals.
Its only my second campaighn and when I played the English I cant remember getting any requests other than the excom ones.

[Procrustes]

Hi,

In my games the Pope will request a crusade against a faction, not a province. It depends on who he is pissed at, and I can't read his mind very well. It's often the Egyptians or Almohads, but he also often gets in a war with Sicily and I've gotten requests for crusades against them, too.

I think if you declare a crusade against someone that the Pope has called out, they tend to cost less and you are more apt to get a present from the Pope later on. (Some money or a daughter to wed.)

HTH,

[lugh]

Ah, thats kind of a pity. I thought maybe he would have requested Palestine or whatever eventually, I was just too quick. Yeah, I got an excom request against the Sicilians aswell.
Thanks!

[Zatoichi]

Hmmm... not entirely sure the Pope has any daughters... But yeah, he tends to get angry at any non-Catholics and ask for crusades, and reward you financially if you succeed.

[lugh]

I havent noticed daughters, I'll take a look when I get back to my own pc. You can marry princesses to him though, maybe doing crusades makes him more amenable to this?
The financial kickback doesnt seem too regualar. I got one early on and a couple more once I started expanding into Russia and crusading, but its nothing like 1000 per new province or anything. I wonder how its modeled?
Does the game model populations? Maybe its for bringing so many thousands into his "flock".

[Zatoichi]

No, the Pope has no kiddies, he's a celibate so there's no marrying allowed. New Popes get elected, it's not a hereditary thing. Anyway, as far as his rewards go, he seems to give you money at the start of campaigns for being a good Catholic, but this soon dries up. When you go on an official 'church endorsed' crusade, it costs less and I think you get money for for it when successful (it's been a while since I've done one... hmmm, maybe I shouldn't be spouting off about this stuff... nahh, why change the habit of a lifetime).

It makes a change to be saying stuff about the Pope which doesn't involve moaning about being excommunicated for accidentally wiping out the French and Italians anyway! (It was their fault! They started it!)

[doc_bean]

IIRC he sometimes asks for a crusade to free 'the holy land', after he does this crusades to Palestine are cheaper (750 instead of 1000, again IIRC) . I don't know if he rewards you if you succeed since I haven't crusaded to there yet.

[lugh]

Hmmm, couldnt fins a firm date for when celibacy became official, I thought it wasnt until the 14th c.
http://www.futurechurch.org/fpm/history.htm
It seems to patchy at best, apparently into the 15 th c half the clergy were married.

Now I could have sworn Ive married daughters off to the Papacy, maybe Im mistaken.

[Procrustes]

I could swear that playing a nice GA game as the French I've gotten Pope daughters a couple of times. Thing is I didn't see them moving around - it was after I'd done the Pope a couple of favors (crusaded against the Sicilians and then called off an attack against the Spanish) that suddenly I got the "offer of marriage" screen. But perhaps it was a delusion....

Crusading against the Sicilians is a big win in my book - you often end up with Rome or another good province early in the game, you get to take down one of the big naval powers, and you make the Pope like you - I always go for it if I have the chance.

Getting money from the Pope is really unpredictable - if it happens, it ussually seems to happen early in the game, and only when I'm playing one of the big crusading factions.

[Krusader]

I've played Medieval alot, and there seems to be this kind of system for Crusades and cash:

Crusade against faction the Pope has requested crusades against: FREE!!!
(I was Spanish once in High Period, and the Pope always wants crusades against the Almohads at the beginning of High period. When I declared a crusade the Pope gave it for free)

Crusade against Antioch,Edessa,Palestine,Tripoli: Seems to be a bit less expensive than an ordinary crusade. 750!

Crusade against non-Catholic province, except Holy Land: 1000 florins!!