Inquisitors

[Ayachuco]

I have been playing for 2 years now and I still do not know how to use Inquisitors. What makes a person a good target for an Inquisitor and which province is at risk for an inquisition. Do they quell rebellions or do they start new ones...any input on the subject is appreciated.

[Organ Grinder]

I've never really used them either, but looking from the reverse, inquisitors from other factions in my lands always reduce morale and loyalty. Most recently, I had just got a recently acquired territory up to about 130% after a few years of low taxes etc and then along came a Papal Inquisitor and in one turn, the loyalty dropped to 103%. I had the inquisitor assassinated and loyalty started to creep up again.

I am planning on using some myself as soon as I get the requisite upgrade to allow creating them and will deploy them in neighbouring Catholic territories along with spies in order to try to promote rebellions.

[King Edward]

Inquisitors are Burning targets with low piety. just look out for enemy Generals with no Piety and set your inquisitors on him, and bring a bag of marshmellows along!

The also raise the Zeal in the provinces they occupy so are good for paving the way for crusades. But be careful if you leave them in a provice too long they start killing the populus causing the zeal to plummet which will make your crsades dissapear quicker than an ice cream cone in the desert.

PS Welcome to the org ~:wave:

[Zarax]

Inquisitors can be used to

1) Burn enemy generals (and thus kill them, this also increases Zeal)

2) Burn enemy kings/heirs (requires a grand inquisitor)

3) lower zeal (leave them a few years in a place, they will start burning the population)

I never noticed any significant change in loyalty with inquisitors so i don't know how effective they might be...

[Matty]

I've never actually managed to burn anyone I've targetted - one of my generals got the 'secret athiest' vice of -8 piety after one inquisitorial nagging too much and the enemy generals ended up 'beating' the inquisition and becoming more pious. Even the grand inquisitor didn't do anything. Now I just leave them in enemy territory and watch the inquisition get out of control and thousands of Spaniards get put to the sword. Which is obviously a good thing. Can they burn Muslims?

[Yoyoma1910]

As I recall, they're good at paving the way for crusades, increasing zeal in provences, so that you pick up a bunch of troops. Or, if a crusade is coming your way from another nation, you can leave them in there for a while, which will decrease zeal and cause their crusades to fall apart.

[Zarax]

I've never actually managed to burn anyone I've targetted - one of my generals got the 'secret athiest' vice of -8 piety after one inquisitorial nagging too much and the enemy generals ended up 'beating' the inquisition and becoming more pious. Even the grand inquisitor didn't do anything. Now I just leave them in enemy territory and watch the inquisition get out of control and thousands of Spaniards get put to the sword. Which is obviously a good thing. Can they burn Muslims?

Use a grand inquisitor and look for low piety/low command generals, after a few successful burning you'll get a kingslayer which will allow you to eradicate any royal that might give you problems.

[Procrustes]

They can't burn Muslim or Orthodox generals, but they do preach so they act kinda like a bishop - increasing the portion of the populance that is Catholic.

An inquisitor's chances of a successful trial are much greater in provinces with high zeal - you can have trouble burning even a very non-pious general if he is sitting in a province with no zeal; and you will have a much better chance of burning anyone if the province has high zeal.

If you are crusading, it's generally a good idea to use an inquisitor or two to keep the zeal up in the provinces you will be traveling through - it will reduce the number of men that go AWOL and increase the number of new troops that join the crusade.

EDIT - BTW, I find that inquisitors can really unbalance the game by letting you burn all the best enemy generals - I tend to severely restrict my use of them in order to keep the fun going.

[Zarax]

Basing on the prod files inquisitors doesn't spread catholicism, they just have an influence on zeal...
About burning, keep trying... The more you'll try the more zeal will rise without burning the population...

[Procrustes]

Basing on the prod files inquisitors doesn't spread catholicism, they just have an influence on zeal...

Really? So when I park him in Byzantium and it says he's "Preaching" he's not spreading Catholicism? I'll have to test that when I get a chance.

Best,

[Zarax]

Yeah, if there are catholics he'll just go and burn them...
Try parking an inquisitor in Constantinople and you will see...

[lilljonas]

Inquisitors are like assassins on steroids, as long as you target catholics. First of all, they *don't die if they fail*. You can spam them against your enemies generals forever (they'll get plenty of xp from killing lowly generals, too), until they get so many stars that they can burn the pope himself! All the while, you're assassins always takes the risk of getting caught and killed. That alone makes them incredibly powerful, so much that using a couple of grand inquisitiors will horribly unbalance the game. A squad of five to ten trained grand inquisitors can burn an entire faction's royal family in less than a decade, making them rebels. It's insane!

Also, as long as you try enough, even though the inquisitors have a 0% chance of burning someone, they'll eventually end up with the ateist -8 (or something like that) trait, making them an easy target for inquisitors, and hated by their subjects. Oh, and I mentioned that it is virtually without risks, did I? (after all, a trained grand inquisitor will slay assassins without even breaking a sweat. Crucifix-shaped shuriken?)


I tried the inquisitor spamming attack once. Sure, it was a lot of fun to make the entire catholic Europe go rebel while burning a new pope every few years, but well... it's way too easy. However, if you really hate the pope banning you, you can train a couple of grand inquisitors, and then show any upstart pope the true meaning of burning catholic passion! :)

[BAD]

If you want to train your inquisitors just get a cruddy unit and use the same Inquisitor to hit it every turn. Eventually you will get a 5* Inquisitor then even Pious generals have something to fear. Also note that if you are trying a heretic there is no risk of burning the population. You can abuse this to raise a province's Zeal without the risk of burning the popuklation by doing the same as I mentioned above. Cheesey but what the heck. ~D And yas, my housemate got a 5* Grand Inquisitor and managed to burn the pope a fair number of times. Mwahahahaha! ph34r

[metatron]

If you have a bishop or a cardinal in the province, they can't start a "mass inquisition". You're spared the big loyalty dip, and he keeps everyone on their toes for a zeal bonus!

[Zarax]

Are you sure about this?
If it's true then it would be a really cheesy way to raise zeal...

[lilljonas]

Yes, but then, there's few things that are not cheesy about our friends, the Spanish Inquisition!

[Etym]

IMO their best use is raising zeal so your crusade army picks up (or at least doesn't lose) recruits on its way to the target. I've had good success by parking an inquisitor in some province along the crusaders' route for a few turns before the army gets there, and I believe the process of raising zeal can be accellerated by trying a local or two (even if they don't burn). BUT, I've also seen things get out of hand with over-eager inquisitors deciding heresy is "rampant" and burning hundreds of peasants at a time. That actually reduces zeal IIRC . . . .

[Sir William Wallace]

hey King Edward! long time no speak. yeah i have been socked by inquistiors , they have ruined me and made me go into civil war. that really set me back a long time, and mean time the germans reappeard and took over one of my provinces, i try to kill them by my assasins stink and always get caught, is there anyway to increase their rank?

[lilljonas]

In VI, you can build better training houses for the assassins, churning them out with a couple of free stars. Also, going for easier targets for a while could be a good idea. Kill those emissaries hanging around on the "wrong" side of the border! Also, make sure that they don't pursue a target to enemy provinces, it will drastically decrease their chances of success, and also make them risk getting spotted by towers.

[Diehard_TH]

How do you stop assassins following their targets? Other than cancelling their assignment the next turn that is, or is that what you meant?

[ajaxfetish]

One way to train assassins comparatively safely and keep them from wandering is to set them to a junk unit of your own (just like you might train an inquisitor, for that matter). He might still die if he gets caught, but he won't leave your territory, if the command of the unit is low he has a good probability, and just use one you don't care about anyway. You could do the same with your own emissaries, priests, etc., but a unit of peasants provides 100 opportunities instead of just one!

[Patron]

Lol

I tested inquisitors as the Aragonese, just now. I persecuted this poor spanish jinete general for 6 years befroe he was finally executed. I failed to burn him first time and he became devout, I inquested twice more and he eventually gave all of his wealth to the church and spent most of his time praying (+6piety, -6 dread), I launched another inquest again and he got the secret atheist vice, then the atheist vice (-8 piety), then he was finally burned at the stake.

[lilljonas]

Hehe, seems like he just gave up after all those years of extreme piety... I almost feel sorry for the bloke. ;)

That's the worst thing with the inquisitors: if they succeed, they'll burn you. If they fail, you'll eventually become an atheist, and then they'll burn you! But still, nothing beats making the Pope a secret atheist. As a matter of fact, it would be fun to try to expose an atheist Pope. That would seriously rock the Catholic world!

[King Edward]

Hey Maxi! good to see you still pop round everynow and then! Have you ventured into Rome Mp yet? Im noe a Page with RTK clan so would be more than willing to show you the ropes if you want a game some time!

(apologies for the off topic post ~:( )

[TheWingedVictory]

I usually used to use inquisitors in defesive purposes, only on my territories and just bishops on non-catholic faction's territories for converting them. Just place about 2 inquisitors in every provinces of your empire and you will be almost invincible of getting that province taken from any non catholic, cuz the zeal is so high and they rebel to give u back the control. That is enough time to mobilize your army and go to that front to counter attack them.

[lilljonas]

Be careful though, because a high zeal in your provinces will come back and bite you in your ass once the Pope gets mad at you, which most often will happen sooner or later.

[King Edward]

Also leaving Inquisitors in a province for too long causes them to start burning people which sends Zeal through the floor.

[Arkatsson]

I love using I's and GI's. I'm currently trying to burn an English King in my Spanish game using a GI.

[TheWingedVictory]

Be careful though, because a high zeal in your provinces will come back and bite you in your ass once the Pope gets mad at you, which most often will happen sooner or later.

What do you mean? I had no trouble before. Also, the papacy was in a puppet state by the time my nation became an empire. I think it was conquered by the byzantines.

[MuseRulez]

What do you mean? I had no trouble before. Also, the papacy was in a puppet state by the time my nation became an empire. I think it was conquered by the byzantines.

What lilljonas means is, when you have high zeal provinces and get excommed you'll have a huge rebbellion on your hands (unless you have equally huge armies yourself ofcourse ~D ). Also if a crusade travels through you province it will recruit a lot of your units

[TheWingedVictory]

The situation is much different. My empire was already a catholic faction, and I had no rebellion against me, but rather when other factions came to the provcince, they rebelled against them and gave the control to me. Also, it's impossible for crusade to go through my provinces because 1)all catholic factions have been conquered except for me 2)my empire was located the far west so no crusade would need to pass my territories unless they are launching a crusade at my territory.

[MuseRulez]

The situation is much different. My empire was already a catholic faction, and I had no rebellion against me, but rather when other factions came to the provcince, they rebelled against them and gave the control to me. Also, it's impossible for crusade to go through my provinces because 1)all catholic factions have been conquered except for me 2)my empire was located the far west so no crusade would need to pass my territories unless they are launching a crusade at my territory.

Newly conquered provinces rebel for a few reasons:
- Religion: If the province has the same religion as you it is less likely to rebel.
Also a high zeal province is more likely to rebel, but only if religions
don't match or if you are excommed.
- Army size: the bigger the garrison the less chance of rebellion.
- Governor: A governor with low zeal, low dread, only a few stars and bad
vices will have trouble with controlling a high zeal province.
There are other factors like proximity of your leader, number of years ruled by an other faction etc.

[Budwise]

HERE IS WHAT YOU DO.

First, build a peasant unit and an inquisitor.

use the inquisitor to burn (Thats what I call a Trial - conviction - execution of a general) the peasant general per turn for a while.

Eventually, you have what I call a King Killer with all the valour you will get from killing Peasants.

Start Buring Kings, Princes, Popes, Hitlers, whatever until mass rebellions due to no king.

Also good for killing popes.

Best thing of all, if you fail, your Inquitor doesn't die.

[lilljonas]

Or, if you don't want to use wild exploits, you just send your inquisitor to burn any catholic enemy general with command stars. You'll quickly get nasty inquisitors anyway, but you don't have to burn your own trooper.

But then, methodically burning enemies with inquisitors is kind of an exploit anyway, since it makes the game ridiculously easy. ;)

[antisocialmunky]

Inquisitors become victims of their own sucess. No more Cathies equals no more purpose. Though... Orthodoxed and Muslims aren't a challenge unless you cound 9 star Byz or JHI(though the AI doesn't use them often).

[Betito]

Well, inquisitors are not that useful really. Its WAY better to use Grand Inquisitors. They take 2 turns to train, IIRC, but they can be some really nasty heir killers
If you train them well enough, they will have 50%chance to kill a heir, not to mention that if they fail, you can always try next year(unlike assasins)