Heretics 'R us - Reconciliation

[R'as al Ghul]

Hello,

I've come to a difficult situation in my second Venice campaign (vh/h). I've to say it's probably the toughest campaign in Medieval 1&2 so far.
After being allied to the pope for about 100 turns I made a few mistakes.
First I neglected the Priests, I just didn't build any, resulting in no cardinals in the college of cardinals. The second mistake was trying to assassinate the Pope. The attempt failed and the Assassin was discovered, bang, insta-excommunication.
Killing the 3 subsequent Popes didn't help as did taking Rome and killing the Pope in battle several times. Atm the college of cardinals is empty and the Pope is German. Boy, does he love to harrass me. :grin:
Needless to say that all my neighbours declared war, their enemy agents swarm me, the plague is decimating my population, I have riots or near riots in most of my cities and I'm starting to loose my strong position.
My territories include all of Italy and Greece + Constantinople and Innsbruck.

My question is how it's possible to be reconciled? What do I need to do?
I've offered territory, ceasefires, trade alliances, tribute, single payment in varying heights. Is there a chance that my Priests get promoted?
I've the feeling that I'm doomed. I've only 20 regions, no trading partners and still need to conquer 25 territories.
The turn is 120 and I've 3 strong castles at Ragusa, Palermo and Innsbruck. All cities are at least large and well developed.

R'as

P.S.: I'd also like to hear your stories on how you got along with the pope and how you've achieved to be reconciled.

[Basileus]

Start building Priests and send them in low Catholic lands and just wait out the pope untill he dies, your situation is tough now though heh :p

[Vicarious]

I just told my story in another Pope-thread:


The Pope/excommunication-discussion is really interresting... Maybe the moderators could merge the many threads on this issue or something?

[Vicarious]

Sorry, missed the link:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?p=1322455#post1322455

[Darius]

Grab your faction leader, march off toward the biggest stack of enemy forces you can find, and have him charge. The enemy will take care of the rest.

[R'as al Ghul]

Killing off my faction leader doesn't change anything, I'm afraid.
He died from the plague or was assassinated after being excommunicated.
The Pope still wants to see me burn in hell. I had his port blockaded when that happened.
I wonder If I hadn't would that have changed anything?
Remember the Papal states declared war when I was excommunicated.

:wall:

[Spartiate]

You may just have to ride this one out for 10/15 turns. Queue cathedrals or huge cathedrals in all of your cities.With each one that gets completed you will go up one point in favour with His Holiness regardless of your diplomatic stance.Also start pumping out Priests every couple of turns and when they are ready just click on the far side of the map and send them off.I find they gather piety much faster when on the travel through pagan or Muslim regions.When your points of favour with the Pope reach around 4 he should start listening to reason and accepting you back to the fold (at least he did in my Milan campaign).Its damn near impossible to make peace with the Catholic factions while the Pope has you excommed, at least any peace that they won't turn around and break.Have fun.:juggle2:

[Darius]

Save the game, kill your new leader, and see if it works, if not, kill the pope, someones gonna have to die here.

[Doug-Thompson]

I don't supposed excommunicated factions can join a Crusade?

[Kommodus]

Others have already suggested sending priests to non-catholic lands to increase their piety and get them into the college of Cardinals, so I'll simply add this:

You can improve your papal standing with gifts such as regular tribute. However, if you are at war these gifts may not be accepted. If you must, make some concessions to win a ceasefire. You may have to give away a city, but it's better than losing the campaign.

If you still can't get back into the pope's good graces, simply accept the fact that everyone hates you and rely on your own military power. You may yet be able to get those last 5 territories to win the game.

[Whoz'onE]

You may yet be able to get those last 5 territories to win the game.
Sadly I think he needs another 25 (for a total of 45), so probably should take your first advice.