Pope fairer now in new patch ?

[Piper Starkhorn]

Has anyone noticed since installing the patch that the pope seems to be a little fairer and actually ex-communicates catholic nations that attack you ?

As Italians I controlled the Holy Lands (via my great navy I took it early) and was battling the French, Germans and English for the control of the continent.

I had beaten the english back to England and the French only remained in Flanders and the Germans were only left in Prussia and Provence. Obviously at this point I was warned by the pope and so I stopped attacking them.

Now in the North Sea, the English had a better fleet than me and they were often sinking my ships. They were at war with no one else and wow, the english get ex-communicated
Obviously this was great as I was able to attack them and finish them off with no papal distractions.

The germans keep attacking me in Burgandy every year and I keep managing to beat them off. They attacked me like this 4 years in a row and after the 4th year they too were ex-communicated Again they weren't at war with anyone else.

So I was wondering if the pope was made more fair in the patch ?
Or if it only depended on the faction that you control or whether you went on lots of crusades that the pope requested ? I always did and I was nearly always successful.

Any feedback/ideas welcome.

Cheers
Piper Starkhorn

[Quid]

Hey there

Actually I am not sure if the pope was made fairer with the patch...lol (to answer your question). I don't usually take too much caution if I get excommunicated or not...c'est la vie...but I tend to concentrate on defending and expanding my empire. If others get the boot from the pope, then so be it and that is good so but usually doen't help me since I had become a heretic too...lol.

I know this didn't help a great deal but I just felt the need to write something...lol.

Have a good one

Quidster

[David]

pope= not fair

While I was fighting some scottish and irish rebels, he attacked my main land (Italy). I counterattacked and got excommunicated for being aggressive against the pope

[A.Saturnus]

Well, if you fight him, he would be stupid not to excom you. But no, I think the pope isn`t fairer. Started a HRE-campaign lately. The french can attack me as much as they like but if I move one man on their ground, the pope warns me.

[starkhorn]

Quote[/b] (A.Saturnus @ Jan. 10 2003,08:12)]Well, if you fight him, he would be stupid not to excom you. But no, I think the pope isn`t fairer. Started a HRE-campaign lately. The french can attack me as much as they like but if I move one man on their ground, the pope warns me.

Well I guess I was just lucky then. I was allied with the papal faction at the time. Unsure if that helped.....

[Theodoret]

I actually had the Pope order me to withdraw from Venice on threat of excommunication (and the Italians were the agressors. As soon as I complied he invaded Venice himself and finished off the Italian garrison The Pope is blatantly biased against the player, hardly ever excommunicating an AI aggressor. Still, the Papacy is such a fragile thing...

[SmokWawelski]

Yeh, you can finish him off if you want, but he will be back stronger then ever. IMO he is not fair at all. It look slike he does not distinguish the defence from the attack.

[Vertigo10]

Yeah, I find the Pople just as devious as ever. Once as the English, I was fighting the French (currently excomunnicated), while the Aragonese decided to jump in and attack me with everything at Aquitane. Though I fended him off, I made no counter-attack (Spain had MASSIVE armies; didn't want to deal with them at the time). Two years later, the Aragonese attacked me at Aquitane, and again I fended them off. I counter attacked this time, and besieged their castle for a few years before the Pope warned me. I then backed off, but once AGAIN, the Aragonese attacked me within 4 years. After a few more of these foolish attacks I got tired of the Pope's favouratism and just took over the Aragonese. I then got ex-communicated and, wouldn't you know it, I ended up in a war against not only the Spanish, the Germans and the Italians, but also the re-emerging French in Brittany. I did eventually take much of all three factions, but I was forced to negotiate my way into peace treaties; the price of war on so many fronts is just too much, as they were my main trading partners. This really goes to show you how unfair the Pope still is *shakes fist threateningly at Pope*

-Vert

P.S. How in the hell is counter attacking after 10 such attacks from a nation considered Aggressive?

[LadyAnn]

Pope fairer? Perhaps John Paul II, but not the Urban III am having back then. The Sicilian attacked Italian ship. Sunk some of mine. This goes on for like 5 years without the Pope say anthing about it (except chosing Italian as ally instead of Sicily, big deal). Am fed up with the pirates and moved my ships onto them, I got warning. Next year, I moved attack the ships again, and I got excomunicated.

Do away with the Pope, you would say. But am trying to see his reason for existence in the game. Am trying to be good catholic, and hope he would excommunicate one of my neighbor so I can move in for a kill. Also, I was planning for crusades.

Another wierd thing: I got Naples and the Sicilian attack me there. My force retreated back into the castle, waiting for reinforcement. When reinforcement came, the Pope excomm me and even called for a crusade against me Naples is now considered Sicilian, although am still in the castle. And I was trying to take back what was mine for a long time.

This game is full of bugs

Annie

[R3dD0g]

I didn't play the game prepatch so can't comment on the patched fairness issue.

But, my first game as the Almo's I heard about the pope excomming AI players every few years. I laughed and went on.

Now as the English the pope never excomms anybody but me The French take Aquitane, I send troops to retake and get excommed. The HRE attacks and when I follow them home I get warned. The Italians wipe out my trade routes and I get excommed for reestablishing them. It seems to me that the pope is just a different way to boost the AI's chances.

But, it doesn't bother me too much. I haven't noticed any adverse effects of excomming.

[jayrock]

personally, i see him excommunicate his fellow a.i. players more than pre-patch, so in that aspect he's fairer.. as far as his warnings go. i think it has to do with a percentage.. ex the french had 6 provinces with me bering the english, i invaded two the first year, and 4 years later everything was mine( province and castle) then the following year i jumped on more and took it over. not a word from the pope, then o grabbed a fourth, and then i got the 2 year warning.. i think once they get to a certain percent for their power he intervene's to prevent them from being eliminated.. i usually just go after the factions he excommunicates and he doesn't say anything about.. of course when i do get excommunicated. i take the gloves off a start warring with anyone i can get my hands on and win..

[Theodoret]

Quote[/b] (R3dD0g @ Jan. 10 2003,18:31)]But, it doesn't bother me too much. I haven't noticed any adverse effects of excomming.

No adverse effects? You must have a lucky ruler. I've had broken alliances, increased disloyalty and Crusades against me after an excom. It is particularly hard if you are the HRE as you are surrounded by Catholic factions.