When does the Pope spool up?

[Loki]

I've always started my campaigns on "Early", and after two or three have noticed that the Pope isn't very active at first in regards to excommunicating catholic factions.

There seems to be a period of "Grace" (oh god, sorry about that one) at the beginning of the early period where everyone can attack their next-door neighbors and not have to worry about being excommunicated. Just curious if anyone has ever noticed this as well and tried to quantify a date.

Perhaps there is no "Grace" period and this phenomenon is because I'm always a Dane and far enough away to overlook?

[motorhead]

at first, all the factions are generally in the same ballpark, size-wise. The pope only gets out the excomm stick when a faction is twice the size of another. This is why the HRE seems to be on the pope's bad side right at the start - HRE is large and quickly hits the 2:1 ratio that wakes the pope from his slumber. As the game progresses, and wars are fought, you start seeing more factions that qualify for the 2:1 excomm rule.

[Doug-Thompson]

Quote[/b] (Loki @ Jan. 26 2004,13:42)]... I'm always a Dane and far enough away to overlook?

Danes don't get excommunicated in early moves because the only fellow Catholic faction they can attack is the Holy Roman Empire, which is much larger. You can attack larger Catholic countries without getting excommunicated.

At the start, the HRE is large but weak, with many provinces simmering near rebellion. An early attack by the Danes can gain a lot of ground and then even cause a HRE civil war.

In fact, there's a thread somewhere that talks about the Danish "Viking Blitz," which advocates that very thing.

[Loki]

yup

Knew there was a reason (besides Huscarls) that I loved playing the Danes in early

Thanks guys. Didn't know the ole 2:1 thing. This place proves its worth yet again.

Loki
The Great Dane