War with the Pope

[weegee]

ah good point. At some stage I'm going to need to start crusading because Turkey is hard pressing Byz, so I'll need the Pope. I'm thinking about back dooring the Byzs and stealing a few provinces while they're busy with Turks. Problem is they have some ships in my lanes and that will instantly cut off of my trade which I cannot afford. What happens if you don't have enough money anyway? Will CPU automatically disband units to get you on budget? I know they'll stop building new units and bridges, but what if your upkeep costs are higher than your income? Also, does it cost anything to retrain troops into newer techs? I'm thinking about modernizing some of the lowly units and hoping that would be cheaper than building from scratch. Otherwise I might start disbanding units.

[Procrustes]

The Pope goes for Venice a lot. I usually try to knock him out of Rome and into the Papal States - Rome is a better prize if you can get it.

[bretwalda]

Same thing happened, except that I got excommed when I took the Papal States. I though then since no worse can happen to me I went for Rome to thin the papal armies. Guess what happened: I killed the Pope in battle and puppet pope was installed. Which is strange because sometimes just new pope is elected. Anyway I took Rome, razed to the ground and let the rebels take over. Now the Pope is NOT comming back for circa 10 years... I doubt though that he will stay that way...


However it would be great to know WHEN you will be excommunicated to plan accordingly ;)

[Kommodus]

Usually, you will be excommunicated if you attack the pope in anyway (as long as, of course, you're playing as a Catholic faction). It doesn't matter whether the pope attacked you first; he'll excommunicate you if you launch an attack against him, even if all you're doing is relieving a siege of your own castle. Thus, if you're playing as a Catholic faction, I'm not sure why you aren't excommunicated already.

However, if any of the Pope's territories turn rebel, you can occupy them without fear of excommunication. (He certainly doesn't remember what's supposed to be his.) It's aggression, not occupation, that aggravates the Pope.

[English assassin]

What happens if you don't have enough money anyway? Will CPU automatically disband units to get you on budget? I know they'll stop building new units and bridges, but what if your upkeep costs are higher than your income?

You just go into the red. Nothing gets disbanded. Its quite hard to get back out though because you cant build anything to get your income up.

[bretwalda]

You just go into the red. Nothing gets disbanded. Its quite hard to get back out though because you cant build anything to get your income up.

One way to solve it is to send your mercenaries and overgrown army on pillaging missions. They die thus the strain on your coffers gets smaller and they pillage that can bring in income. This way you can maybe turn the tide especially if the deficit is not too big. If you can restore your trade links by sinking enemy ships - that works too. But only if you are not at war with everyone already.