Look Out, Here Comes the Inquisition!

**bamff** · 12-19-2006, 07:28

My current campaign has had me scratching my head a couple of times now with regard to the numbers of "heretics" that wind up getting burned in inquisitions.

Generally I note that there are a few hundred up to a few thousand that perish....but on one instance in this campaign, the death toll soared to a crazy 14,000 plus..I put this down to the fact that all of my Inquisitors (1 x GI, 5 "regulars") happened to wind up in the same province....but then a few years later, one GI and 2 little red-hatted helpers toasted 17,000!

So what are the factors - zeal of the province, valour of the inquisitorial team, number of inquisitors....I'm guessing that it is (d) all of the above, but is one factor dominant over the others?

If there is an existing thread to de-mystify this for me, please direct me there and I will have a read

(sorry, really been looking for an excuse to use that icon - I guess I'm just a clown

...yeah, okay, that one too....I guess all is "pharoah" in queries and wargames

....oh dear, I fear I have crossed a line.....)

Thanks.

**caravel** · 12-19-2006, 11:10

Originally Posted by bamff

My current campaign has had me scratching my head a couple of times now with regard to the numbers of "heretics" that wind up getting burned in inquisitions.

The inquisitors will sit in a province reducing heresy and other religions (in the same way that a Bishop or cardinal does),while propogating catholicism. Heresy in a province is just a type of religion, like judaism, catholicism, orthodox, paganism or islam. So in this respect they are no different to Bishops or Cardinals. The heresy in a province issue is not related to your problem.

Originally Posted by bamff

Generally I note that there are a few hundred up to a few thousand that perish....but on one instance in this campaign, the death toll soared to a crazy 14,000 plus..I put this down to the fact that all of my Inquisitors (1 x GI, 5 "regulars") happened to wind up in the same province....but then a few years later, one GI and 2 little red-hatted helpers toasted 17,000!

The execution of the population is a weird setup. It's based on the zeal of the province. The Inquisitor will sit there slowly raising zeal, then suddenly when zeal get's too high, he'll start an inquisition and burn a few thousand "people". The important thing to remember here is that you don't have any population anyway! MTW doesn't have populations like RTW does so in fact this figure seems to be some kind of cosmetic figure pulled out of, who knows where.

Originally Posted by bamff

So what are the factors - zeal of the province, valour of the inquisitorial team, number of inquisitors....I'm guessing that it is (d) all of the above, but is one factor dominant over the others?

When an "Inquisition" occurs in a province with more than one Inquisitor you still only get one report from that province. It may be that the report contains the sum of all the Inquisitors' burnings. Zeal doesn't affect the number burned as far as I know as that would be contradictory. The moment that the Inquisitor starts burning, zeal is high anyway, when he finishes it is reduced, so I can't imagine zeal affecting the number of people executed. It may be related to the valour and number of Inquisitors and whether they are GIs or not.

Also I'm not aware of any effect the mass Inquisition has on the provincial happiness. Someone needs to clarify that.

Originally Posted by bamff

If there is an existing thread to de-mystify this for me, please direct me there and I will have a read

(sorry, really been looking for an excuse to use that icon - I guess I'm just a clown

...yeah, okay, that one too....I guess all is "pharoah" in queries and wargames

....oh dear, I fear I have crossed a line.....)

**bamff** · 12-19-2006, 23:58

Many thanks yet again Caravel - you are a veritable mine of information! Truly, I appreciate your patience and the level of detail provided in your response.

**Alexios** · 12-20-2006, 00:36

Originally Posted by Caravel

The moment that the Inquisitor starts burning, zeal is high anyway, when he finishes it is reduced, so I can't imagine zeal affecting the number of people executed.

Yeah, I remember the first time I tried using Inquisitors to raise the zeal in provinces where my crusade was to pass. I had thought that zeal would not start to rise until an inquisition actually took place (which, as you already know, is the complete opposite, as zeal rises beforehand, while the Inquisitor is still in "preaching" mode). You can imagine how shocked and dismayed I was when I clicked on the province to see the zeal had dropped from about 60% down to 0! Shot my recruiting efforts all to heck!

**Specialist290** · 12-20-2006, 03:54

Originally Posted by Caravel

Zeal doesn't affect the number burned as far as I know <snip>

Personally I'm wondering the opposite: Is the number of people reported to be burned in the event popup somehow related to the drop in the province's Zeal caused by the Inquisition?

**bamff** · 12-20-2006, 05:16

Originally Posted by Specialist290

Personally I'm wondering the opposite: Is the number of people reported to be burned in the event popup somehow related to the drop in the province's Zeal caused by the Inquisition?

Now there's an interesting thought....

**caravel** · 12-20-2006, 11:00

Originally Posted by Specialist290

Personally I'm wondering the opposite: Is the number of people reported to be burned in the event popup somehow related to the drop in the province's Zeal caused by the Inquisition?

Well supposing the zeal of the province rises to 80%, then there is an inquisition cutting that down to almost nothing, it is possible that the "population" number is generated from the zeal percentage lost. Even if this is the case it's irrelevant anyway, as all you need to know is that zeal has dropped and your inquisitor has been hanging around for too long. This "feature" is simply a not so logical fix to what would otherwise have been a massive crusade exploit: An Inquisitor in every province causing zeal to hold at 100% enabling some rather overpowered crusades to be launched. With the 'mass inquisitions' you have to get your inquisitor out at the right time, or lose most of the zeal from the province. So really zeal itself doesn't affect the number burnt, but the number burnt may be related to the percentage of zeal lost after the inquisition has ended.

**gunslinger** · 12-20-2006, 18:09

Actually, you can use the burning of your population as an exploit as well. If you don't have any plans for your own crusade to pass through certain border provinces or port provinces in the near future, you can lower your zeal through inquisitions so that when other Catholic factions ask to send a Crusade through your lands you can open the door wide and invite them in without fear of having half your units jump on the bandwagon with them.

Since I hate sending a Crusade through my own lands and having it mess up all of my defensive armies, I usually prefer the low zeal in all provinces except the port provinces where I build my chapter houses.

**Vladimir** · 12-20-2006, 19:43

Originally Posted by gunslinger

Actually, you can use the burning of your population as an exploit as well. If you don't have any plans for your own crusade to pass through certain border provinces or port provinces in the near future, you can lower your zeal through inquisitions so that when other Catholic factions ask to send a Crusade through your lands you can open the door wide and invite them in without fear of having half your units jump on the bandwagon with them.

Since I hate sending a Crusade through my own lands and having it mess up all of my defensive armies, I usually prefer the low zeal in all provinces except the port provinces where I build my chapter houses.

Do this when playing Burgundy in XL...trust me.