Manipulate the Pope?

[Raijer]

If you play as a Catholic faction, I'm sure you all know what a pain the Pope can be when you're marching your armies into fellow Catholic territory for the purposes of conquest. Are there any strategies a faction can use to get his Holiness to... uh.. look the other way... when you're intent on taking Catholic regions (but would rather avoid nasty excommunications and such)?

Specifically, is there a way to manipulate the Pope into frowning on your enemy? What do you do to keep his holiness off your back?

[TinCow]

The same tactic historical Kings used: pay him until he likes you!

[HoreTore]

A guide:

1. Take some money out of your purse
2. Conceal the money in your right hand
3. Shake hands with his holiness, using the right hand
4. Let go of the money while shaking
5. Smile

Advanced bribers may also blink with one eye, but be careful, do not let him think you are flirting.

A quick and easy step-by-step guide to bribery!

[Stuperman]

if the pope is from your own faction he will usually call a crusade or 2 for you. Give him some land if you have no $$ (islands work well).

[Crazy Larry]

Advanced bribers may also blink with one eye, but be careful, do not let him think you are flirting.

What if the pope is secretly female?

[Canopus]

Well, you can try to trick your enemy to be excommunicated himself by offering a bait. The pope doesn't even frown at anyone attacking a foreign army on own grounds, so this won't work. However, if you manage to corner an enemy army at home or a fleet somehwere else with considerably weaker forces, they sometimes do you the favour and attack. It's worth a few peasants. Or, if you can afford to risk a border province, leave it weakly defended with an army in the neighbouring province to bail your sieged settlement out, once the enemy came. Works for me from time to time, but not every time, of course.

[Vladimir]

100 Fl a turn for 100 turns is the slow and steady approach. Once as Spain I went from excommunicated (king died) to controlling the papacy in 3 turns. I'm not sure if that really helps but I was the highest ranking faction on the list after I went on a church building spree.

[WhiskeyGhost]

How to get around excommunication:

Strategy 1: Blitzkrieg!

step 1:Build armies including at least 1 siege engine of some sort in them.

step 2:Move your armies into enemy territory, with escort armies if necessary for dealing with large enemy stacks.

step 3:Launch a simultaneous attack on all of your enemies cities at once, which should be done either just after finishing the "cease hostilities" quest completes, or before you get one, either way.

step 4:Attack and don't siege, just assault all cities at once in the same turn.

step 5:???

step 6:Profit

This strategy works moderately effective, especially when fighting a weakened opponent. The pope can't tell you to stop if they are gone before he can tell you. Also, this works in favor of Strategy 2 as well.


Strategy 2: Making the enemy get discommed.

Step 1: Hide some armies and leave towns barely defended.

Step 2: Let them siege it, then rescue the town.

Step 3: Repeat step 1&2 as needed.

Step 4: If steps 1-3 are working too slowly, take an enemy town and use it to force them into attacking, preferrably not one on the border, but within their territory (like maybe their capitol) and defend it like crazy. With them surrounding your forces, they will attack it alot, even if the Pope gets on to the both of you, since its surrounded by them.

Strategy 2 works well as an initial move, so you can base your entire campaign against getting them excommed, then performing the 1st one afterwards without much papal intervention. They will reconcile with the Papacy automatically if they take huge losses (which i think it auto-matic)

[HoreTore]

What if the pope is secretly female?

He/she is still subject to celibacy, so I wouldn't recommend it either way...

[Jafar]

A guide:

1. Take some money out of your purse
2. Conceal the money in your right hand
3. Shake hands with his holiness, using the right hand
4. Let go of the money while shaking
5. Smile

Advanced bribers may also blink with one eye, but be careful, do not let him think you are flirting.

A quick and easy step-by-step guide to bribery!

Thank you very much for this post ! I enjoy smart thoughts with good sense of humor !!!

[Sentinel]

In every campaign I’ve played so far the pope always send an army on walkabout. This has varied from just a few units to a full stack. I have never understood why. It will move out of it’s territory, just wandering randomly for a few turns then stop and just sit there.

It never stops on my territory and military access does not seem to be a consideration.

It is however useful.

If you keep an eye on it, and follow it, with a small unit (e.g. peasants) then wait unit it is next to another faction. If you then attack the other faction the pope’s army (your ally) will be forced to join in. Thus that faction is now at war with the pope and if it is a catholic faction is now excommunicated. Time for another crusade.

If the other faction approaches your weak tailing army, just position it next to the pope’s army.

This can also work if one of the pope’s ships is next to another faction ship