How to be forgiven by the pope...

[Hoplite7]

I've been trying several times to be forgiven by the pope. I usually offer 1k per turn for 10 turns and trade rights.

It says "generous" and sometimes "balanced", but he always rejects. (VH/H)

What's a quick way of being forgiven? I'm Poland so a lot of my towns have troubles with pagans, maybe that's a cause of it? I'm trying to build churches and priests.

[Gorm]

Build churches EVERYWHERE. Make lots of priests. Bribe him every turn. Stop attacking Catholic factions. This worked for me.

[ForgotMyOldNick]

This might help:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=89266

Last night I started offering 100 florins per turn once I got a diplomat at Rome. Sometimes it affected the reputation standing of my faction and sometimes not.

In any case 100 floin gamble was fine by me for slight err 'transgressions'. Also giving map information when you move around the map is useful if you're broke.

I noticed one thing for certain if you have 'supreme' power he will be inclined to ally with you.

If you have the florins maybe spoil the Pope once in a while if your Reputation/Standing is suffering, and keep a keen eye on who is allied to whom and etc. I had to force myself to start checking Diplomacy and Pope scrolls nearly every turn now. Announcements are easily forgotten in a larger campaign.

[ForgotMyOldNick]

Forgot to add:

Yep, and churches ( and upgrading them) help plus keeping region religion % as high as possible. (As is evident in the missions such as get a priest at such and such a location earlier in the campaign) This is definitely for me a major factor in keeping in the Pope's good graces as I found that with 99/100 Catholic regions I can transgress and not suffer excommunication as long as I don't attack when he says not to.

That's fine (If he threatens excommunication) because along the borders when the other Catholic factions attack me I move an army next to any besiegers but do not attack. When they attack the Pope considers they attacked first as it should be.

However, I think if you have cathedrals and abbeys everywhere and you do get excommunicated, not only do you have to deal with crusaders but also rebel armies that spring up in huge forces. This happened to me in my Sicily campaign.

I think having a diplomat camping at Rome is worth the 50 florin cost + gifting costs per turn as he is also situated within 1or 2 turn moves to 3+ other Catholic factions if needed as well as many other factions that make a bee-line for the area and therefore at your disposal also.

Also having the diplomat 'gift' Attack Faction 'x' , being the current enemy in war or faith is also helpful. I just keep forgetting to check before I engage in warfare or using agents to do some dirty work.

"Also giving map information when you move around the map is useful if you're broke." ; when you actually enlarge the known territory a bit or he just rejects it.


Just going over what I know so far. Hope it's of use to someone.

[ForgotMyOldNick]

2 last things I swear!

Shipping a professional army ( as in has the tech or armour to deal with tough units) and sitting on the border of Rome prior to negotiations might help as a last resort. (In my Sicily campaign when I went straight for Rome, I was attempting to do this prior to attacking but the Papal armies blocked me from getting there and were bringing up reinforcements. A stronger navy may have allowed me to do this, in fact ANY remnants of a Navy at the time, heh....)

I think the reason HRE always has good standing with the papal states in my campaigns is because of Bologna's postion being very close to Rome and usually has a full stack army sitting in it. That's why Florence is very contested to hold even after taking it and in good standing with the nearby factions maybe.

[sirnoob]

I think he means after you've been excomunicated. If it is then don't use diplomacy it costs loads i just send my faction leader on a suicide mission to attack an enemy preferably full stack or stick him on a fleet and sail to some pirates.