Damn that pope!!!

[Milkkmann]

Everytime, but i mean every time i start a game and i tell myself, this time ill be a good christian and listen to the pope and do all the missions and fight the crusades i find myself excommunicated.

Let me explain, i was playing as england and for about the first 8 turns everything was going to plan, i only fought rebel states and and made alliances with all my catholic neighbors. A couple turns later, france and Scotland turn against me, and suddenly i am at war. The french take a province as i turn to face the scotish, but just as i am about to counter attack the pope demands that i make peace with my neighbors. So there i am down one provence to the freanch assulting Edinbourgh and suddenly i have to make peace - i mean !! I did'nt even start the war! So i listen and i make peace and not 5 turns later it happens again... How can i possibly counter attacks from catholic neighbors without upseting the pope, or at least prevent intial aggressions...

I'm thinking of converting??? - is that possible in M2TW???

Suggestions and comments please....

[Guru]

Hmm. The pope doesnt demand peace, he only wants you not to attack the other faction. At least I've never got an order to make peace so I believe you are talking about "cease and desist" orders. You can still attack enemy armies on your soil, attack enemy ships blockading your ports. You can also send your armies in the enemy's land and let them attack your army if you want to fight. Let them attack you, defeat their armies on your own ground and the pope starts to dislike those who attack you. As a pious member of the church you do not attack other catholics.... unless they get excommunicated, and they will.

-Guru

[joe4iz]

Well it's kind of a trap.
You can relieve any garrison under seige which will not go against your reputation, but you cannot take one of their cities while the ban is in effect. This may seem bad on the face of it but the best thing to do is lift any of your own seiges and just stand or back up to the edge of your territory.

When you get attacked, they may get excommunicated or not depending on their standing with the Pope.

The very first thing I do as any Catholic nation is make a beeline to Rome with a diplomat. His sole purpose is to give the Pope florins and try to enter alliance etc with him. Anything at all to get the Popometer up. This also allows me the oppurtunity to chose the Crusade target . Generally, I pick a region that is closer than the Holy Land if I am playing as England.

That way when those factions attack me, then they take the rep hit more than I do.

It does require some discipline, but revenge is a dish best served cold.

[SadCat]

Ok I will try. 1 You need alliance with Pope first. 2 The Pope can be influenced with very small sums of money at start of game. 3 Marry into the Scots Clan should keep them off your back. 4 You can defend against but not attack some one the Pope is protecting. 5 Never allay with all of your neighbors, leave one to pick on. 6 If you did #1 after a bit they get excommunicated and become fair game. 7 Jest have fun! SadCat

[masteri]

Everytime, but i mean every time i start a game and i tell myself, this time ill be a good christian and listen to the pope and do all the missions and fight the crusades i find myself excommunicated.

Let me explain, i was playing as england and for about the first 8 turns everything was going to plan, i only fought rebel states and and made alliances with all my catholic neighbors. A couple turns later, france and Scotland turn against me, and suddenly i am at war. The french take a province as i turn to face the scotish, but just as i am about to counter attack the pope demands that i make peace with my neighbors. So there i am down one provence to the freanch assulting Edinbourgh and suddenly i have to make peace - i mean !! I did'nt even start the war! So i listen and i make peace and not 5 turns later it happens again... How can i possibly counter attacks from catholic neighbors without upseting the pope, or at least prevent intial aggressions...

I'm thinking of converting??? - is that possible in M2TW???

Suggestions and comments please....

In my game i dont care about pope i attack every faction i can attack.

[Doug-Thompson]

Stuff like this is why I play Muslims.

Anyway, another good move is to pick on factions the Pope is mad at, even if they're not fully excommunicated yet. Track them on the Pope-o-meter.

[DVX BELLORVM]

Sometimes I actually prefer being excommunicated. First, because the pope stops nagging me, and second, once they launch a crusade against me, I finally get to fight some interesting battles against high quality troops, instead of usual peasant/trebuchet/militia combination

[Fisherking]

Look now, the first thing you have to do is to get a diplomat to Rome and become allies with the old boy. Then feed him map info and a bit of money and keep on his good side. Then even if you go against his orders it is still ok. Just don't let your relations go below good! Feed him more money. that's all!

[TevashSzat]

Look now, the first thing you have to do is to get a diplomat to Rome and become allies with the old boy. Then feed him map info and a bit of money and keep on his good side. Then even if you go against his orders it is still ok. Just don't let your relations go below good! Feed him more money. that's all!

That should keep the pope all happy with you, but if you still need something more, make god squads of like 5 priests and send them down to the levant. Keep on doing so until you have the college of cardinals stacked and you can get your own pope.

Finally, join a crusade or two. A succesful one really helps alot. If you are playing as the English, a crusade against Vilinius in northwestern Russia is often pretty easy to get and accomplished

[Zarky]

In the beginning of the game if you send diplomat on the way to Rome, you can break his order once and you won´t get excommunicated, second time after allying pope. And build churches where you don´t need else.
Scots are just in your way so get rid of them as soon as possible, you have 1 small city (Dublin) 1 rather small castle which i usually convert to city (Inverness) and Edinburgh which is good place for Theologians guild, Merchants is more effective in London.

[ReiseReise]

I don't have problems with the Pope anymore since I started doing exactly what people said above. Make alliance with him as soon as possible and feed him some money to improve relations (100 per turn is good whenever you can afford it). When you make the alliance, give him your map too, and don't ask for anything in return. Your pope-o-meter will go up 3-4 points right there. If he tells you to stop fighting, do what he says, take a few turns to build up your armies, or find someone else to attack. Often the AI will break the Pope Mission first and get excommunicated, then you can have at it, just make sure you save the city where their King is for last so they don't get reconciled after you take only 1 city.

Although, a problem you will have as England, or any other faction that starts far away from Rome is that you may be in a war before you can get your diplo/princess there to make the alliance. In this case just try to do what he says. If it helps, I have noticed that if you have an enemy city under siege when he gives you the mission, you will NOT fail it by keeping the siege as long as you don't assault. I'm not 100% sure what happens when the city starves though... I don't think you will fail the mission, but don't quote me on that.

Lastly, (whew this is a long one) if you have a very high pope-o-meter, your mission will be something like "Cease hostilities or your relations with the pope will [be less than they used to be] or [suffer significantly]", but in any case, you will not be excommunicated.