Papal Controller
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This article is accurate for the latest versions of EU3, Napoleon's Ambition, and In Nomine v 3.2.
Please help update this page to include information on the HTTT expansion.
The Papal Controller is the ruler with the best influence in the Papal Curia. The player can bribe, err... influence the cardinals to ensure their support with the Pope. The Papal Controller gets these bonuses:
- -20% stability cost
- +1 diplomat/year
- -0.25 Badboy points/year
- +1% prestige/year
Each controlled cardinal also contributes 0.2% prestige/year on top of this. If you have a full house, you receive 2.4% total prestige/year from the Papacy.
New cardinals are randomly chosen from Catholic European provinces. The more you own, the better the chances that a new cardinal will come from your nation. Because they must be European, it doesn't help to have a huge colonial empire. But keeping your European provinces Catholic will. The National ideas of Deus Vult and Divine Supremacy can also assist, because they prevent the spread of Protestantism (and Divine Supremacy gives you more missionaries to convert those blasphemous heretics). Getting one of these Ideas early (when reformation occurs) can save quite a bit of headache. Because Protestantism spreads from adjoining provinces, it can sometimes be a mini-game to try to block its advance at key places.
When cardinals die, their replacement enters at the bottom of the Papal Controller list. In other words, the oldest cardinals are at the top, and the youngest at the bottom. Although you never know how long one will live, it's better to influence cardinals near the bottom of the list, all else being equal.
High badboy decreases the chance of bri... er, influencing cardinals to support you.
Changes as of In Nomine
As of In Nomine many changes were done to the way the Papal Controller now works. 2 new abilities and changes to the mechanics of bribing cardinals.
The Papal Controller can now launch a Crusade on any non-Christian country. They last 50 years and another cannot be launched until either then or at the targets annexation. Nations that declare war on the target also recieve the Crusader modifier, giving a Manpower, Tax, Prestige and Land Morale bonus. Crusades cannot be called after 1650.
The papal controller can now also excommunicate another Catholic ruler. This removes the Religious Penalty stability hit, and the No Causus Belli stability Hit. It's like having a Causus Belli on a Different Religion Group country so you only get the Reputation hit of DoW with a Causus Belli: 1BB. Excommunication is not possible after 1650.
It lasts as long as the ruler is alive or is repealed by the ruler who used it. If that ruler rules a Union all countries in it are affected, and the union is dissolved at death. You cannot use the ability if the pope has good relations with the target. It will also take a long time for another country to forgive you for excommunicating their ruler.
Influencing Cardinals
With In Nomine controlling the Curia has become a lot more harder. When a Cardinal is bribed it cannot be attempted again for 3 months. This now means control over the Curia is harder to achieve and longer to reach that goal.
Changes as of Heir To The Throne
Papal Influence
You now have a stat that says the level of influence you have over the Pope. It is directly affected by your relations with the Papal States, your Infamy and some of your National Ideas. This affects the chance of obtaining a cardinal of your own nation. Every time a cardinal of your nation is chosen to replace a dead cardinal you lose half of your Influence, and when the Pope dies all nations' Papal Influence is reduced to 0.
Cardinal Chance
This number says which is the chance of the next Cardinal coming from your country. It is affected by your Papal Influence and the number of Catholic provinces you have on your empire. Note that the total Cardinal Chance, adding the Cardinal Chance of all the Catholic nations, is 100%, so you can't have a 100% chance unless you are the only existant Catholic Nation. And yes, the Papal States can also have Cardinals, and their influence is nearly always 100%.
Influencing Cardinals
Unfortunately, this option has been disabled in Heir To The Throne, so now the only way to become Papal Controller is to have as many Catholic provinces as possible (colonies are suggested, since they are Catholic and don't require a war to do them), have good relations with the Papal State and hope that, once one Cardinal dies, it will be replaced by one of yours.
