Christian Authority at 0%

[Green Giant]

I have a game where Christian authority is at 0% and has -69% for temples looted. I look around and there's a few temples looted in Hungary and (modern) Moldavia but nothing to justify a -69% penalty!

What am I missing here? Is this a bug?

 

[Serenity84]

It's probably the Vikings

 

[HandicapdHippo]

When a temple is raided the effect lasts 20 years.

 

[treb]

I have a game where Christian authority is at 0% and has -69% for temples looted. I look around and there's a few temples looted in Hungary and (modern) Moldavia but nothing to justify a -69% penalty!

What am I missing here? Is this a bug?

Viking raiders will always tank catholic MA in 769 or 876 within the first 100 years.

 

[Green Giant]

When a temple is raided the effect lasts 20 years.

Ah, did not realize they lasted this long.

Viking raiders will always tank catholic MA in 769 or 876 within the first 100 years.

Hmm, I usually play Germanics so I guess I thought I was just doing really well! Didn't realize that was standard. Finally played a game as King of France and was quite surprised to experience the 9th Waldensian uprising.

 

[Evangeline]

Yeah, when playing on the continent it may be best to turn off the horse lords DLC if you want to save Catholicism there. The strength and frequency of raids and adventurers feels too extreme with it on (IMHO).

 

[Dakilla TM]

What's also vulnerable are the sites of Santiago and Koln, both of which are next to heathen realms. Sometimes the Saxons can defeat Charlemagne if he's weak or dies too early, and they can take Koln. Similarly, the Umayyads often declare holy wars for Galicia, and can take Santiago away. Now Catholicism has two holy sites.

Add in bad Popes, raiders, and the AI losing wars/revolts to heretics/heathens, you've got 0% MA.

 

[DPS]

Viking raiders will always tank catholic MA in 769 or 876 within the first 100 years.

That's overstating it. It's common, but it doesn't always happen.

 

[AlexArgos]

And yet when I did a Roman campaign prior to HF, where in the end the only Catholic character in the world was the Pope, the Catholic MA was always at 50%. Apparently having no churches whatsoever makes you more badass than having a few burnt ones (out of hundreds).

 

[Kapitalisti]

And yet when I did a Roman campaign prior to HF, where in the end the only Catholic character in the world was the Pope, the Catholic MA was always at 50%. Apparently having no churches whatsoever makes you more badass than having a few burnt ones (out of hundreds).

 

[Ixal]

What's also vulnerable are the sites of Santiago and Koln, both of which are next to heathen realms. Sometimes the Saxons can defeat Charlemagne if he's weak or dies too early, and they can take Koln. Similarly, the Umayyads often declare holy wars for Galicia, and can take Santiago away. Now Catholicism has two holy sites.

Add in bad Popes, raiders, and the AI losing wars/revolts to heretics/heathens, you've got 0% MA.

And then the spawning heretics take over the remaining holy sites.

That's overstating it. It's common, but it doesn't always happen.

In my experience it does. I have yet to see a 876 start where catholics survive without player intervention, even if they manage to mass convert sweden early on (will flip back soon)

 

[Serenity84]

Currently playing Byzantines and the Catholics are doing pretty well so far. The HRE formed with East Francia and Italy (though I will have to weaken them greatly). There was a Norse Frisia for a while and they did take Cologne. The crusades unlocked and the Christians won. France/Aquitaine is doing well too. The Umayyads could still turn into a threat however

 

[Blackwhitecavias]

In my Byzantine game Catholicism is at like 4% authority, but that might be partly due to me matri-marrying the cousin and heir of Charlemagne and then letting my orthodox son inherit it while also taking over Italy by letting a vassal inherit Lombardy and generating a claim on Rome creating a situation where the Catholics only hold one holy site

 

[Rubidium]

What's also vulnerable are the sites of Santiago and Koln, both of which are next to heathen realms. Sometimes the Saxons can defeat Charlemagne if he's weak or dies too early, and they can take Koln. Similarly, the Umayyads often declare holy wars for Galicia, and can take Santiago away. Now Catholicism has two holy sites.

Add in bad Popes, raiders, and the AI losing wars/revolts to heretics/heathens, you've got 0% MA.

Anti-Popes are also a thing; a powerful Catholic AI ruler will generally set one up right away; that's fairly harmless (and historical) for 1066 HRE (in which Catholic MA is generally safe), but it can cause a real problem for Catholic MA in other start dates. And the British Isles (and thus Canterbury) can also fall to Vikings (or occasionally heretics, especially in 769) reasonably often in early start dates.

But the biggest hit is always the temple raiding. Catholics make up most of the available raiding targets (being closer to pagans and generally being in fragmented realms, whereas e.g. the Orthodox in early starts are almost all in Byzantium, which either has a big enough army to swat raiders, or falls quickly to a different religious blob. And once MA falls, it is really hard to get back up (especially since the temple raiding malus lasts so long and is unlimited).