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Strategy
The Apostolic Palace (AP) is a great wonder which allows international diplomacy similar to the effect of the United Nations. It also gives production bonuses to religious buildings of its religion.
Civilopedia Entry
The Apostolic Palace, located in Vatican City, Italy, is the home of the Pope and the heart of the Catholic Church. Having only been occupied by the Pope since the breakup of the Papal State in 1871, the current Apostolic Palace is a relatively new addition to the Church's assets. Sitting adjacent to the iconic St. Peter's Square, the palace acts as the administrative center for all business of the Catholic Church. Further, it is from here that the Pope issues decrees which affect Catholics throughout the world. With nearly one in six people on Earth subscribing to Catholicism, the Apostolic Palace is the headquarters for one of the most influential organizations on the planet.
While the palace's importance as a world administrative center cannot be doubted, the Apostolic Palace also houses one of the most famous art collections on Earth. Contained within the walls of the Apostolic Palace is the Vatican Museum, which displays the works of master artisans Caravaggio, Raphael, and Da Vinci. Michelangelo's famous Sistine Chapel is also a part of the Apostolic Palace.
Mechanics
Building the AP
The AP can be built when a civilization knows Theology. The AP does not exist, and cannot be built in a game if Diplomatic victory was not selected when starting the game. (Diplomatic victory is selected by default.) The AP also cannot be built in a game if there are only two teams.
The AP can only be built by a civilization that is running a state religion, and it can only be built in a city that has that religion. If a civ changes state religion during construction, and the new religion is not in the city, then production will be halted.
The state religion that a civ has on the turn which it completes the AP determines the AP's religion. This religion is called the AP religion. The owner of the AP is the civ that currently owns the AP's city.
Effects
All religious buildings of the AP religion gain a bonus of +2
each. There are four religious buildings: Monastery, Temple, Cathedral, and the religion's Shrine. The bonus hammers are gained regardless of which civ owns them, or what state religion it may have.
The AP creates diplomatic contact between all civs which own one or more cities with its religion. All of these civs ("members" of the AP) can vote on proposals in the AP; see below.
The AP is obsoleted by Mass Media; thus, the bonus hammers will end then. The diplomatic effects of the AP stop only when the AP's owner gets Mass Media. Thus, it is possible for the AP to coexist with the United Nations.
AP Diplomacy
This section outlines how AP diplomacy works. AP diplomacy happens via proposals (resolutions), which are voted on by members.
Membership and Votes
Every civilization may be a member of the AP, or not. A civ which has no cities with the AP religion is a non-member, and does not vote in any AP business. Otherwise, a civ is a member. There are two kinds of members: full members, and voting members. A full member is a civ that is running the AP religion as its state religion, and not in Defiance status (see below). A voting member is any other member.
The number of votes each civ gets on all AP proposals and the resident election is based on the total population of all cities owned by that civ which have the AP religion. Full members get votes equal to twice the total population of all their cities which have the AP religion. Voting members get the total population of their cities with the AP religion.
Election and Proposal Cycle
A new proposal or resident election will happen after the previous one, on the following schedule:
- If the previous proposal was a resident election or any voted-on proposal, after 10 turns (14 on Epic).
- If no previous proposal could happen because the prerequisites for none of them held, 1 turn.
There are 4 proposals between each Resident Election. Thus, if there is always something to vote on, a new election is held every 50 turns. If there is nothing to vote on, the new election will be held after 15 turns.
Elections and the AP Resident
The Resident of the AP determines which proposal (if any) the AP will vote on. A Resident Election is the first proposal that occurs after the AP is built. Resident Elections occur periodically afterwards (see above). Whichever civ gets the most votes in a Resident Election becomes the new Resident of the AP.
The Owner is always one of the two candidates for the Resident Election, regardless of his current religious or Defiance status. Note that the owner is not necessarily a Full Member. The other candidate must be a Full Member, and will be whichever Full Member has the most votes. If there is only one possible candidate then that civ will be elected regardless of how members voted.
If a non-owning Resident ceases to be a Full Member (by converting to another state religion or to no state religion, or switching to Free Religion), no further proposals will be voted on until a new Resident is elected. However, the normal schedule of proposals is still followed, and if there would otherwise be possible votes there may be a long period of AP inactivity.
Proposals
As per the schedule above, the Resident will be presented with the option to offer one proposal to the AP members for voting. If more than one proposal's prerequisites apply, all will be an option. The Resident may choose a proposal to offer, or he may always opt not to propose anything.
All members vote on all proposals, although Abstain is always an option. Vassals must vote with their sovereign unless the vassal has been proposed for a Diplomatic Victory. A proposal passes if:
- No member defies (see below).
- The proposal gets at least 50% of all non-abstaining votes.
Proposals are passed in the turn after the turn a proposal is voted on. Because of that, it is possible for unexpected results to happen if the game situation changed during that turn. For example, if a Diplomatic Victory vote comes up and in that same turn a civ creates a colony which does not have the AP Religion (and so is not a member) the Diplomatic Victory would be negated even if it passed.
Members can vote "Defy" on all proposals except for Diplomatic Victory and the Resident Election. When a proposal is defied it automatically fails. If the proposal had the votes to pass, any civ that defied it is considered in Defiance of the AP. A civ in Defiance suffers these effects:
- It loses its full member status.
- It loses the +2
from religious buildings, both from existing buildings and any new ones built.
To get out of Defiance, a civ must vote "Yes" on any proposal, and that proposal must pass.
In addition to the effects of Defiance, whenever a civ defies the AP, its existing cities with the AP religion acquire "Villain" status. (The tooltip over happiness gives this as "The world considers you a villain!") Cities with Villain status suffer a happiness penalty of 5
. This penalty lasts for up to 20 turns; it is reduced if other religions are present in the city. Further defiances prolong the duration of Villain status. New cities captured, founded or converted to the AP religion after a defied vote do not acquire Villain status.
List of AP Proposals
Here is a listing of the proposals that the AP may entertain. All proposals have prerequisite game states.
Declare War on X
Prerequisites:
- One or more full member(s) must be at war with civ X.
- At least one non-vassal full member must not be at war with X.
- X must be a non-vassal non-member.
If passed, all members declare war against X.
Trade Embargo against X
Prerequisites:
- One or more full member(s) must be trading with civ X.
- X must be a non-member.
If passed, all members close borders with X, and all trade agreements with X are canceled except for those made within the last 10 turns. X will stop talking to all AP civs, even those who had no agreements to cancel and/or which voted "No".
Force Peace on X
Prerequisite:
- Civ X is currently at war with any other member.
- X must be a full member.
If passed, a 10 turn cease fire takes place among all members.
Open Borders
Prerequisite:
- The Resident or any full member does not have an open borders agreement with one or more full members.
If passed, all members sign open borders agreements with each other.
Defensive Pact
Prerequisite:
- No member is currently at war.
- All members are eligible to form defensive pacts with each other.
If passed, all members sign defensive pacts with each other.
Assign City C from X to Y
Prerequisites:
- Civ X must be a voting member (not a full member).
- Civ Y must be a full member, and not at war with X.
- X must own a city C.
- Y must have a more culture in Cs city tile (not the city itself) than X does.
If passed, ownership of city C is transferred to Y; buildings in C are all transferred intact except national wonders which would be duplicates, which are removed. Any units in the city or nearby are not transferred, and may be teleported elsewhere if X and Y do not have open borders.
Diplomatic Victory
Prerequisites:
- All civs in the game are members of the AP.
- No single civ has more than 75% of all votes.
To pass, this proposal requires 75% of the vote. It cannot be defied. If it passes, the winning candidate wins the game.
There will always be two candidates for diplomatic victory. One of the candidates will be the Owner (even if that civ is not running the AP religion). The second candidate will be the full member with the most votes, other than the Owner. Vassals are eligible for either slot.
AIs use the following algorithm when determining how to vote for a diplomatic victory:
- Always vote for self.
- Never vote for anyone they are at war with.
- Vassals always vote for their suzerain (unless the vassal is also a candidate).
- If not friendly with either candidate, abstain.
- Otherwise, vote for candidate you have better relations with.
See also
This page is a distillation of the information found here: The Apostolic Palace Guide.
For information on how to use the AP for a cheesy win: Deity AP cheese win