keeping allience

**yourefired** · July 25, 2007, 07:46 PM

hi there, is there a way of keeping an allience so your friends don't break it and attack you? i was thinking of sending money as a gift

**MarcusAureliusAntoninus** · July 26, 2007, 01:42 AM

Money every so often helps. Though, it usually has to be a pretty big amount if they really want to betray you.

Also, keeping a strong border with them will deter them unless they are dedicated to betraying you.

Allies seem to be less likely to attack forts, as well. If you can keep them out of your territory with forts, they will often just stare at your forts. It seems they want to attack your town, but not nessecarily betray you. So their first attack will be against your town. If they can't get to your towns, they are more likely to stay your friend.

Make sure they always have someone to fight. If they only border you, or only border allies, they will betray you.

Make sure you are fighting someone. If you are currently at war, the game won't think it is necessary to have the AI betray you.

If you ever have your allies send spies or assassins against you, that is a sign they are about to attack. That is your last chance to try to deter their attack.

**Ludens** · July 26, 2007, 06:52 AM

Giving regular tribute of 200 Mnai per turn for long periods works pretty well in my campaign*. It does not guarantee anything, but factions are more disposed to leave you alone and accept cease-fires and alliances. Sending a large gift of cash up front generally works counterproductive in my experience.

* The A.I. usually won't accept these tributes for really long periods, citing that they have nothing to give in return. You therefor have to renew these offers every 15 or 20 turns.

**name** · July 26, 2007, 08:39 AM

Originally Posted by Ludens

Giving regular tribute of 200 Mnai per turn for long periods works pretty well in my campaign*. It does not guarantee anything, but factions are more disposed to leave you alone and accept cease-fires and alliances. Sending a large gift of cash up front generally works counterproductive in my experience.

* The A.I. usually won't accept these tributes for really long periods, citing that they have nothing to give in return. You therefor have to renew these offers every 15 or 20 turns.

You need to offer it as a gift, not as a treaty.

**MarcusAureliusAntoninus** · July 26, 2007, 03:48 PM

I had a game where I owned Nabataia through Syria-Babylon to Charax. Saba had all of the Arabian provinces (except 'Arabia' which I had cheated to create a super rebel army at so that nobody would own it).

I gave Saba 10000 about every other turn as a gift and they never betrayed me. Even though they had nobody else to attack but me. They did walk through my territory and attack Seleucid Persepolis, though. They liked me so much that they started acting in ways I had never seen before.

**Ludens** · July 26, 2007, 04:16 PM

Originally Posted by name

You need to offer it as a gift, not as a treaty.

Even so, they will refuse it.

**name** · July 26, 2007, 04:46 PM

Originally Posted by Ludens

Even so, they will refuse it.

Here, they accepted 200 for 100 turns...

**davyjones06** · July 26, 2007, 09:45 PM

Originally Posted by MarcusAureliusAntoninus

I had a game where I owned Nabataia through Syria-Babylon to Charax. Saba had all of the Arabian provinces (except 'Arabia' which I had cheated to create a super rebel army at so that nobody would own it).

I gave Saba 10000 about every other turn as a gift and they never betrayed me. Even though they had nobody else to attack but me. They did walk through my territory and attack Seleucid Persepolis, though. They liked me so much that they started acting in ways I had never seen before.

What faction did you play as? Why did you create a super rebel army? I think it's strange.

**MarcusAureliusAntoninus** · July 26, 2007, 10:29 PM

I was playing as the Romans and had a big enough empire to be able to afford 10,000 every couple of years to all of my allies.

Here's a picture of that time, Saba attacking Persepolis:

I created a huge rebel army in Arabia because I don't like anyone owning it. I makes the AI travel on stupid trips through the middle of the desert and attack Saba's heartland. After a couple attempts at taking on the giant army AI factions will forget about the territory and travel more historic routes into Arabia along the coastlines.

**eggthief** · July 30, 2007, 06:43 AM

I've never seeen this before, have u gave them (saba) military acces? Also how did u managed to play this long without getting bored?

**MarcusAureliusAntoninus** · July 30, 2007, 02:33 PM

No military access, in fact I don't believe I even had an alliance. Just friendly neutral. The AI gets pissed when you walk in their territory, but they stroll through yours all the time and there is no way to tell them to stop, short of war. I wish they wouldn't, most of the time.

I eventually got bored of that game, after I conquered all of Germania and more of Persia. I was thinking of playing that campaign again, though. To start out with a huge Empire... But the only true enemy I have left is Parthia.

**delra** · August 08, 2007, 02:33 AM

I really like what happened to Seleukids in your campaign.:-)

**eggthief** · August 08, 2007, 02:56 PM

same crap that always happens to them, havent seen this 'gray death' yet

**jabarto** · August 23, 2007, 06:29 PM

By the way, does anyone know if there is any functional difference between giving the AI an "x money for y turns" agreement and simply giving them x money as an individual transaction each turn (i.e, does the AI favor one large gift over many small ones?)

I recall in a recent game as Hayasdan I managed keep the Seleucids away from me for years by camping a diplomat by one of their settlements and offering them 100 mnai each turn - until I skipped a payment, at which point they declared war on me. Jerks.