Allies? Ugh, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

[runtheplacered]

I don't suppose there's anyway for an "event" of sorts to happen whenever an ally goes to war that says, "Do you want to join X in a war with Y?"

Also, when you get into a war, the AI would get sent a message saying "do you want to join X in a war with Y?"

Sort of like what happens in Europa Universalis.. only I wish there was another option when the AI refused to join that says, "do you want to break alliance with them?" instead of breaking the alliance automatically. I would understand if Spain didn't want to help me combat Denmark, when I'm HRE.. since Spain is so far away (or maybe they're weak) but perhaps I would rather keep them as an ally for my plans against Genoa at a later date (which hopefully Spain would help me with at that point in time.)

Make sense? Hope so. I basically am just trying to find a way that allies can be useful, other then a means of being 'fairly positive' you won't get attacked from a certain front.

I do realize that if I wage war with Denmark and am allied with Spain, I'm pretty sure they would hate Spain, also.. but I'm looking for things to go a bit further then that, and perhaps even allow for a bit more "role-play"

[Furiøùs]

Thing is, is that if the AI see's that the faction you begin war with are stronger then them or are economically more stable advanced etc etc. They will NOT help you, but if you want them to, you can pay them through your diplomats and ask them to attack a faction for you. sometimes 500 florin + map information to attack someone for you works fine.

[Phase]

In terms of gameplay EUIII is absolutely brilliant. I wish a lot of the features could be put into MTW.

They hardly ever put any effort into attacking unless their army is near, or they have a settlement near - lazy bastards.

[themoob]

They useful on crusades!

Except for some reason, my allies keep sending lone generals. Nonetheless, a Spanish general and his bodyguard took out like 200-300 Moorish troops in a battle for me... when I wasn't even on the field.

[dj LiTh]

+rep on that title, made me laugh. I totally agree on the event. It happens when you have to allies that goto war with each other, it asks you whom to side with. I wouldnt think it would be that difficult to script....atleast for the player, possibly harder to script for the AI (atleast to do it right).

[Xtiaan72]

Say it again!

[YD23]

Allies? Ugh, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

Indeed, they stab me in the back every single time, It's like I am Julius Caesar or something... ):

[strife1013]

Indeed, they stab me in the back every single time, It's like I am Julius Caesar or something... ):

He got stabbed all over! lol

[YD23]

LOL, that's exactly what happens to me all the time..

[war927]

Well, I don't know, it may just be a fluke, but in my campaign where I started as the Templar Knights, I formed an alliance with Egypt. Now later on they were actually vying for the settlement of Acre at the same time I was, but I managed to swoop it up before they could. On the next turn Egypt brought about 2 full stacks into my territory but did not attack, they just trespassed on my land so to speak. I was certain they were going to murder me, but instead, they merely walked through my lands and proceeded to attack the Byzantines. Seeing how I was in no position to stand up against a power as strong as Egypt at the time, I decided to shred my alliance with the Byzantines and stick with Egypt. Thus far, Egypt has not turned its aggression towards me.

So the moral of the story is, do not form alliances with every faction you cross paths with, because I'd be willing to bet the other factions you are currently allied with assess these alliance and decide to attack you based on them, such as factions that they are programmed to have an innate bias against.

[DireklianCliff]

I have to say that 90% of my alliances are faithful to me through thick and thin. But maybe it's because I use marriage alliances to my advantage, and I keep my reputation with my allies up. "Very good" and better is my goal. If you have an Outstanding reputation with your allies, they won't attack you. Who cares if you have to kiss a few asses if you get to really focus your wars on one faction and pound the crap out of them?

That being said, I once had the Danes land in Gotland in a Teutonic campaign of mine, and I allied with them, thus stopping their attack. But they never left. So when Russia tried to take Gotland from me, I took advantage of the Danish army, and let them fight my battle for me. Each time I threw back the Russian assault, and lost no more than 5 men per battle So the moral of the story is to get creative. You can assist your allies in taking territories (they WILL be grateful), and use their nearby armies to assist you in your own battles.

So, alliances do have their uses. Even if they're not immediately apparent.

[Alexios Komnenos]

I've ever thought that a game that joined the best of Total War and the best of Europa Universalis should be the ultimate strategy game.

Concerning the allies, I think that, indirectly, they are of help. Playing with Aragon I allied with Portugal, because I wanted to crush Castille very early. But Moors were faster, and they went to attack Valencia. As it must be an Aragonese settlement (History claims it), I decided not to let the Moors take Valencia and attack them with the army I was sending to siege Toledo. I took the city, and one turn later the Portuguese declared war against the Moors, takeing Badajoz from them, and sending medium armies to Cordoba and Fez.

With the Moorish armies far on Portugal, I sent my best general in the Peninsula to Murcia, and then to beat a large Moorish army near Cordoba. The king of Aragon, Berenguer Ramon, returned from his particular Anabassis (he had been pursued by fatimid fleets all over the Mediterranean after his Crusade to El Cairo and been attacked by pirates, and he got almost every single sickness in the game during this odissea) and attacked Granada. He died during this epic battle (They doubled me in size), this curious version of the Battle of the Navas de Tolosa, and then his son, now King of Aragon, conquered Cordoba.

Portugese conquered Fez and Marrakesh, and I signed peace with the Moors. And they accepted happily.

I must congratulate the creators of this mod, because the diplomatical improvements are great. No mor wars that last forever, no more enemies that never want to settle peace, even if they have only one settlement left. Fantastic.

[war927]

Well, as the Templars, on about turn 5 the Seljuks declared war on me and have been determined to kill me ever since. I'm on turn 76 now, and they're still bearing their grudge, despite the fact that I've killed every army they've ever sent at me, successfully defended every siege they laid against me, and taken at least 4 of their territories which includes their capital. However, the battles are often very close victories, and I have lost many men trying to outperform them, so I can't maintain extreme military might overall just yet. Anyway, they refuse to sign a peace treaty, despite all the information I mentioned above. Go figure.

[Nick_Since_1985]

There is nothing wrong with having allies, you yust have to know how to play the game, keep your rep with them high and all will be well...

[spanish_emperor]

AT war927

how is your reputation? are you a backstabber or conquered anything "unfairly"?

[Eriol]

Is it just my campaign, or does 6.0 AI make less alliances? I mean between the AI factions. In 5.1 the AI soon made lasting power blocks, ending up in about three different groups of alliances. Now in my current 6.0 campaign with Khwarezm, the AI has currently only three alliances between factions, and are instead at war with many factions.

Not that it's a problem or anything..

My alliances have usually stood a long time. I think they worked nicely in 5.1. I can't say this or that from 6.0 since I've only allied once with Cumans against the Mongols, and we've had little contact yet, so no chance for backstabbing. Though I assume they will backstab me soon since our relations have dropped to poor, and we have bordering cities.

One thing did make me wonder though, is that my relations with the Cumans have dropped without any clear reason. I guess it could be because I traded between the Turks, who are at war with the Cumans. But I didn't think that would be such a big deal?

[spanish_emperor]

One thing did make me wonder though, is that my relations with the Cumans have dropped without any clear reason. I guess it could be because I traded between the Turks, who are at war with the Cumans. But I didn't think that would be such a big deal?

i don't think the ai takes into consideration with trade right between their enemies but i do know that an alliance in SS6.0 is not just "hey, don't attack me and i won't attack you" sort of thing. Its actually a "hey want to make an alliance but you must promise to help me and i will promise to help you against your enemies"

If you don't declare war against your allies enemies then the ai will ask itself "why did you even bother making an alliance" and your relations will go down.
If you do make war with all the enemies of your allies the opposite will happen
hope that helps

[Eriol]

Well we'll see about that, since I declared war on Turkey. It just took some time to prepare for war.

[RomaVictor6969]

lol im allied with hungry for around 85 turns now....an was allied with the turks till they went all jihad on Constantinople.

[tup]

i don't think the ai takes into consideration with trade right between their enemies but i do know that an alliance in SS6.0 is not just "hey, don't attack me and i won't attack you" sort of thing. Its actually a "hey want to make an alliance but you must promise to help me and i will promise to help you against your enemies"

If you don't declare war against your allies enemies then the ai will ask itself "why did you even bother making an alliance" and your relations will go down.
If you do make war with all the enemies of your allies the opposite will happen
hope that helps

At some point everyone wanted to ally with me (England) and I haven't fought a single war after taking out the French. I broke alliances when allies went to war with each other, I'm "very trustworthy" and yeah, I don't do anything for my allies. But everything's fine to the point that it bores me through and through. I even broke my alliance with the Irish and hope they attack me.
You just have to play the chivalrous niceguy. I always occupied, released most prisoners, etc. That way everyone loves you and it's boring as hell.
And all I wanted was to let the AI develop because I want to use and see high end units on the field and not all those Peasant Archers, Spear Milita, and so on...