Why am I always at war!!?

[DrThomas]

In every single Medieval 2: Total war game I have played I always seem to get in a war with everyone. I decide that I'm going to build up my economy, construct buildings etc.. So I ally everyone I can. So lets see an example:

I'm playing as Milan. My allies are Papal States, France, Venice, HRE, Sicily and Portugal.. Then one after another (except papal states ofc) send a diplomat to end the alliance and starts sieging my settlements in one turn.

Why does this happen? Why can't I play as the good guy?

I'm playing on medium difficulty btw.

[Druzhina]

Don't worry, that's a good thing. If you have lots of alliances it's harder to expand. I wiped out every faction in my game- you should try it too! Try and blitz the factions you're at war with. If you want to build your towns you're not going to get very far in the campaign.

[Vor]

Try using a mod such as Stainless steel, it vastly improves the AI and if you want to grow in peace you can for the most part, providing you keep your allies happy they shouldn't betray you.

Though you will still have some wars to fight.

[eggthief]

depends on how strong your empire is as well

[Warmaster Horus]

It's called Total War for a reason. In any case, diplomacy in RTW and M2 is broken, so... Okay, M2 works a bit better, but all the same. If you want an alliance to last, I found that giving your ally a tribute of 100-200 florins for a time works pretty well in RTW, but I haven't tried it in M2.

Good luck with your campaign!

[Lost Crusader]

Like yourself, the AI also has a campaign objective to achieve, and will expand, especially if you leave a poorly defended settlement on the border. Since your new enemy has some allies, while you're at war your relations will drop. And sooner or later they will probably all attack you, causing also their allies to start hating you. It's a chain reaction that eventually leads to a situation when you're at war will almost everybody. That's why the game is called Total war

BTW, Diplomacy is not broken if you play chivalrously and have a high reputation. In my current game (hard) I have 4 alliances lasting almost a hundred turns, without ever giving them money. My reputation is Very reliable, it was Trustworthy for some time, but it dropped a bit.

[Warmaster Horus]

Yeah, I guess the OP could have that too... I can't play chivalrously enough, because I practically always exterminate or sack settlements; meh, I need the cash!

[Lost Crusader]

Yeah, I guess the OP could have that too... I can't play chivalrously enough, because I practically always exterminate or sack settlements; meh, I need the cash!

I know what you mean. It's hard to me to resist the lucrative spoils I'd get if I sack conquered towns, or executing those pesky **** who dared to stand against me. And each time I click on Occupy or Release prisoners I promise myself that my next game won't have nothing to do with chivalry, and I will sack and burn and kill and...

[Old Geezer]

I don't know about Portugal but the other factions the OP mentions seem to have a coded in lust for Milan if not also Genoa. I am certain that Venice and Sicily have a vendetta type setting against Milan and you might as well just be prepared. If one does not expand fast as Milan and take Florence and Marsielles before "turtling" the chances of surviving are not good even on medium difficulty and dang near impossible on very hard, even with the Pope as an ally. If HRE, France, or Venice are at war with one another jump on one too and the you are not at war with may not attack you as readily, but don't count on it at all on very hard difficulty. On very hard difficulty you'll be lucky not to have 3 or more attacking you. I go for Venice asap because then Milan has a very powerful economy and easily defended interior lines. Actually, very hard difficulty makes rapid expansion easier in a way because the Pope gets ticked at them rather than you. Ever notice how often Milan and Sicily get excommed for attacking one another or another hapless neighbor? Put a weak unit on your border or weak ships near thiers and tempt them to attack. They can't resist and will get excommed. It works so well that it's very close to an exploit.