Vassal Issue

[FearTheBrave]

Hello All,

I have a simple question; how do you prevent vassals from attacking each other - or get them to ally? Currently as the Republic of Genoa, excuse me, Genoan Empire, I have forced the French and the Germans on their knees (because of their ability to field professional armies). After subjugating them, I generously give them 1/4 of their original lands back and about 5,000 florin.

I'm pretty far in the game, and it's been bugging me that my allies keep attacking my vassals - and because I don't want to lose my hard earned gains - I have to turn on them and lose my immaculate status.

So far I have managed to keep my vassals from interacting, by separating them with my own territory. I would still like to learn how to make them ally each other to have another fun world war.

Please share your knowledge!

[infernocanuck]

Hmm.. a tricky one. Well, the AI behaviors tend to be much more stable in SS then vanilla M2TW. So, here are my suggestions. Keep a diplomat next to a German and French territory, and every turn, make sure you have perfect relations with them. If you have a great reputation, and perfect status with a faction, they are much, much, much less likely to backstab you (even moreso if they are a vassal) and very unlikely to attack an ally of yours. So, that at least helps with 1/2 of your problem. Just make sure you don't give them too much territory, and they should be able to coexist A-Ok.

However, having former allies attack your vassals is a whole other thing. You can't control what another faction wants to do, nor can you act diplomatically in your vassal's interest. You will, eventually, have to go to war with your former allies that are relentless in taking your vassal's territories. However, this doesn't mean you have to backstab them. Just put an army of your own next to a capital they plan to attack, or have repeatedly tried to take in the past. Then, when you assist your vassal in the inevitable siege, it is they that are the "attacking" party, which means that when war is declared, you don't loose any mutual allies, nor do you take a reputation hit. Just help defend your vassals for a little while, and then eventually, your former ally will want a ceasefire with both you and your vassal.

Best of luck, and let me know how things go. I'm curious as to see the result!

[HMD Temeraire]

They do that in Empire.

[FearTheBrave]

Thanks inferno, so far I haven't had any real vassal problems; all were theoretical or potential. I'm in turn 140ish now, and I've subjugated France, HRE, and the Kingdom of England - everything is going smoothly... except another issue that I shall address in another post.