Wierd Gaul Protectorate Behavior

[NobleNick]

Playing vanilla 1.5, VH/VH, Germanic Long Campaign, about 15 turns in.

Gaul and Briton have allied against me (surprise, surprise). After replusing a Briton invasion, I thoroughly spanked a rebel and one of two Gaul half-stacks which were converging on Trier, and (out of moves) parked near the second Gaul half stack, ready to besiege Trier, intending to take it next turn.

Gaul offered protectorate status that turn. Not wanting to give up the opportunity to spank that Gaul party near my Trier, but thinking that protectorate would give me a breather to lay more smackdown on the English chaps, I counter offered to accept protectorate if Gaul ceded Condate Redonum to me. To my amazement, the offer was barely accepted.

Next turn, I moved my half-stack near Trier off towards Briton's Samobriva. That end-of-turn the Gaul half-stack at Trier besieged it -AND- the small Gaul band ousted from Condate Redonum besieged it.

~Sigh~ I moved my half-stack BACK to Trier and obliterated the Gauls there; then took off towards Alesia.

A turn (or was it two?) later, I discovered two Gaul half stacks hiding in the woods near Alesia. In the battle, my cavalry was able to eliminate the first (and largest) Gaul army, before Gallic reinforcements could close to battle; but I lost my faction leader. The Gaul reinforcements wisely left the field before I could engage them; aand retreated to Alesia.

Torn between besieging Alesia or going up to engage the Britons near Samobriva, I ended my turn halfway between the two.

And, again, at the end-of-turn, Gaul sued to bequeath me with protectorate status. And, again, I countered that they cede a territory (Lemonum). And AGAIN, Gaul accepted.

"Oh, YAY!" I thought, "Too good to be true!" as I got Lemonum and the siege at Condate lifted.... And seconds later, Gaul once AGAIN besieged Condate Redonum!

So, the only thing more puzzling to me, than the fact that powerful Gaul would actually cede -TWO- territories to me, is the fact that they would immediately break a protectorate they had just created. Anybody seen this? Is this more common than my experience would lead me to believe?

I've played a lot of campaigns. Only occasionally been offered protectorate, and never twice in four turns by the same faction. And never had a faction immediately break said agreement which it paid so dearly to get.

[Alexanderos]

The AI is idiot , they will attack you by any means even if you have 1 settlement and your are ally/protectorate with them

[Aymer de Valence]

I really don't understand what the Gauls were trying to gain from this.....ceding 2 regions, only to just attack you again next turn.....well it is the AI I suppose, their idiocy knows no bounds! In my Parthian campaign I was forced into accepting protectorate status under Egypt.....and like you, they just attacked me next turn. The harder the difficulty on Rome and Medieval 2, the more broken the diplomacy becomes in my opinion. It's supposed to stop them from attacking you (and sort of form an alliance), but really, it just gives you 1 turn of peace. Useless

[Ferdiad]

Perhaps the gauls are getting invaded on another front and want your protection?

[anycolourfloyd]

i had a similar thing as germans in my XGM game. rome and scythia both told me to become protectorate and attacked me next turn.

in the diplomacy weighting, become protectorate must be really high, i've never had a faction accept it from me before. higher than ceding settlements apparently.

the thing is though that it's pointless because regardless of diplomatic status, if the computer wants to attack you, they will attack you. and continue to try until you or them die. the diplomacy system annoys me tbh, i don't even bother trying to form alliances now, just get the trade rights.

i don't think being in an alliance with another nation ever has an influence on whether or not they'll attack you, so why bother. the only exception to this is maybe if you're one of the roman families at the start and you diplomatically break the alliance to neutral, i'm not sure what would happen then.

[Punic Hoplite]

There are two heads to the AI. One head controls the armies and such. Then the other controls diplomacy. These two heads once fought over a girl, and now no longer talk. Thus is the way of the AI.

[Aymer de Valence]

There are two heads to the AI. One head controls the armies and such. Then the other controls diplomacy. These two heads once fought over a girl, and now no longer talk. Thus is the way of the AI.

I might also add, both heads seem to have been dramatically dropped on their....heads...as children!

[Bonez]

I might also add, both heads seem to have been dramatically dropped on their....heads...as children!

Think of them more as the three stooges when they break up. The third one controls cities, and tries to get the other two back together.

[Ferdiad]

A good as explanation as any I've seen.

[TheFoolOnTheHill]

+rep for that comment

[Alexanderos]

I don't even know why yu would bother becoming a protectorate. I never accept it since i had an unpleasan experienc ( i was playing as denmark , the holy roman empire kept attacking me and my military was pretty much spent . So i accepted their vassalage proposal on turn 50 or something and i had a treasury of 50000. The nxt turn , i had like 12000. Wtf , when i checked the finances i saw a tribute of about 35000. ) So do not accept it !

[anycolourfloyd]

So i accepted their vassalage proposal on turn 50 or something and i had a treasury of 50000. The nxt turn , i had like 12000. Wtf , when i checked the finances i saw a tribute of about 35000. ) So do not accept it !

Ahhh! This happened to me once, I just assumed the game bugged out, I didn't realise the AI could ream tributes out of you.

[NobleNick]

Update: OK, now the protectorate snafu has happened -THREE- times! So, of the four cities I've taken from the Gauls, three came without lifting a sword.

This time I asked for Massilia, and the Gauls begrudgingly forked it over. This time they waited (IIRC) 2-3 turns before attacking Trier. Boy, they wanted that city badly; but they changed their minds when I took their relatively ungaurded capital, Alesia: Guess I found a way to show them that there -IS- something more important to the Gauls than capturing an arcane germanic town.

LoL! That's four cities (AND four generals, including a faction leader) that Gaul lost trying to get Trier... and they still don't have Trier! Next turn I expect to catch up to the gallic stack which had besiged Trier with my stack which includes -SIX- very angry Germanic generals. Looks like the tally will be five dead Gallic generals and (IIRC) two of them faction leaders.

@ Alexanderos --> Well, I become a protectorate because Gaul GIVES ME CITIES to do so; not to mention it is (sometimes) a turn or two reprieve from battle to regroup.

Thanks for the comments.

[Stworca]

In my Spain playthrough some time ago, all Roman factions have completely abandoned expanding, and just kept invading me every time they had a chance. They didn't even catch the rebel cities in Alps, and left Sicily and Greece alone.

So.. Aye. The AI is a suicidal moron, who wants to get you.

Peace offers when You control 90 provinces, and the AI only has a minor village, surrounded by 20 stacks of yours?
"An end to war?! HAH! Not until we teach you the value of peace"...

I was once asked a 60 000 denari tribute by the very last faction still alive in BI campaign, all-map conquest. They had 1 province, i had all the others..

[Punic Hoplite]

Don't make the AI mad. You'll never know what they'll do next.... quite literally.

[Ferdiad]

I have a inkling, they'll fail, miserably.

[Ferdiad]

It gets half your income.