allies going to war randomly

[z28man]

for some reason I didn't think this was an issue in RS like it was in vanilla but I have run into it yet again. Pergemum and I have been at war with the Greeks and Macedon for quite a while. I finally took Byzantium and the very next turn Pergemum declares war on me >_> exact same thing with Sparta the very next turn. Both at war with the Greeks and I took a settlement in southern Greece and the very next turn Sparta attacked me, not to mention there is still a Greek settlement in between me and Sparta so why come after me? any chance this can/will be patched in 2.6? it's so annoying having your allies attack you just because.

[ImperialAquila]

Force Diplomacy has its uses. That's the only way you can stop their senseless attacks.

[Larkin]

Just the way the AI works.

You can use Force Diplomacy (click the ? in the diplomacy screen to tell you how) to force a ceasefire if you want. But really these factions aren't gonna be happy with your expanding and are gonna want to stop you.

[Sertorio]

The Ai will do all sort of crazy stuff in diplomacy. There is nothing like a strong army at the border to deter friend of foe. Maybe an occasional gift ? As posted force diplomacy brings some sense to the AI decisions.

[z28man]

ya I keep making them my allies and the next turn they keep turning on me both at the same time lol, guess I'll just have to deal with them

[ImperialAquila]

ya I keep making them my allies and the next turn they keep turning on me both at the same time lol, guess I'll just have to deal with them

Your best bet is to gift them some gold every turn to "appease" them. 100 - 500 often works. It helps improve relations when you deal with your allies regularly and not make them feel isolated enough to contemplate betrayal.

[High Fist]

Your best bet is to gift them some gold every turn to "appease" them. 100 - 500 often works. It helps improve relations when you deal with your allies regularly and not make them feel isolated enough to contemplate betrayal.

I had tried doing that with Pergamon, they held off from attacking me for a surprising amount of turns but eventually they couldn't resist. s.

[ImperialAquila]

I had tried doing that with Pergamon, they held off from attacking me for a surprising amount of turns but eventually they couldn't resist. s.

Yes. It's supposed to keep your "allies" on a leash for a period of time until you can devise a plan to fully subdue and assimilate them. It's not meant to be permanent.

[Darth Bane1]

Well, it wouldn't be called Total War without any reason...

[Archesel]

Force a ceasefire isn't really effective; the best way to get a ceasefire is to beat the faction in some battles, and if possible take one of their settlements (it worked in may pontus campaign seleucids betrayed me at the beginning, then i destroyed several armies, including their faction leader and heir, so i asked them a ceasefire without forced diplomacy, they accepted and now, 15 turns after this, they never attacked)

Then like some people said above, giving a tribute of around 500 denarii for 10 to 20 turns, is relatively effective at avoiding allies betrayal. You should also keep a large garrison at you cities near you frontiers, it appears at an effective dissuasion

Moreover, i'm not sure of this though, but it seems that allies are less prone to betray you if you use RS 2 with alex.exe.

[MacBlain]

I know I'm in a tiny minority here, but I think the diplomacy system works great and I really enjoy it. There are two problems: One, playing on anything other than "Medium" difficulty adds a baseline of arbitrary hostility that ruins the game. Two, the game gives little feedback on its diplomatic assessments, so players are tempted to put themselves in the AI's shoes rather than treating it as a system like any other and observing it scientifically. It's quite predictable once you understand it. Google "RTWDiplomacy.pdf".

[Archesel]

Even in Medium, the AI likes to betray the player. MacBlain i agree with you but was you describe is hard to do as in RTW we lack relation informations we have in M2TW and, better, in ETW/NTW .

[ImperialAquila]

Even in Medium, the AI likes to betray the player. MacBlain i agree with you but was you describe is hard to do as in RTW we lack relation informations we have in M2TW and, better, in ETW/NTW .

Just because we don't see the info on relations in RTW doesn't mean it isn't there. It's within the game itself. Maintaining good relations the way you would in Med 2 works like a charm for me. I only had a few isolated incidents of betrayal and nothing more.

[Sextus Fabius Maximus]

Welcome to the 2004 ai Its actually really intelligent, defeat the human brain before it becomes too powerful.

[MacBlain]

The AI appears to function consistently. It "works", just not as many of us expect.

Again, I highly recommend "RTWDiplomacy.pdf". It's still out there floating on the interweb after all these years.

It's really a shame that, because the AI is so mysterious, most of the community has missed out on a big part of the game. Diplomacy and espionage seem to be hugely diminished in importance in all the major mods. I prefer the challenge of playing without "Manage All Settlements", and I would enjoy the game much more if I really had to worry about the lives of my generals. Especially because AI generals die in droves in battle, mine virtually never do, AND I can buy more whenever I feel like it. I think this is a greatly under-utilized method of adding difficulty to the campaign and managing player expansion.

It seems many players greatly overestimate the significance of a political alliance. It indicates a temporary convergence of interests. It does not mean you are blood brothers to the bitter end. I mean, look at European history. Sheesh! Even the various alliances in Middle-Earth are anomalous and uncomfortable. And once you approach superpower status you should trust no one. Ever played Risk?