You Will Not Believe This...

**Publius Clodius Pulcher** · September 24, 2006, 11:27 PM

So, I start a game as Thrace, H/M. I take Tylis with my combined force, and then Macedon blitzes me with 2 full armies, one at Tylis and 1 at my lightly defended capital. I lose the capital and keep Tylis in a harrowing down to the wire victory over forces twice my size and generaled about 3 times better. My troops in Tylis are obliterated in the process, leaving my army in tatters as Macedon advances into Dacia. At this point I'm faced with losing my city in the heartland of the Carpathians, leaving only the city the Thracians start with on the Black Sea, because 2 units of hoplites could take Tylis.

Then, a miracle. My Grecian allies launch an assualt on the unprotected Macedonian heartland. Macedon offers me protectership status. I expect, knowing that protectership is the final spit in the face before they immiediatly break the treaty and take my cities.

Lo and Behold, the AI actually honors my protectership! I'm just in shock that I'm actually being given time by Macedon to rebuild, take those other rebel cities, and then be prepared for the double cross. The AI is actually playing like a person, holding treaties and putting pressure on the biggest threat, subsidizing lesser powers!

**lebr** · September 25, 2006, 12:14 AM

Probably because Greece started an offensive against Macedon, and the AI prefers to have only one bordering enemy at the time. But dont expect it to last long, as soon as the Greeks are kicked of the mainland the black dead will come to you too

**Publius Clodius Pulcher** · September 25, 2006, 01:16 AM

Originally Posted by lebr

Probably because Greece started an offensive against Macedon, and the AI prefers to have only one bordering enemy at the time. But dont expect it to last long, as soon as the Greeks are kicked of the mainland the black dead will come to you too

By then I'll be ready, by then I'll be ready.......

**Sarkiss** · September 25, 2006, 01:34 AM

Originally Posted by Publius Clodius Pulcher

By then I'll be ready, by then I'll be ready.......

good luck:-))
did you ask about the money when accepted the protectorate? i always do, 5-10k. usually AI attacks you very next turn anyway, so this way you at least get some money and compensation for AI stupidity and can recruit mercenaries.

**florin80** · September 25, 2006, 07:42 AM

If you like playing as the thracians you might keep an eye on this add-on:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=62140
It makes getai out of thracians and gives them more appropriate units. It`s not finished yet, but it already has some new features.

**Publius Clodius Pulcher** · September 25, 2006, 03:33 PM

Thanks Florin, helpful as always! =P

**Siddyus** · September 25, 2006, 08:11 PM

lol, thats cool. never happened to me... everytime they offer me protectorate... they attack me by the next turn.

**The Walrus** · September 25, 2006, 08:16 PM

That is COOL!!! Now, to figure out how to make that happen ALL the time

**Maximus Lazero** · September 25, 2006, 08:36 PM

LoL, this is like my current campaign in two ways:
1. Because of the way I edited the game (I reduced all unit build times except agents and some ships to 0 turns), I was faced with a HUGE Seleucid army that, for a while, could immediately rebuild its loses, while I only had 2 armies to oppose them. Thankfully, I managed to outfight them, and now have them on the run (sorta), especially since the Egyptians pushed them out of western Anatolia and the Holy Land (why the Egyptians have stopped their offensivs, declared war on Macedon, and are now doing absolutely nothing is a mystery to me...but I'm sure they will attack me, their ALLY, first chance they get a common border)

2. Over in the Balkans, the Macedonians have obliterated the Greeks, and are locked in a war with the Illyrians and the Thracians. After years of nothing, the Thracians gained some ground, actually cutting Macedon in half....well, Macedon launched a full counteroffensive, and have now pushed the Thracians back into one territory. As the Macedons closed in, I quickly ended my alliance with them....yeah, I suck. (Like Egypt, Illyria does nothing...)

**Amur_Tiger** · September 25, 2006, 09:31 PM

Actually I have another case of protectorship to speak of, the Romans have had the Gauls as a protectorate for the entirety of the game sorfar and it's 184 BC now. Between this and the rather inexplicable refusal of the Romans to take the two rebel settlements in the south of Italy (I modded it to be so) the Romans have essentially done nothing for the entirety of the game until I touched down in Italy and then they started to send stack after stack after me. Also Carthage, Ptolmies, Seleucids have all been at peace with each other the entire game, the civilized factions as a whole have been pretty still.

**Maximus Lazero** · September 25, 2006, 11:32 PM

Heh, when I played as the Romans, I was pretty much the only faction that did any kind of conquest besides the Bactrians (they conquered Parthia, but the Parthians escaped to Damascus, which I had bribed from the Seleucids and given to them)
The Ptolemies were in a constant war with the Seleucid Empire over Phoenicia, where one side would gain ground, then the other would regain it and more in a counterattack, and back and forth until I pwned the Seleucids and raped Egypt.

P.S. Why did you prevent the Romans from attacking southern Italy...?