Stopping an ally getting a province you want...

[zaroff1]

I've just found a handy little wheeze that is, I admit, fairly underhand, but not quite cheating either...Playing as the Shimazu in alliance with the Ottomo after I kicked them off the Western island and converted to Christianity, we both expanded rapidly. The Ottomo across the west of the main island and myself via the Chosokabe island before hitting the Ikko Ikki who were dominating the centre. We both met up at Kyoto around the same time just after Realm Divide, but the Ottomo got in first besieging the Shogunate. I joined the battle as reinforcements, but the city still went to them, even though I did most of the fighting. Having saved the game beforehand, I reloaded and tried again, not wishing to have to break the alliance (with the Ikko Ikki still very strong to the east), but the same thing happened again. On the third attempt, I exited the game just after the battle started and conceded defeat...My troops, which hadn't even entered the field by that stage, were virtually undamaged, but the the Ottomo were almost completely wiped out in the auto-resolve, as were the forces of the Shogunate, allowing me to grab Kyoto easily the next turn and keep the alliance intact. Whether it will stay that way remains to be seen...

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

You take it first.

If you can't then you should incite a revolt and then attack the rebels.

[Swamidude]

Well you did it the right way, rout from the field of your ally can't win without your help, they don't deserve it anyway. Only difference is that I don't reload the game, but it's always my first strategy, watch and see if they are winning, if they are my cavalry will gain experience by cleaning up the units they rout, if they lose I just rout from the map and battle the army next turn

[General Maximus]

Personally, in such situations I keep my army away from the siege area and let my ally fend for himself. If he loses, I immediately go and take the province from the enemy. If he wins, he will get a monk at his door soon to incite rebellion, and once it succeeds I take the province.

Otherwise I simply build a huge army after collecting lots of cash, scout entire territory of my ally to determine if he still has armies defending his backyards, and attack in the places where I can steamroll without defense. At the same time, 2-3 full stack armies go around hunting my former ally's army on the frontline before it can return. At the same time, I use ninjas to stall any reinforcements he would get from home.

My suggestion would be to always keep a levelled-up monk on the frontlines, not far from the enemy provinces but still out of reach from enemy ninjas and metsukes. Also get a good ninja following the saboteur skill. Create lots of revolts around the provinces you want to conquer, and sabotage the ally's army to keep it from defending the towns.

I greatly miss the option from Shogun 1 where it was possible to betray your ally in the middle of a battle. I've had great moments in that old-but-gold game when me and my allies crushed a huge enemy army in a provincial battle, but during the chase of routers I would suddenly stab him in the back, restart the battle on a new scale, defeat his weakened force and take the province for myself.

[Rijul.J.Ballal]

My suggestion would be to always keep a levelled-up monk on the frontlines

The problem with monk is that you should be vary of failure, if you allies comes to know of your deception you relations with them will be strained.

[gyabo]

The problem with monk is that you should be vary of failure, if you allies comes to know of your deception you relations with them will be strained.

Monks failed due most of Shogun 2 clans are buddhist. Religious agents succeed if there fighting different clan religion. Making religion a powerful weapon against different religion.

[General Maximus]

The problem with monk is that you should be vary of failure, if you allies comes to know of your deception you relations with them will be strained.

That is why simply stabbing your ally in the back when he is busy is the best option. One may deploy monks, but the problem with monks is that they are so vulnerable that they need to be accompanied by a whole party of agents to be safe.

When I cannot get monks, I always use a ninja to sabotage my ally's army. If he dislikes it and turns against me, he will get steamrolled by opportunist factions on his frontier. If he focuses on preventing those factions on the frontier from breaking in, mass rebellions (and army sabotage hiccups) will plague his lands.

[gyabo]

I've just found a handy little wheeze that is, I admit, fairly underhand, but not quite cheating either...Playing as the Shimazu in alliance with the Ottomo after I kicked them off the Western island and converted to Christianity, we both expanded rapidly. The Ottomo across the west of the main island and myself via the Chosokabe island before hitting the Ikko Ikki who were dominating the centre. We both met up at Kyoto around the same time just after Realm Divide, but the Ottomo got in first besieging the Shogunate. I joined the battle as reinforcements, but the city still went to them, even though I did most of the fighting. Having saved the game beforehand, I reloaded and tried again, not wishing to have to break the alliance (with the Ikko Ikki still very strong to the east), but the same thing happened again. On the third attempt, I exited the game just after the battle started and conceded defeat...My troops, which hadn't even entered the field by that stage, were virtually undamaged, but the the Ottomo were almost completely wiped out in the auto-resolve, as were the forces of the Shogunate, allowing me to grab Kyoto easily the next turn and keep the alliance intact. Whether it will stay that way remains to be seen...

My suggestion use your ninja to sabotage your allies like sabotage army. Sabotaging an army would force any Campaign unit not to move in one turn Also it is bad idea to allied someone near some province you wanted to conquered due allies would betray you eventually. To deal with Ikko Ikki is quite easy, you could now send some Missionary agents to incite revolt with high chances due having different religion give you high chances to succeed. Also you could allied with eastern clan like Takeda. Creating another front that would make Ikko ikki weak.