How to obtain Military / Defensive alliances?

[Christofferson]

I can't seem to be able to coax the AI in to becoming my ally under most circumstances. The only time I was offered an alliance was when a faction was a lone army with their last region(s) recently conquered. So my question is, what does it take to obtain a formidable ally? I remember a while back in my Suebi campaign, I was able to have Lugii as my ally from the beginning and they stayed loyal for the length of my campaign. Until of course my Germanic reign wanted to fill in the holes of the provinces I didn't have. (I was a "Bersereker like" in my conquering.)

[geala]

I had only two longer campaigns repectively am playing it and I get military and defensive alliances all the time. I'm playing on hard for the campaign however, not vh. I'm playing as Ptolemaioi and have military alliances with the Seleucids, Massilia, the Hellenic League, Pergamon, Pontos and Macedon and some defensive alliances with Carthage, the Gallic Confederation and some smaller states. I try to be reliable all the time, although I recently had to declare war on my satrapy Cyprus who stole two regions from me. I never declared war on a bigger state, although I was at war with Carthage once a time who helped a client state against me, but then made peace and left their ally alone (these traitors ). I think it really helps when you are militarily and economically strong. Sometimes I gave some money in addition to get some treaties. As soon as I see a new nation I start diplomatic relations, first a non-aggression pact and a trade treaty. Over the time that improves the relations enough to get alliances, at least most of the times. Except for the Romans but I don't know anybody on earth who likes the Romans or wishes to ally with those barbarians.

[xisheng]

Usually you will get allies when you are strong, by that i mean when you have a lot of regions under your control, then they will be more likely to ally with you, also, defensive allies are pointless, you can get tons of them by giving out money or simply because the faction likes you, and then, nobody will ever declare war on you. Few campaigns back i had almost all factions as my defensive allies and client states and just roflstomped them 1 by 1. Either military ally (which is hard to get, especially early to mid game) or nothing.

[Alu10]

The more they like you the better the chances, also you should be strong enough. trading + non aggression pact + military access is always a good way to make it easier to get allies. Try to "bribe" them by offering declaration of war against their enemies if they are worried / weaker, they will say yes. The best allies are always the most loyal ones, devious ones are not worth the friendship. Sometimes defensive allies are good, if you are weak and fear a specific faction. Thats the good thing about diplomacy, you can win or lose, choosing the friends wisely is key.