Two questions

[King John II]

Is it right that I cannot break an alliance to initiate war - whereas the A1 can go to war with me whenever it wants, allied or not?

And when my sea going vessel moves through one sea and into a second can the back stabbing Italians declare war upon me next turn and attack my ship in the sea through which it sailed (but in which it did not stop) - like a pawn in chess capturing en passant?

[Doug-Thompson]

You can break an alliance. The computer will ask if you really want to do this, but you can.

I'm not sure on the second question, but I don't think so.

[Jeebus_Frist]

If you want to break an alliance attack the faction you are allied with. You will be queried on whether or not you really want to, select the check mark for yes and proceed with the attack.

If you are talking about moving a ship that can move multiple sea zones in a single turn, then the answer is no. Jumping from one sea zone over a hostile zone and into a third zone you cannot be attacked anywhere except the original zone your ship came from.

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[King John II]

Thank you, gentlemen.

Can you break the alliance by way of an attack at sea or would it have to be an attack on one of the ally's provinces?

I had thought that for one ship to attack another both had to be in the same sea zone at the same time. I will have to watch in-game to see what you mean about being attacked in the zone your ship just left.

[desdichado]

King John II,

naval attack will cancel alliance just like land attack - you get the same message asking if you wish to break the alliance.

Sea battles I think work like this - say your ship is in sea region 1 with an enemy ship. You move your ship to region 2 and in the same turn the enemy ship in region 1 attacks your ship. There will be naval battle (although possibly if your ship is faster it can escape without fighting but not sure about that). If your ship wins it moves as per normal, if it is destroyed, well you can guess

naval battles (and everything else water related) are a little abstracted so don't worry if it seems confusing cause it is http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Ironside]

About alliances, if you break it you lose one in influence. I love it when the comp breaks the alliance and ends up with a civil war. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
I don't think there is any other downsides with breaking alliances.

[King John II]

That makes sense, desdichado, thanks.

I was puzzled at getting a message to say that my ships had been sunk in sea areas which they had just left. But, of course, my captains do not respond to my commands by sailing into the new area at the same time I move the counter on the board. And the news of the rascally Italians attack (which sinks my ship before it leaves the area it is in) reaches me later.

Previously when I have had ships sunk they were just cruising around in the same sea area, not in the process of moving. So the message to say they have been sunk gives a location which corresponds to the place you expecxt them to be.

What sparked my other question is that I was manoevring to attack the Italians - being a rascally fellow myself http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif - at just the time they were about to hit me. But I am pretty sure I was not allowed to attack their ships. Which I put down to being allied.

But what I now suspect is this. I could not attack them because they had beaten me to the punch, their ships already had orders to attack my ships.

If that suspicion is true you can find out that a sea attack has started by experimentally dropping a ship on your rival. If you get the warning message you pull back - and now you know he is not in the process of attacking you. But if the game won't let you attack it means the ship you tried to attack is in the process of attacking you.

Bearing in mind that the attack is already under way I am not sure what use you can make of the information. But if you have a less powerful but speedier ship you could try fleeing. Or perhaps stacking or unstacking ships might have an effect on the outcome.

Sea power is pretty much the basis for my game at the moment and I am experimenting. If I get to the bottom of this particular point I'll report back. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif