What\'s the Use of Allying?

I just have a simple question. What's the benefit of allying with the other cpu clan? I really don't know what's the point of allying. I'm gonna be enemy with the ally anyway. And my ally is not going to help me with battles neither.

1. You can inherit some of his provinces if your ally daimyo dies without a heir (if you we're his first ally).

2. An ally, will attack his ennemy before you, giving you time (You still have to check your borders though, any daimyo, even an ally will attack a weak border province). With MI, if an alliance is broken by an invasion of a province, the daimyo who was the culprit will loose 1 point of honor.

3. You can gang up on a single ennemy, stuck between both of you (in my last game Oda my ally and I we're both attacking Takeda stuck in the middle, thus an easier time to conquer provinces).

What he said. Plus:

You also get trade income from alliances.

(Kuma already went over this, but) When an alliance is broken, the daimyo who broke it takes a hit to honor, which is nice since you will most likely have to face him later.

Gives honor to emissaries, making them harder to kill, and which helps in making future alliances and (not sure about this) in bribing enemy armies.

Your borders with your ally don't need to have too many troops in them, letting you concentrate your forces elsewhere, and making it easier for you to invade the ally's provinces (since he, presumably, won't keep to many troops on his borders either).

Allies will occasionally help you in taking a province.

------------------
"You have offended my family, and you have offended a Shaolin temple."