What does a Protectorate do?

The Senate asked me to obtain Carthage's surrender. For 5,000 denarii and increased goodwill, I said why not. Now that they are a protectorate of mine, what exactly do they do? Do they help me in my wars or anything? One of their towns has so many peasants and town militia and is just a town with 537 population and the other (their capital) has a peasant revolt.

They're most likely useless but I still wnat to know the benefits to me.

edit: I got no stat increase after successfully making them a Protectorate. I asked what would they want in exchange for giving me tribute, they said no and my diplomat got a huge stat increase. Funny.

I would expect a protectorate to act like an ally over which you should be able to exercise some degree of control. Perhaps you can order them around like the Senate does the Roman factions. Perhaps someone will drop by who actually knows the answer. ~;)

Isn't a protectorate a bit of a glorified protection racket?
Ie ,you all be good , throw us a little cash now and then,don't give us any grief ,and we'll not sell you all into slavery ,and sow salt where your crops used to grow.

They're not giving me any cash, though I'd appreciate it if they did. They become my ally though I don't really see much advantage in that.

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Originally Posted by andrewt

They're not giving me any cash, though I'd appreciate it if they did. They become my ally though I don't really see much advantage in that.

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Woudn't the advantage be ,that they're not attacking you?
In case you've already got a war going on in another direction.

Or he could have simply wiped them out and netted himself 2 more towns instead of a crippled ally.

The only advantage seems to be that he was able to complete the mission.

Have you looked at your detailed income stats to see if any new money is coming in at all? Do they build anything or just sit there?

I looked. I don't gain anything. The only thing I get is a useless ally. Carthage is really, really weak at that point in my game. I experimented with a more powerful Spain, since they still have around 4 provinces, and I managed to make them agree. The advantage of having a protectorate, I suppose is gaining an ally to everything that I do while not worrying about that faction allying with the other side. It's actually not much of a bonus since the Senate made me grab Carthage before that and the Scipii already had 2 of their provinces. They're just cannon fodder now.

You are missing the concept of a protectorate. A country that is a protectorate of yours is under your protection. Countries/factions that invade your protectorate become at war with you. You are pledged to protect that country from outside invaders. There is no benefit other than ensuring that one of your enemies doesn't conquer them without taking you on, and you don't need to expend your resources in occupying them.

In terms of what they are doing for you, they will trade with you and not your enemies.

A patsy kingdom...

Think of it as modern day Iraq or Britain! ~;)