Why be a protectorate?

Is there a reason to be a protectorate? I have been pushed out of my homeland by the huns. My Sarmatians hold two other cities of little worth. One has been sacked several times previously and I don't have money for repairs and the other is just a hovel. The good news is my 300 Sarmatians killed 2200 Huns!

Anyway, ERE offered protectorate and I don't really know what that means. Is it worth it? What happens to me? I have done it before and I thought the game would end but it didn't. So what is the deal?

Meh, Not very useful. The AI will never really "protect" you especially the ERE, it always gets plastered in my campaigns. Maybe if they're powerful they will help you. But you have to give them alot of tributes every turn. Also, whenever I accept protectorate status, they always attack me the next turn...

Every diplomacy option except for "trade rights" is pretty much useless.

Accepting Protectorate might be worthwhile if you are losing money and are in danger of being attacked by the one making the offer then yea, ask for a bunch of cash and become a Protecorate. And if they attack you right away so what? You just got some free cash. Generally as a Protectorate you simply are giving up your surplus cash each turn to the other faction. If you have little to no surplus cash each turn then it costs you nothing.

Cool. Thanks for the info. ERE Keeps asking me and I keep saying no. I did say yes once and in the same diplomatic session but after I said yes I asked for 10k Denarii. He said something like, "Well I think this alliance business is finished. Let's go our separate ways." I said "bye!"

You also should check to see how close ERE is to its victory conditions; since a protectorate's territories count towards the protector's victory conditions, you might inadvertently hand the ERE the game by becoming its protectorate.

Zoiks!

:san_laugh: