Protectorate

I was playing as the Scythians and i was attacked by the Germans but was a very successful battle against them. However in the next turn they demanded I become a protectorate. Ive never been a protectorate before and I accepted if they would pay me a lot of denarii. (Cause i was in debt anyway.) Are there any advantages to being a protectorate and how can I make factions a become a protectorate when I play?

1) Being a protectorate means you must pay them a regular fee every turn, and you are not allowed (I think) to expand your borders any farther. In turn, the faction that you are protected under must, well, protect you.

I wouldn't imagine there are any advantages.


2) You [i]can[\i] make a faction become a Protectorate, but it's very difficult. You have to mass their borders with gigantic, threatening armies, blockade all their ports, etc. In other words, put a strangle hold on them. They might be willing to become a Protectorate then, but it's rare. Either way, most people just demolish the faction anyways, as you probably get more money if you conquer the cities. But at the same time, you don't have to build an army to conquer those cities, so you can concentrate your efforts elsewhere.

Hi Rotc_Railey15,
Sadly, protectorates aren't really a very positive thing for the protected faction at all. Although the protected faction earns automatic trade rights, military access and an alliance with the protecting faction, it also comes with a nasty price.

Firstly, the protected faction, if it's treasury reaches a certain limit, is forced to pay tribute to the protecting faction. This often can cause some nasty hits to the treasury, often landing you in a situation worse than you started off. The only way you can avoid this theft is by keeping your treasury nice and low. Sadly though, in R:TW, this is often quite a hard thing to do.

In addition to forcing money grabbing, the protectorate treaty also forces the protected faction's territories to be counted among those of the protector. This make protectorates a very negative thing to agree to if your protector just needs a few more territories to meet it's victory conditions! It may also be wise to cancel the treaty if you do hear that your protector is close to winning.

Of course, these penalties work the other way around as bonuses when you are the faction doing the protecting. As you may have experienced though, protectorates are very tricky things to negotiate. It's often not really worth the effort. If you are desperate for one though, you could try placing as much military pressure upon the faction as possible. Blockade their ports, place large armies on their borders and besiege as many of their cities as possible. This sometimes works, although most of the time after this tactic is used the faction is so ravaged that a protectorate will hardly benefit you at all. Generally, it is better to just take their last few settlements off them.

Hope this helps you, good luck, cheers!

Thanks guys. Ive just never really understood how Protectorates work. Thankfully, I havent payed any tributes yet so I think Ill gain independence from those Germans! I was actually doing pretty well. I destroyed Thrace and expanded by 2 provinces since Ive become a protecorate. But I think I should declare Independence soon.