Starting a war between allies

[duncan.gill]

I am in a protracted struggled with the yellow death and they, whilst sharing a border with Baktria appear to be good allies. I captured one of their cities near Alexandria and then gifted it to Baktria (who accepted this). I assumed that this state of affairs would not last long and the Ptomlies would attack the Baktrian to reclaim their heartland but they haven't.

What gives??

[QuintusSertorius]

You need to have destroyed a lot of the happiness buildings (but leave alone those which don't affect it - like barracks), and then loaded the place up with spies, or a good spy. Then have assassins damage anything the new owners build. And you need to do it in the first turns of new ownership while it's got the "new government" unrest penalty.

I made Qarthadast and the Lusotanii go to war having been allies in my game recently, now Qarthadast are conquering nicely.

[duncan.gill]

Is the point to get the province to rebel back to its previous owners (and therefore trick the invaders into thinking that they have been attacked)?

[vdpk7]

how about using force diplomacy to make the ptolemies attack baktria?

[duncan.gill]

Don't like using force diplomacy - even though the AI for diplomacy is broken in RTW it still feels a bit like cheating.

[Ibrahim]

actually, I can tell you a story from IBFD, to give you an idea of what to do:

I had made an alliance with Sassan (as and Arab), and also with the ERE. they were neutral to one another at the time. then one turn, certain "accidents" happened to the ERE and sassanids, causing the sassanids to attack the ERE. this meant I had the menu bar pop up asking which side must I take: I took Sassan's side.

another, fromEB:

I was waging war gainst the Carthaginians. they were allied to the Aedui, and both were truly annoying. so I went and made an alliance with the Gauls (Aedui), after trucing with them. their alliance to me cancelled the war with me and Carthage for one turn. then I attacked carthage, and since i was very generous to the Aedui, they went on my side: now 2 allies are enemies

the trick is to make an alliance (or at least a truce), with both, than attack one of them, while pampering the other. the pampered one will love you (the AI seems to bow down to my every diplomatic whim), and they will turn on the other ally, achieving your objectives. isn't that charming

another way is to frame the enemy factions, by making secret deals (the "accidents"), but that is trickier.

and no, I didn't use Force diplomacy...

[QuintusSertorius]

Is the point to get the province to rebel back to its previous owners (and therefore trick the invaders into thinking that they have been attacked)?

Yes; if it rebels back to the faction you took it from, then they're immediately put at war. Now they may not necessarily stay at war, but they'll certainly no longer be allies.

how about using force diplomacy to make the ptolemies attack baktria?

Huh, that "promise to attack" business, even if agreed never works.

[Hax]

I believe Quintus is right there, though I never really tried myself.