Question - Alliance

**Ed TW** · 10-01-2008, 02:41

How come you can't ally with certain faction?

**decimator22** · 10-01-2008, 02:58

There at war with you, or at war with your ally(not always sometimes you can).

**PBI** · 10-01-2008, 13:27

I have a feeling that whether or not you have the option to offer an alliance with the enemy of your existing ally depends on whether the factions would be prepared to agree to a ceasefire if asked; hence why it tends to work early on in a war (before the grudge between the factions has become too deeply entrenched) but not with factions who have been at war with you for a while.

Incidentally, it is a deeply annoying feature, the whole "ceasefire by third party alliance". I suppose it's a neat idea in principle to be able to mediate a ceasefire agreement between warring factions, but it did lead to an infuriating situation in my Crusades campaign as the Byzantines. I launched a surprise attack against the main cities of the Principality of Antioch, causing Jerusalem to cancel their alliance with them. However, on the next turn they immediately re-allied, forcing me into a ceasefire and lifting all my sieges on Antioch's cities.

This was repeated for the several turns it took for me to train a diplomat, march it through Anatolia and Antioch's lands, reach Jerusalem and cancel my alliance with them. In all that time I was unable to take any settlements since I had no siege weapons and needed a turn to build rams; however the siege would always be immediately cancelled before I could attack and I would have to start again. Since the entire attack was dependent on the element of surprise (I had seized the oppportunity to quickly take the main cities and fortresses of Antioch while their troops were occupied in the East against the Turks), the enforced delay due to diplomatic technicality was infuriating

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**CrossLOPER** · 10-01-2008, 18:36

Diplomacy was never really a strong point in the Total War games...

**PittBull260** · 10-02-2008, 01:41

Originally Posted by CrossLOPER

Diplomacy was never really a strong point in the Total War games...

very true...disapointing in the total war makers but true

**rossahh** · 10-02-2008, 13:44

Isn't there a bug in the diplomacy system that prevents you from allying with a faction who was allied with an enemy of yours even once that enemy faction is dead?

**Heinrich VI** · 10-07-2008, 11:12

yes there is! the only way to get around that one is to forge a marriage alliance or by making them a protectorate. you even get the message that a dead faction agrees to a ceasefire after such a diplomatic move.

**Proserpine** · 10-08-2008, 10:38

Originally Posted by Heinrich VI

yes there is! the only way to get around that one is to forge a marriage alliance or by making them a protectorate. you even get the message that a dead faction agrees to a ceasefire after such a diplomatic move.

Didn't know about that one. It explains a lot though . . .