Coalitions

**Megas Methuselah** · 11-03-2008, 05:03

Wouldn't it be awesome if, in a small amount of time, a state conquered a large amount of land and became unexpectedly powerful, resulting in nearby opposing states to form coalitions in order to present a unified front against a common enemy? It would be a sort of last-ditch attempt to preserve the balance of powers, help prevent any unrealistic expansionism, and just be a very cool feature.

I don't necessarily mean this to be coalitions against human players, but any aggressively expansionist power. Moreover, it shouldn't be the goal to wipe that power out, but rather to render it weak, resulting in revolutions with the goal of reforming the governments or just starting a new faction(with a fresh diplomatic reputation) to take its place.

Share your thoughts, fellow Orgahs! We all have our two cents.

**Martok** · 11-03-2008, 06:25

I'm certainly all for it.

MTW actually has a system somewhat like this, albeit cruder -- such coalitions (if successful) usually end up simply destroying the superpower they ganged up on, instead of merely weakening it. To have a more sophisticated system in Empire like you outlined would be very desirable indeed.

**Mailman653** · 11-03-2008, 07:44

That does sound pretty neat, especially if you can set aside your differences to attack someone else, like a temporary peace until you can weaken or destroy the other nation, or get destroyed yourself in the process.

Kind of like the Crusades in MTW2, where a bunch of nations join up, but then taking that concept further.

**anders** · 11-03-2008, 10:52

isnt this what happens in every single game of m2tw? the human faction getting ganged up on by every single faction it borders

**PBI** · 11-03-2008, 11:05

Yes, but then they are all at war with each other as well, so none of them ever actually get around to attacking you. It would be very nice if the other factions could set aside their petty differences to deal with the greater threat; I suppose we see something sort of like this with Crusades if you are a Muslim faction.

**Martok** · 11-03-2008, 11:06

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Anyway, back to topic:

Something else I've been wondering about is whether we might see one coalition battle another in Empire. (After all, Napoleonic France did have *some* allies -- not everyone opposed them.) I imagine this might be difficult to implement, but I would dance a jig if something like it made it into the game.

**Sol Invictus** · 11-03-2008, 14:59

I would love to see this, but it would require a very robust Diplomatic AI. I am doubtful CA could pull it off. Remember, we are still at the point of simply hoping that the AI will refrain from being our faithful ally one turn and stabbing us in the back the next turn for no apparent reason.

**Martok** · 11-03-2008, 17:54

Oh, I know. Sometimes it's nice to dream, however.

**Monk** · 11-03-2008, 17:59

Originally Posted by Martok

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

I'm onto you, Mr. MTW moderator!

I think it's okay to hope, but we can't expect too much lest we open ourselves to disappointment. Honestly as long as the AI can conduct itself in an intelligent manner and provide a challenging front to me I'll be happy. From information that has been shared with us in regards to the AI, and from what I've read in interviews, it sounds top notch.

Can only hope it is as good as it sounds.

**Megas Methuselah** · 11-03-2008, 22:51

Yeah, this would be sooo sweet. I keep hearing reassuring comments from CA that diplomacy is going to be better, etc, etc. That being so, we can live in hope for this sort of feature.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: