Favorite Ally

[dgfred]

As the Polish it is the HRE, but sooner or later they always seem to get wiped out. I don't like the Hungarians, they always attack me at the worst possible time.

I almost always play HRE and the Hungarians are a pest - they
either sneak attack or keep building up and threatening Austria/Venice.
Poland is a good partner for me in most games and I will not even mention
those treacherous Byzantines .

[DensterNY]

I agree about willing to share the world for a trustworthy ally which is much more realistic in a common sense manner. There would be an uneasy truce perhaps and a bit of intermarriage but overall nations should see the advantage gained in alliances as it makes them stronger. And I mean real alliances not like the phony baloney ones that rulers would make or break with or without reason. I know its a balance between historical accuracy and gameplay but when you're a nearly unstopable threat people would more likely kiss your ass than try and kick it.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

The HRE, always a strong flank. If I'm the HRE, then I'd prefer Byzantines, Hungary, or Spain.

[NodachiSam]

I agree about willing to share the world for a trustworthy ally which is much more realistic in a common sense manner. There would be an uneasy truce perhaps and a bit of intermarriage but overall nations should see the advantage gained in alliances as it makes them stronger. And I mean real alliances not like the phony baloney ones that rulers would make or break with or without reason. I know its a balance between historical accuracy and gameplay but when you're a nearly unstopable threat people would more likely kiss your ass than try and kick it.

I agree often I'll own more than half of Europe and small cute factions will regret alliances even though I might've just crushed another faction with 5 or more provinces in all at once the previous year.
Also, if you've had an alliance with a faction for over a hundred years having had mutual enemies and allies and essentially one family is ruling both factions because princesses have gone back and forth so much you had better need one heck of a good reason to attack them.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Currently I really like having the Italians as an ally and the Byzantines as a nuetral border. Without the Byzantines as nuetral my South Eastern border would be menaced along with my far east border consisting of Kiev (only Kiev due to rebel provinces further north, Kiev is threatened by the Mongols) and the Italians are just nice to have, despite having merely two provinces (Genoa and Mila, I helped save Milan for them, and then they expanded into Genoa as I kicked the English in Norther Italy for them). The help limit my border against the French, which was the English before they collapsed due to rebellions and French reemergence. I think I'll keep them around as an amusement.

[Emerald Wolf]

Do you think perhaps it's possible to incude a happiness modifier when breaking an alliance. Perhaps -20% to end and alliance peacfully, like if 2 allies go to war, or -40% to attack an ally. Maybe the threat of continuous rebellion would make the AI keep the alliances more intact.

[DensterNY]

Well, although I've not played Rome since I bought Medieval Total War it seems its been somewhat addressed as my allies there acted more like allies. We fought the same enemies and we didn't amass humongous defensive armies on each other's borders... unfortunately in many, many other aspects Rome does not compare to Medieval's gameplay.

Another instance of stupidity that I encountered with the AI is that I had on all of my borders with Poland extremely powerful and fully stacked defensive armies. However, they are hard-wired to declare war against me and yet their armies are afraid to march against mine so what do they do? They build up a measely ship and attack mine just so that formal war is declared... utterly stupid as they gained absolutely nothing and opened the invitation for me to anhiliate them.

[dgfred]

I have had Poland act very similarly in my HRE games , I wonder
why they do this instead of attacking eastward? It really shortens the life of
their empire .

[Budwise]

They build up a measely ship and attack mine just so that formal war is declared... utterly stupid as they gained absolutely nothing and opened the invitation for me to anhiliate them.

First, what else did you expect from the Polish? Anyways, I get really annoyed and althought the offending country is absolutely no match, WHATSOEVER, I press a full on attack with whatever I have free. I take everything but one province, shashing and burning everything but the fort (If I want to build later, its a pain to get the castle back.) and let them keep their capital with nothing and let them suffer finantially. I will then finish them off later by Nickel and Diming, sending in like horse archers to decimate and withdraw.

I know the CPU can't get pissed off but if I did this against a human player, I TELL YOU THAT THEY WILL NEVER STAB ME IN THE BACK AGAIN.

[Ludens]

However, they are hard-wired to declare war against me and yet their armies are afraid to march against mine so what do they do? They build up a measely ship and attack mine just so that formal war is declared... utterly stupid as they gained absolutely nothing and opened the invitation for me to anhiliate them.

Single ships work as a magnet for the A.I.: they just can't resist attacking them, even when war would be an extremily bad idea.

I am wondering if CA decided to use agent A.I. for the boats. You see, I think that, in terms of program-code, ships are just a kind of agent, like spies and assasins, that is limited to sea zones. The A.I. has no problem sending agents after a human player, even when he is neutral or even allied. Since agent attacks, even when they fail, do not mean a declaration of war, this is a sensible strategy.

If my theory is correct, then it would explain why the A.I. is so eager to attack single ships: it sees only the high chance of succes (since the A.I. usually has an edge in sea battles) and does not realize it will cause a war.

Do you think this is a viable hypothesis?