Timing your attack

[blazer-glory]

I guess its part of the game and will come with experience but the one thing I overlooked was the when and where I attack. Having just played a dry run I noticed in the first few turns that everyone is wanting to make pacts with me putting me on the spot some what and making me a little more guilty about attacking anyone!!

[HiPlnzDrifta]

it makes your clan look weak if you make pacts with too many clans....they then will attack you relentlessly...

i usually dont even give audience to these reprobates....

sengoku jidai!!! attack attack attack!!!

[blazer-glory]

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I try to get a pact with one of my neighbors so I can finish off the rest of my neighbors and then smash them.

But as far as I remember the computer doesn't really honor alliances so you still need a garrison and you'll never really have any sort of long-lasting alliance. Feel no regret, they will have a better life under your benevolent rule.

[Ludens]

I only ally with neighbours I don't want to attack, or neighbours of neighbours I do want to attack. The rest can take a hike as far as I am concerned. Just because they want an alliance doesn't mean they like me: especially Takeda is known to offer alliances and break them the next turn. I almost always grant emissaries an audience though; no need to antagonize other factions unnecesarily. Then I attack the faction that forms either the greatest threat or the provinces that come with the greatest rewards (not always money, security on one flank is very valuable as well). I do not let the other factions diplomatic stance dictate my actions, and will only seldom be disuaded from an attack by the diplomatic fall-out.

[blazer-glory]

Yeah I see it now. Im guessing factions will only want to make peace with you if a) They see you as a threat
or
b) They are not strong enough yet to confront you.

[Togakure]

Whether I ally with other clans or not depends on the approach I'm taking to that particular game. Each alliance yields an income of 250 koku per season, which can be useful in the early turns. If I'm playing a poor clan (e.g. Shimazu), I'll ally with as many as I can just to make the extra dough. I don't take alliances very seriously however--the AI clans just aren't trustworthy. Sometimes though, if you wait a bit, watch what's going on on the map, and then pick and choose ONE ally with mutual enemies and never attack them, and support them with troops when they attack mutual enemies, I have found that sometimes (and only sometimes) they will actually remain quite loyal to you--until the mutual enemies are destroyed and there's no one left for them to attack but you .... This can be very helpful if one of the other clans is very strong (like Imagawa tends to be early on in the Sengoku and 1530 scenarios); you can leverage the strength, position, and flow of your ally against them. Anyway, that's my two quatloos on this one.

[blazer-glory]

Thanks,interesting stuff

[NodachiSam]

That dastardly AI is all mechanical scheming, expect to be burnt. In MTW and probably STW too the ai will gang up on you if you are strong, never allying to you, even if you are rediculously overpowering. Say they have 1 mere backwater province and you own 2/3rds of the map they still will refuse an alliance. If they didn't perhaps they would constantly try to be allies with you near the end of the game making it less enjoyable.

[Drisos]

Sometimes though, if you wait a bit, watch what's going on on the map, and then pick and choose ONE ally with mutual enemies and never attack them, and support them with troops when they attack mutual enemies, I have found that sometimes (and only sometimes) they will actually remain quite loyal to you--until the mutual enemies are destroyed and there's no one left for them to attack but you .... This can be very helpful if one of the other clans is very strong (like Imagawa tends to be early on in the Sengoku and 1530 scenarios); you can leverage the strength, position, and flow of your ally against them.

I second that... I always used to play Uesugi or Takeda, and team up with the other one of the two (Uesugi or Takeda) against the Hojo and the Imagawa.

[AggonyDuck]

Well personally I accept every alliance offer I can get except for the next target of my hostilities. That extra cash helps and generally it's the AI that does the alliance breaking for me....

[Togakure]

One can always take the ruthless, antisocial warlord approach and make it a stipulation of the game to NOT make any alliances, disregarding who's who as you expand. It can be fun to take on the whole lot of them, though sometimes it gets a bit dicey.

Whatever works for fun, I say!