Cyrene

[Spartan198]

I've played two campaigns as the Macedonians since I figured out how to unlock my files (I run Vista,and if anyone reading this has the same problem as I did,there's a quick and easy step-by-step solution in the Modding Questions section of the Rome forums entitled "Windows Vista Users,Read This"),and I've noticed a strange happening in each one: at some point in the game,Cyrene (the rebel settlement directly south of Greece on the opposite side of the Mediterranean) will suddenly transvert to Macedonian rule without any notice.
Now,mind you,I never sent any kind of invasion force at any point in either of those two campaigns,and I'm not really complaining about getting a settlement without any effort on my part (even though said settlement is of little strategic value),I'm only puzzled as to why this happens.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

This depends on who the "faction creator" is set as in the "descr_strat.txt" file.

The setting defines what the settlement's culture is (shared with the faction creator) and who it will rebel to if it's captured by somebody who is not a member of it's culture group.

Cyrene has Macedon set as its faction creator, so will automatically rebel to the Macedonians if it is captured by a non-Greek faction and then it revolts against its new overlords. This is highly likely to happen in Cyrene, surrounded by Carthaginians and Egpytians.

All cities have a faction creator assigned to them. Often though rebellions to the faction creator are unlikely to occur since they are surrounded by factions of the same culture group as the faction creator. If a faction which is of the same culture group as the creator is holding it, then it defects to rebel control in the case of civil revolts. If the creator has been destroyed the settlement also goes into rebel hands if it revolts.

The faction creator is automatically changed to that of the upgrading faction when the governor's residence is upgraded.

[Quirinus]

Ah. Yes. I've noticed that too-- highly annoying at times. Other than the tale of the gold-chevroned peasants of Noricum that I like to repeat so much, I also had Dumatha revolt to Parthia once, playing as the Egyptians. I've noticed that if this happens, the faction it revolts to goes to war with you. Does that happen with everyone? It was quite annoying, because I was going to suggest an alliance against the Seleucids with Parthia when they went to war with me over some grimy desert town.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Ah. Yes. I've noticed that too-- highly annoying at times. Other than the tale of the gold-chevroned peasants of Noricum that I like to repeat so much, I also had Dumatha revolt to Parthia once, playing as the Egyptians. I've noticed that if this happens, the faction it revolts to goes to war with you. Does that happen with everyone? It was quite annoying, because I was going to suggest an alliance against the Seleucids with Parthia when they went to war with me over some grimy desert town.

Yep - whenever a city rebels to any faction war is declared between the two parties. This includes the rebels if they have sent one of their diplomats to negotiate a ceasefire/alliance.

I've had a similar thing happen to me before. I was the Greek Cities, in a loving relationship with the Gauls. We shared a few borders across Europe, but the AI was maintaining the alliance, possibly helped by the regular tribute of 1,000 denarii per turn which I had granted them for as long as we both survived (it was limited to 9,999,999 turns, but that's pretty much the same thing).

Anyhow, the Brutii, who had a few provinces in Western Greece, owned Patavium and I chose to conquer it from them. I occupied it and the city instantaneously began rioting against me. Since it had not been upgraded by the Romans it was still a Barbarian Large Town.

When it finally revolted against me, and my troops were kicked out, it went to Gaul. All of our friendly peace treaties were marked void and their forces began rapid swarming into my lands. Although I eventually managed to defeat them, it took a lot of resources and man power. Especially since I was also fighting the Scythians at the time.

Not good anyhow

[Quirinus]

I have a rather off-topic question: if you go to war with a faction that you were paying tribute to, does the tribute automatically cease like trade, or are you stuck with paying them? Or is there a way to manually cancel the tribute?

[Spartan198]

...maintaining the alliance, possibly helped by the regular tribute of 1,000 denarii per turn which I had granted them for as long as we both survived (it was limited to 9,999,999 turns, but that's pretty much the same thing).

Guess that's as good a way as any to maintain an alliance. I'll have to try that.

[Punicus]

I have a rather off-topic question: if you go to war with a faction that you were paying tribute to, does the tribute automatically cease like trade, or are you stuck with paying them? Or is there a way to manually cancel the tribute?

I'm pretty sure it just ends. I've offered a faction 5,000 per turn for 5 turns which they accepted and broke the same turn, and I don't remember still paying them (I would have noticed had I been losing 5,000 per turn).

[The New Che Guevara]

at some point in the game,Cyrene (the rebel settlement directly south of Greece on the opposite side of the Mediterranean) will suddenly transvert to Macedonian rule without any notice.

I'm thinking this is because of the campaign of Alexander. Like Massilia has greek shrines/temples, Cyrene was part of the Macedon Empire under the rule of Alexander himself. After all this is after Alexander's death, hence Ptolemaic egypt, the Selucid Empire and the Greek Cities. My friend told me that it also transverts to Greek rule (presumably if you haven't modded the game or if you are playing as the Greeks) and it's amazing how well they stuck to the reality of it.