Quote Originally Posted by easytarget View Post
... these guys will not stay with you forever, so you better be primed with your army for a medium speed blitzkrieg and have a plan of attack where you are going...

Early on in the campaign you have to pick who you are going to trade with and stick with for the long term, if you choose wisely and select one of the clans that tends to survive to the end having been with them in an alliance for the entire campaign they will hold out for awhile post RD. Like the vassal strategy above, time is not on your side, you do need to get on it once RD kicks in.
Thanks - that's actually what I have seen and experienced. But for me, given the eventual/inevitable betrayal and the time it takes to meet the victory tally for provinces (I prefer long campaigns) I actually find it easier to do without bad allies.

I prep up to the line for RD, but then try to ensure post RD battles and the main effort takes place on Honshu, as an irressistable wave moving up/down the island - culminating around Kyoto. I try to have at least 1 army per road/route and guard the flanks at sea with navies to prevent landings in my rear, which avoids having reserve stacks and allows me to focus on the front. I find vacilating allies/vassals and their trade would only complicate the issue and the cost of defense against them would outweigh the revenue which they'd generate.