strong alliances

[Apraxiteles]

There's an option at the bottom of the diplomacy window for "offer as gift", without asking anything in return. Not that the AI will always accept the offer, but they usually do, espescially if it's cash.

[m046720]

There's an option at the bottom of the diplomacy window for "offer as gift", without asking anything in return. Not that the AI will always accept the offer, but they usually do, espescially if it's cash.

And on a VH campaign, does this effect having potentially strong alliances?

[Apázlinemjó]

And on a VH campaign, does this effect having potentially strong alliances?

Nope, if you really want stronger alliances play on medium Campaign Difficulty.

[Macilrille]

They always end up betraying you anyway. The Artificial inanity is berserk and attacks you with all factions that you have a land border with sooner or later. It is but a question of time...

[DaciaJC]

And on a VH campaign, does this effect having potentially strong alliances?

No alliance is strong in a VH campaign. Though you can try to delay the inevitable by offering seasonal gifts to the tune of 500 mnai or so (someone specifically mentioned that amount; I forgot who).

[Whatever Scortamareva]

You want to set up a regular tribute from you to the Faction you're allied with. Try something small 200mnai a turn for 20turns or something else you can easily keep up. The AI will be more hesitant in attacking you since you're giving them money.

[Bumblebee]

I've been able to keep the peace with Eiperos to the north as Koinon Hellenon (H/H campaign) for over 30 years since allying myself with them by giving them about 500 minai every turn. Course there'll also busy expanding their domain to the north as well, but their settlements along my border would make easy conquest were I not tied up in Anatolia...

Really if you want to get on someone's good side and stay there, I've found that every turn it's vital that you give them some scratch or to help fight alongside them in battle, even if it's just token support.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Also, never let your own cities that are close to their empire become thinly-garrisoned. I noticed in three campaigns that the moment my ally turns on me happened exactly after I let one of the border cities almost defenceless. It seems the AI evaluates the success probability of a venture, with various factors stacked against each other, and when it decides the military venture is worth more than the alliance & other factors, it goes on with the venture.

To test this, I loaded one of my savegames a turn before they attacked me (my Romani campaign, Saba as the long-time allies, and almost-empty Alexandria as their target city), but this time heavily garrisoning the previously almost-empty border city. I was correct; they did to attack me. In my current campaign as Eperios, I spotted three Pontic (who are my allies) stacks moving for two turns in a row against my Byzantion, which had only one levy unit as a garrison. So I moved an adjacent army into the city, and the next turn, the stacks of Pontic soldiers turned back and dispersed .

EDIT: BTW, in all three campaigns I have given a gift of 500 mnai per turn - and they still attacked me (M difficulty for the first two, and VH for the current Eperios campaign).

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Remember that the game is hardcoded to have you fight a war at all times. So a good way to keep a strong ally is to make sure you are at war with two or three other factions that border you. If you get low on enemies, the game will force an ally to turn on you.