Allies Are Not Helping

[Nourve]

How come that the allies of the opponent are always ready to aid their friend, however my allies are nearly useless? My allies never support me in wars (nor defensive, nor offensive). They even declare a war on me once I am at war with somebody else. Any thoughts on the matter?

[Zortex]

I just wanted to check that you are aware you have to actually ask them to join the war? They won't do it automatically. You should see a prompt about it in the list of stuff the game reminds you about at the top.

Edit: It does cost some prestige, usually but not always.

[Nourve]

Originally posted by Zortex:

I just wanted to check that you are aware you have to actually ask them to join the war? They won't do it automatically. You should see a prompt about it in the list of stuff the game reminds you about at the top.

Edit: It does cost some prestige, usually but not always.

I tried to look for such a thing, but I think I have not seen it anywhere

[Zortex]

Originally posted by Nourve:

I tried to look for such a thing, but I think I have not seen it anywhere :gr_sad:

Let's try go step by step then.

1) Are you sure you have an alliance? If you select your character it should show your allies flag and if you hover over it say why you are allied (who is married for example).
2) Assuming you're in a war, check the notifications at the top. There should be something along the lines of 'can invite allies to war'.
3) If no for 2, try right clicking on the allied ruler and see if there is an option there.

Edit: Note there is other flags by the alliances too, slightly different, which are for truces. Make sure it's not that.

[Zortex]

Oh also sometimes, depending on who you're allied too, you can't invite them. In particular you cannot invite vassals to a war and you cannot invite your liege if you're warring another vassal. Similarly you can't invite someone to fight their own liege.

I might be slightly wrong on those specifics but there is rules like that.

[Duilf]

The AI recognizes you as the player, and doesn't give you any more slack then it has to. Like most AI the goal is for them to avoid losing their battle which isn't the same as helping you win.

Basically each AI ally considers themselves an independent entity, and will only attack if their numbers directly beat the opponent with a few exceptions. Which makes AI allies as a whole pretty much worthless.

[Captain Chaos]

AI traits have a place in decision to assist your armies, and is influenced by the potential outcome to the battle.

[The Former]

The trick is to work with your allies, not expect them to serve you. Allies will conduct themselves according to their AI principles, which derive from character traits. Bold rulers will fling their men into action more readily, while cautious or prudent rulers will do it only when victory is more assured.

Always remember that your allies are "people" (I mean they're computers, but speaking in-universe), try to get in their head, and maneuver accordingly. Things become a little easier then.

[jerrypocalypse]

Originally posted by Lockfågel, Paradoxriddaren:

The trick is to work with your allies, not expect them to serve you. Allies will conduct themselves according to their AI principles, which derive from character traits. Bold rulers will fling their men into action more readily, while cautious or prudent rulers will do it only when victory is more assured.

Always remember that your allies are "people" (I mean they're computers, but speaking in-universe), try to get in their head, and maneuver accordingly. Things become a little easier then.

In addition to this, the AI will weigh your current inputted action into consideration. For example, if you are the war leader, they tend to order part of their army to follow or stick close to your main army. If your main army is currently moving toward a location to fight a battle, they will begin to move their army, if close enough, to assist you in the battle (taking AI personality into consideration of course).

[Bordric]

My allies generally do ok, they generally find my army and back it up which is fine, if they are more powerful they will go off and siege.

[kimberlake]

I might have a similar problem with my game... I hadn't played the game for about 5 months and recently jumped in where I ended last time (now plagues is new and introduced, which seems a bit bug-ish??)

Anyway, usually when I entered wars, whether initiated by me or not, I usually got a notification to invite allies. But now I don't get a notification. I can see that I have 7 allies when I open the war button in the bottom right corner, but there is no notification, and no action to be made by right clicking the various allies (and no, it's not because it's their leige, I couldn't invite during invasion of a different kingdom, nor a peasant uprising).
Anyone know if this is a bug or if I by accident might have lost the option to invite allies in war?

[RevoDragon]

Wayyy late for this, but mine bugged after I spent prestige on him to join my war, but he was already defending against a holy war. (Presumably could be any war.)
However, he was already an ally in that war, and that war was much closer than my war. So he, and his enemy, seem to have become completely immobile, not defending any of their counties in their war.
This left me to waste prestige and basically attack myself in my war. So yeah, be careful if there's any wars going on closer to your ally's territory.

[AdmiralPiett]

Originally posted by RevoDragon:

Wayyy late for this, but mine bugged after I spent prestige on him to join my war, but he was already defending against a holy war. (Presumably could be any war.)
However, he was already an ally in that war, and that war was much closer than my war. So he, and his enemy, seem to have become completely immobile, not defending any of their counties in their war.
This left me to waste prestige and basically attack myself in my war. So yeah, be careful if there's any wars going on closer to your ally's territory.

Holy necro batman