Vassals and war

[deadbringer92]

when I enter a war, do my vassals automatically join the war?

Is there a way to control their units?

it seems to me that all 3 of my vassals are just doing nothing on the map while im struggling to hold enemy armies...

[Malaficus Shaikan]

They do but they do a bad job of it.
In my experiance:
They raid the enemy but never attack cities.
They seem to use the ai from planetfall.
Aka the dont risk your units ai that refuses to fight anything dangerous.
They also seem to hate attacking cities.

[deadbringer92]

that sucks, I have one ally and 3 supreme vassals, and I'm literally fighting the war alone against only one ruler :(

[BigJ]

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

They do but they do a bad job of it.
In my experiance:
They raid the enemy but never attack cities.
They seem to use the ai from planetfall.
Aka the dont risk your units ai that refuses to fight anything dangerous.
They also seem to hate attacking cities.

They rarely even exit their own borders in my experience, atleast planetfall ai did raiding consistently if they didn't spot your troops.

[Sh4nK]

AI just camps their capital on brutal. It's like playing a game of monopoly against yourself.

[easytarget]

I've got 3 vassals currently, but if you were to judge based off what they do you'd think I had zero.

When the enemy showed up with some stacks to cause some mischief they sat at their cities and watched.

When I took stacks to lay siege to this enemy and put an end to them my vassals sent exactly zero units to help out.

From a war perspective vassals do absolutely nothing whatsoever.

[Nylocke Dragon of many miracles]

Agreed, I wish the vassals had a more active role even if it was just a small contingent they'd send at enemies your at war with like the random free cities your at war with do. I know they have occasional quests but heck even an occasional "Yo here's some unit" based on the city's development.

[Xiane]

Likewise for empires you have an alliance with. They just tend to do their own thing while you and your opponent tear each other apart.

[M0S5Y.ctn]

Strategy games don't have the best AIs in general, but Age's iteration is more passive than most, especially when it comes to actions that aren't player-facing. Free cities only influence the moment-to-moment gameplay when they are at war with you, at which point they'll periodically send raiding parties; but judging from what I've seen so far (and how other parts of the AI work), they don't send raiding parties to AIs they're at war with - only against players.

I was hoping we'd get an option to set something like a war co-ordination target to at least direct our vassals into some form of action every now and then, but as it is they just exist for some passive income and recruiting units from them every now and then until you can absorb them (and maybe an early warning sign against enemies due to their shared vision).

[gompo]

the main usage of vassals is getting units from the Rally of Lieges. If you have 3 vassals you should be able to recruit a bunch of units and get an edge over your opponent.

[deadbringer92]

Allies are absolutely uselss in war aswell, even when they are the ones declaring war, I am literally fighting alone even tho I have 2 allies and 3 vassals...

[PewSquare]

Honestly, i dont think i have ever seen them do anything. I had enemy armies run trough my vassals territory, and i had enemy 1 unit stacks raid my territory right next to my vassals, and in both situations they did absolutely nothing about it.

[easytarget]

Yep, seen that as well. The stacks that attacked me went through one of my vassals territory to get to me. They just sat their with some popcorn and watched.

[Walter O'Dim [Kapo]]

Vassals do nothing against other Ai , they will launch stack at the player but as ally they are no existant , only through rally of the lieges do they serve some purpose (and sharing ressources). I wish we could call for help , paying money or imperium to force them to launch raid at ennemies , with the strenght of the stacks send depending on how much you pay or something like that

EDIT; i just signed a defensive pack with an Ai lord (not a vassal) cost me 350 glod , the Ai just decline the call to war when i got attacked NEXT TURN lol , i now have a ridicule .. 6 grievance ... 350 gold lost and an useless traitor ally ...

Diplomacy need a bloody rework , even worst than total war wahammer

[Dain_Ironfoot]

Definitely could use some changes to the vassals when stuff is in their territory. Mine have hordes of monsters roaming and growing stronger, practically taking over parts of their land when my vassals have a bunch of units that could at least keep them from getting out of hand.

[easytarget]

I'm no programmer, I'll concede that point upfront.

But it does seem like you could do something along the lines of an if/then statement.

For example: if the enemy literally walks into your territory then attack them. Or if your allies are attacked then attack the enemy attacking them. Or if your allies siege a city then join the siege.

And how do I know this is possible? Because I regularly get help from my allies in Imperiums: Greek Wars, a game made by exactly one guy.

Here's the chef's kiss on Imperiums. The allies settlers who act as workers, they even show up in my territory and build improvements like roads and farms.