Why would I want a client state?

[Ash//Fox]

I'm in the late late game, just delaying winning so I can grab a few achievements. All of my armies are death balls that can win any fight with auto resolve GG EZ. Everyone hates me because I waged war on some long dead/Romanized friends of theirs or because they're scared of me. They inevitably declare war on me and then I send one army to conquer their whole nation; before my armies can even get there they offer me peace, gold, and to become my client state. Why would I accept that when I could just conquer them and set up more cattle farms and temples to Jupiter?

[2GenL]

at late game not much point, but early and mid game client states can be a good source of steady income

[Ash//Fox]

Originally posted by _2GenL_:

at late game not much point, but early and mid game client states can be a good source of steady income

Better than just taking over?

[MANWHATADONGA]

Yes they can be a buffer against other factions and recruited their units if traviling through their lands

[Salty Nobody]

You can also levy units from them. If your roster sucks and you vassalize a faction with better units you might get a few of those over time. My favorite so far has been Parthia having Thorax Pikes in a H2H campaign.

[sinwar]

the only reason in this game you would ever want a client state is to keep your "empire size" small. taking over regions increases your empire size and at certain thresholds you get more province edicts, can build more agents etc. but it also increases corruption and upkeep etc. so in very rare cases you might want to keep the empire small while still working towards a wincondition (a client state still counts for something like economical win where it says "control a region or have it as military ally or client state" or something.
its basically an irrelevant feature in most cases.

[Haddon]

Originally posted by sinwar:

the only reason in this game you would ever want a client state is to keep your "empire size" small. taking over regions increases your empire size and at certain thresholds you get more province edicts, can build more agents etc. but it also increases corruption and upkeep etc. so in very rare cases you might want to keep the empire small while still working towards a wincondition (a client state still counts for something like economical win where it says "control a region or have it as military ally or client state" or something.
its basically an irrelevant feature in most cases.

There are lots of reasons. They are just pretty specific. It can be very useful to do exactly what Rome did, making numerous client states on your borders, make them act as a buffer zone early and mid-game. Gives you a couple extra turns to get troops ready and to the area if someone declares war on you, clients are great for slowing enemy advance. As others said, you can levy units, and sometimes pretty good ones if the region is powerful. The source of income they give can be very useful in the short-term as you get your own area recently conquered area under control or spend time building up another region or something, but still want that region protected a bit. I can turn an enemy into a friend over time, which can be really useful in a few circumstances (like I really like to make Macedon into a client while playing as Rome, help them to take control of Greece, and then they become both an excellent buffer for the east and Steppe, as well as eventually becoming friendly, but keeping them from getting too powerful).

More often than not, conquest is a better idea. But if you play on VH, or have certain hardmode mods (like really aggro AI) they can be incredibly helpful. They are just next to useless in a military sense most of the time.

[Sargeist]

They're useful if you want an economic victory, since you need to maintain a set amount of trade partners.

[swibtn]

For role play Lulz ?

Like , for example , in my Spartan campaign I pretend that the daughter I adopted at the start was actually a Scordisci girl. So I play nice with the Scordisci as long as I can , and then vassalize them when they get too uppity.

I also like to preserve Greek culture factions.

My Hoplite - based army really doesn't want to have to deal with one of those cavalry archer Crimean nomad armies. So turning the Black Sea into a Cimmerian ~ Colchis client state preserve and a Greek lake is a desirable outcome.

Likewise , a surviving Etruscan culture in Sardinia doesn't exactly hurt my feelings , or a Sicily and western North Africa under Syracusian control.

I don't mind a Seluecid remnant dealing with things in the far East , or a Magna Gracia dealing with Iberia and Gaul. I still wind up with a Greek world , but a Greek world where I don't have to manage or control everything.

If you LIKE micro management headaches , then Client States can certainly serve that purpose. If the AI is dumb , then Client States seem twice or three times as dumb.

Like , for example , your client state marches three states away to attack a faction three times its size , instead of attacking the rag tag little army of rebels next door which would give them control of an entire province. Grrr.

As someone already pointed out , you can levy exotic troop types from client states but not at fancy mercenary prices.

Here again , though , Client state stupidity can be a factor.

As Athens I vassalized a Sparta with both Sparta and Crete under its control. But I couldn't Levy Spartan Hoplites or Spartan Pikemen from my puppet , because in both states a skirmisher , not a hoplite , barracks had been built , and client states are notorious about not re - purposing buildings . And Sparta never did turn one of those barracks into a hoplite barracks.

If you want a specific troop type from your client state , or you want your client state to build , say , exotic temples you can't build , then the thing to do is conquer the state , raze it or loot it , build the type of building you want , say a hoplite barracks , or a first level temple , march your troops out , let the rest of the slots revert to slums , deliberately provoke a rebellion.

Let the faction re - emerge as rebels , let them take the province , then conquer the province again , and vassalize.

Like I said , if there is already a base level temple there , they will upgrade the temple. If you build a hoplite barracks , they will keep the hoplite barracks / upgrade it.

But , without your leading them by the nose in this way , they are likely to build really stupid stuff.

Anyways , I obviously have a love / hate regard for client states . :)

[Pharaoh]

Buffer zones

"ah they attacked the wrong guy hehehe suckers"

[Red Bat]

Bunch of reasons.

It's much harder to get a vassal through diplomacy than in Shogun 2 where the AI would sometimes agree to become your vassal for no immediately apparent reason, but it occasionally happens where it's easier to simply force someone to become a client state rather than try to attack them. It's really rare that this is the case though.

Sometimes the public order concerns due to differing cultures aren't worth trying to deal with, making it easier to simply get a client state and a trade agreement rather than spend money and troops trying to get a public order problem under control over the next 10 turns.

Levying troops, especially for Carthage since they have a limited unit roster. This is the only way to get Cretan Archers.

Buffer zone. A single settlement faction can usually defend itself with a bigger army than you can spare to defend it, so leaving them between you and a potentially hostile faction can give you some breathing room to deal with other things.

[Flickmann]

I really wish it was possible to play like Rome historically did, in the early days at least, by expanding through client states and allies. I know it's *technically* possible to do so, but you're hamstringing yourself more often than not.

[Pharaoh]

Originally posted by Flickmann:

I really wish it was possible to play like Rome historically did, in the early days at least, by expanding through client states and allies. I know it's *technically* possible to do so, but you're hamstringing yourself more often than not.

i suggest you look into DEI