Point of Allies?

[Donpedro07]

Seriously! What is the point of having allies or client states/satrapies in this game? I have played three times through on campaign and my allies are completely worthless. They make it halfway to a target and then just turn tail and go home.

[LeadStarDude]

My allies always attack targets when asked to. I like making a small factions grow that way. A good example is becoming an ally of Knossos & have them attack Libya while you attack Carthage. Knossos can become a strong ally if the proper requests are made.

[Fear2288]

Aside from whatever help they do or do not provide in regards to war, having allies is useful for other reasons.

For example - any allied territory can be counted towards your own in relation to mission/campaign objectives. Recall that many of these objectives will say something akin to "control X province or X number of regions directly or through allies".

Another example - allies aren't enemies. Surprisingly the AI doesn't tend to backstab that often in Rome 2 (unlike previous TW games). They might refuse to go to war with you every now and then but that just bumps them back down to neutral and its easy to rebuild those relations. Making allies with other powerful empires or bordering factions can simply eliminate the possibility of getting draw into a war with them.

[Alakazou akbar]

If you want to go for an economic victory you will need many for trade partnerships. Also they can make nice temporary "marches" while you focus on another front. You might not be using the war coordination target option...

[Beef Supreme]

Originally posted by Fear2288:

Aside from whatever help they do or do not provide in regards to war, having allies is useful for other reasons.

For example - any allied territory can be counted towards your own in relation to mission/campaign objectives. Recall that many of these objectives will say something akin to "control X province or X number of regions directly or through allies".

Another example - allies aren't enemies. Surprisingly the AI doesn't tend to backstab that often in Rome 2 (unlike previous TW games). They might refuse to go to war with you every now and then but that just bumps them back down to neutral and its easy to rebuild those relations. Making allies with other powerful empires or bordering factions can simply eliminate the possibility of getting draw into a war with them.

yeh and it lets you decide when you want to backstab and push there borders. it keeps the game controlled

[Itharus]

Consider the distance to target from your allies. They don't like to travel very far. They are also more likely to head over if you send troops as well. They are allies, not tools. Fight WITH them.

[Jonboy]

I like allies as they clear my provinces of rebels. I hate fighting rebels.

[Bjørn]

I'm playing a 'Caesar in Gaul'-campaign now at very hard difficulty, and I find allies very helpful there at least. But I agree they haven't been very useful in vanilla game campaigns.

But here, the tribes normally have huge armies, and if I besiege a city, they come to my aid (if they are close), and then I hardly have to fight because the allies do it for me, and I still win the city.

Not very honourable I admit, but it helps :)

[Salty Nobody]

Allies can be quite useful, if you tell them where to go with war coordination they will fight your wars for you and my last campaign I had so many that I won a military victory as parthia with only 18 settlements. At the very least they are nations that you dont have to worry about trying to kill you from behind when your forces are busy elsewhere.
Client states seem completely usless to me as if you gain one militarily it will still be at war with your other allies and client states.

[SuperGorp]

Allies, for me, are to be used and controlled as tools until I decide to royally "eff them" MUWAHHH-HAA-HAA-HA-HAAAH.

[Donpedro07]

Thanks guys. It alway seems that my Allies are never there when I need them.

[Reverend Belial]

I feel like the AI of each nation is RNGed upon generating a new game. I've had runs where my allies were the true legends of war like they were supposed to be (I was in a huge clash with the Seleucids and Sparta decided to pitch in. They had a stack of hoplites hunting down the poor bastards, it was glorious.), and I've had allies ignore conflicts completely (Athens "joined" the same war. Difference was that their three full armies just kinda milled about. They'd see an enemy, go "hey, how's it going", then wander away)