Is it worth becoming allies with Castille as Portugal?

[Gerfreckle]

Just bought the game yesterday and have started and deleted about five or six campaigns because I make one mistake that pretty much screws me when I'm not ready for it, and one of those was when I was playing as Portugal and accepted an alliance with Castille, since I read that as Portugal you should try to keep Castille on your side lest they try to invade you. But almost immediately after signing the alliance offer they declared war on France, which also brought Naples and Navarra into the war, and I had to fight all three of them alone after Castille's army was destroyed almost immediately. I deleted that game very quickly at that point.

So is it worth joining an alliance with Castille and keeping them on your side, or is it worth the risk of not becoming allies with them just so I don't get dragged into any of their wars? I have no interest in European expansions as Portugal, I just want to focus on colonisation.

[♠.brT]

You might want to wait a few months before deciding it.

Check to see what the balance of power is like. France will usually attack castile IF castile is their rival and is weak with no other strong allies with a bonus points if Aragon is allied with France.

Anyway but i don't think you need to ally them, you start with Historical friends modifier with castile which means that the AI will not have any reason to attack you at least for a few years.

so you could wait it out. the problem with that idea is that in the meantime castile will probably be annoying the hell out of you with alliance requests, and everytime you refuse one it's -50 relations so they could eventually turn on you.

edit: also i'm pretty sure you lose trust when you refuse an alliance request, someone correct me if i'm wrong. but that could also cause problems down the line.

i'd say, wait a few months see how the balance of power is looking (check aragon's alliance and relations compared to castile) if castile has strong alliances like for example, england or Austria, or maybe burgundy, then sure go for it, it will be very unlikely that castile will go down in that case, but if Aragon has the alliances and castile does not, it is very likely that aragon would make a play against castile or maybe France.

also i believe portugal starts with an alliance with England, that's the bad alliance that will give you nothing but grief. The english army is completely useless as an ally, their navy helps but they don't usually send out significant amount of troops to help you. also there is the whole 100 years war with france that cause problems too, though in that case it's an offensive war and i don't think england can call you into that war.

[Gerfreckle]

Originally posted by ♠.brT:

You might want to wait a few months before deciding it.

Check to see what the blance of power is like. France will usually attack castile IF castile is their rival and is weak with no other strong allies with a bonus points if Aragon is allied with France.

Anyway but i don't think you need to ally them, you start with Historical friends modifier with castile which means that the AI will not have any reason to attack you at least for a few years.

so you could wait it out. the problem with that idea is that in the meantime castile will probably be annoying the hell out of you with alliance requests, and everytime you refuse one it's -50 relations so they could eventually turn on you.

edit: also i'm pretty sure you lose trust when you refuse an alliance request, someone correct me if i'm wrong. but that could also cause problems down the line.

i'd say, wait a few months see how the blance of power is looking (check aragon's alliance and relations compared to castile) if castile has strong alliances like for example, england or Austria, or maybe burgundy, then sure go for it, it will be very unlikely that castile will go down in that case, but if Aragon has the alliances and castile does not, it is very likely that aragon would make a play against castile or maybe France.

also i believe portugal starts with an alliance with England, that's the bad alliance that will give you nothing but grief. The english army is completely useless as an ally, their navy helps but they don't usually send out significant amount of troops to help you. also there is the whole 100 years war with france that cause problems too, though in that case it's an offensive war and i don't think england can call you into that war.

Thanks for the detailed response. I waited about ten years and when Castille didn't declare war on anybody and also wasn't declared war upon I first got a royal marriage with them and then became allies. Like you mentioned I was sick of having to refuse endless alliance offers. One of the first things I did as Portugal was dissolve the alliance with England, which I haven't regretted since in the time since I dissolved it they've been at war with most of Western and Central Europe for decades. So far Castille has only declared war on Morrocco and they didn't ask me to join so that's all good.

[tonypa]

Games are random. Sometimes things go your way from the start and then in other games bad stuff happens. You are doing it correctly, just having a bit bad luck, that is all.

You should ally Castile, there is no reason to refuse it. If things go well, they also ally France and get Iberian wedding and then you are surrounded with friendly countries. You can then go full-colonising or start to conquer North Africa.

[Raxo]

i did it and they helped me conquer northen africa until i could colonize America