TheRealCzar
Chieftain
One of those predictable "
Not Now! 
" moments in any warmongering game of BTS is the point at which your almost vanquished foe bows down to some more powerful neighbour, dragging them into the war. Depending on the power ratios, this could be water off a ducks back, you might throw back your head and laugh at the ants trying to stop your invincible armies.
But for me its usually aggravating because:
There is a way to prevent all this (making a few assumptions). Its perhaps abusing the game rules a little so make your own mind up.
This locks you both in a ten turn, unbreakable peace treaty. This actually stops them from vassalising anybody you are at war with. The idea was to stop you demanding tech off a weedy rival before going to war anyway but it seems unfair you can't give into a demand and then attack, this where you could maybe call this an exploit
Depending on the situation, you might do this to everybody, or just the rivals whose armies you'd rather not face for a few more turns.
NB: This trick has no effect if the vassalising rival is actually also at war with your enemy and the enemy capitulates to them. In this case, you automatically sign a peace treaty with your enemy provided you are at peace with the country that vassalises them. In this case, you are better to ask them to make peace (probably have to pay something to make it happen) before the capitulation can happen. Apostolic Palace/UN can be a very handy way to force a peace treaty on your "Ally" whilst you continue the war and pick up the spoils.
NB2: For completeness I note that you're going to incur a -1 relations penalty with those civs you make the demand of, whether they accept or not. I don't consider this a big deal usually. Let them winge so long as they do so with their army under lock and key. EDIT perhaps not an issue if you are on good turns with other Civ, i.e no penalties for "requests"
NB3: You can use the same method to stop that stack that'll cross your border next turn from doing so. The AI is too dumb to realise that accepting the demand stops their planned attack. Also effective at keeping your enemy's buddies from joining in once war has started.
NB4: You can properly cheat by reloading a save and applying this method the turn you are dog piled by 4 civs on the same turn. This is clearly cheating of the highest (lowest?) order.
NB5: I've used this method up as far as emperor, results may vary at Immortal or Deity.
Not Now! " moments in any warmongering game of BTS is the point at which your almost vanquished foe bows down to some more powerful neighbour, dragging them into the war. Depending on the power ratios, this could be water off a ducks back, you might throw back your head and laugh at the ants trying to stop your invincible armies.But for me its usually aggravating because:
- Fighting one army in one place is inevitably easier than fighting two armies in two places. Further, the more AIs join in, the more likely it is for yet more AIs to join in and you could find yourself at war with the whole lot in short order.
- You may have had plans to accept the capitulation of the beaten foe yourself just as soon as you'd taken the last decent city for luxury/wonder/territory purposes and left only the ice bound detritus. If he becomes the vassal of somebody else, you can't do this until after at least 10 turns have passed and you've battered them to the point they no longer feel like maintaining their vassal status with their "protector"
There is a way to prevent all this (making a few assumptions). Its perhaps abusing the game rules a little so make your own mind up.
- Check regularly what your enemy will give for peace. Once they're willing to capitulate, that's the alarm bell. This turn or some turn soon, they'll become vassals to a rival.
- Demand something trivial from the enemy/enemies you don't want to enter the war. 1 gold coin for example, or world map provided theirs wouldn't add much new information. If your power graphs are at least similar (I'm assuming if you're pressing a war, you're the type to have a decent sized army) then in my experience, your demand will often be accepted.
This locks you both in a ten turn, unbreakable peace treaty. This actually stops them from vassalising anybody you are at war with. The idea was to stop you demanding tech off a weedy rival before going to war anyway but it seems unfair you can't give into a demand and then attack, this where you could maybe call this an exploit
Depending on the situation, you might do this to everybody, or just the rivals whose armies you'd rather not face for a few more turns.
NB: This trick has no effect if the vassalising rival is actually also at war with your enemy and the enemy capitulates to them. In this case, you automatically sign a peace treaty with your enemy provided you are at peace with the country that vassalises them. In this case, you are better to ask them to make peace (probably have to pay something to make it happen) before the capitulation can happen. Apostolic Palace/UN can be a very handy way to force a peace treaty on your "Ally" whilst you continue the war and pick up the spoils.
NB2: For completeness I note that you're going to incur a -1 relations penalty with those civs you make the demand of, whether they accept or not. I don't consider this a big deal usually. Let them winge so long as they do so with their army under lock and key. EDIT perhaps not an issue if you are on good turns with other Civ, i.e no penalties for "requests"
NB3: You can use the same method to stop that stack that'll cross your border next turn from doing so. The AI is too dumb to realise that accepting the demand stops their planned attack. Also effective at keeping your enemy's buddies from joining in once war has started.
NB4: You can properly cheat by reloading a save and applying this method the turn you are dog piled by 4 civs on the same turn. This is clearly cheating of the highest (lowest?) order.
NB5: I've used this method up as far as emperor, results may vary at Immortal or Deity.
) targets in a relatively short amount of time (--> low chance of success for the second demand/help request) the considerations above should be helpful to determine when to "use up" the request.
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