How does a National Alliance work?

[Mesix]

What does a National Alliance do? If two computer players have a National Alliance and I declare war on one of them, will the other automatically declare war on me?

If I have a National Alliance with a computer player and I declare war on another computer player, will my ally automatically join the war on my side?

Do other diplomatic relations play a role (peace, friendly, etc.)?

 

[Pfeffersack]

From what I have read in the ingame help (tooltip for "Event: National Alliance"), those alliances are a kind of "Defensive Pact" - if one partner gets attacked, the other will declare on the aggressor. They will not fire when one partner attacks a third party. Diplomatic stances probably don't affect the effects a National Alliance has...but of course with good enough relations you can get nations outside of such an alliance to help you or to even support your offensive campaigns.

 

[InsidiousMage]

if one partner gets attacked, the other will declare on the aggressor.

This is exactly what alliances do and all that they do. They are also a "great" way to trigger a world war.

Also, you need a Diplomatic leader to have access to them and you can also make tribal alliances with tribal nations. These allow you to settle cities on their city sites without having to declare war which can be really OP with Dido when you play as Carthage.

 

[Mesix]

This is exactly what alliances do and all that they do. They are also a "great" way to trigger a world war.

Also, you need a Diplomatic leader to have access to them and you can also make tribal alliances with tribal nations. These allow you to settle cities on their city sites without having to declare war which can be really OP with Dido when you play as Carthage.

Interesting. I will have to give a diplomatic leader a try in my next game and play around with this.

In my current game, I am about to DOW Assyria and he has a National Alliance with Egypt...so it sounds like I am about to have two enemies on my hands.

The Hittites are very friendly with me (but not allied since I do not have a diplomatic leader), but they will not DOW Assyria (option grayed out in diplomatic dialogue). I may be able to get them to attack Egypt though.

 

[Forster]

This is exactly what alliances do and all that they do. They are also a "great" way to trigger a world war.

Also, you need a Diplomatic leader to have access to them and you can also make tribal alliances with tribal nations. These allow you to settle cities on their city sites without having to declare war which can be really OP with Dido when you play as Carthage.

What do you mean, settle on their city sites? Can you move a settler to their camp and pop a city, or there has to be a least to urban hexes at the tribal site to do that?

 

[InsidiousMage]

What do you mean, settle on their city sites? Can you move a settler to their camp and pop a city, or there has to be a least to urban hexes at the tribal site to do that?

Basically, you don't have to clear the camp like you would normally do and just have to have an available urban that your settle can move onto at which point you can found a city like you normally do. You can't settle directly on the camp but any open urban tile is fine. It does limit your options a little but means you don't have to do to war as often.

 

[PiR]

This is exactly what alliances do and all that they do.

I think there are a few other benefits, such as shared line of sight, and ability to move allied units (will cost you orders).

 

[Forster]

Basically, you don't have to clear the camp like you would normally do and just have to have an available urban that your settle can move onto at which point you can found a city like you normally do. You can't settle directly on the camp but any open urban tile is fine. It does limit your options a little but means you don't have to do to war as often.

That is really nice. Thanks for the tip. I would never have guessed. I was in a game where I had an alliance with Thrace, but I didn't need it and I wanted some of their sites. I broke the alliance and declared. This way would have been so much better.

 

[PiR]

Yes, it's much simpler, there might be an increasing cost in gold for settling on those sites though, iirc.

 

[InsidiousMage]

I think there are a few other benefits, such as shared line of sight, and ability to move allied units (will cost you orders).

True. I forgot about the first, as I don't really value it, and didn't know about the second.

Yes, it's much simpler, there might be an increasing cost in gold for settling on those sites though, iirc.

Yes, it is does add up over time. I think it got up to around three to four thousand gold for me once though that was at around 10 or so cities.