Permanent Alliances

[iamdanthemansta]

Who else loves permanent alliances? Come on lets here it for em! They provide a way to win even when you're pretty far behind and they can really make the late game interesting. I've seen the AI use them as a way to catch up to me and I've seen the AI create a permanent alliance only to have another 2 do the same thing in response. I see your NATO and rase you a Warsaw pact.

 

[connorkimbro]

I like them. I always enable permanent alliances in every game I play, although I don't always end up in a permanent alliance with someone by the end of the game. In my last game, I was desperately trying to join into a permanent alliance with the celts as the space race was drawing to a close, but he wouldn't do it.

 

[jimbob27]

I think they're a fantastic feature, one I always turn on.

If i'm doing badly, it helps you get back into the game, and if I'm doing really well, I won't make any myself, and it gives any AI's that team up the boost they need to provide me with some late game competition.

 

[joesf35]

I like them when for when you get to that point in the game when you know you're going to win, but you just have to spend the time to tediously take over the world. So, I like to start one with a weak friendly civ and having to protect my ally from attackers, ....give them some units or rush to their aid with my army when I know my borders are well protected. Try and make sure they don't lose a single city or resource.

 

[Calder]

I'm actually experimenting with Permanent Alliances enabled for the first time. Playing a huge map on Monarch as Bismarck, and being drastically behind in Tech but catching up in Industrial era, I'm wondering if anyone has experienced a space race against A1 with Permanent Alliances, as I'm considering going for a Space victory but worried about those 2 A1's sharing techs giving them a huge advantage!

 

[Civ4rulesTH]

I was looking forward to my first PA with Washington the 2nd best leader(after me of course ) but it was redded out. I was too powerful even for him!

 

[cf_nz]

I too always enable permanent alliances for every game I play. It definitely can make things interesting if one of the AI civs signs a permanent alliance and then turns on you.

 

[raymondieee]

I have started enabling them, and it makes for a more intersesting late game. Late games seem to just be going through the motions to get to the ned, but now they get liverly. Last game, a pretty major world war got started. 11 Civs on huge and only one civ managed to stay neutral.

 

[Antilogic]

I remember one pangaea game I played...

I was playing Elizabeth and got a permanent alliance with Isabella (suprised?). Just for fun, I/we declared war on the rest of the world and fought a massive, several hundred year crusade. Best fun I had in the game.

I like having permanent alliances, although it is sometimes difficult for me to keep an AI happy enough to join me.

 

[Shillen]

Don't they make the game ridiculously easy?

 

[OceansEleven]

Don't they make the game ridiculously easy?

That is so true.

Every time I sign a perm. alliance, the game gets extremely boring. I only sign Perm. Alliances with people that have huge armies, or a huge tech lead. You sign them, and you build all that stuff and then there's nothing to do. Except build huge armies, control more, and that's it.

I do only Conquest/Domination/Cultural/Diplomatic. Time is boring. Highest score? Space victory is cool... but I'd rather win by means of army.

Perm Alliance for me = Being the strongest

Your eager to sign a perm. alliance. You get one, you're happy. Then you're like... wow this is extremely boring. No civ will declare war on you, and if you declare war on them, it's no challenge.

I try not to sign permanent alliances unless I have to.

 

[Antilogic]

But...

I typically conquer so much early on that all the other civs say "You are too powerful for me" and don't sign a permanent alliance. In that case, all it does is allow an AI civ to join with another and become a powerhouse (which makes the game a little bit harder).

It's all in the situation...it helps you if you are behind, but it doesn't necessarily help you if you are already in the lead.

 

[jimbob27]

Don't they make the game ridiculously easy?

They can do, but they can also do the opposite and make the game much harder. They allow you to radically alter the difficulty in either direction, halfway through the game.

If you've done really well at the beginning, gotten all the wonders you want and grown to be twice the size of your neighbours, then by the time the game reaches the industrial age you've pretty much won already. It's just a formality to conquer cities/build spaceship parts to finalize your win. If you've been playing on marathon, it might take 10-20 hours to reach this point, and most people arn't going to want to abandon a game when they've played that long.

If you've got permanent alliances on, at around the same time you've "won" some of the AI's will hopefully sign PA's with each other, putting themselves right back into the game, giving you some worthy opponents for the remainder of the game.

It works to the opposite effect as well. If you've done really badly at the start, lost some workers to barbarians and got attacked by the Romans, having PA's on means you don't have to abandon the game. You've just got to struggle on and survive until the early industrial age, whilst boosting relations with a potential team-mate or two.

 

[voek]

Imo the vassalage system takes care of the permanent alliances. It will prob. tuned out in the patches, but I think it's a much better and fun option.