Permanent Alliance

[Shr3dZ]

Has anyone read the manual on this one? Let me enlighten you if you havent:

Permanent Alliance -

Your two civilizations essentially become one nation with two rulers. You each continue to have control over your own units and cities, but you share everything else: resources, techmology , maps, and victory or defeat. If one declares war, the other automatically does so as well. If one signs a treaty, the other is bound by it.


Has anyone out there used this? Im thinking if youre the underdog, getting an entire civs resources AND techs would be quite nice, although they would obviously have to be good friends with you first. Also, what exactly do they mean by 'sharing' victory, if I finish my spaceship they win too? Maybe this was meant more for MP and having 'teams'?

[Bobby Chicken]

I'm not really clear on this one; but I do know that you must be friendly with the civ to have an alliance.

[Tattila the Hun]

There was a thread on one aspect of alliance earlier... Your ally building the final piece to the spaceship in Palookaville, Ill. And thus losing the game your team... Should be fixable. Though, I seem to recall the AI in CIV3 building modern wonders in periferic ****holes at the edge of their space...

[Datajack Franit]

basically, you have to be another civ's best friend, if you want them you accept joining you. even a -4 may be enough to spoil this chance. if they ask you to declare war agaisnt someone, do it. if they ask you to stop trading, stop it in the moment they contact you. joining another civ is the easiest way to win a conquest-domination game, as the scores are combined, so are land and population %, resources (those aren't shared but the other civ's leader will eventually contact you to share their resources for free)

[Shr3dZ]

It was different in civ3 right? I remember in civ3 it was never really worth it to join in an alliance with the AI, but now with the serious benfits I think I might give it a try - sharing all their resources is prolly the best part since health and happyness would prolly become a non-issue for a bit... I can only imagine how bad it would be to share their resources for a while, building up the population in yer cities, and then have the treaty canceled, STARVATION EVERYWHERE!

[polarnomad]

Originally posted by Datajack Franit
joining another civ is the easiest way to win a conquest-domination game, as the scores are combined, so are land and population %, resources (those aren't shared but the other civ's leader will eventually contact you to share their resources for free)

Oh! I wasn't aware of this. I have a terrible time with both domination and conquest victories. I should try through permanent alliance.

[TheArsenal]

Edit: responded to wrong post.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Bobby Chicken
I'm not really clear on this one; but I do know that you must be friendly with the civ to have an alliance.

Originally posted by Datajack Franit
basically, you have to be another civ's best friend, if you want them you accept joining you. even a -4 may be enough to spoil this chance. if they ask you to declare war agaisnt someone, do it. if they ask you to stop trading, stop it in the moment they contact you. joining another civ is the easiest way to win a conquest-domination game, as the scores are combined, so are land and population %, resources (those aren't shared but the other civ's leader will eventually contact you to share their resources for free)

WHAT????!!!!! You mean the game won't let me enter into a permanent alliance with my worst enemy who I backstab and nuke and embargo and from whom I have a different religion???!!!!

This game is broken!!!!!

[TheArsenal]

Anecdotally speaking, it seems you must be willing to enter into a Defensive Pact first, no matter what your relations with the AI is.

[Enigma_Nova]

Yeah, the AI seems too emotional when making decisions about such things.
Surely Genghis, Ceasar and Elizabeth (at least) would be more strategic with thier alliegences.

[Datajack Franit]

Oh in my last game, Caesar declared war on me having a combo +12 against -5

[llwellyn]

Re: Permanent Alliance

Originally posted by Shr3dZ

Also, what exactly do they mean by 'sharing' victory, if I finish my spaceship they win too? Maybe this was meant more for MP and having 'teams'?

If you ally with someone, and you or your ally satisfy a victory condition, you win.

I've used it; it's advantageous in a lot of situations but it can be your downfall if you're looking to max your scores.

I used it to win the game when another civ was 1/2 through a space race, and another civ was a little more than halfway there; ally with the underdog, and your new "team" merges all your finished spaceship components. If you had built different stuff than they did, you'll come out ahead!

I use permanent alliances if I'm getting my tookus cooked in an OCC. It's the only way to gain territory in an OCC game, and it's often the only way to get either strategic resources or strategic techs... even if they're not willing to trade them off, if you can butter them up enough to land a permanent alliance, you get all of the techs and they'll be sharing any surplus strategic resources with you.

You do have to be careful, as the conditions are pretty specific for being able to form one. You must have held a defensive pact or shared an ongoing war with the civ you wish to ally with for a long number of turns. If the civ you wanna ally with suddenly decides their war is too expensive, POOF! goes your chances of a PA. Also, if you are more powerful than the other civs, even if you meet the conditions, they'll say you've grown far too powerful for them and won't ally.

[gilfan]

btw, this has to be enabled, it's off by default. there's a checkbox under "custom game" to enable permanent alliances.

[Datajack Franit]

oh I will switch off diplomatic from now on: with two civs scores combined, you just need another civ to be just sympathetic at you and you're gonna win