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Situation from last night: I'm playing the French, and I have a border with the Russians, among others. In mid-game, Catherine the Fat sends a few of her knights and a couple of pikemen and swordsmen into my territory. I tell her to get out or declare war, and she does the latter. I have a vague recollection that the Russians had a mutual protection pact with Rome, but I'm too lazy to check whether it's still active since Rome is on another continent and doesn't look like a power to be concerned about.
The knights attack, but they have no chance against defending musketeers. I then bring in some cavalry to mop up. The Romans do nothing, so I assume the pact has expired. Meanwhile, more Russians keep coming over the border -- on foot, fortunately. I gather more cavalry into the area.
The Russian footsoldiers take heavy casualties, and they decide to withdraw from French territory. Catherine is still not available for peace negotiations, so I decide to hurt them more and send Cavalry into Russian territory to finish off the fleeing pikemen and warriors.
The Romans didn't lift a finger when I slaughtered Russians on French soil. However, as soon as I attack the first Russian unit on Russian territory, the Romans declare war on me due to the mutual protection pact they still had with the Russians. So, it seems that if you declare war on someone, your pact brothers/sisters are not obliged to do anything as long as the fight is not fought on your soil. If the offensive goes badly and the calamity turns into a defensive war and your units are attacked in your territory, your buddies must come in for help. I must say, if this is the way it works, it makes sense. I just wish this had been explained more thoroughly in the manual, as I now have to be on the lookout for Roman caravels.
BTW, it seems like a defensive victory by an unique unit doesn't trigger Golden Age. Nothing happened when my musketeers dispatched attacking Russian knights. When one of them blew a Russian warrior to smithereens, I got into GA.
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Edit: defensive victory by an UU _can_ trigger Golden Age. I tested this with the hoplite; I pissed off the Romans on purpose, declared war on them and when their first archer died attacking my hoplite, GA started.
Sorry for the wrong initial info, either my memory was playing tricks on me or the knights retreated from the battle at 1 hp (only to die in a cavalry assault on the next turn), in which case the battle with the musketeer was probably considered a draw.
The knights attack, but they have no chance against defending musketeers. I then bring in some cavalry to mop up. The Romans do nothing, so I assume the pact has expired. Meanwhile, more Russians keep coming over the border -- on foot, fortunately. I gather more cavalry into the area.
The Russian footsoldiers take heavy casualties, and they decide to withdraw from French territory. Catherine is still not available for peace negotiations, so I decide to hurt them more and send Cavalry into Russian territory to finish off the fleeing pikemen and warriors.
The Romans didn't lift a finger when I slaughtered Russians on French soil. However, as soon as I attack the first Russian unit on Russian territory, the Romans declare war on me due to the mutual protection pact they still had with the Russians. So, it seems that if you declare war on someone, your pact brothers/sisters are not obliged to do anything as long as the fight is not fought on your soil. If the offensive goes badly and the calamity turns into a defensive war and your units are attacked in your territory, your buddies must come in for help. I must say, if this is the way it works, it makes sense. I just wish this had been explained more thoroughly in the manual, as I now have to be on the lookout for Roman caravels.
BTW, it seems like a defensive victory by an unique unit doesn't trigger Golden Age. Nothing happened when my musketeers dispatched attacking Russian knights. When one of them blew a Russian warrior to smithereens, I got into GA.
***
Edit: defensive victory by an UU _can_ trigger Golden Age. I tested this with the hoplite; I pissed off the Romans on purpose, declared war on them and when their first archer died attacking my hoplite, GA started.
Sorry for the wrong initial info, either my memory was playing tricks on me or the knights retreated from the battle at 1 hp (only to die in a cavalry assault on the next turn), in which case the battle with the musketeer was probably considered a draw.
The other 2 had a mutual protection pact, and all was well. Then the Aztecs declared war on me. I quickly got a mutual protection pact with the other civ, and then sat around for a few turns. Eventually, the Aztecs moved some ships near my land, and bombarded in preparation for their invasion.
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