Military Protection Pacts

[Lunacy]

Is there any way of tracking to what extent an ally is complying with a MPP? When I've had MPPs and have been attacked my allies will immediately declare war on the enemy but after that I typically can't tell if they're attacking somewhere or what type of damage they're inflicting.

By the same token, when I have to declare war on a mutual enemy because they declared war on a civ I have a MPP with I always wonder to what extent I need to respond. I was playing a game last night as France in a MPP with the Iroquois against America. I was the dominant civ with America 2nd and the Iroquois 3rd. The Americans declared war first so I went to war with them along with the Iroquois. At one point the Americans were about to destroy this Iroquois city. I had tanks and infranty nearby. I had intended to use these for another purpose but when I saw the situation with the Iroquois I got a case of the guilts and went to defend them. This saved the city. The Iroquois didn't seem any different afterwards - no more grateful or polite than they had been before. They still wanted OUTRAGEOUS things in exchange for their luxuries. If I had gone off with my units to do my own thing and forgotten about that Iroquois city would they have been upset given our MPP?

One thing the MPPs do seem to guarantee is that a civ won't attack you while you're busy fighting another but beyond that are there any rules about compliance with those agreements or penalties for not obeserving them to any great extent?

Lunacy

[Ethelred]

As far as I can tell declaring war is enough to satisfy the treaty obligation. You should stay at war as long as the MPP is active and they are still at war. What happens if you do make peace first is that as soon as the enemy attacks your MPP ally on their soil you will have to go to war again. Which is likely to mean abrogating the 20 turn peace treaty thus lowering your rep with nearly everyone.

What I do if I wind up in a war via MPP that I am not really interested in is to send some ships over and bombard the coastline. That way no one gets a lot out of it, including my allies, untill all the damage is repaired. Sometimes it becomes a free for all with the civ you are technicaly at war with getting wiped out. In that case I look to see if there is anything I want there and then try to take it before someone else gets it.

Those are what I do if I am going the builder route. The Warmonger route is different since taking all the land is my goal. MPPs are then mostly to get someone on my side instead of my targets side so I don't have to worry much about the MPP leading to war with the wrong person.

I used to avoid MPPs and especially ROPs. I now make ROPs with civs but only if I need to go through their territory and I am pretty sure they don't intend to attack me. Best done when I am invading another continent and the civ I get the ROP with doesn't have a legitemate reason to travel through my core city area. I don't care if they travel through conquered hopelessly corrupt territory to get at a mutual enemy.

MPPs are to me simply a cheap way to get an ally. I don't make them unless I am willing to go to war.

[vmxa1]

Ethelred covered it well. I do about the same, sometimes sit on my hands for the most part, others save a city or two, still others its a land grab. It all depends. The AI will often sit on its hands as well, so it is no exploit IMO. Same as sneak attack, they do it, so you can. It is all situational, not cast in stone.