I recently made an ally in an endless space game, shared with him all my research in exchange for all of his plannets but his home plannet... Now he's a little spec in the middle of my empire.. I am strong so he probably won't attack but he's just sat there, (despite having freedom to move through my space,)building ships.. he has like 10 fleets now.



If you are really strong and a race is weak, you should be able to make him like.. a protectorate or a vassel of some sort, or just take control of his homeworld, assimiating both races regardless (possibly producing unique faction hulls).. I'm not really sure. He can fight your enemies and exchange worlds with you, but will never stab you in the back. Essentially two allies have become one galactic empire.

I like the sound of this, but I'm not sure that it would work overall in the game. It's just my opinion. Endless Space simply doesn't feel like the kind of game (such as any of the Total Wars) for something like that to happen.



Besides, if you had your opponent down that far already, trading away tech for all the planets, he's essentially a protectorate right now anyway. I doubt your missing much FIDS from one planet, so it won't bother you unless you need a conquest victory and now need to take the planet that has ten fleets on it.

COnquer it. Where is the advantage if you make a Protectorate out of him?

If you attack you can lvl an hero on an fleet. You can upgrade/colonise the planets.

Well, with ten fleets on it, and having traded all his tech for the planets (not to mention being in an alliance with that planet), conquering it might have a higher cost than the reward of a new planet.

Hopefully the next patches with better AI Coding will make sure that he makes use of those 10 Fleets... not against you, but your Foes. He really is just a Vassal State right now, but since the AI has problems behaving as a real Ally, with no Enemys near him, he isn't using his Fleets.



Unlike some others here, i don't think you should be "forced" to destroy your allies, just because they have become weak.... they should be valuable, little Helpers in your case. In a 4x Game of 2012 you just expect that War isn't the only option late Game. When playing UE and my Sophon Friends (only race that i had peace with from the start) got hit hard by the Cravers, i rushed to their defense. OFC, thx to the next to worthless diplomacy coding they hated me later because i conquered all their neighbouring Systems, ignororing the fact that i saved them from annihalition from the Cravers... but well, Alpha is Alpha. I hope for a lot better Diplomacy latter.

Really, the AI should never be willing to make such a trade. An odd border colony here or there for some serious tech makes sense, but at some point the AI should refuse to relinquish more territory for a significant amount of time.

I suggested protectorates and subjugate states not too long ago

OthobRithol wrote:
Really, the AI should never be willing to make such a trade. An odd border colony here or there for some serious tech makes sense, but at some point the AI should refuse to relinquish more territory for a significant amount of time.

Yeah, this too. Unless the AI gets devious enough to accept those trades, for the sole purpose of shooting ahead tech wise to turn it's now more-advanced fleets onto you, there should be something keeping them from giving away all of their colonies. It doesn't make much sense, realistically, why an empire would do that.

The usual role of a Protectorate or Vassal state in a strategy game is to allow de-facto territorial expansion (i.e. denying it to your enemies) without the costs of actually taking that territory. That advantage is typically offset in various ways, like not having the protectorates count toward a conquest victory, not adding much (if anything) to your income and research, etc.



In that sense, a one planet protectorate isn't doing you much good, especially if it's deep inside your established territory. Protectorates are more useful as buffers on the edges of your empire.



I think having protectorates in the game might be interesting, but they really do need to be offset by heavy penalties compared to just conquering those systems. And like any new addition to the game, the AI has to be able to use them as effectively as the player.

Whats the difference between a Ally and a Vassal/Protectorate?



i'll just quote wiki on this one, i'm kinda lacking the words right now:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protectorate wrote:
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity. In exchange for this, the protectorate usually accepts specified obligations, which may vary greatly, depending on the real nature of their relationship. However, it retains formal sovereignty, and remains a state under international law. A territory subject to this type of arrangement is also known as a protected state.

In Game a Protectorate could be a lot of things, among them a Empire that lost a War without beeing fully conquered could be a Protectorate or maybe a Empire that is looking for Protection among it's bigger Allies.



It would often still have autonomy, at least in most issues (foreign politics might be the only thing they would give up). They may, or may not offer you a Tribute and will certainly still allow for Trade with them. It's also likely they still retain their own military.

Depending on how the Protectorate came into your Empire, they might hate you or love you.



i got so much to say about this topic, but i gotta think about it for a while. Anyway, introducing them would surely be a interesting addition to the Game, if done right.