Pros and cons of confederation

In Total war Warhammer, a faction can confederate with another faction.

During the course of confederation, finance of the minor nation is not transferred over! Yet you can still balance your diplomacy request to get a few interest back.

Merits

You get their legendary lords and their recruited lords, including wounded ones. But their heroes will NOT be transferred over.

Drawbacks

Under high difficulty, AI has assorted bonuses, such as public order, upkeep, leadership, melee attack/defense/etc.^[1]This means when AI is fine to keep its armies, after confederation you can go bankrupt due to the upkeep modifiers. The same goes for keeping public order of cities.

When an AI army is laying a siege, you will NOT get this army after confederation. It sounds like a bug but Total War has been in this way for years.

Take Couronne, Bretonnia led by Louen Leoncoeur. Capital cities of Bretonnia provide 8 points towards peasant economy, but if you absorb factions, these capital cities turn into regular settlements which provide only 2 peasant economy points.^[2]

When to confederate

When a friendly faction is dying. A faction only has one city left, it may be a good time to confederate. It has little or no army, but its lords are in the pool. In a late game, probably the city has built advanced buildings. Even demolishing the buildings can give you a whopping amount of cash.

When you are in a dead need of forces. Take Couronne again. If armies of another Bretonnia state are standing near you and you need their help to hold your stance, you can confederate the faction, use their armies to defend or attack, then disband the armies, everything in one turn. In this way, the new armies’ upkeep doesn’t drain your bank account.

Enemies of confederated faction do not automatically become your enemies. When someone is attacking a confederatable player, perhaps you wanna slow down the expansion of a great power, you can annex the later player. Then, all attacking or siege is stopped.

https://gamerant.com/total-war-warhammer-3-guide-confederate/

参考资料

1. Cancini. Campaign and Battle Difficulty Differences with Details. . 2019-11-16 [2023-04-13].↑
2. . Peasant Economy. Total War: Warhammer Wiki. [2023-04-13].↑