Diplomatic actions | Diplomacy EU IV Guide

You can use diplomacy to wage wars without rolling out cannons

War and peace

The first option in diplomacy is declaring a war or starting peace talks, if the war is already on. You can declare a war nearly always, with small exceptions, e.g. when you are a dependent country in a personal union or when your country is ruled by the Regency Council. Still, for war to be grounded, you need Casus Belli, i.e. the reason for war. Attacking without CB will decrease stability in your country and will have a negative impact on diplomatic relations, which is why you should never attack without reason. You should never attack a country that you currently have truce with (truce is imposed automatically after you sign peace). You can gain Casus Belli for many reasons. First of all when you have cores within the boundaries of an enemy country or at least you present a claim to that province. Other CB include, e.g. a war with your Overlord for the independence of the country, war on infidels refusal of an ally to help at war, wars for colonies attacking a country that you guarantee peace to, offence on the part of another country or seizing the throne in a country where you secured it with marriage. Furthermore, there also are special historic CBs that can be activated after certain requirements are met e.g. around 1600 Russia's neighbors may intervene about the, so called Time of Troubles to place their candidate on the Tsar's throne.

The type of war determines the reactions from the nearby countries, prestige that you will earn from victory, cost of diplomacy points for each demand during peace talks and, of course, the aim that needs to be fulfilled.

Casus Belli is not restricted to the possible spoils of war but to the initial aim. The more lands you occupy and the more battles you have won, the more you can demand during peace talks but, you need to keep in mind that you will earn excessive overextension this way, and also that neighbors will react to that. The more aggressive your gaming style, the more you increase the Aggressive Expansion with countries that are interested in these lands. Careless playing and expanding your country in every possible direction will soon result in a number of coalitions and to war with 20 countries on four different fronts. The game is long and, if you do not gain everything that you want, you will have the next opportunity in five more years. That is why it is better to wait than have to face half of the continent.

During peace talks, the winner can demand the following:

• Seizing a province. You can demand only your cores or the provinces that you are occupying;
• Renouncement of the core provinces by the other country;
• Returning of the core provinces to a third party. Useful option that will allow you to weaken the enemy without gaining too much AE, and without taking over lands that are valueless from the strategic standpoint;
• Freeing of vassals;
• Endowing a new country with independence;
• Termination of agreements with other countries;
• Other agreements like changing the religion, becoming a vassal or the transfer of 50% Trade Power;
• Ducats.

How much the other side will agree to that will be determined by the warscore. With peace negotiations, it is immensely important that the aim from Casus Belli is met. When you fulfill it, e.g. when you take over a province that you started the war over, the warscore will start to rise systematically, until it reaches 20% at most. That is why, if you have several CB to choose from , always choose the one whose aims are the easiest to fulfill. Note also that the demands require specific value of the Monarch Power Points. In a situation when there is no definite victor, both sides can agree to Status Quo i.e. ending the war without effect.

Alliances

In the second tab, there are two options - entering an alliance and a coalition.

Alliance forces both sides to help each other in both defensive and offensive wars, as long as the assailant summons an ally. Refusal to help will result in the loss of 25 prestige points, breaking the alliance, a tremendous fall in relations and casus belli for the other side. Still, as long as you are in the alliance, both you and your ally receive +50 to relations and additional +25 during wartime.

You should use deliberation when selecting an ally. One, or two is enough. These should also be big and strong countries . Getting involved in a net of alliances with small countries will drag you into a string of conflicts when the weaker side will make trouble with another one in hope that you will win the war for them. Additionally, you will often have to break truces. It is something that you want to avoid. Find one strong ally, at best one that you do not border with and that you have common enemies with., ideally on both sides to lock them between a rock and a hard place, e.g. France and Poland or France and Turkey with Austria in the middle, which is disliked by all sides. Or Spain and Austria against France, and Austria with Russia against Poland.

Coalitions are, on the other hand, a good way to ally yourself with against a common enemy without entering into the official alliance and without taking the risk of being dragged into a series of wars that you are absolutely not interested in. After you enter a coalition, each country (even a rival who would not agree to enter an alliance under regular circumstances) can join the coalition. When a war between the aim of the coalition and any of the member states breaks out, all of the countries will join in the fights and create a common front. Unlike in the case of alliances, the option to refuse is not available here. If you are in a coalition, you will always join the war, unless a truce between you and the enemy is currently in power. Note that this works both ways so, it is one of the few acceptable situations when it may be a good idea to break truce. If you have a truce with 5 members of the coalition, you can declare war on one of them and defeat him, without worrying that the rest will intervene.

Coalitions can be a very useful tool in fights with stronger countries but, assuming that you play an offensive game, they more often will be a problem than they will be helpful. As a matter of fact, each neighbor, or even his neighbor will join an armed coalition to conquer and expand in every possible direction. It does not matter that these are small countries that can affrd only troops 10 thousand strong. If there are fifteen of then and additionally they attack at all sides, you will soon notice that this is not a comfortable situation. Of course, you can play this way and win, as long as your country is big and strong but, this is going to be very tiring and not too pleasant and even unhealthy, when a war over a small worthless island will be waged for 10 years. When you play an aggressive game, it is impossible to avoid entering a coalition. But, you can manage them prudently by restricting them to reasonable sizes. First of all, what matters here is numbers. If a country is not threatened/outraged/hostile, he will leave the coalition when relations are higher than -100. If it is one of the three, he will leave the coalition at zero. So, when you plan an expansion, you need to learn about the neighbors carefully and try to win the undecided over to your side, to avoid them joining. Also, do not forget to care for your strongest ally that you have common enemies with. F a strong country is nearly bound to react in a negative way to an attack on a smaller nearby country, try to neutralize it at first e.g. by royal marriage and later on, through war, for the throne. Also, troy to restrict your expansion to one place at a time, to have all the coalition partners on one front. This kind of calm and more sensible playing style, in spite of appearances, brings development on a larger scale and faseter expansion. Instead of fighting against the coalition of eight countries, in a long-lasting exhausting war, from which you can get only three provinces, you can instead fight a quick and relatively easy war with three enemies to get the same three provinces. At the same time, you will be able to plan on your next move!

Influence

Force peace - in theory, with relations with another country at the level of, at least, + 100, you can support the defender to force Status Quo on the assailant. In practice, however, this option is probably bugged because it always shows 0% chances to succeed without explaining any positive or negative modifiers, just like in the case other decisions.. The other country will automatically refuse, which will drag you into war. You can take advantage of it in the case of lack of Casus Belli, to support a country, which will protect it from destruction and will not let the enemy expand too much. You can also use this option in the multiplayer mode because the other player is presented with a choice to either accept or refuse to proposition of forced peace. Unfortunately, in the case of AI, you will always get a refusal.

Guarantee of Independence- you guarantee the other country with independence. If it is attacked, you will receive casus belli against the assailant. Useful, first of all when you want to prevent the bigger countries from seizing the smaller ones, which you need for decisions, and to prevent them from expanding too much. Castile and Granada are good examples here. To transform Spain, Granada cannot exist. By guaranteeing it with independence, and making sure that it does not disappear from the map, you prevent Spain from being founded.

Relations

Improving of Relations - Sending out a diplomat so that, with time, he can improve your relations with another country. The diplomat must remain in the country for relations go up so, he will not be available for other actions. After relations reach the maximum value (+100 or +200 depending on your relations with the country) the diplomat returns to the capital, and relations start to go down again, on the base rate of -3 per year. You can modify it through advisor's prestige and ideas. Take a good care of your relations with allies and neutral countries to prevent them from joining a coalition.

Send a warning - If a country attacks one of your neighbors, you will receive casus belli against that country.

Send offence - You offend a country and provide it with casus belli against your country.

Dynasty

Royal marriage is a very useful tool. First of all, you can ensure your country with a heir thanks to it. This is not the end though. If the king of the country which you have married into, dies heirless, you will enter a personal union with that country and take control over it! This, unfortunately, works both ways and this can make you a subject to another king for years to come so, there is a risk in that. There also is an option of annexing the country that you are in a personal union with. The country needs to be dependent for, at least, 50 years, needs to be smaller and relations should be, at least, +190.

Three or four marriages is the maximum that is wirth having. With royal marriage, you can take over an enemy throne, through war, even if the rightful ruler is still aliveIt is a perfect tool for nipping inconvenient coalitions in the bud. Imagine you want to take over a small country, which will pave your way to rich provinces in the east. Nearby, there are two strong countries which definitely are not going to like it and there is a justified risk of a coalition. And now, if you could, instead of going to war with one of them, and bind yourself with one of the countries? By winning the war, you will make one of the countries into a vassal. Now, you can annex the small country without being bothered. Because, one of the enemies, although still being enraged, will be your subject so, it won't be capable of doing anything and the other will fear war one on one. The appropriate way of playing with your princesses is halfway to success. You should also watch out for countries that already have several marriages. In such a situation, a war, among all the fathers in law, for the throne may break out. Access to marriages is barred for republics (apart from the noble) and theocracies.

Vassalization is a way to develop your country in a peaceful way. A vassal pays 50% of its taxes to the overlord and has to help him in wartime. To propose vassalization, you need to have a marriage and alliance with a country, as well as the same religion and +190 to relations. You can then annex your vassal, after 10 years in a non-hostile way, as long as relations remain at the level of +190 and you have not taken over anyone within the past ten years. You can walk around this restriction, though by annexing vassals at the same time, with the game paused.

Espionage

Unlike in EUIII there are no spies in the game. All of the covert actions are now performed by diplomats. Some of the options are available for each of the countries, and some can be activated with the Espionage idea group.

Claim fabrication - achieve a claim to a province which will allow you to declare a war over it. The basic tool used for expansion. This process can take up to several years in a situation when the diplomat is detected, which make the process longer by 10%. The provinces that you claim are cheaper by 25% during peace talks and they are cheaper by 25% to core.

Support Rebels- you can start sending money to rebels in a country that is endangered with an uprising. You decide which rebels you want to support and how much money you want to transfer for their cause every month. The financing itself increases the risk of rebellion by 3 and, the more you pay them the more soldiers will appear. Furthermore, if rebels succeed, and they establish an independent state, they will become your ally.

The remaining option require appropriate ideas from the Espionage group:

Sow Discontent - you increase the Local revolt risk by 1 and the stability cost by 50%. Requires Destabilizing Efforts.

Sabotage Administration - this allows you to sabotage the reputation of an enemy country among its neighbors and enemies. It is especially useful for creating coalitions against stronger countries. Requires Rumourmongering.

Infiltrate Administration - removes the fog of way from a given country. Requires Espionage.

Economy

Embargo - decrease trade power of the country in the centers that you compete in. it will also impose a 5% penalty on trade efficiency, if the country is not a competitor.

Send gift- a financial help for a country. It will increase relations depending on the amount that you send, +15 at most, for five years.

Loan- an offer to lend money to another country. If the country does not pay up the loan, you will receive casus belli.

War subsidies - you can lend help to a country in wartime, by sending a definite amount of money every month.

Sell a province- you can sell one of your provinces to a country. It can be, e.g. a stronger country's core to ensure safety. Aesthetics may use this tool to establish better looking borderlines on the map. As an alternative, you can sell a province to your vassal, when Aggressive Expansion and Overextension are too high, to decrease these values. You will strengthen your ally and, when you annex a vassal in a peaceful way, these lands will return you anyways, at a far lower price.

Access

You can offer to give, or ask another country to provide you with military access. Although it is not too fair, you can take advantage of the fact and strike at the enemy from neutral lands. Furthermore, agreeing for the foreign troops to enter you country will increase your relations by +10, for as long as it remains in power.

There is a bit different rule that applies to harbors, for which you need to pay a certain amount of money to access. Still, if you have a green light in harbors of the other countries, you can repair your ships there and expand your colonial range.