Coalition warring internally - will they all fight me?

[TheDanish]

Portugal and Castile formed a coalition against me, Ming. However, they took opposite sides in the Thirty Years War, and Castile is now kicking Portugal across Iberia and back.

My question is, if I declare war on Portugal, will Castile also be drawn into the fight? Or will they stay out, since Castile can't be both allied to Portugal and at war with them at the same time?

Screenshots for clarity:
http://imgur.com/a/QOBKm

 

[zodium]

You can indeed not be allied to someone in one war and fighting them in another. Go nuts.

Although, somewhat bizarrely, if their war concludes, the other party may then join the other war because they can ally. If you can get them to -25 war score before then, though, they won't.

 

[mwyeoh]

Unless you are playing ironman mode, the easiest way to find out is to declare war and see what happens and then load it

If it is ironman:
At this point, no, Spain will not be able to join the war against you
After they peace out, I dont believe Spain will be able to join the war either, as portugal as the war leader would not have a suitable way to request a "call to arms" since they will not be allies (But I might be wrong about this)

 

[AP85]

What are they gonna do anyway? March troops across Eurasia? Get some heavies and send those Iberian fleets to the bottom of the South China Sea. There's nothing more fun than decimating Portuguese and Spanish armadas, IMO, especially since war score got hugely buffed for naval battles.

 

[TheDanish]

Thanks folks. I'll rip apart the Iberians tonight.

As for potential retaliation, Morocco and Granada are my vassals, and I've cored a province in North Africa and southern Portugal, so I'd rather not lose those. This is the first step toward ensuring New World hegemony.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Unless you are playing ironman mode, the easiest way to find out is to declare war and see what happens and then load it

If it is ironman:
At this point, no, Spain will not be able to join the war against you
After they peace out, I dont believe Spain will be able to join the war either, as portugal as the war leader would not have a suitable way to request a "call to arms" since they will not be allies (But I might be wrong about this)

Nations can and do ally nations they just fought and call them sometimes. It's very annoying when the new frenemy does not stand to gain.

 

[TheDanish]

Nations can and do ally nations they just fought and call them sometimes. It's very annoying when the new frenemy does not stand to gain.

That's good to know. Thankfully I'm pretty sure I can take them on individually. It was the prospect of fighting Portugal, Castile, and Aragon all at once that had me question the wisdom of doing so.

I suppose I could ship my other 50k men from China to Europe, but that just takes too much effort.