Diplomacy and War

[Great One]

I would like to open a discussion to learn more about the diplomatic actions related to war. Sometimes I am frustrated when I lose allies over a call to arms which is sent without my consent. Other times, I want to call my allies, but I can't figure out how.

Here is one example:

I have been called to help defend France from our shared enemy Great Britain. I am also allies with Denmark and Castile. In the case of Denmark (not pictured), they also have Great Britain listed as a rival. When I go to the diplomacy screen, there is no button to call them into this war. With our combined arms against our shared ally we could surely prevail, yet I can't figure out how to get them to join.

 

[Gundi]

You aren't the war leader. Only the war leader can call in allies. The only way you could become war leader would be by being bigger than France.

 

[TheBloke]

You aren't the war leader. Only the war leader can call in allies. The only way you could become war leader would be by being bigger than France.

just having a bigger army should probably be enough.

 

[Great One]

In the case I presented as an example from my current game, my forces are all in the New World for the most part. France will be fighting this war by themselves. I was just hoping to help matters by pulling my Danish and Castilian allies into the fray. Perhaps England will send some troops to America (they did in the last war) which I can crush as they land!

In the bigger sense of the question, I am just trying to grasp some of the game mechanics which don't always work in the way I understand them.

Another example which happened recently is when I was at war with a small country in Germany (don't remember which one) which was also at war with Russia and Sweden although they were not allied me. I was allied with France for the entire game (more than 150 years). After I sieged the single province, I demanded that the upstart German prince become my vassal. When he accepted, I became war leader (with no other belligerent nations involved on my side) in the war against Russia and Sweden. To make matters worse, France declined to join the war (which I never asked him to join) and I lost my long time ally. A more reasonable outcome would have been for hostilities to end between the German prince and the Russia/Sweden alliance and for them to both have a shared war diplomacy bonus after I fought along side them in this conquest.

 

[TheBloke]

The auto calling of allies when you inherit vassal wars, followed by loss of alliances, is fixed in 1.5.

You would still have ended up fighting Russia and Sweden though. No way to avoid that besides checking the war situation of a potential vassal before vassalising them.

 

[Great One]

The auto calling of allies when you inherit vassal wars, followed by loss of alliances, is fixed in 1.5.

You would still have ended up fighting Russia and Sweden though. No way to avoid that besides checking the war situation of a potential vassal before vassalising them.

Which is still broken. Why would two countries who are fighting on my side of a war and have good relations suddenly become the defenders (I become the aggressor in a war which I don't want to declare) after I force vassalize our common enemy?

 

[Great One]

Another question for this topic.

If my ally goes to war with a common enemy, but doesn't call me (and other allies) into the war, is there a way to join his war? Or do I have to declare a separate war and just take advantage of the fact that the enemy is already engaged?

 

[TheBloke]

Another question for this topic.

If my ally goes to war with a common enemy, but doesn't call me (and other allies) into the war, is there a way to join his war? Or do I have to declare a separate war and just take advantage of the fact that the enemy is already engaged?

If your ally was the defender - which makes it pretty unlikely that you weren't called in - then Enforce Peace would be the usual way. You Enforce Peace on the attacking War Leader, choosing the defending War Leader as the side to support. This requires +100 or greater relations with the defending war leader, which if they're your ally you'll have.

But the AI almost invariably (or perhaps it is in fact always?) calls you in for defensive wars. So this probably means your ally started an offensive war and didn't call you. In which case there's no option besides declaring your own separate war.