How often do you reject an AI defensive call to war?

[tobias.mb]

I agree , but I don't think I understand fully how to do this. What are the more subtle ways of avoiding a CTA?

Well the AI usually targets weaker neighbours. So the obvious thing to do is either not ally nations, that are pressured by a rival / neighbour of theirs or you make sure your alliance is clearly stronger than anyone around you. (Meaning grow into the regional top-dog asap)
As an example, the Teutons are not a good ally, since they'll almost certainly drag you into a war against Poland. Similarly Novgorod is a terrible idea.

 

[Kergan]

As a vastly inferior nation, allied with Ottomans, it takes 4-5 years for each favor point gain. Winning a war with your OP ally not only potentially nets you a shut-ton of provinces, but also a shut-ton of favor (20-30 EASY), which can be used for offensive wars later without having to give provinces.

Alternatively, do a single war on the Otto's terms, and then feed the beast during your own wars so you always have 10+ favors and it's always on the verge of a coalition. When playing Holland and use France that way, it never declares its own wars - ever. Your only job is to ensure you've a war to declare the moment the truce runs out. Let France do the work, take a piece of clay or two for yourself and some war reparations, and then feed the beast with clay to 100% WS for favors and tons of AE in the HRE. I've admittedly never played an Anatolia minor yet but I can't imagine things being that different, except perhaps that the Ottoman is hungrier and the AE grows more slowly.

 

[Northernwwater]

Well the AI usually targets weaker neighbours. So the obvious thing to do is either not ally nations, that are pressured by a rival / neighbour of theirs or you make sure your alliance is clearly stronger than anyone around you. (Meaning grow into the regional top-dog asap)
As an example, the Teutons are not a good ally, since they'll almost certainly drag you into a war against Poland. Similarly Novgorod is a terrible idea.

Yes, those are the obvious ones. I also avoid allying Ottoman neighbors when playing in the mideast.

But the game is a lot more complicated than those simple cases. I don't fully understand how to use attitude or opinion to avoid CTAs.

 

[tobias.mb]

Hmm, afaik attitude and opinion only influences offensice CTAs.
The AI will only send you an offensive CTA, if another AI in your place would accept.
High opinion of the target country and friendly attitude towards them are big (negative) modifiers on this, so if you like a country enough (your opinion of them) or you have set your attitude towards them to friendly, the AI won't expect you to honor a CTA against that country and therefore will also not send it in the first place.

 

[saintlyknighted]

I basically dishonour any CTA that gets in the way of my own plans of expansion - usually when I can foresee that I need to put in a lot of effort. Say I'm planning to attack Delhi in a year's time but Jaunpur calls me in against a massive Bahmanis because our combined force limit just barely surpasses his? I'm never gonna accept that, and Jaunpur most likely will immediately become food priority after Delhi. The only CTAs I answer outside of just being able to steamroll the enemy nations is that when I still need that ally, e.g. Ottomans or a specific time when I defended Malwa against a massive Bahmanis + Madurai in order to contain Bahmanis's expansion.

 

[holyvigil]

I only dishonor the CTA if I think an ai nation would dishonor it in my situation. I feel like I'm cheating otherwise.

 

[Northernwwater]

I actually feel guilty some times. It's like in Stellaris, I hate attacking the space parrots.