A player could be much larger than that with 0 AE, real talk (and Scotland there is larger). Even if you only gouged prestige, but that's very slow expansion.
The question is whether the coalition + combined truce model is any fun, which right now it isn't, nor does it offer proportionate rewards to the cost/challenge. AE isn't the problem, and never really was the problem. It's the nonsensical implementation of the coalition mechanic itself that is problematic, especially when stacked with truces. You wind up with very, very long periods where neither side can attack each other without large expense, or even worse only the aggressor against the coalition can do so (if a new member joins). It's not a good working model, and neither is the necessity to carefully manage relations as a 4 province minor (breaking truce) to prevent multiple majors from using a dogpile mechanic to work with their enemies against you. In fact, even if a coalition member breaks truce, he can't bring in other members, meaning that you can get a guaranteed 1-sided NAP against coalitions simply by signing a peace deal ^_^.
