Leauge Wars

[Korsjan Rīkis]

I'm playing as Russia and I wanted to take Moldavia from Austria (They have grown huge, I have never seen so strong Austria), but the problem is that they are part of a league, as well, so it would be impossible to deal with so overwhelming numbers. Will the league disband at some point, or I just have to accept that I won't be able to challenge Austria like 150 years later in my campaign?
If it means anything, it's 1580 right now.

 

[jonjowett]

If you leave the protestant league, attacking austria won't call in their fellow catholic league members. (Austria will still call their allies, but I assume you can deal with that.)

Or, you can wait a few decades for the leagues to resolve. (Either the protestant leader attackes the emperor and there's a big war with multiple possible outcomes; or, if nothing happens for long enough, then Catholicism is affirmed and the leagues disband.)

 

[Lars_Schneller]

Leagues will disband. Either a League War will start soon and settle the matter, or Leagues will go away on their own if it's past certain date.

 

[Korsjan Rīkis]

If you leave the protestant league, attacking austria won't call in their fellow catholic league members. (Austria will still call their allies, but I assume you can deal with that.)

Or, you can wait a few decades for the leagues to resolve. (Either the protestant leader attackes the emperor and there's a big war with multiple possible outcomes; or, if nothing happens for long enough, then Catholicism is affirmed and the leagues disband.)

I'm Russia, I'm not in any leagues. Can I join, though? The league stuff is completely new to me. I started to play again after 7 years break. This is my 4th campaign after my return, but in my previous runs (Majapahit, Byzantium, Khmer), I didn't have to deal with any leagues.

I guess I'll just have to wait it out until it settles, hopefully soon. I'm missing such an opportunity, because Austria and Ottomans are fighting each other. I wanted to DOW Ottomans, but I realised that I lack the Religious CB, because I don't have a direct border with them.

Thanks for the answer, though.

Leagues will disband. Either a League War will start soon and settle the matter, or Leagues will go away on their own if it's past certain date.

OK, thanks for the answer. I guess I'll just have to wait.

 

[jonjowett]

I'm Russia, I'm not in any leagues. Can I join, though? The league stuff is completely new to me. I started to play again after 7 years break. This is my 4th campaign after my return, but in my previous runs (Majapahit, Byzantium, Khmer), I didn't have to deal with any leagues.

OK, now I'm confused. In your original post, you said you didn't want to declare on Austria because they were part of a league. But they should only pull in the rest of the catholic league if you are in the protestant league - and you say you aren't. I think screenshots would be good to clarify the situation.

There are probably other ways around the issue - eg. declare on one of Austria's allies; see if joining the Catholic or Protestant league makes a difference to the war participants; etc. Standard EU4 alliance-breaking shenanigans.

Finally, in answer to your question: if the league war hasn't started yet then, yes, you can join a league. (Any nation with a capital in Europe can join either league.)

• If you want to become emperor as Orthodox Russia then you'll need to engineer the peace of westphalia (ie. >=25 years of league war without a decisive result).
• If you're allied to a large Protestant elector nation (that will likely become the emperor afterwards), and you want to keep them as a long-term powerful ally for some reason, you might support the Protestants. (The same would go for the Catholic emperor, but it sounds like you want his land in this run, so that's probably not a good idea.)
• Otherwise, it's usually better overall to stay out of it, let them weaken each other, and quietly annex some land on the periphery.

 

[jonjowett]

Leagues will disband. Either a League War will start soon and settle the matter, or Leagues will go away on their own if it's past certain date.

OK, thanks for the answer. I guess I'll just have to wait.

FYI, the Leagues disband if there has been no League War for 30 years. It might be a long wait.

 

[Restless Native]

It’s not quite after 30 years as it still needs an event with MTTH and some triggers.

If the religious leagues are not triggered in the HRE before 1625 or if the leagues form, but the war is not declared for 30 years, the event The Diet of $CAPITAL_CITY$ can happen for the emperor and declare catholic the official faith of the empire. This event ends the leagues if they had formed. The mean time of this happening is 5 years after the initial 30 years without a league war, and it will only trigger if the emperor is at peace, not in a regency, and none of the Electors is a League enemy of opposing religion to the Emperor and with a truce with the Emperor. If this last rule is not met the Diet will never be called and you will be disallowed to pass any reforms indefinitely

So it can disband after 30 years or it can rage on for a long time.
If you are not a member of the league however you can attack Austria without the league members joining in. If a league war starts and then you attack Austria the league members will join in.

 

[Korsjan Rīkis]

OK, now I'm confused. In your original post, you said you didn't want to declare on Austria because they were part of a league. But they should only pull in the rest of the catholic league if you are in the protestant league - and you say you aren't. I think screenshots would be good to clarify the situation.

There are probably other ways around the issue - eg. declare on one of Austria's allies; see if joining the Catholic or Protestant league makes a difference to the war participants; etc. Standard EU4 alliance-breaking shenanigans.

Finally, in answer to your question: if the league war hasn't started yet then, yes, you can join a league. (Any nation with a capital in Europe can join either league.)

• If you want to become emperor as Orthodox Russia then you'll need to engineer the peace of westphalia (ie. >=25 years of league war without a decisive result).
• If you're allied to a large Protestant elector nation (that will likely become the emperor afterwards), and you want to keep them as a long-term powerful ally for some reason, you might support the Protestants. (The same would go for the Catholic emperor, but it sounds like you want his land in this run, so that's probably not a good idea.)
• Otherwise, it's usually better overall to stay out of it, let them weaken each other, and quietly annex some land on the periphery.

Might be a bug then. For a moment I thought maybe I had accidentally joined the league, but no, that's not the case, I'm not part of it. It seems like the problem is only with Austria. As you can see, other league members don't care about Genoa, for example. It seems to only apply to the leader of the league.

I guess the Protestant leader of the league becomes the emperor if they win, right? If so, that would be good, it would weaken Austria. I don't have any plans to expand into HRE, just deal with the oversized Austria. I like to keep my borders nice and pretty.

 

[Korsjan Rīkis]

I can't believe it, not a year passed after I took the screenshots and the leagues got disbanded. Well, at least I learned some new mechanics, except for the strange fact that Austria would call in their league.

 

[jonjowett]

Might be a bug then. For a moment I thought maybe I had accidentally joined the league, but no, that's not the case, I'm not part of it. It seems like the problem is only with Austria. As you can see, other league members don't care about Genoa, for example. It seems to only apply to the leader of the league.

If the league war currently ongoing? If so, there's a nuance I was previously unaware of, which @Restless Native pointed out. (Apparently, if the war is ongoing and you're not a part of it then the whole league will join a defensive war.)

(EDIT: After looking at your screenshot, you can join a league so the war is not ongoing. I don't know if this is the way it's supposed to work but I suppose it might be reasonable - maybe the thinking is that the league should defend its members against attack by a heretic?)

I guess the Protestant leader of the league becomes the emperor if they win, right?

Probably. If the Protestant leader is also an elector, almost certainly. If Reformed is more dominant than Protestant, other things can happen. Similarly, if the Protestant leader is not an elector then other things might happen.

 

[Restless Native]

Yeah I’m sure they’re not supposed to call in the rest of the Catholic league in this case. Unless it’s because you’re orthodox? Still I don’t think that’s right. Maybe someone else can correct me. Unless it’s a bug?

edit: that’s a serious alliance. Makes the Catholic emperor untouchable for about four decades. That can’t be right.

 

[Korsjan Rīkis]

Yeah I’m sure they’re not supposed to call in the rest of the Catholic league in this case. Unless it’s because you’re orthodox? Still I don’t think that’s right. Maybe someone else can correct me. Unless it’s a bug?

edit: that’s a serious alliance. Makes the Catholic emperor untouchable for about four decades. That can’t be right.

Maybe it was because I'm the defender of faith? Austria was already basically untouchable with its alliances with Spain and Savoy. It has eaten up like half of France, as well.

I managed to defeat Austria (without the league) and took all Moldavia, but my manpower got totally crippled + 2 loans I can't afford to pay off. A victory with high price.