The no-so-new mechanic makes it all the more difficult to play as a minor and easier to play as a major. I'll illustrate with my most recent game as Oman. I've taken the entire Arab side of the Persian gulf coast. Grane is my border province to the East. I've Gobble all of central Arabia leaving the Mamluks to vassalize and annex Medina and Hedjaz. I've fought Yemen and company to a stalemate, giving Ethiopia the opportunity to annex some coastal provinces along the Arabian side of the Bab al-Mandeb. I fight Yemen again and now border Ethiopia. Ethiopia is massive but luckily lacks the naval power to control its Arabian territories and is a rival of the Mamluks. As such, I attack, seize the Arabian side of the Bab al-Mandeb and blockade the straight before Ethiopia can cross. All is well right.
Nope. Ethiopian ally, Makuria is too small to be of any concern to the Mamluks and thus is freely granted military access. Okay, under the old rules this would be fine. Except now the Mamluks have tacitly given approval for their sworn enemy to march troops into their lands in so that they might protect and expand their Empire. Mind you, Mamluks and I are on cordial terms. The Mamluk AI in no way benefits from maintaining Ethiopian control of Arabia and does not really lose anything by allowing me to expand my control over the peninsula. You'd think Mamluks would want weaker neighbors considering the Ottomans are gobbling up their territory.
Unfortunately the game takes none of this into account. Military access does not consider to whom conditional military access is given, thus completely defeating the purpose of military access having negative modifiers except in rare circumstances where the neutral country is either allied to the human or really hates every belligerent on both sides of a war. Now this hurts smaller countries because they are unlikely to be able to ally these mammoth countries like the Mamluks due to their army and navy strength which essentially turns them into a damn highway for their rivals. So how does this make things easier for a major. First, a major power can handle the combined forces of many minors. It is even given the opportunity to go through neighboring rivals to occupy minors it otherwise couldn't get to, due to the AI's suicidal tendencies. Secondly, a major actually has an easier time allying many large and small countries, thus preventing enemies from gaining military access from occurring.
I would think the solution to the problem is obvious, and exists, in part, in the game. Party A and C are at war and country B is between them. Country B is allied to country A (which is human controlled). C wants access through B but A does not. C cannot gain access through B because B is allied to A (though not party to the current war). This at-war-with-ally modifier should extend to countries allied to rivals. Using the Oman-Mamluk-Ethiopia example, Makuria should not be able to gain access through Mamluks because Makuria is allied to Ethiopia and Ethiopia is a rival to Mamluks.
Nope. Ethiopian ally, Makuria is too small to be of any concern to the Mamluks and thus is freely granted military access. Okay, under the old rules this would be fine. Except now the Mamluks have tacitly given approval for their sworn enemy to march troops into their lands in so that they might protect and expand their Empire. Mind you, Mamluks and I are on cordial terms. The Mamluk AI in no way benefits from maintaining Ethiopian control of Arabia and does not really lose anything by allowing me to expand my control over the peninsula. You'd think Mamluks would want weaker neighbors considering the Ottomans are gobbling up their territory.
Unfortunately the game takes none of this into account. Military access does not consider to whom conditional military access is given, thus completely defeating the purpose of military access having negative modifiers except in rare circumstances where the neutral country is either allied to the human or really hates every belligerent on both sides of a war. Now this hurts smaller countries because they are unlikely to be able to ally these mammoth countries like the Mamluks due to their army and navy strength which essentially turns them into a damn highway for their rivals. So how does this make things easier for a major. First, a major power can handle the combined forces of many minors. It is even given the opportunity to go through neighboring rivals to occupy minors it otherwise couldn't get to, due to the AI's suicidal tendencies. Secondly, a major actually has an easier time allying many large and small countries, thus preventing enemies from gaining military access from occurring.
I would think the solution to the problem is obvious, and exists, in part, in the game. Party A and C are at war and country B is between them. Country B is allied to country A (which is human controlled). C wants access through B but A does not. C cannot gain access through B because B is allied to A (though not party to the current war). This at-war-with-ally modifier should extend to countries allied to rivals. Using the Oman-Mamluk-Ethiopia example, Makuria should not be able to gain access through Mamluks because Makuria is allied to Ethiopia and Ethiopia is a rival to Mamluks.
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