So, as many of us most recently saw in Arumba's England game, succession wars are kind of screwy (and have been for quite some time).
If you didn't see the video let me summarize:
England is currently in war with her ally, Austria.
England gets random PU over Leinster.
Austria goes to war with England over PU with Leinster.
1. Austria has no interest in Leinster or the British isles.
2. Austria is allied with England.
3. Austria is allies in a war with England.
For comparison, if he had taken Leinster as a vassal in a war, or even annexed it, nobody outside the British isles would have cared, but a random PU is enough to make an ally on the other side of Europe turn against England while they are in a war?
Now, in this case nothing really bad happened (besides resulting in the permanent breakup of the English/Austrian alliance). In other cases, it can result in things like the warleader of one side being removed from a war, leading to things like leadership being passed to a nation that has basically no involvement in the war, and also no desire to make peace, or the war goal province being removed from the war.
The fix to the immediate problem is to simply not offer the ability to contest succession to allies in a war. Expanding on that, don't offer it to allies at all, since they wouldn't normally be able to go to war without breaking the alliance first anyways. Really, only a rival should be offered the ability to contest the claim. Also, adjust the prestige penalty for not taking it based on other factors such as relations with the target country, and then let the AI choose not to contest the claim.
A more robust version, which would require an invalid CB mechanic (automatic call for peace and a huge hit to war enthusiasm for the aggressor), is instead to give everyone with an interest a contest succession CB, which is only valid for a few months after the PU is formed. As soon as the original PU is broken, then everyone else that declared war has their CB invalidated. If a new PU was formed, then all involved (plus enemies of the new overlord) gets a new CB against that country.
An invalid CB mechanic would also be useful in other edge cases, such as where the defending country loses the war goal province in a separate war, or to rebels.
If you didn't see the video let me summarize:
England is currently in war with her ally, Austria.
England gets random PU over Leinster.
Austria goes to war with England over PU with Leinster.
1. Austria has no interest in Leinster or the British isles.
2. Austria is allied with England.
3. Austria is allies in a war with England.
For comparison, if he had taken Leinster as a vassal in a war, or even annexed it, nobody outside the British isles would have cared, but a random PU is enough to make an ally on the other side of Europe turn against England while they are in a war?
Now, in this case nothing really bad happened (besides resulting in the permanent breakup of the English/Austrian alliance). In other cases, it can result in things like the warleader of one side being removed from a war, leading to things like leadership being passed to a nation that has basically no involvement in the war, and also no desire to make peace, or the war goal province being removed from the war.
The fix to the immediate problem is to simply not offer the ability to contest succession to allies in a war. Expanding on that, don't offer it to allies at all, since they wouldn't normally be able to go to war without breaking the alliance first anyways. Really, only a rival should be offered the ability to contest the claim. Also, adjust the prestige penalty for not taking it based on other factors such as relations with the target country, and then let the AI choose not to contest the claim.
A more robust version, which would require an invalid CB mechanic (automatic call for peace and a huge hit to war enthusiasm for the aggressor), is instead to give everyone with an interest a contest succession CB, which is only valid for a few months after the PU is formed. As soon as the original PU is broken, then everyone else that declared war has their CB invalidated. If a new PU was formed, then all involved (plus enemies of the new overlord) gets a new CB against that country.
An invalid CB mechanic would also be useful in other edge cases, such as where the defending country loses the war goal province in a separate war, or to rebels.
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