The AI deleting half their army the moment they are in peace ruins the challenge of the game significantly

[Jordedude1234]

I was fighting an enemy that had more than twice my army. Probably could have full annexed me if they tried, but they were willing to peace out for a crappy province and some money. Then the moment they peace out with me they delete half their army (32k to 16k), get declared on by a neighbor, they fight to a white peace, and I declare on them afterwards when they have 4k troops and a lot less manpower.

I was pretty close to losing, but managing to fight to a light surrender was a novel experience. Probably the first time I've ever willingly lost a province without ragequitting because it was challenging but the run was still salvagable. Then the AI deleted half their army, causing a war with a neighbor, which ended up destroying their country. The challenge was then gone in an instant.

I mean seriously no mods can fix such a fundamental AI issue which was only really brought about by this patch. Without a fix to the AI, there's not much of a point to playing the game if there's no challenging enemies. What's the point of new content and buttons to click if I don't have challenging enemies to fight?

 

[Methuen of Melnibone]

Silly question, and not meant sarcastic - but doesn't the country that just mugged your neighbor then become the challenge ?

Asking as the situation kind of makes sense to me; country goes big to conquer you, fails, is broke, sacks the army, other country smells blood & jumps all over them.

 

[Jordedude1234]

The other neighbor was nowhere near as powerful, and no provinces changed hand anyways for some reason, so the other guy didn't grow in strength.

 

[Laurent1944]

Well, there are many challenges in early EU4 bigger than fighting 32k men, especially with VH settings. And picking countries that just end a war with low manpower and debts is the way to go.