I don't understand how the AI decides to accept or refuse peace demands.
It seems to me that when loosing a war (badly), receiving an offer to give up the only provinces the aggressor has cores on would be an excellent offer to accept. Once a nation no longer has any cores of an aggressor, the aggressor will be much less likely to come back after them in a few years, right? However, the AI consistently refuses moderate demands of only those provinces that the player has cores on, all the while offering larger amounts of provinces, along with money to the player.
In my France game a couple days ago, Austria forced me to achieve 100% victory before they'd accept a 40 odd percent demand; the three provinces that France has cores on. Given how opportunistic the AI is on offense, the AI should not be foolish enough to force an opponent to dismantle ever single regiment they have and completely overrun their home provinces to try and keep their most distant holdings. Once they finally acquiesced, they were no longer strong enough to defend themselves if any other neighbor started getting greedy.
In my Spain game today, I had to seize London, all of Wales, and four more English provinces before they'd give me the two Portuguese provinces (England was allied and became the primary when they joined the war) I had gained cores on. Keep in mind that I had already taken all of continental Portugal first (99% against England before I ever set foot on a ship, 88% against Portugal and whatever colonies they had). Around 5 years of me keeping both Portugal and England pinned at -3 stability due to continuous refusals. Once Portugal finally gave me what I wanted, England's armies were destroyed and she couldn't stop the rebellions that had spread everywhere. (I admit to helping those along hoping that the government would collapse and someone sane would take over.)
There's absolutely no reason that England's AI should ever have refused to make peace with me there. My demands were for Portuguese land only. By refusing to give me what I asked for, the AI destroyed their nation. If there had been an upside to provoking an invasion of the island, or a downside to letting an junior ally loose land, I could see the AI refusing the first offer. By refusing to make peace at no cost to themselves for years on end, the AI is essentially committing slow-motion suicide. Weak AI I can understand, mortally depressed AI simply confounds me.
It seems to me that when loosing a war (badly), receiving an offer to give up the only provinces the aggressor has cores on would be an excellent offer to accept. Once a nation no longer has any cores of an aggressor, the aggressor will be much less likely to come back after them in a few years, right? However, the AI consistently refuses moderate demands of only those provinces that the player has cores on, all the while offering larger amounts of provinces, along with money to the player.
In my France game a couple days ago, Austria forced me to achieve 100% victory before they'd accept a 40 odd percent demand; the three provinces that France has cores on. Given how opportunistic the AI is on offense, the AI should not be foolish enough to force an opponent to dismantle ever single regiment they have and completely overrun their home provinces to try and keep their most distant holdings. Once they finally acquiesced, they were no longer strong enough to defend themselves if any other neighbor started getting greedy.
In my Spain game today, I had to seize London, all of Wales, and four more English provinces before they'd give me the two Portuguese provinces (England was allied and became the primary when they joined the war) I had gained cores on. Keep in mind that I had already taken all of continental Portugal first (99% against England before I ever set foot on a ship, 88% against Portugal and whatever colonies they had). Around 5 years of me keeping both Portugal and England pinned at -3 stability due to continuous refusals. Once Portugal finally gave me what I wanted, England's armies were destroyed and she couldn't stop the rebellions that had spread everywhere. (I admit to helping those along hoping that the government would collapse and someone sane would take over.)
There's absolutely no reason that England's AI should ever have refused to make peace with me there. My demands were for Portuguese land only. By refusing to give me what I asked for, the AI destroyed their nation. If there had been an upside to provoking an invasion of the island, or a downside to letting an junior ally loose land, I could see the AI refusing the first offer. By refusing to make peace at no cost to themselves for years on end, the AI is essentially committing slow-motion suicide. Weak AI I can understand, mortally depressed AI simply confounds me.
