Why is the "Call willing allies" tooltip often wrong?

[londoner247]

This has to be the most frustrating UI issue in the game for me. It is bad enough that it doesn't explain why allies won't join the war you're planning (so you can't decide if there might be something you can do to increase the chances) but it is really irritating when it tells you that they will join and then they don't.

My latest example of this has come in my first Ironman game (so that probably makes it even more annoying because I can't just reload) where I've got the mission to liberate Judea from a powerful Ottoman Empire. The tooltip tells me that my strong and faithful ally Brandenburg, who just happens to be the senior PU partner of Russia, will join the war so I'm fairly happy that, with their help, we will be able to take the Ottomans. But when the war starts they haven't joined so I check their diplomacy screen and, lo and behold, not willing to join the war because it is too distant.

I just cannot fathom why Paradox can't get this part of the interface to work. How can the code possibly calculate that an ally will join a war before it starts only to change that calculation the moment it had started?

 

[Thund91]

I agree that it's frustrating, but what you can do is declare war on the ottomans and then declare war on someone nearby that they will actually support you with. Iirc they will be dragged into both wars.

I should add though that you have to call them in manually however.

 

[londoner247]

I agree that it's frustrating, but what you can do is declare war on the ottomans and then declare war on someone nearby that they will actually support you with. Iirc they will be dragged into both wars.

I should add though that you have to call them in manually however.

Does that work even if the Ottomans war is over 60 days old and I am the aggressor?

I've also noticed that one of my Colonial Nations has been attacked by another Colonial Nation. If I try to Enforce Peace and they refuse will all my allies join all my wars because we will be the defender in the colonial war?

 

[Wolfeson]

I agree that it's frustrating, but what you can do is declare war on the ottomans and then declare war on someone nearby that they will actually support you with. Iirc they will be dragged into both wars.

I should add though that you have to call them in manually however.

As of 1.5, I don't believe that trick works anymore.

 

[Thund91]

It still works as far as I'm concerned. I was able to get Castile in the HYW by dowing an Irish minor and manually calling them into the war.

 

[londoner247]

Is there a way to make a (non-Ironman) copy of my Ironman save so that I can test whether these things will work before going any further in the Ironman game?

 

[xccam]

Doesn't that rather defeat the point of playing in ironman?

 

[londoner247]

Doesn't that rather defeat the point of playing in ironman?

Not if all I am doing is trying to test a game mechanic (declaring another war to try and bring allies into an existing one) on which the community seems uncertain.


Edit: I decided to just try it anyway. Enforcing peace against the Portuguese Colonial Nation that was attacking my Colonial Nation did allow me to call my allies (including the monster of Brandenburg and Russia) into both wars so it looks like I may be able to salvage things after all.