Yeah, that just happened.

[Palatinus Germanicus]

Notice the message log. Particularly the 5 & 9 AUG entries. Muenster had 4 provinces, I had claims on 3 (planning to make his developed capital an enclave to save for later), I chose the 20-development (highest cost % of my 3 claims) Friesland as my war goal. Troops start marching in. Before they're even locked, the NED owns it. My ally, as you can see.

A similar thing happened w/ the Gelre province. I was about 2 months away from diplo-vassalizing them, and they just 'joined the union' suddenly. I guess the Dutch are just not meant to be under the German flag.

That's fine I guess. Their A.I. is really good... and I've never had such a good friend, that I could call into 2 separate (major) offensive wars at the same time. And their (sizeable) army is always making the right moves -- very helpful. Really impressive A.I., actually. Downright heroic. Polar opposite of the English A.I., which might be the worst in the game. IRL, I would be happy to have them as a Protestant ally. But knowing what I know, I only ally them temporarily when I'm about to attack France... promise them some land just because I feel sorry for them (yes the French used to have more than you see there).
The war starts, the French fort in Somerset wasn't even garrisoned. No enemy troops in country. Took them about 10 months to even enter French territory (in England). They were in London, and ran their entire army away to... Ireland. "I just ask you to WALK into the south of your own country, and siege, you fool!"
For a while, I thought I was going to have to go over there and get it done, myself. Is this just a fluke occurrence? No, the English A.I. is so bad, I really think it's game-breaking. Not only for western Europe, but for the would-be, but not-gonna-happen world empire. The English A.I. is totally out to lunch, all the time. Brain-dead & spineless.

Anyway, nothing surprises me anymore.
I get all 3 tech'ed up at once... 4 days later: "Hey Byzantine refugees". I'm not kidding.
Years later, I get all 3 techs again... ~20 days later: "Oh hey, here's your Brandenburg flavor event. A scientist / astronomer, that makes tech cheaper! Enjoy!"
This game definitely brings the lulz.

 

[PhoenixG]

Ah the dutch revolt events. When Netherland exist there is a high chance that all other dutch minor will join the Netherland.

 

[Palatinus Germanicus]

Ah the dutch revolt events. When Netherland exist there is a high chance that all other dutch minor will join the Netherland.

Yeah but this was owned by Muenster. And the event for him to either fight rebels (?) or give it up fired FOUR DAYS after I attacked! I'd been planning that war for over a decade, waiting for the truce (diplo-vassalized his only ally, just a month prior... not enough time to find a replacement). And he'd owned that province for probably a century, and the NED had been around for many decades.

"Just a coincidence". I think not. I've seen this type of thing more times than I can count. I think the game punishes/screws you more, as you get more powerful. When you're weak and you're very existence is hanging by a thread, that's when you have more 'luck'. But when you actually form beta-Germany... no... no more luck for you.

"Hey, he's about to take that province! What can we do to stop him?!"
"Check the archives!"
"Hey, here's an event... should work like a charm!"
"Fire it, now!"

 

[durbal]

That's what you get for playing dirty Prussia.

 

[Me_]

It is just a coincidence. The Duch events have a very chigh chance to fire, which is wy you can see it often. The Netherlands are railoaded into existence very heavily.

 

[Palatinus Germanicus]

That's what you get for playing dirty Prussia.

My hands are clean... not a single military idea group, and I've never so much as touched the "increase militarization button".
And even though I continuously make generals w/ 90+ AT, I can't seem to get anything above 3 shock pips, to save my life. If I showed you a SS of my thoroughly pathetic general staff, you'd probably spit out your coffee. I think the game is essentially trolling me at this point.

The Netherlands are railoaded into existence very heavily.

That's a great way of putting it. And do ya know who gets railroaded OUT of the game real heavily? That's right -- Burgundy. In this run, they got to play just about exactly SIX years. Well, 5.5, since it was earlier in 1450. And they were doing pretty well, too. Beating up on France during the 100 yrs war. But no... that's not allowed. Go home, son.

 

[durbal]

Yeah, BI is a terrible travesty of an event.

 

[Stgerlachus]

I get your frustration. But yeah it's just randomness interpreted through confirmation bias, as is so often the case.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I get your frustration. But yeah it's just randomness interpreted through confirmation bias, as is so often the case.

Whether or not it's confirmation bias is secondary to the fact that using events to break otherwise well-established (and existing for a reason) game rules is junk. Burgundy/NED both have event sequences that are complete trash. They break game rules and do things on justification that conveniently doesn't seem to exist anywhere else because reasons, and do things that are otherwise impossible in the game.

What do we get in return wrt grand strategy gameplay? Trial and error fake difficulty and an RNG factor that adds very little once you know the hidden rule exceptions.

 

[babuchas1]

I wonder how can you call in the Dutch into 2 different offensive wars at the same time. I always get a -1000 when I try to do that.

 

[Ninaran]

I loathe how NED is handled in this game. I'd rather see no Netherlands at all than having it this way.

 

[Siliske]

If you want to know about something even more stupid, If an AI forms netherlands they will automatically trigger the revolt events for everyone that owns their provinces. Its really unfair.

 

[makaramus]

If you want to know about something even more stupid, If an AI forms netherlands they will automatically trigger the revolt events for everyone that owns their provinces. Its really unfair.

do you really belive AI can form netherlands by any diffrent way? :/

 

[Palatinus Germanicus]

I wonder how can you call in the Dutch into 2 different offensive wars at the same time. I always get a -1000 when I try to do that.

I'd never seen it before, either. I was already about 2 years into a fairly brutal war against France (the target), Castille, Pope, Venice, Hungary, Milan, and several other minors. France was actually leading a (kinda small) coalition against me, so there were several (mostly German) minors in there as well. Venice was also in the coalition, though.

So with all that going on for a couple of years, my truce expired w/ 2-province Nassau... who was allied w/ Dithmarschen. My mission was conquer Dithmarschen, and that's the only way I could get claims, since they're full espionage. They were also allied w/ a lot of people I didn't want to hassle with... ENG & Aragon, and did I mention RUSSIA (my ally)... just to name a couple. So Nassau was the key (I had 1 claim on them also) to finally getting Dithmarschen.

So I started that war, never expecting NED would join. That war involved only about 3 or 4 minors, no big deal. But I was already busy with all the other sieges going on. A few months into it, the "You can call in Allies" banner appeared. I was real puzzled by that. It was the NED! I'd just accumulated another 10th favor. They were willing to join by exactly ONE point. -Even despite already being in my other offensive war... which again, 2 years in, and was fairly brutal. I needed all the help I could get for sieging, so I went ahead and called them in.

In all my years of Paradox gaming, I don't think I've ever had a better friend than NED, in this game. Their army is also so helpful... and they've not even attempted to find any other allies... since their independence war. I check every so often, and they're never (EVER) improving relations with anyone else. They're monogamous, only to me.

I had plans to unify the entire culture group. But I think they've earned their independence. Don't know if I can bring myself to turn against them.