warfare advice...

[number47]

Ok, I managed to get myself into situation that I can't find simple solution and I was wondering if anyone else has any advice.

Usually, I do my warmongering "bussines" far away from "home" so it was impossible for me to encounter this situation before but this time war came to my door and I have a problem:

I'm playing Yugoslavia. After annexing Bulgaria and then Albania, USSR declared war on me. Since I already turned Yugoslavia into fortress and was preparing for this outcome, this would not present big of a problem if it wasn't for the following situation...USSR artillery keeps shelling and rocketing me from Hungary's or Romania's territory and I can only watch and curse them because I haven't found a way of returning fire since I'm not at war with Romania or Hungary. The only thing I managed to do is give them a small pocket of territory for USSR to conguer and then annihilate them as they enter that patch of land. This is no solution as due to my defensive positions I can only give them a hex or two close to my capital (which my ally Austria keeps reconquering ) or other solution would be to give them part of Bulgaria to enter but that would result in them conquering a bit more than what I can contain at the moment since all WP units would be storming the area and I can't handle the whole WP at once

I'm furious that my CB is not raising against Hungary or Rumania since they allow units to attack me from their territory and I can't (won't) declare war on them without CB.
Devs, maybe some tweeking is needed considering this specific proxy situation?

[farrellmeister]

Why don't you just declare war on Bulgaria and Romania? If you choose to liberate or colonise them then you have a shield to protect yourself from the USSR whilst getting them to help you in your fight against the soviets

[number47]

Why don't you just declare war on Bulgaria and Romania? If you choose to liberate or colonise them then you have a shield to protect yourself from the USSR whilst getting them to help you in your fight against the soviets

Declaring war on Hungary or Romania is extremley risky as it would result in all WP countries units currently located in them just pouring over into my territory. I already said that I can't fight all the WP at once. The border along Hungary and Romania is acting as a membrane and is the only thing keeping me alive at the moment

[Balthagor]

...I'm furious that my CB is not raising against Hungary or Rumania since they allow units to attack me from their territory and I can't (won't) declare war on them without CB.
Devs, maybe some tweeking is needed considering this specific proxy situation?

This issue has been discussed in the past with no satisfactory solution. I have no doubt it will come up again.

noted.

[Fistalis]

Why don't you just declare war on Bulgaria and Romania? If you choose to liberate or colonise them then you have a shield to protect yourself from the USSR whilst getting them to help you in your fight against the soviets

Declaring war on Hungary or Romania is extremley risky as it would result in all WP countries units currently located in them just pouring over into my territory. I already said that I can't fight all the WP at once. The border along Hungary and Romania is acting as a membrane and is the only thing keeping me alive at the moment

Kiss their arse so you can get free transit as well then you can fight the russians on their territory.

[number47]

Kiss their arse so you can get free transit as well then you can fight the russians on their territory.

Yeah, that is a good sugg...not . You can imagine how many arse kissing would be necessary to get transit treaties from them after I annexed their allies Bulgaria and Albania. (whole WP has 100% CB against me )

It seems like I'll have to stick my head in the beehive and hope for the best maybe even post some pics of the process

[Fistalis]

Kiss their arse so you can get free transit as well then you can fight the russians on their territory.

Yeah, that is a good sugg...not . You can imagine how many arse kissing would be necessary to get transit treaties from them after I annexed their allies Bulgaria and Albania. (whole WP has 100% CB against me )

It seems like I'll have to stick my head in the beehive and hope for the best maybe even post some pics of the process

well you only have 2 REAL choices.. continue being a warmonger or start kissing arse.. either one is going to involve some throwing money at something.. either diplomacy or your army. Diplomacy is faster if you got the cash on hand though(but at the point you're at would probably cost alot more).

[Anthropoid]

That is an interesting paradox, and while the mechanic where you don't get cassus belli against the 'host's' of your aggressor _is_ maddening, I'm sure, it is also not completely unrealistic. I mean you just said yourself, that you are the aggressor, and you annexed their allies. Why would your diplomats and media be in a position to argue for justification to declare war on them given they are simply helping the USSR to fight a 'defensive war?'

Though far from perfect, these sorts of constraints on human warmongering are IMO one of the great strengths of the game.

Obviously the fact that international and domestic opinion can vary dramatically along a continuum from highly approving to highly disapproving of any given war is a realworld fact. It is mind-boggling to compare (e.g.,) the sheer ebullience of many of the nations (large fractions of citizens, soldiers, and leaders) involved in WWI at its outset with say, the relatively mixed feelings among northerners at the outset of the American Civil War, or the (seemingly) relatively disapproving international attitude toward the 2003 Iraq War--despite the obvious risk of WMD, and despite the Bush regimes vigorous efforts to argue for that risk as cassus belli.

If any change were made to the game engine, I reckon that the cassus belli you should justifiably get against the 'host' nations should be relatively meager.

[number47]

That is an interesting paradox, and while the mechanic where you don't get cassus belli against the 'host's' of your aggressor _is_ maddening, I'm sure, it is also not completely unrealistic. I mean you just said yourself, that you are the aggressor, and you annexed their allies. Why would your diplomats and media be in a position to argue for justification to declare war on them given they are simply helping the USSR to fight a 'defensive war?'

Though far from perfect, these sorts of constraints on human warmongering are IMO one of the great strengths of the game.

Obviously the fact that international and domestic opinion can vary dramatically along a continuum from highly approving to highly disapproving of any given war is a realworld fact. It is mind-boggling to compare (e.g.,) the sheer ebullience of many of the nations (large fractions of citizens, soldiers, and leaders) involved in WWI at its outset with say, the relatively mixed feelings among northerners at the outset of the American Civil War, or the (seemingly) relatively disapproving international attitude toward the 2003 Iraq War--despite the obvious risk of WMD, and despite the Bush regimes vigorous efforts to argue for that risk as cassus belli.

If any change were made to the game engine, I reckon that the cassus belli you should justifiably get against the 'host' nations should be relatively meager.

Interesting point but don't forget that USSR declared war on me not the other way around.

[Anthropoid]

Interesting point but don't forget that USSR declared war on me not the other way around.

Yeah, but they had high cassus belli cause you carved off two of their allies from their sphere! Right?

I'm playing Yugoslavia. After annexing Bulgaria and then Albania, USSR declared war on me.

[number47]

@Anthropoid

If we ignore the politics, I would compare my ingame situation with Israel being attacked by Hezbollah from Lebanon in 2006 so I'll probably do what they did

EDIT: oh, and they weren't in USSR sphere...they were unaligned

[Anthropoid]

Ahh, I gotcha. Still, I guess everyone gets CB when you attack unprovoked. It is both a 'realistic' and a frustrating aspect of the game.

[number47]

So far so good...
Declared war on Hungary and they are slowly but surely falling (my God how many SA-4 did USSR build???). After they fall, I'll liberate them to create a buffer zone to my north and than concentrate on "licking my wounds"...restoring the Balkan Federation will have to wait a bit

I must admit that AI improvments that I'm seeing in Update 3 are remarkable!! AI usage of artillery and AA in offensive operations is simply unbelievable! Good job Fistalis and BG!!

[Anthropoid]

Balkan Federation . . . oh, that does sound like a fun in-game goal.

One of my favorite long game plays ever was creating a "Greater Castillian" Empire in EUIII Heir to the Throne that included all of Iberia, as well as southern France and Italy. Striving for those kinds of historical or semi-historical alternate goals can really make match against the AI a lot of fun.

[The.Dark.Knight]

I know this is old but...
Couldnt you have just "baited" the two countries. I remember in some old games from SR2020 i would do everything possible to tick off the countries i wanted to attack, which usually started with cutting all ties with them. There is an option somewhere to do this. Then set your troops to cross into countries without treaty's and fly your planes near thier cities...this should anger them to the point of war...and im sure your spies could figure out a way to make em mad, at some point they would have delcared war....I know i would have lol