Way to ask for territory back instead of starting war with ally?

[Banana Steve]

Potato brain secessionists started civil war. Allies came in to help. Killed secessionists but now allies own my Italia cities. Don't see a way to ask for the settlements back.
Would like to avoid going to war with allies just to reclaim my territory.
Is there a way to get these back without going to war?

[Yews]

Bomb them with your diplomats. Like literally send a bloke into their country every turn. Eventually you’ll either piss them off enough for them to officially declare war on you (and you’ll be able to seize the settlements back from them), or they will hand the settlements over to you, if you’re lucky. In my latest Suebi campaign I ‘conquered’ half of Europe by just talking to people. The guy I chose to make the diplomat who’d do all the talking rose to obscene levels of gravitās, twice the king’s.

[Banana Steve]

Originally posted by Yews:

Bomb them with your diplomats. Like literally send a bloke into their country every turn. Eventually you’ll either piss them off enough for them to officially declare war on you (and you’ll be able to seize the settlements back from them), or they will hand the settlements over to you, if you’re lucky. In my latest Suebi campaign I ‘conquered’ half of Europe by just talking to people. The guy I chose to make the diplomat who’d do all the talking rose to obscene levels of gravitās, twice the king’s.

Like send my diplomats to the cities I want back?

[Iron Ben]

Originally posted by Banana Steve:

Originally posted by Yews:

Bomb them with your diplomats. Like literally send a bloke into their country every turn. Eventually you’ll either piss them off enough for them to officially declare war on you (and you’ll be able to seize the settlements back from them), or they will hand the settlements over to you, if you’re lucky. In my latest Suebi campaign I ‘conquered’ half of Europe by just talking to people. The guy I chose to make the diplomat who’d do all the talking rose to obscene levels of gravitās, twice the king’s.

Like send my diplomats to the cities I want back?

No...


In the screen where it shows your family tree, find the "send on a diplomatic mission" tab.

Every turn you use that option to send someone over to talk with your ally. Eventually (if you're lucky) they'll end up giving you a settlement...

[Aslan Ponto]

You can do what Yews says, alongside scheming against your ally; send spies, champions and dignataries who lower public order. Besides, you can even send armies of yours and set them in Raid stance, which would also lower the public order. If you are lucky and your ally cant garrison properly the settlement, perhaps it will revolt and you could declare war upon the newly independent faction (or generic rebels).

And you might wonder if it is too agressive to send your armies in raid stance, but it is not; as long as you have military access, I think it only gives a -10 penalty in relationships, which I assume you can afford since they are your allies and the relationships are probably over 100. The agent actions against your ally can put a dent on the relationships tho.

If they can defend themselves against these actions (for instance, if your ally is Greek, and the province is already Greek, it is not very likely that this will work) your only peaceful option is the random diplomacy event.

[Banana Steve]

Okay thanks guys I'll try these out.

[2GenL]

Send your family members as diplomats... There is a chance they will gift you a random city, along with other possible outcomes which are interesting and useful.

[ashunsley]

A note on sending diplomats...
This mission costs money and fails at least as often as it succeeds. When it fails, your relationship with the target gets worse, and you incur some sort of malus- anything from a temporary penalty on trade income or army morale, to the diplomat you send being wounded or killed. So is it worth gambling your money this way? Absolutely, if you have the money to spare, and if you don't mind losing the character. That's because the rewards are potentially more significant than the penalties. Sometimes you get a large sum of cash, or a settlement will outright defect to your nation. (It's random, and in my experience, it's always a settlement that's on your border- I've never managed to snag a settlement from an overseas nation).

I've read that the following factors influence the odds of success:
You're more likely to succeed if the foreign nation already likes you.
The more ambitious the diplomat is, the more likely they are to succeed.
The higher the diplomat's gravitas, the better.
If you have the bigger nation, a foreign territory is more likely to defect to you.

In my experience, that's all true, but I haven't subjected it to any rigorous testing.

I can't prove it, but I think your diplomat is immune to dying of natural causes while on a mission. Once as Kush, I sent an ambitious widow on diplo missions every year. She started in her 70's, and she ended up living to 120 (!). She was wounded lots of times (slipped in the bathtub, I assume) but she gained me most of Syria and Arabia, all by herself. She also married several of my political rivals over the years (usually men decades younger than herself). The only downside was she ended up founding her own political dynasty, which survived her.

Sometimes I'll send an annoying character to negotiate with my most hateful enemies, just because it's less trouble than having them assassinated- only for them to return with tribute.

Finally, you can send members of a rival political faction as diplomats (and you will still receive any potential benefits) though they will gain gravitas if they succeed, and if the diplomat is killed, you'll take a temporary loyalty hit.

[2GenL]

Originally posted by ashunsley:

A note on sending diplomats...
This mission costs money and fails at least as often as it succeeds. When it fails, your relationship with the target gets worse, and you incur some sort of malus- anything from a temporary penalty on trade income or army morale, to the diplomat you send being wounded or killed. So is it worth gambling your money this way? Absolutely, if you have the money to spare, and if you don't mind losing the character. That's because the rewards are potentially more significant than the penalties. Sometimes you get a large sum of cash, or a settlement will outright defect to your nation. (It's random, and in my experience, it's always a settlement that's on your border- I've never managed to snag a settlement from an overseas nation).

I've read that the following factors influence the odds of success:
You're more likely to succeed if the foreign nation already likes you.
The more ambitious the diplomat is, the more likely they are to succeed.
The higher the diplomat's gravitas, the better.
If you have the bigger nation, a foreign territory is more likely to defect to you.

In my experience, that's all true, but I haven't subjected it to any rigorous testing.

I can't prove it, but I think your diplomat is immune to dying of natural causes while on a mission. Once as Kush, I sent an ambitious widow on diplo missions every year. She started in her 70's, and she ended up living to 120 (!). She was wounded lots of times (slipped in the bathtub, I assume) but she gained me most of Syria and Arabia, all by herself. She also married several of my political rivals over the years (usually men decades younger than herself). The only downside was she ended up founding her own political dynasty, which survived her.

Sometimes I'll send an annoying character to negotiate with my most hateful enemies, just because it's less trouble than having them assassinated- only for them to return with tribute.

Finally, you can send members of a rival political faction as diplomats (and you will still receive any potential benefits) though they will gain gravitas if they succeed, and if the diplomat is killed, you'll take a temporary loyalty hit.

I managed to take over most of greece playing as rome using the diplomat mechanic while all my armies where in gaul and africa. Only had to send 1 army afterwards to get the capitals