Allies not joining a defensive war.

[PeroxidePenguin]

Playing as Byz and had successfully gotten a war finished against Ottomans. Had Hungary, Austria and Albania as allies. Naples decided to declare for Athens, and all three allies refused the call? Only one had debt and others didn't have ruler traits or bad manpower to justify, also none had allies with Naples. Why would they refuse that call to war?

[MasterYi]

Open up the Declare War screen on another nation (don’t actually declare the war), just see the modifiers for your allies on the reasons why they would not join e.g. Debt, low manpower, attitude towards enemies, attitude towards you, your diplo rep, war exhaustion etc.

The first Ottoman war can be hard for your allies, if took uncored land then you would have overextension which reduces your Diplo Rep, AE can lower your Allies’ opinion of you so make sure to always improve relations with them.

Naples should not be a problem though, you should have had naval superiority over the Ottomans hence you should have naval superiority against the weaker Naples, they would have to ask for military access to reach you which may not be possible if their only neighbour by land the Papal States have rivalled them, Venice can also rival them and not provide access.

So the easy option would just be wait for ticking warscore and blockade all their ports.

The more skilled option would be to take loans, sell crownland for cash, merc up and take the fight to the enemy.

[Sharpie The Dragon]

The thing that can creep up if you're not careful is annexing a subject which gives -3 diplomatic reputation, along side with high overextension.

[bri]

In addition to the above, the erstwhile allies could also have decided that your usefulness as an ally was exhausted and be looking to ditch the alliance. This is especially true if you no longer have common enemies, you took land they want, and so on. Naples attacked because your allies were going to bail on you (this is one area the ai has a huge advantage on the player due to how tedious a player would find constantly checking all the potential enemies to see whose allies were ready to flake out).

[Totally Innocent Chatbot]

Much like the player, the AI can see exactly which of your allies are willing to defend you or not when they want to attack you. It wasn't a coincidence that all of your allies refused to help you right as Naples attacked, Naples knew that they wouldn't help and that's exactly why they chose to attack when they did.

[PeroxidePenguin]

I had not annexed a subject, I had given Hungary provinces they desired in the war, my diplo relation was +3, and I had manpower and force limit. I can seem to find a justification for it? Austria had no reason to drop me as I had not called them into any of the wars. Naples called Genoa and Ferarra into the war, so I had no chance at naval dominance sadly. I decided to give up on that run and work towards a different achievement in the mean time.

[MasterYi]

Originally posted by PeroxidePenguin:

I had not annexed a subject, I had given Hungary provinces they desired in the war,

I would not recommend since as Byzantium you will gain permaclaims (-25% CCR) on the Balkans, and you don’t really need allies for the second Ottoman war, you can just block the straits, occupy their capital Edirne and all their European lands, blockade and wait for ticking warscore.

Originally posted by PeroxidePenguin:

my diplo relation was +3, and I had manpower and force limit. I can seem to find a justification for it? Austria had no reason to drop me as I had not called them into any of the wars.

Diplo Relations are how many Allies, Subjects, and Guarantees you can have.

Diplo Reputation is how “trustworthy” you are.

They are different modifiers.

Originally posted by PeroxidePenguin:

Naples called Genoa and Ferarra into the war, so I had no chance at naval dominance sadly. I decided to give up on that run and work towards a different achievement in the mean time.

If they attempt a naval landing, you can wait until they are movement locked, you can also scorch earth for 5mil to further increase their travel time, then move into the province forcing them to take a -2 crossing penalty, -4 if they decide to land on a mountain province like those in Northern Greece and Albania.

If they do get military access through Italy and the Balkans, then your only hope is to taken defensive battles in the mountains. If you’re not expanding fast enough, you can consider building a fort in Kastoria, it’s a mountain province that protects the rest of Greece, and forms a nice fort line once you manage to gain the fort in Albania too.

[PeroxidePenguin]

I apologize, I did mean to say reputation not relations. My main problem with the war with Naples was my military tech was 2 behind them. I had not taken permaclaim missions at the time either. I declared the run dead and decided to try again after another achievement run as Mamlucks-> Persia for This Is Persia. I'll take the few suggestions here and try to get another run going shortly after.

[grotaclas]

Originally posted by PeroxidePenguin:

My main problem with the war with Naples was my military tech was 2 behind them.

Make sure to avoid this in your next run. Being behind your enemies in even one mil tech can be very dangerous

[Preacher]

Naples DOW on you? Wow, almost a dream come true, its free land my boy, and you get all the money too without your allies hogging it all. I suggest you take loans and buy a merc company. If you dont have enough cogs to ship a sizeable force all at once safely, try asking aragon for military access and land in sicily.

Ah, I just read that Genoa joined in. Kinda sad, but next run try to build or capture a heavy ship to tank damage while your galley spam sinks the enemy.

Always stay ahead on military tech too, so if u want take those estate privleges at the beginning of the game that give +1 MP. I usually take them all and not worry about low crownland since I'm just gonna get more land sooner or later. Military advisor might not hurt if u can afford it or be in a reasonable deficit.

Always keep army maintenance low (not at zero though) when you think you won't need them, but raise it a few months before war or fighting rebs so u can afford those advisors.