Sicily to Italy

[Mr. Needful]

Trying to unite the peninsula from the bottom up and without having to go the direct warfare route as my military is relatively weak and having my reserves raised tanks my economy. The play thus far:
Austria lost Great Power status in the 60s after a disasterous war against the North German Federation. Refocused my influence on Austria's former Italian sphere members and picked them up before France could.
Shifted focus to France's sphere members. High priority on Papal states, Low on the other two, force them to play all three. Scoop up Papal States, refocus High priority to [Northern Italian state that starts with an M, I keep wanting to say Moldova] and currently have it out of France's influnce, though it's still within their grasp to regain.
In a nifty twist of fate, have also added Austria to my sphere after they tried and failed to retaliate against my North German allies, so that takes care of Lombard territory.
In less than two years, all I should need to form Italy is Sardinia-Piedmont within my sphere, but I know it's going to be the hardest one to get now that it's France's sole Italian focus. They have nearly nothing else within their sphere, too, just Algeria and Romania, so it's going to be difficult to split their focus like I was able to before. I've already spent twice as much money in S-P as France has to give myself a buffer; can't spend any more as the last crisis war seems to have caused a global recession as I'm making way less cash off my tariffs and have started to take on debt. I've also been beelineing diplomacy techs and have nearly maxed out standard diplomatic relations with S-P.
Back-up plan is to wait for France to get caught up in a war and piggyback on it - or if that war goes poorly for France, simply declare one of my own. Hesitant to do that in case their Russian allies dogpile on me, though. Quite frankly, I'm also personally war-weary; it's 1870 and I'm about to be dragged into my fourth war with the Ottoman Empire hot on the heals of my second loss in a crisis war (both of which were this decade). I also haven't had 0 infamy since 1838 and I'd really like a chance for it to cool down and make my diplomacy easier.
Are there any secondary ways to complete this peacefully? Or smarter ways to do what I'm already trying to do?

[Blue Knight™]

this was a long read so i skimmed it, but i didnt see anything about you taking Milian from Austria, which is requried to form italy, other than that, it seems your going okay

[Hat8]

Originally posted by KoA Blue Knight™:

this was a long read so i skimmed it, but i didnt see anything about you taking Milian from Austria, which is requried to form italy, other than that, it seems your going okay

Dunno how he'll do that with Austria sphere'd.

[Lembley42]

1. Try to split your text up into paragraphes and break off your long sentences into multiple shorter ones.


2. Not sure if you know this (you make a remark to this end, but not 100% sure if you meant this), but you can also invest into other nations.

This reduces the other nations influence gain on that state by up to -50% (and since the AI rarely uses this option, it's basically always -50%). This can be only done on nations that allow foreign investments, but then it's a useful too.


3. You probably mean Modena? Moldavia is east of Hungary.


4. AI kinda just "forgets" to ban your embassy and so forth after a few attempts in my experience.


5. If you have good Military tech and make use of your troops via proper use of mobilization & good troop composition, you should be able to beat AI nations like France pretty well actually. Especially in Machine-Gun era, as Defense becomes ridicolously more powerful than Offense.


6. So the easiest way to form Italy is to start as Sardinia-Piedmont and simply attack any other Italian State. Usually Two Sicilies, as they start in nobody's sphere.

Here's the thing: There are a special type of Rebels for Italy which are "Girabaldi's Redshirts". If those win in any italian state, Sardinia-Piedmont gets the event to form Italy, inheriting all other Italian states.

Now, you simply win against Two Sicilies and keep occupying them until their Population gets so pissed off, that they rebel. You let those rebels win, and ta-da: You get to form & inherit Italy!

I believe this can also be done by other Italian nations if they're a GP, you need to check the game files to find out the proper requirmnents.


7. Again, just declare war on France to get S-P in your sphere. Shouldn't be so much warscore, just sit around in mountains or whatnot (in Savoy), lure them into your stacks, reinforce them quickly and annihilate them.
After a few battles you should have enough warscore to demand peace.

If you got NGF as an ally, even better, tho the AI sometimes can lose you otherwise sure things.

[eye81]

i thought that as long as you are a great power or had the most prestige of the italians then the red shirts would come to you with the leadership position of italy

[AN]

Originally posted by dantheman:

i thought that as long as you are a great power or had the most prestige of the italians then the red shirts would come to you with the leadership position of italy

nope, always Sardinia Piedmont

[eye81]

Originally posted by AN:

Originally posted by dantheman:

i thought that as long as you are a great power or had the most prestige of the italians then the red shirts would come to you with the leadership position of italy

nope, always Sardinia Piedmont

ive definitly done it as sicily just by spamming prestige

[Yenchnik]

I know I'm pretty late, but I once formed Italy by 1941 or 1942 as the Papal States. I immediately allied France and justified war on Tunis. I called France into the war and they did everything for me. After that it was just a matter of waiting for Garibaldi's rebels to spawn (which they always seem to do), letting them occupy my territory and spawn a bunch more of themselves, and then I'm done.

[Lembley42]

Yeah, that was pretty much my point No 6.)
You can do that with a bunch of nations, S-P just seems to be the easiest cuz you don't have to rely on the AI in any way.

[Yenchnik]

Originally posted by Lembley42:

Yeah, that was pretty much my point No 6.)
You can do that with a bunch of nations, S-P just seems to be the easiest cuz you don't have to rely on the AI in any way.

Reason I thought my strategy was in any way significant was because it required literally no effort. France does the fighting for you. Just move your armies away from Rome for a year once the rebels spawn, and your job is done.