Endless War / Can’t make peace

[MattTheMan500]

I am currently a vassal in the Southern Empire. I have conquered (with an army) 5 cities and 1 castle from the Western Empire, all which have been given to me. We have literally been at war against the Western Empire for years. YEARS. The “Propose Peace” option fluctuates between 0% - 15% approval. Nowhere near the needed amount to actually get peace. I find this horribly frustrating. I have to live in perpetual battle or else risk having my cities besieged. I don’t have time to replenish my troops or add reinforcements to my fiefs, as I have to continue to fight the war for my kingdom. On top of the fact that friendly AI is terrible at warfare (separate issue), they seem to love me being the only massive army fighting their war for them and have no problem pursuing a war that never ends. We have absolutely demolished the Western Empire in this war, outnumbering them immensely and conquering their cities. The only thing we are not beating them in are raids, which they have more of. Could this be the cause? If so, it is a terrible mechanic and is not reflective of the actual war score. I wish there was some sort of war exhaustion mechanic that could affect my fellow vassals opinions on making peace. It would make for better sense in the game, and it would improve my experience dramatically.

TL/DR - I am a vassal that has been at war for YEARS with one faction. Peace approval is still at 0% despite completely dominating the enemy and being at war for so long. There needs to be some sort of war exhaustion mechanic so I can take some rest and replenish my troops/garrisons.

 

[Yoshioki Ouchi]

I think the reason your peers don't want peace is because you're demonstrably kicking them into submission so... why would they want peace? You're winning, so they're winning, which means peace would be abruptly stopping while on a roll. It can be really short-sighted since you gotta take a break to resupply, recruit, and staff your territories and all that, but they think about themselves first and foremost, and that means your losses are expendable in their eyes since the war you're on is demonstrably profitable for them to continue.

My recommendation would be to ignore them and let them do their own thing. Once they get beaten up enough, they'll want to make peace since they suddenly have skin in the game being taken from them. Furthermore, if the Western Empire is beaten badly enough, they can't really hurt you that much so you have the time to quickly staff your towns and castles with raw recruits before taking an extended break to bring in a fresh, elite band to the party.

Raids and all that are a factor (from what I can tell as a newbie who's only completed one unification playthrough thus far) in war fatigue and tribute payments, but each individual noble appears to care for their bottom line first and foremost. Since you're winning, since the Southern Empire's strong and the Western Empire's weak, since they're getting rich off of battle loot, they have no incentive to make peace until some outside party interjects with an invasion or something.

If you're feeling really spiteful, you might want to consider defecting to another kingdom (you can only "really" defect to a kingdom yours is presently at war with, however, and it's very risky since your clan will be perpetually at war with the faction you betrayed, so you can't defect lightly or often).