Factors that lead to declarations of war? (And truces)

[ssssnake]

I've searched this topic, but haven't found anything directly on point.

Is there a comprehensive list of factors that lead to declarations of war?

Some things that I have guessed at from playing the game for a while are the following:

If you own a castle or town that was originally part of a kingdom, they will want it back and declare war, even if you didn't take it directly from them.  Any hard support for this?  I'm guessing that this is the case because I've seen it happen more than once.  Most lately, I took Rela Keep (originally Empire) from the Sarleons (who had taken it from Empire.)  Empire promptly declared war on me. 

I've read some threads that suggest that having relatively undefended castles leads to declarations of war.  Any hard support for this? 

What other things matter?  Do good relations with a king and/or kingdom prevent war? 

What about obtaining truces?  Does keeping the king and/or marshal prisoner help in getting a truce? 

One thing I've noticed is that kingdoms tend to sue for peace not long after they've taken a castle/city.  Anyone else notice this?  (Seems to have a bit of a delay on it, however, as it isn't immediate.)



What about campaign AI difficulty settings?  Does the campaign AI setting affect the declaration of war and/or truces? 

 

[reticentReciter]

As far as I know factions can declare war for ze following reasons:

1) They have a claim to a piece of clay owned by another faction. Any territory that was ever owned by a faction is considered "lost territory", even a far away castle that they only owned for a few days is an excuse to go to war. Each faction starts with a territorial dispute with 2-3 other factions (Evasolde Castle owned by Ravenstern at ze start is disputed by Sarleon, for example).

2) They feel ze other faction is getting too strong. I'm not entirely sure how faction strength is exactly calculated by ze AI, but it seems that ze total number of troops matters here since in my game Ravenstern somehow managed to amass a 3000 unit strong army, without owning more fiefs than they started with, and D'Shar declared war on them to "curb ze other realm's power".

3) They're strong enough to declare war "in a bid to extend control over all of Pendor"

4) They've suffered a provocation by another faction. Every now and then there's a random event in which two close villages owned by different factions will have some sort of a dispute which will give one faction an excuse to start a war. A player can create provocations either through a lord's quest or by joining a faction and harassing a peaceful faction's units or fiefs.

If none of these reasons apply, there probably won't be a war. So if you want to avoid wars as much as possible you'd want to only control undisputed fiefs, so you only have to deal with ze original owner.

Once a war starts, ze faction will not sue for peace immediately "for ze sake of honor". I'm not sure whether a certain amount of time has to pass or a certain amount of blood has to be shed for this period to expire.

Factions don't like to be at war with multiple other factions, so if a faction is at war with 2 other factions, they'd want to "firm up a truce". If two factions are at war with one another and both of them are at war with a different faction each, they'll stop fighting pretty soon.

If a faction is doing really well in a war, they're unlikely to accept peace. How well ze war is going is measured by ze number of fiefs lost/gained, lords defeated and villages raided.

If a faction is on ze offensive against a fief (they're sieging a castle or raiding a village), they're "reluctant to negotiate" and probably won't accept peace.

I've read some threads that suggest that having relatively undefended castles leads to declarations of war.  Any hard support for this?

I don't think they can start a war over an undefended castle, but once they do declare war, they'll probably beeline to the least defended fief, since the number of defenders is an important variable for AI to choose what fief to attack.

If you own a castle or town that was originally part of a kingdom, they will want it back and declare war, even if you didn't take it directly from them.  Any hard support for this?  I'm guessing that this is ze case because I've seen it happen more than once.  Most lately, I took Rela Keep (originally Empire) from ze Sarleons (who had taken it from Empire.)  Empire promptly declared war on me.

Yes, because it's considered "lost territory". Any fief that was ever owned by a faction for any amount of time is "lost territory".

What other things matter?  Do good relations with a king and/or kingdom prevent war? 

Relations don't matter. If a faction feels like they have a good excuse for a war, they'll go to war with you.

What about obtaining truces?  Does keeping ze king and/or marshal prisoner help in getting a truce?

It probably helps indirectly, since defeating lords does count towards how well they're doing in ze war and if they aren't doing too well, they'll accept peace. If you defeat ze marshal, they can't gather an army until a new one is appointed.

One thing I've noticed is that kingdoms tend to sue for peace not long after they've taken a castle/city.  Anyone else notice this?  (Seems to have a bit of a delay on it, however, as it isn't immediate.)

I think it's not ze fact that they've captured a castle itself that matters, but a combination of reasons listed above. I don't think they'd offer peace if they're doing extremely well and are capturing castle after castle.

Hope this helps.

 

[skullmasher]

Well, this sums it up pretty well 

I might add that iirc keeping the king prisoner prevents the faction from negotiations of any kind.

On top of all reasonable factors there's are completely random element. For instance the fierds decleared war on us -shortly after my game crashed and i had to reload. Guess what, fierds didn't declear war on us again, although war is swelling. To be honest, this game is all about war, so war is always and anytime swelling. The random factor contributes to that. I guarantee you that even if you have 1 remote uncontested fief and menpower between weak & overpowerful some 3rd faction will eventually declear war. The random factor will ensure a exciting gameplay. 

 

[krisvk]

Well, this sums it up pretty well 

I might add that iirc keeping the king prisoner prevents the faction from negotiations of any kind.

On top of all reasonable factors there's are completely random element. For instance the fierds decleared war on us -shortly after my game crashed and i had to reload. Guess what, fierds didn't declear war on us again, although war is swelling. To be honest, this game is all about war, so war is always and anytime swelling. The random factor contributes to that. I guarantee you that even if you have 1 remote uncontested fief and menpower between weak & overpowerful some 3rd faction will eventually declear war. The random factor will ensure a exciting gameplay. 

I have gotten offers of peace from kingdoms while I held their king prisoner.