What causes factions to declare war?

[deuxhero]

Having finished a claimant quest, the new kingdom is at war with "noone" (which should be 2 words).  The peace is handy (taxes pay for my forces and their food) and I've been using the time to train, but what will cause war to be declared on/by the new faction?

 

[Oskatat]

quests from a lord, its not too rare, and randomness

if you think you are strong enough, you can go to war alone by first attacking a caravan. After that you can attack castles etc

 

[hruza]

AI will declare war and peace on its own from time to time. To me it seems that AI tries to maintain some kind of balance, I newer saw one kingdom to conquer another on its own, not even cripple it.

If you wish to start war, you can look for quest from one of the lords which does just that. However it will cause some discontent around other lords if you are sussesfull.

On the other hand, there is mission from town representant to arrange ceasefire if you want to make peace.

 

[iffy]

I was playing last night and the Vegirs completely destroyed the Swadians.  (I'm a Rhoduk)  ...so it can happen..

Very shortly after that, the Rhoduks declared war with the Vegirs.  I'm not sure if it was related, but it seemed to be?

 

[soygamer]

it is really random unless u yourself provoke the war.

 

[Oskatat]

though there seems to be some sort of logic behind it. For example, when everyone is at peace through our city quests it usually wont be long before a declaration of war comes out

 

[wunderb0r]

you can check the factions politic. there are several reasons for war: border incidents, provocations, over-powered factions, regaining of lost territory.

if a faction declares war, you can look up their reasons ("Q" -> Factions)

greetz 'n sry for bad lang.

 

[Captured Joe]

This. Is. Not. About. WarBand.
(Nerco.)

 

[wunderb0r]

didnt know the politics run different in M&B

 

[smellyzomby]

i'm a nordic vassal and i'm hoping ragnar will declare war on the Rhodoks. how can i make sure this happens without losing relation with him?

 

[Honved]

The actual war and peace declarations are random, but there appear to be some modifiers based on how well or poorly a faction is doing.  A faction that's strong seems more likely to start a war with another strong faction, and a weak faction is more likely to make peace with other factions.  Factions already at war also seem to be less likely to declare additional wars, but it still happens frequently enough.  That tends to keep the situation at least slightly balanced, but one faction can still conquer another, and there's enough randomness that practically any combination of wars can happen.

I don't know if the math behind it is accessible in the various editable text files or not, but it seems like the modifiers should be adjustable for modders.  There are probably several modders who could give detailed formulas for the odds of declaring war or peace, but the PC with my copy of the game isn't connected to the Internet (no phone or internet connection on that floor of the building), so I can't check it from here, and I'm less familiar with the files than practically anyone else who's made mods (I've only done a couple of minor tweaks).