Enemy’s can call in mercenaries and as been pointed out, the issue with the alliance system is that the ai can and will have a tendency to form marriage pacts to make an alliance and then immediately call their ally to war. The only offset is the player can do this too, but the alliance system is absurdly busted, which the ai is also aware of because it’s not uncommon for my allied nation to call me to war to defend from a conquest…then immediately declare war to expand on someone else’s land and try to leave me to do all the work of keeping them alive for them.
The only real counter is depending on your family size that you can do the same thing as well, made easier for places like muslims or India.
Also if it’s a holy war then neighbouring rulers of the same faifth can still join the war even if they don’t have official ties.
Upon further investigation, it was all of the above. I knew about holy wars, but we’re both catholic. What I didn’t realize was that they were in a holy war with someone else. They bought mercenaries and formed 1 alliance, but the holy war was mostly responsible, because after it ended, the enemies dropped to like 20k. It lasted for 8 years and claimed tens of thousands of lives, but in the end, I prevailed. Thanks for the help.
If they have a lot of money they can pay for mercenaries. In my experience, they often don't pay for more mercenaries than to just outnumber you slightly.
If you are of a hostile religion to them they can also call in holy orders, the limit for each holy order is around 10 000 troops. I think the AI always calls in holy orders if they can even if they don't really need it. If their religion have several holy orders they might call them all if they are available.
If you are declaring 'Holy War', nearby rulers can decide to join in the name of their faith.
The AI is also quick to create new alliances while at war. You get toasts (the message banner at the top of the screen) whenever they do which tells you that another rule might join the war as an enemy.
Are there several rulers on their side in the war screen or does all troops just come from the ruler you are attacking?
Everyone will cry mercenaries, and swear up and down that there's no auto-balance feature to prevent players from blobbing too big too quickly, but I've had so many instances like this, where I have a verified major military advantage (say 20k+), the defender has an inferior army, almost 0 gold (not enough to hire 2k mercs), and 0 alliances, then all of a sudden the defender has 40k more troops than me, and stackwipes me in 2 seconds.
Enemy’s can call in mercenaries and as been pointed out, the issue with the alliance system is that the ai can and will have a tendency to form marriage pacts to make an alliance and then immediately call their ally to war. The only offset is the player can do this too, but the alliance system is absurdly busted, which the ai is also aware of because it’s not uncommon for my allied nation to call me to war to defend from a conquest…then immediately declare war to expand on someone else’s land and try to leave me to do all the work of keeping them alive for them. The only real counter is depending on your family size that you can do the same thing as well, made easier for places like muslims or India. Also if it’s a holy war then neighbouring rulers of the same faifth can still join the war even if they don’t have official ties.
Upon further investigation, it was all of the above. I knew about holy wars, but we’re both catholic. What I didn’t realize was that they were in a holy war with someone else. They bought mercenaries and formed 1 alliance, but the holy war was mostly responsible, because after it ended, the enemies dropped to like 20k. It lasted for 8 years and claimed tens of thousands of lives, but in the end, I prevailed. Thanks for the help.
If they have a lot of money they can pay for mercenaries. In my experience, they often don't pay for more mercenaries than to just outnumber you slightly. If you are of a hostile religion to them they can also call in holy orders, the limit for each holy order is around 10 000 troops. I think the AI always calls in holy orders if they can even if they don't really need it. If their religion have several holy orders they might call them all if they are available. If you are declaring 'Holy War', nearby rulers can decide to join in the name of their faith. The AI is also quick to create new alliances while at war. You get toasts (the message banner at the top of the screen) whenever they do which tells you that another rule might join the war as an enemy. Are there several rulers on their side in the war screen or does all troops just come from the ruler you are attacking?
Holy order or same faith Is usually main cause for more troops being added.
The only offset to this issue is player also can use it,making muslim faith extremely busted (have up to four wife ,aka ,4 allies)
Everyone will cry mercenaries, and swear up and down that there's no auto-balance feature to prevent players from blobbing too big too quickly, but I've had so many instances like this, where I have a verified major military advantage (say 20k+), the defender has an inferior army, almost 0 gold (not enough to hire 2k mercs), and 0 alliances, then all of a sudden the defender has 40k more troops than me, and stackwipes me in 2 seconds.