The art of fueling conflicts

[Ishmael]

I found that as the Marathas gifting tech and money caused the Austrians to go on a conquering spree.
They had 2 provinces when I started, and now they have over 10 (they took out Poland-Lithuania, a central german state or two and part of Russia), and dominate the Mediterranean.
Mind you, I did go a little over the top-I gave them all tech (id researched it all, and this was 1750), 4 million as a down payment, and 80 000 gold per turn for the next 20 turns or so. Hey, I was bored
It did have the unexpected side effect of weakening the navies of the colonial powers (Austria was at war with practically everybody), and therefore presumably their coffers, which then allowed me easy expansion into America.

[Darth Venom]

Gifting Tech and money is one way to influence far away conflicts, blockading landbridges with ships there is another, quite effective one imo.
It obviously works best when you're at peace with the factions in the area, so a single sloop can do the job without being attacked. As Britain or Prussia you can bring the ineviatable Sweden-Denmark-Russia-Poland war to a standstill if you block the landbridges from south from Finland and east of Copenhagen. Sure, Sweden will lose its Baltic provinces and Denmark Norway, but that's pretty much it then. I found this quite an effective way to keep all of them from becoming too powerful.
Other places where this works are Gibraltar, the Bosporus and between Quebec and the 13 Colonies.

Buying provinces and gifting them to someone else is an obvious one. As Prussia I recently bought Georgia from the Russians and gave it to neutral Dagestan while making them my protectorate, thus locking the Russo-Ottoman conflict in the Caucasus indefinitely.

A strategy that has worked in past TW titles and seems still ok (though it might be random) ist to place armies on near borders. The neighbouring faction will produce troops in the next city and leave them there instead of using its resources elsewhere.

[Daveybaby]

Does anyone else find it ridiculous that navies block access for factions they are at peace with?

[Darth Venom]

Does anyone else find it ridiculous that navies block access for factions they are at peace with?

Come to think of it.... Yes, I guess you could consider it a minor expliot of a poorly modelled system.

[Didz]

I gave the Barbary States all the Tech's I acquired as the Ottoman's, in anticipation of it making them even more of a pain for the European Powers to deal with.

The one concern I have about given aware technical knowledge is that the people you give it too mmake not protect it very well. The Crimean Khanate for example allowed an Austrian scholar to study at one of their universities for years, and in the end I had to send an assassin to deal with him.

Another weird thing I noticed is that the native american tribes all seem to have fully developed tech tree's. They even have the full set of naval ones, even though most have never even seen the sea. The annoying thing is that they never share their knowledge.

[Frankenbeasley]

Playing as GB, I made sure that the 13 Colonies got every tech I researched, acting on the principle that this would make it easier for me when they eventually joined my cause. It did: the colonies were much better developed by the time I finished the mission. As an additional bonus, they had actually expanded and taken an extra couple of regions by that point. I apply the same methods to the mission factions if I play as France or Spain. I will also share tech with any of my early targets (Morocco is a favourite).

As for the rest, I also try and sell (or give away) plug bayonets to any factions I have upcoming conflicts with. I work on the principle that it helps me if my opponents bugger up their muskets half way through a scrap....

[anweRU]

Money is more important than tech, though giving the industrial & enlightenment techs to nations you plan to conquer will help your own budget later on...

Giving money is the best. Giving money outright offends my sensibilities, but buying regions for outrageous sums does not. After buying Ceylon from UP for 60K, UP captured first French Guyana and then Flanders a couple of decades later. It has too many stacks sitting in both European provinces now.

Alas, buying Florida (~300K) and Cuba (~600K) from Spain did not help it so far. It's armies reached the France-Flanders border too late. And France actually lost all of its Canadian possesions two decades after I purchased New Foundland for ~ 100K. But at least it conquered Boston and Maine first. I suppose my purchase of Jamaica from the British for ~ 300K might have had something to do with the massive British armies that steam-rollered through North America...