Dumb Diplomacy: I think I may have discovered the solution.

[Slaists]

a few points: that 'friend-o-meter' is not how many + friendship points you get per turn but rather your current standing.

Playing Spain on VH I never canceled my alliance with France (rather joined them in all wars with joy) and still in 1745 they have neither canceled their alliance nor attacked me.

I find that 'random' declaration of war quite sensible actually. Things do go wrong in international relationships in unpredictable fashion (in real life). I feel, that programmer you're angry at has coded it quite well this time around (not in the previous TW series). I, for example, have not canceled my alliance with France and I suspect, France randomly declaring war on me is quite unlikely (but still possible) whereas your cancellation of the alliance might have just made the odds of such occurrence (DOW by France) a bit higher. It's not assured 100% that they will declare war on this turn or that, but they just might.

Also, notice that French public is not 'very friendly' to you but just 'friendly'. Something is brewing.

Imagine this situation: Shaking his wigged head, French King Louis is re-reading your alliance cancellation letter for the fourteenth time. In storms his remote cousing, Duke Pierre screaming and shouting about an arrogant Spaniard who just had seduced his daughter. "Oh, non... Your Daughter, Pierre!?? Oh, non.... A SPANIARD!???... Oh, non.... We MUST go to war this instant! Honor demands it!"... See, things happen...

When you pressed the re-load-the-turn button, a different reality took place. Pierre got a heart-attack from the news about his daughter; the French King just shoved your letter under his desk and life went on.

[Fisherking]

I stand with Didz!

If a friendly nation has some reason to backstab you and can actually profit by it, that would be devious but smart.

If a friendly nation declares war with nothing to gain except a quick end that is just stupid. Well that is what keeps happening. It is no surprise any longer it has just become another tedious event in the game.

Now the dissatisfied protectorates are another matter. Protectorates seem to be declaring war on allies and trade partners. Most of the time this can be ignored as they are always the aggressor, when it is only a trading partner. But when it is an ally it becomes more of a problem. I took over Rhineland when they declared war on Spain in a French campaign. As Sweden, Poland keeps declaring war on all my trade partners but I have no allies so it is not more than a slight irritant. Poland as a protectorate of Austria was sabotaging and assonating everything they could but it was not worth the trouble of putting an end to them. In another campaign they actually declared war on me when they were a protected region. It was not more than a quick death for them though. Still I find this interesting and even a bit funny.

I don’t think there is much scripting in the game. Most of it is just random stupidity and needs to be curbed. I liked the older diplomacy better from that stand point. Let those who hate you declare war and not your friends. At least make it a rare occurrence and not just what you expect to happen…

[Didz]

a few points: that 'friend-o-meter' is not how many + friendship points you get per turn but rather your current standing.

Well I don't think it really matters whether its +35 per turn or +35, the point is that there was no logical reason for France to declare war on Spain, and at least three very good reasons not too.

Playing Spain on VH I never canceled my alliance with France (rather joined them in all wars with joy) and still in 1745 they have neither canceled their alliance nor attacked me.

Good for you. We obviously have different playing styles. I chose not to get embroiled in a dumb and unecessary war. As you can see it damaged my reputation with France by a massive -22 points but not enough to make them unfriendly. Basically, the French need me far more than I need them and the 'Friend-o-meter' still reflects this fact.

I find that 'random' declaration of war quite sensible actually. Things do go wrong in international relationships in unpredictable fashion (in real life). I feel, that programmer you're angry at has coded it quite well this time around (not in the previous TW series). I, for example, have not canceled my alliance with France and I suspect, France randomly declaring war on me is quite unlikely (but still possible) whereas your cancellation of the alliance might have just made the odds of such occurrence (DOW by France) a bit higher. It's not assured 100% that they will declare war on this turn or that, but they just might.

Well I think thats covered perfectly by the 'Friend-o-meter' and the obvious situation that France is in. I'm sure no sensible human player would would declare war on its most powerful neighbour and sole remaining trade partner when its surrounded on all its other borders by enemies and blockaded by a powerful British fleet.

The fact that it didn't happen after I reloaded confirms that it was a 'Random' event, but I fail to see anything that could be considered 'sensible' about it. In fact, to my mind its 'total non-sense' which was why I took the trouble to go back and check.

Surely, if there was any sense behind it then it would have happened again.

Imagine this situation: Shaking his wigged head, French King Louis is re-reading your alliance cancellation letter for the fourteenth time. In storms his remote cousing, Duke Pierre screaming and shouting about an arrogant Spaniard who just had seduced his daughter. "Oh, non... Your Daughter, Pierre!?? Oh, non.... A SPANIARD!???... Oh, non.... We MUST go to war this instant! Honor demands it!"... See, things happen...

When you pressed the re-load-the-turn button, a different reality took place. Pierre got a heart-attack from the news about his daughter; the French King just shoved your letter under his desk and life went on.

Yeah! very funny. We can all invent excuses after the event to justify the situation. I do it all the time when I write AAR's but this is a 'dumd diplomacy' issue potentially game breaking problem, and the fact that it appears to be totally random is an important discovery if it can be corroborated. Anyway, unless the French postal service takes over two years to deliver the letter the timing of your story would have been a bit off. I've blown up Rotterdam harbour at least four times since they started their war to try and keep the Dutch off their backs, so that letter would have been old news by now.