Get off my land, you trespasser!!!

[Don Corleone]

Hi,

So, I finally broke down and bought MTW2 (on Steam, so I have something to keep me occupied on long nights in hotel rooms when I travel for work). I'm still getting used to a few of the quirks, but one particularly irritating one...

In MTW1, moving an army into somebody else's territory was an act of war. Just moving your stack automatically started a conflict. But I keep finding my neighbors, neutral or allied, moving around my territories. GET OFF!

I've tried sending diplomats, biships, generals, etc out to go tell them to get lost, but it seems to just start negotiations with the faction. How can I order them out of my territories, or do I have to send an army out to attack them?

Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere. I did go through the FAQ and didn't see it in there.

[A Nerd]

I think this is just an annoying feature that is prevelant in M2TW and RTW. The AI likes to send large armies into your territory and have a tea party there while doing nothing else but smelling the flowers and hindereing the movement of your own armies. Often in times it is your ally or a neutral 'friendly' faction. Perhaps part of that 'we share a border' syndrome. I thought I read somewhere that this is often done when a neutral or allied faction plans to attack you in some unknown amount of time, but I am not sure. I also think I read that the only way to move them was thru the 'move army' cheat, but I don't know how to do that nor have ever tried it. In my campaigns, I don't understand faction standing with other factions nor how to affect it and am eventually at war with everyone anyway, so I usually just attack them or assisinate them to get rid of the army. Kind of a pain, but one of the flaws that M2TW has that I haven't figured out a good counter for. However, there might be some other informed posters here that have a good solution to your problem. I really don't think I do.

On the bright side, it might be a good excuse to go to war and expand your borders if you grow restless?

[Ratwar]

Basically, 'A Nerd' covered it. Enemy troops in your territory are a sign that the AI was at some point planning to attack you (or will in the near future). Most long term 'resident' armies are left overs from a planned AI attack that was disbanded for one reason or another (Diplomatic changes, seeing your armies and thinking better of it). The AI never uses the troops for anything else, so you're stuck with them in your territory. There's nothing to stop it from happening.

[_Tristan_]

One way to prevent AI factions armies from crossing into your territories is keeping large forces on your borders as a deterrent. As covered by previous posters, the AI tends to send stacks into your provinces when it perceives you as weak/weakened and poises to strike. But is the cost worth it ? I'm not sure, keeping large garrisons facing allied/neutral territories is perhaps not so good management policy...

You can also try to maintain high relationships with your neighbours (through gifts, notably...) If you succeed in keeping the relationship level at good or above, you should see less trespassers.

[Myth]

You don't really need LARGE forces at your borders. Even a fort with one unit of Peasants will do. Just place them at choke points. The AI has to either attack or just sit there.

Alternatively, move out. In MTW2 even 100 turn alliances backed up by marriage don't stop the greedy AI (on VH though) from attacking you if it's starved for land, and it's your neighbor and you move out on a Crusade or similar task.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

This is one of those little inequities that favor the AI.

You set a force down in neutral territory and watch your diplo relations with that faction plummet. They do the same and you have no such option. You can attack them and draw the ire of the Holy Father or you can let them quietly build up their force prior to an attack. Some choice.

Mostly, I just let them throw their sucker punches, having prepared the obvious target in question to gut them when they siege assault. If I have the forces, I have a force of my own ready/positioned to take a plum from them. Sadly, I have to saddle these counter forces with artillery, since if I lauunch a siege of my own, the Holy Father puts a stop to it until the enemy can reassemble it's pre-positioned army.