Military Access, whats the point - honestly.

[Hochmeister]

I have tried all sorts of amounts of florins for military access but the AI never accepts. However if you want military access badly enough they will always exchange it if you offer a province. So I suggest go and conquer some backwater province that doesnt affect you diplomatically and offer that in exchange for access. Maybe sweeten the deal with map info to make sure.

[Divinus Arma]

It would certainly be nice if the AI would be more wiling to accept this. Even if you have a great rep and are allies they won' approve it.

[NefariousWolf]

I routinely grant Military Access to nations whose troops are getting in my way. That way their zones of control don't cause my armies to stop moving, which can get old quick.

Ex. In my Scottish campaign, Denmark embarks and disembarks troops around York every single turn. It's annoying as all 'ell. My troops coming down from Iverness to attack the English get stuck in their zones of control. What's worse is that they don't declare war on me, so I can't just smite them.

So I granted them Military Access and now I can bring my troops down without stopping. Who knows what ramifications this has that I overlookeed though.

[Slug For A Butt]

Here's a related question. If you grant military acces to someone, do you still suffer from devastation from their armies in your territories?
Never granted or received military acces yet, so I don't know the ramifications.

[Quillan]

Here's what always seems to happen to me: a rebel army appears near the border of a neighboring faction. I move a force over to engage it, and it retreats into the territory of the neighbor. If I pursue it to destroy it, I get the Transgression message and my standing with that faction goes down. If it goes down too far, of course, we'll end up at war. If I leave it alone, usually they'll move a force over and drive it back into my territory. They pursue it into my territory, destroy it, and then never ever move from the spot. The result is wide swaths of devastation in my territory as they forage to support the army. I can't diplomatically tell them to "Get the hell out!", so I either let them sit there or declare war.

Now, imagine that situation when playing as Sicily, Milan, or Venice, and the neighbor is the Pope. If you own Italian territory, you MUST secure military access with the Papacy.

In my experience, the only time you can usually secure military access is in the early going. It requires both a good reputation and perfect relations with the faction, and even then you'll need to form an alliance and probably gift them with a bunch of money in addition. The later the game goes, the less likely they seem to accept military access. Whether that's due to time, position, circumstances, or the normal drop in reputation you suffer I can't say.

[Odin]

I have never been able to obtain it and short of giving a province i have offerred very generous deals. This goes to the larger issue with diplomatic relations, on harder levels the AI throws alliances away anyway eventually you will end up at war with your neibhors.

As Denmark i have been burned by the lack of access because you get hemmed in by the HRE And Poland sooner then later.

[GeorgeBush]

In my experience I have been able to get military access from factions, but it took a very high rep I think trustworthy and I believe the faction attacked me a few turns later...

[Afro Thunder]

Here's a related question. If you grant military acces to someone, do you still suffer from devastation from their armies in your territories?
Never granted or received military acces yet, so I don't know the ramifications.

As far as I know, if you're not at war with a faction, it's armies can walk all over your territory and they don't cause devastation. I might be mistaken, though.

[Carl]

I admit it did come in handy later in the game when I finally accepted a Crusade mission to Antioch. I landed my army on a Sicilian held island to avoid some enemy ships which had a significant manpower advantage over my own fleet. Because of the Military Access agreement, my relations with Sicily did not fall because I was in their territory.

Not just that, but it also hits rep which makes all diplomatic negotiations harder and when trusted alliances get enabled, (as several mods and probably the 1.2 path do), your reputation matters when determining if an alliance is trusted. Thus walking all over other peoples lands when not at war means it's nearly impossibbile to keep alliances.

[Slug For A Butt]

Thx Afro, I would have thought they would have caused devastation as the army still needs to eat
I think I need to check it.