Firstly, could you expand and explain the last sentence of point Q? In my recent games I started using threaten war A LOT, as I routinely 'collect' provinces between wars without committing much apart from my diplomats.
Combine this with STALLING the war versus their allies, and declare on them AGAIN while their allies are still busy in the OTHER war versus you.
this one? let's say castille is allied to Portugal. You attack Castille, and Portugal protects Castille. Focus on Portugal with all you got and force anull Alliance peace deal. Then do castille, but stay UNDER 60% warscore. You can do this by holding some defensive line, and never advancing.
When portugal truce runs out after 7 years or so, attack Portugal again while the OTHER war versus Castille is still busy. You now have 3 years before Castille and portugal can re-ally again as annull Alliance lasts 10 years. During these 3 years, get +25% warscore versus Portugal. In that case, Portugal can't call in Castille even IF they re-ally once the annull Alliance timer runs out.
, with spy networking, relation improving and diplo annexation being so time consuming, my question is about managing diplomats. What compromises do you make, how do you balance their use?
It depends what continent you start. Asia is easiest to blob, and hardly requires diplomats at first to avoid coalitions.
If you are in situation in 14xx, where a peace deal will trigger a coalition of 10+ nations, then I use my diplomats. Note that you can theorycraft in 1444 where you will expand, and start using your diplomats from day 1 to improve relations with everyone near your future war targets. Fabricating claims and making spy networks is waste of time; it is lot better to get a reconquest vassal cb on your target, or to het holy war cb. Spy networks are only needed IF you can only fight same religion targets. So, coalition dodging is HARDER in 15th century Europe then anywhere else.
Still, it is possible. With Naxos, I avoided big coalitions simply by using diplomats +100 relations. Granted, it takes time. But it goes faster then you thnik, and usually you don't need +100 relations. You just need ENOUGH to push their relation to positive AFTER the peace deal. The idea is to recall them once they improved a few months AFTER they vanished out of the tooltip list for coalitions in the peace deal window.
It can be hard to chose what your diplomats will do with their time.. But in the first decades, I would just improve relations with nearest neighbours. After first war, start on the ones further away. usually these 'second line' nations can swallow 2 wars worth of serious AE before they will join coalition. Usually one diplomat improves relations non stop, one itnegrates, and once fabricates where needed. If you only got two, it can get tricky...
But if you improve relations whenever you can, combined with sending them to whoever is at +0X relation and above 50 AE malus, you'll usually be ok.
Lastly, a question relating to forts rather than coalitions. Would you say that moving your capital to a one province island is worth it if you are fairly confident in your naval superiority? A good example would be moving the capital to Rhodes as Ottomans or to Gotland as Sweden.
Yes, as long as the only has borders with ONE seazone. Islands like Crete or Rhodes won't work, as enemy can naval invade from different sea zones. They will slip past very easily.. An Island like NAXOS or CHIOS for ottoman capital ensures that a fleet in that sea tile protects your capital non stop.
But those islands have STRAITS.. Ideal is an Island within ONE sea zone, that has NO straits, and which is preferably CLOSE to your allies/wartarget continent. And then move your trade port to wherever.
