italian unification and diplomatic plays

[ruhrbaron]

so, the italian unification is in a very weird spot right now. i havent seen the AI accomplish it even once and the AI also has no idea what it is doing. best example, during italian leadership contests i can ask one of the states to let me protectorate the other, that doesnt seem ideal if u ask me. the ai will also rarely try to go against whoever holds northern italy, nor is italian radicalism a problem...

 

[L-Histidine]

From my (successful) attempt to do it as Tuscany yesterday, I see the following problems:

• Nobody wants to back a unification candidate, unless it's a player who butters them up first
  
  
• You can get GPs inhibiting a violent unification by handing out independence guarantees to random Italian states (mind your own side of the Atlantic, USA) and even without those, Austria is likely to intervene
• If two Italian states are in Austria's power bloc they can't even war for unification (or any other reason) due to the Defensive Cooperation mandate
• Does AI even get the event where a unification candidate gets to annex another state for free (italian_unification.5)? Perhaps there indeed aren't enough radicals around to trigger this?

German unification solves the problems just by having Prussia be strong enough to beat up everyone involved, which isn't an option for any of the usual candidates for Italy.

Perhaps it should be possible in major unifications for one candidate to voluntarily withdraw and throw its support behind another candidate?

 

[L-Histidine]

EDIT: Likely a mod issue, disregard

Spoiler

Italy seems unformable even after only one candidate is left (screenshot from my France game, I loaded an earlier save and tagged over to see what was happening)

You need 15 of 17 Italian state regions to form Italy. Eating all the other Italians gives you 13. The other four are held by Austria. Good luck getting those (especially when player France has a defensive pact with A-H).

The best (perhaps only) viable solution here is probably to ally with Germany, whose army is reliably big enough to beat up multiple other GPs, but I'm not sure the AI is smart enough for that. I don't know if the Risorgimento buttons can create enough Italian activism in Austria to trigger a secession DP, and I suspect that would attract foreign intervention on Austria's side regardless.

Anyone got ideas for a solution? Maybe an event like the Dutch–Belgian London Conference to persuade other GPs to back the Italian claim?

 

[elbiotipo]

Austria is just way too strong all the time. Fair, they did beat the Italians in the first war of independence, and Italian armies were never really top-notch, but every AI great power seems to love Austria all the time, allying with it every time. The Holy Alliance never seems to expire even though Russia should historically try to weaken it for its pan-Slavist ideals and Prussia, obviously, should rival it for dominance of Germany. France and Britain also really seem VERY eager to come to Austria's aid for some reason, lots of defensive pacts.

And not only that, but the grip Austria has on the Italian states seems too strong. It is realistic, yes, but having it be unbreakable is a bit too much. There should be much more internal pressure from the Italian states themselves towards independence and unification.

And its military also overperforms. In real life it was plagued by unrest, lack of communications, divided command, etc.

I hope the Austria expansion actually nerfs Austria a bit and shows the problems it had.

 

[Jacabon]

You need 15 of 17 Italian state regions to form Italy. Eating all the other Italians gives you 13. The other four are held by Austria. Good luck getting those (especially when player

you need 12 to form Italy. How old is your earlier save?

 

[L-Histidine]

you need 12 to form Italy. How old is your earlier save?

...Oh. It was on 1.9.7, but I was running Ultra Historical Diplomacy mod which changes the requirement. My mistake, sorry!