Victoria 3 – How to use Diplomatic Plays

In Victoria 3 players are allowed to go to war with other countries which h can be done through diplomatic plays. This includes all the stats of your country. Current rivalry and ranks. Ranks also depend on the countries you have fought within. Either they are of higher ranks or lower ranks.

You can also go to war with some friendly countries which obviously depends on the relation with that friendly country.

What is Influence of your Nation

The most important part of your stats is Influence which represents your country. Influence is a representation of your country’s ability to engage in sustained diplomacy. Influence is primarily generated by your country’s rank and the rank of the countries you have rivalry within.

Influence stats

Using Diplomatic against a Nation

In Victoria 3 is seen as coming as a result of Diplomacy. So, creating a diplomatic play against another country is how you can set the stage for potentially going to war with another country or maybe not, depending on how the diplomatic play plays out.

Enemies stats

As long as you don’t have a truce with that country, diplomatic plays let you demand something of another country, such as their vassalage, their territory, or even demanding them to ban slavery.

Using Infamy Strategy in Diplomatic Play

Many demands that start a diplomatic play incur a cost in Infamy. Infamy can have some negative repercussions, such as making it more likely that pops in the annexed territory will join radical fractions and giving other countries access to a “cut down to size” diplomatic play option against you at 100 infamies.

war goals

Most war goals will give out infamy based on the rank of the two countries involved and the size of the demand. Just adding a war goal to a diplomatic play will add infamy, so make sure it’s realistically achievable through war.

Start of Diplomatic Play

Once a diplomatic play is started it will go through three phases before triggering a war. The three phases of Diplomatic Plays are the following.

  • Opening Moves
  • Diplomatic Maneuvers
  • Countdown to War

1. Opening Moves

The First Phase (Opening Moves) lets both sides decide on their demands and set their stances.

Opening moves

2. Diplomatic Maneuvers

The Second phase (Diplomatic Maneuvers) is the most important phase because other powers with an interest in the region may choose to join either side. You can also sway them with obligations or even promise them war goals to be achieved in the conflict.

Diplomatic Maneuvers

Countries can even switch sides if one offers a better incentive than the other. You can’t get complacent in your attempts to win over 3rd parties, after all.

3. Countdown to War

In the Third Phase (Countdown to War) the countries are locked into the sides they picked and the demands are set in stone. The only action that’s possible now is to back down.

When a country backs down, they essentially decide to cut its losses and acquiesce to a country before war breaks out. Importantly, backing down grants the opposing country only their main demand, so any secondary demands won’t be included.

Countdown to war

There might be some situations where you don’t want to sway every country to your side, you could incentivize the diplomatic play to escalate into war. Assuming a side doesn’t back down before the escalation meter maxes out, the diplomatic play will end and the war breaks out.

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