If the victim of your aggressive expansion is not the same religion as a nation, said nation will take gain less AE against you. Nations on the same continent or in the same region as the victim will take more aggressive expansion than those who are not. The amount of AE acquired is also affected but the region or continent that the victim is on. The further away a nation's borders are from the victim of your aggressive expansion, the less AE they will gain against you. The amount of aggressive expansion that you gain with individual nations depends on a number of factors: This doesn't mean that they will definitely join the coalition, as they may decide its not in their interest to join, but unless you are a very powerful nation it is likely that they will join a coalition against you. You can also see that, by making this peace deal, 3 countries will be pushed over the 50 AE minimum required to join a coalition. In the image above you can see that I will gain between 2 and 50 AE with 120 nations. Hovering over the number, with your mouse cursor, however will reveal far more useful information. This number is very deceptive and fairly useless. In the peace panel there is a section that displays the average aggressive expansion that will be gained. Which countries will be affected and by how much? Perhaps the most important thing to check when creating a peace deal is how much aggressive expansion you will gain for your demands. This means that my relations with Bosnia are being decreased by 26 per year because of my aggressive expansion with them.

In the above image you can see that the country I am playing has 26 aggressive expansion with Bosnia and that it is decreasing by 2, every year. As shown in the image below, you simply hover your mouse cursor over a nation and it will show you how much aggressive expansion you have with them. You can check the amount of aggressive expansion that you have with another nation using the 'Opinion Mapmode'. However it can also be gained through being discovered whilst carrying out a covert action against a nation such as fabricating a claim. The primary way that aggressive expansion is gained is through demanding territory or vassals in a peace deal. Ok so lets get down to the facts and what you need to know.Īggressive expansion decreases your relations over time with other nations and if it goes above 50 with a nation, there is a chance that they will join a coalition against you.Īggressive expansion is cumulative, which means that if you gain aggressive expansion in two separate wars it will be added together.Īggressive expansion decreases over time and the rate at which it decreases can be affected by ideas or advisors that give bonuses to 'Better Relations Over Time'. You cannot negotiate individually with members of a coalition, you may only discuss peace with the war leader, which limits what you can demand in a peacedeal.įor these reasons it is essential that you avoid gaining too much aggressive expansion with a nation. Likewise if any member of the coalition declares war upon you, all of the coalition's members will join the war against you. Declaring war on a nation who is in a coalition against you bring every member of the coalition into the war. In addition to the relations modifier it can have an immediate and more devastating effect, the creation of a coalition.Ī coalition is group of nations who have decided that you are being too aggressive and need to apposed on a large scale. Why should you care about Aggressive Expansion?Īggressive Expansion acts as a negative modifier to your relations with other nations, it will slowly lower a nation's opinion of you until they begin to hate you or even become your enemy.

Aggressive expansion is calculated dynamically on a per nation basis.īasically the actions that you take will affect some nations more than others depending on a number of rules which I'll go into later. The first thing that you need to know about AE is that it is not a global variable that affects your relations with every nation in the same way and to the same degree. In this section I will talk about what Aggressive Expansion (AE), the role that it plays in EU4 and what you need to know to avoid disaster in your games.Īggressive Expansion or 'AE' is a mechanic that paradox has created in order to slow the expansion of nations and affect your diplomatic relationship with neighbouring countries. Introduction To Aggressive Expansion & Coalitions

Europa universalis iv world map