Victoria 3: Diplomatic Plays

Victoria 3 allows players to go to war with another country which is initially can be done through Diplomatic Plays. You can play Diplomatic Plays with other countries to set the stage for going to war or not depending on how the play plays out. It would be necessary for you to learn the Diplomatic Plays in Victoria 3 for the relations with other countries.

In this guide, we’ll tell you about Diplomatic Plays in Victoria 3.

Diplomatic Plays

Diplomatic Plays are the aggressive side of Diplomacy and warfare 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. 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.

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. 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.

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

The Opening Moves phase lets both sides decide on their demands and set their stances. The Diplomatic Maneuvers phase 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. 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. In the Countdown to War phase, 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.

There might be some situations where you don’t want to sway every country to your side you could, incentivize the diplomatic play escalating 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.