Victoria 3 Declare Wars

Warfare has always been one of the most important elements of any Grand Strategy game, and Victoria 3 is no different in this regard. In it, war is an essential tool that every player will need to utilize from time to time. However, doing this in Victoria 3 isn’t as easy as it might appear at first. So if you don’t know how to start and declare wars in Victoria 3, this guide is here to help you out with that.

How to Declare War in Victoria 3

Unlike some other strategy games where you can simply attack whoever you want or declare war at a push of a button and without any repercussions, this doesn’t function that way in Victoria 3. No, what you need to do instead is to perform a so-called Diplomatic Play. Note that you can only make these in regions where you have declared an interest. This also depends on your presige and power ranking.

Here is the list of Diplomatic Plays you can make: Annex Subject, Ban Slavery, Conquer State, Cut Down To Size, Humiliate, Independence, Liberate Subject, Make Dominion, Make Puppet, Make Vassal, Open Market, Regime Change, Return State, Take Treaty Port, and Transfer Subject. Of course, not all of these will lead to war. Once you have performed a Diplomatic Play, you will then enter the Escalation phase. During this timed phase, you can add additional war goals (such as War Reparations). After that, it’s time for the Diplomatic Maneuvers phase. Here, you try to get as many countries as you can over to your side in the upcoming conflict.

Finally, the short Countdown to War phase. In this phase, both sides can still avoid the conflict altogether if they Back Down. If one side is disproportionately more powerful than the other, this is usually what happens. And if it doesn’t, then war has officially begun.