War exhaustion

Often abbreviated as WE, war exhaustion is the concept of negativity brought on from sustained battles. A nation can't keep their people constantly at war—it will tire them, they will be unhappy at the cost in lives and money and it draws attention from the ministers who should be focusing on domestic issues. In the Europa Universalis games, war exhaustion is the general idea that an empire does not have an infinite will to fight, but a well-fought war will be less frustrating than a poorly fought one.

Effects[edit]

Maximum war exhaustion is capped out at 20 points. Every point of war exhaustion gives the following:^[1]

	+1	National unrest
	+2%	Recruitment time
	+2%	Shipbuilding time
	+3%	Core-creation cost
	−1%	Manpower recovery speed
	−1%	Sailor recovery speed
	−1%	Siege ability
	−2%	Goods produced modifier
	−0.05	Commanderies faction influence
	−0.05	The aristocrats influence
	−0.05	Girondist influence
	+0.05	Imperial influence

War exhaustion will also increase the liberty desire of subjects by +1 per point of war exhaustion. Additionally, AI nations are more likely to accept peace deals when they have high WE, and are less willing to join in wars.

Gaining war exhaustion[edit]

War exhaustion is only generated while at war, though its effects may linger long after the guns have fallen silent and certain modifiers, such as attrition, may cause war exhaustion to decay slower than usual even while at peace. The factors that increase war exhaustion are:

Attrition: Minimum is +0.01
Losses in battles: The amount of war exhaustion caused by losses is shown in the battle results window. Large powerful countries will receive comparatively less war exhaustion than small weak countries for the same amount of losses.
Ports blockaded: +0.1 per month at 100% blockade.
Provinces occupied: +0.5 per month at 100% occupation.
Call for peace: appears if the player (not AI) continues a war despite having already achieved near-total strategic victory. It starts at +0.01/month and gradually increases. The modifier from this factor will be reset if peace is made in any war, but it will begin ticking up again if the war causing it still lasts.

Reducing war exhaustion[edit]

Following effects reduce war exhaustion:

	Conditions
−0.15 monthly	for being the target of the revolution
−0.10 monthly	at peace
−0.05 monthly	with parliament and “Support the War Effort” as active issue
−0.05 monthly	having a ruler with the ‘Kind-Hearted’ personality
−0.05 monthly	as a Nahuatl country which has passed the “Open up Sumptuary Restrictions” reform
−0.025 monthly	for being Defender of the Faith
−0.02 monthly	as Prussian Monarchy

Ideas and policies:

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
−0.05 monthly	—	Innovative idea 6: Optimism	Siberian ambition	Diplomatic-Quality: Professional Diplomatic Corps Humanist-Defensive: The Preparation Act
−0.03 monthly	—	Rajput idea 4: Rajput Resistance	Mewari ambition	Influence-Defensive: Local Militias
−0.02 monthly	Armenian traditions Ashikaga traditions Satake traditions	Desmondian idea 6: Promote the Culture of Service Georgian idea 6: Dastulamali Irish idea 6: Unconquerable Ireland Munster idea 2: The Brave and Faithful Polish idea 2: Nihil Novi Ryazan idea 5: March of Russia Tsutsui idea 2: Winner of Eikyo Civil War	—	—

A nation can spend 75 diplomatic monarch points to reduce war exhaustion by −2. The following ideas reduce the cost to alleviate war exhaustion:

	Traditions	Ideas	Bonuses	Policies
−15%	Chickasaw traditions	Iroquois idea 1: Kainerekowa Shawnee idea 1: The Wandering People	—	—
−10%	—	Afghan idea 1: Pashtunwali Aztec idea 1: Flower Wars Bengali idea 4: Mustard Oil & Ilish Mach Leinster idea 5: Long Memories Ottoman idea 4: Autonomous Pashas	—	—

−20% Trading in sugar

War exhaustion will be set to 0 when the nation breaks to rebels.

It is advised to keep wars as brief and to the point as possible to avoid excessive war exhaustion. Remember that for the most part, this was an era of limited war with very few major conflicts dragging on and on with regular battles and empty treasuries. War exhaustion will be lowered once at peace, but it degrades slowly as the nation recovers from the war and it could take months before it fully disappears.