Influencing Colonial Nation wars

Question

In my game, Castilian Mexico (my independent colonial state) is currently fighting British Mexico (Great Britain's colonial state). It's a war started by the other side; but Britain and me are at peace, which means I can share provinces with the troops of British Mexico without fighting.

I don't want to start a war with Britain at this point. Is there any other way to support Castilian Mexico other than declaring war on Britain - money, ...? (Or to influence Isla Juana, another one of my colonial independent states comprising almost the entire Caribbean and their next-door neighbor which currently just stands by idly, to make them help their Castilian Mexican brethren)

Any ideas appreciated!

Answer 1

The only thing I can think of to enable you to influence the war without actually declaring war and hence drawing in the British is to provide War subsidies to Castilian Mexico.

There's no guarantee that your money would be wisely spent but it could sway things if it's evenly balanced.

You could also try to enforce peace on British Mexico. It may work, but if they refuse you'll be dragged into the war on the side of the defender.

Or finally you could try to support rebels in British Mexico or If you've researched espionage ideas 6 you could try to sow discontent to try and cause a rebellion uprising.

Answer 2

You can also consider issuing an embargo, which for some colonial nations could cut into their income.

A bit more of a cheesy and costly tactic is to ask for military access with the enemy nation, then park a gigantic army on top of their biggest army, causing massive attrition.

If you do enforce peace, keep in mind that Britain will automatically be called into a war with any non-colonial nation that is at war with their colonial nations. Thus, enforcing peace puts you at war with the entire empire, unless the demand for peace is accepted (and peace is immediately concluded). The demand for peace is rarely accepted, especially if the enemy nation is doing well, but if they are terrified of you and the war has dragged on for a long time and isn't going particularly well, they might accept the demand.

Either way, if you do subsidize and give gifts to your colonial nation (or any nation) the money will be spent on raising troops unless they have run out of manpower and aren't too far over their forcelimit. The AI will start building buildings once they can't build armies, so they don't tend to accumulate a warchest or hire mercenaries. It might be a good idea to preemptively subsidize your colonial nations that might get attacked so that they will have good infrastructure and better standing armies, which will make them fight better and also deter attacks to begin with.