Denmark Full Stack But can't afford it

[ShamelessGit]

I'm playing Sweden on the grand campaign and Denmark is causing me a great deal of consternation. At one point I was at war with Poland, Russia, and Denmark all at the same time, but I crushed Russia militarily and forced a peace agreement, and Poland got cut up between myself, Prussia, and Austria.

Denmark has a more powerful navy than myself but is too stupid to use it to blockade me. They also have a full stack of good quality units in Copenhagen. I've sent a spy to the city and I can see that Denmark's combined income in taxes and trade is less than 1/3 that necessary to maintain their military. Do the AI cheat like this on the hard difficulty level? I own Norway and I can see Greenland's income and trade routes with a ship I've used to scout, so I'm fairly certain I can see all Denmark's income. Why do I need to bankrupt myself with 16k income to fight Denmark which has around 2k income? This is absurd and frustrating. I don't know what to do.

Also I bought a lot of galleys because it said they had 200 firepower and they are cheap, but when I do a battle it says they have 0 firepower. Is this a glitch?

[nonja121]

No clue regarding the galley issue, but the AI does get bonuses economically in Hard, so that might explain it.

On Hard, virtually all the small city-states (Hannover, Saxony, etc) maintain at least one good quality full stack. No clue how they do that economically, but I kinda like the fact that invading a small nation isn't just a walk in the park. By contrast, a lot of the larger nations have smaller armies at home. Guess they're too busy trying to colonize...

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[windsupernova]

The Galleys guns are bugged. They do have a tremendous firepower.

And yeah the AI gets economic bonuses on harder difficulties.Although, Fullish stack are not that costly.

Cannons on average cost around 200 bucks in upkeep.
Line on average cost around 260 bucks in upkeep.
Light infantry on average cost around 200 bucks in upkeep
Cavalry on average cost around 300 bucks in upkeep

So a very decent army of 6 line and 2 art ends up costing 1960. Add to that the AI bonuses and reduced upkeep from ministers,the AI keeps taxes as high as possible and its not really so unbelievable for a 1-2 region minor to have a full stack army.

But yeah Ao cheats on hard and up Lol

[eugenioso]

as said above, AI gets economical and combat bonuses on higher difficulties. if you were to play medium/medium (normal/normal), the AI actually relies on economy to build its forces, so single city factions like hannover will probably be able to muster a full stack, but of militias, easily brushed aside.