How many ways can you declare war and which is best?

[FootSoldier]

A couple of times a faction has declared war on mine, and I've not been able to tell how. No blockade, no troop attack, no detected assassination attempt.

As far as I'm aware, the only ways to declare war are those:
- port blockade
- troop/naval attack
- failed assassination attempt, e.g. on a merchant

Can anyone add to this?

I'm also curious about the "best" way of starting a war if your faction is the one that has to start it, i.e. least damaging to reputation. I've noticed that many times another faction simply blockades a port for a turn, and that's it. I've been at war with factions for centuries without a single blow being exchanged, and the only act having been the initial blockade.

Of course, you can goad another faction to war through diplomatic insults, invading their territory but not attacking, blocking their fleets etc., but to actually start the war yourself?

If you're like me, a one turn blockade by someone is enough to prompt a 3 stack invasion, the sacking of cities and generally grinding the offender underfoot. Who had heard of proportionate response in those days (errr ... except perhaps the reputation monitor and the Pope). However, I've noticed that the AI factions don't often behave like this.

I'd like the diplomatic option of simply declaring war without doing anything else.

So, can anyone add to ways of declaring war?

And, what is the best way to start war if you're the one doing it?

[Lennert]

The best way is without a doubt annihilating the faction in a single turn. Which isn't even far from possible in alot of occasions, with a little preparation that is.

But seriously, it depends completely on the situation. If I want a faction to become significantly less powerfull I will set up a naval raid and land assault at the same time and hit them as hard as I can. This might even result in them accepting vassalage, which wouldn't even have that much of a negative diplomatic impact.

But yeah, sometimes you just want to blockade a port and show you don't approve

[Silverheart]

I think the AI can declare war by will, whitout actually doing it through any action, but human players can´t as far as I know...
Declaring war always hurts your reputation, I don´t think it matter in which way you do it.
The best way of declaring war, in my opinion, is by sending one or two armies straight in and make a two-prong attack on the idiots´ land (they were dumb enough to anger the only human player, so they must be idiots).
Taking two of their regions is a good way to start the conquest, don´t you think?

But in my games, I rarely declare war on anyone - ususally everyone else attacks me, in the beginning because they think I´m weak, later on because the AI has a grudge against big empires... Because of that, I usually try to honour allies and neutrals by staying away from them, and goes to great lengths to attack aggressors instead.

[Norwegian_viking]

Crusade/jihad is one option.

[FootSoldier]

Yes, the crusade/jihad is a good way if it's available.

At the moment I'm concentrating on the diplomacy, so I'm most concerned about reputation. Usually I try to get the other faction to throw the first punch by annoying them sufficiently, but I have a mission that means I need to be quicker. Sometimes I've had several troops standing around on their territory, their ships blocked in and the faction ignores them. The tactic of standing a unit on their port and thus blockading it doesn't seem to start a war by itself, and is usually the quickest way of getting the target faction to respond, but it still might take several turns.

The faction I've got the (guild) mission to attack is catholic, and fine with the Pope - in communion. As I also have Perfect relations with the faction in question war will come out of the blue and I'm wanting to minimise damage to reputation. I've been contemplating doing as the AI does, and using a one turn blockade to actually declare war.

I've tried attacking and withdrawing before battle, but that often seems to leave me "not at war".

Normally yes, I'd use a blitzkrieg approach, especially if I'm expecting an order to desist from the Pope.

[painter]

You can not start a war by attacking and withdrawing. You will have to commit to it. But if I am not mistaken, your relations with that faction will still suffer even if you withdraw.

Personally, I would rather ignore a foolish mission. If the consequences is losing guild points, then so be it. Regaining lost guild points is easier than starting a war I don't want.

[Ishan]

A good way is to make them attack you in order to preserve your global rep.
And like other players said then hit them hard at multiple places in a single turn as war per turn also decreases global rep by small amount.