The war support system ist currently very unbalanced.

I just had the biggest battle so far, with up to 30 vs. 30 units in the capital of the enemy.
I destroyed his army (and he nearly mine) and I captured his capital. I got 8 war support for that victory!

Meanwhile, 2 of his scouts attacked my scout rider on another continent. I had to retreat and my scout was defeated the same turn. The enemy got 13 war support for that scout action!

So while I destroyed his complete army and captured his capital, he got even more war support for a very tiny skirmish against my scout.  

The whole war system sucks, sorry I don't have a more "constructive" word for it. Early game I blocked off/fought an AI into one corner of the continent, 1 city 3 territories, Whole game it's like that because I cant get the war support to attack and finish him. Any demand I make he gives in, no grievance. I suprise attack, beat him in one turn but I guess he has units elsewhere? So war Support ticks down and we both hit 0 at the same time, he gets to keep his city... I want the damn aluminum he has that he can't mine because he is in the damn middle ages, but going to war for a resource doesn't seem to be an option. 

They need another reason for going to war: Because I'm the damn boss and I SAY SO.... you know, they way it was for ALL of human history until literally the last 80 years or so, and still is in a lot of countries? At VERY least, the game needs to let you go to war for resources, I don't care if they are oppressing people who follow my religion, I want that oil/uranium/aluminum. 

Cruor34 wrote:

The whole war system sucks, sorry I don't have a more "constructive" word for it. Early game I blocked off/fought an AI into one corner of the continent, 1 city 3 territories, Whole game it's like that because I cant get the war support to attack and finish him. Any demand I make he gives in, no grievance. I suprise attack, beat him in one turn but I guess he has units elsewhere? So war Support ticks down and we both hit 0 at the same time, he gets to keep his city... I want the damn aluminum he has that he can't mine because he is in the damn middle ages, but going to war for a resource doesn't seem to be an option. 

They need another reason for going to war: Because I'm the damn boss and I SAY SO.... you know, they way it was for ALL of human history until literally the last 80 years or so, and still is in a lot of countries? At VERY least, the game needs to let you go to war for resources, I don't care if they are oppressing people who follow my religion, I want that oil/uranium/aluminum. 

Oh hell yeah !

Cruor34 wrote:

The whole war system sucks, sorry I don't have a more "constructive" word for it. Early game I blocked off/fought an AI into one corner of the continent, 1 city 3 territories, Whole game it's like that because I cant get the war support to attack and finish him. Any demand I make he gives in, no grievance. I suprise attack, beat him in one turn but I guess he has units elsewhere? So war Support ticks down and we both hit 0 at the same time, he gets to keep his city... I want the damn aluminum he has that he can't mine because he is in the damn middle ages, but going to war for a resource doesn't seem to be an option.

I find the scenario you describe, where you're able to capture their last city (at which point they start suffering massive war support penalties) but your war support runs out faster, are incredibly rare. The fact that you declared a Surprise War was probably why, and most likely wasn't necessary.

There's a few different solutions you could use here:

1 - If this player is as weak as you describe, then you should be able to add them to your sphere of influence via influence spread, get a claim on their city, and then whether they accept or not you can capture it. The hitch with this is that if you let the original grievance expire, you can't really get it back again (not sure what happens if you lose influence and then regain it). If you can't get an influence claim on their city, well... concentrate on your influence game!

2 - If you're having trouble building up war support, then there's a few ways, the most obvious being to select a Militaristic culture on the next era so your war support balance point goes up to 80. Otherwise, the best way is to ask for agreements/treaties you either know they won't agree to, which generates a grievance, or gives you an advantage that negates the need to raise your war score. I suggest asking them for Alliances- if they refuse, you get the grievance, if they accept, then you get to buy the aluminum cheaply.

3 - If you can't successfully get the city as part of war terms, then the thing to do is just ransack it while it's occupied and before your war support runs out. Obviously you'd rather capture it, but if that's not possible then you burn it down and start fresh with a new one. You still have all the districts they built to work with.

Finally, in regards to the realism of not being able to force your nation to war "because I said so", it makes a lot more sense if you reframe what war support actually represents. It's not popular support for the war- that's modeled more by War Weariness. War support is the support of the elites who make war possible- the generals, oligarchs, land barons, and other elites who have always played a role in these decisions. If the emperor wants to start a war on his own say-so when all these other important people are against it, that's basically a Surprise War (not just a surprise to your enemies, but to your own military-industrial complex), and hence the fast war support loss: they expect you to come up with a big win soon, or they're not going to play along for long.

You'll have more fun with the war system as you learn to understand that it is (like war in real life) "politics by other means".

They need another reason for going to war: Because I'm the damn boss and I SAY SO.... you know, they way it was for ALL of human history until literally the last 80 years or so, and still is in a lot of countries? At VERY least, the game needs to let you go to war for resources, I don't care if they are oppressing people who follow my religion, I want that oil/uranium/aluminum.