Prepare For War Eu4
Prepare For War Lyrics
'Prepare for war' is a great feature that is too expensive to take. There are, of course, a few situations where it would make sense to use it, but it requires foresight and leftover favors (which aren't too common). Here's a few reasons why 'Prepare for war' should only cost 5 favors:
It doesn't make sense time-wise. Currently, the minimum amount of time required to get 10 favors is 10 years (1 favor per year)*. So, if you want to go to war, but your ally decides to declare war on someone else, that's a couple of years of fighting + a couple of years of waiting for their economy and manpower to recoup. If that whole cycle takes less than 10 years then 'Prepare for war' becomes useless, as you'd have to wait 10 years either way.
A year of not going to war is not the same as fighting a war. 'Prepare for war' only lasts for 1 year. Not going to war with a random Native American tribe for a year is not the same as fighting half of Europe**, and it shouldn't cost as much.
There are better ways of using your favors. Again, favors aren't too common, so even if you have some left over (from the 10 you need to actually go to war), increasing trust is often a better idea.
If a war happens in this time, you might be screwed. You will want to have strong allies nearby, so you they can defend you in a war. Conversely, if they go to war, you'll only be able to send few units, so let's hope they can deal with it themselves. Before Westernization: This requires even more farsight.
Obviously, there should be a cool-down to this feature, to prevent players from exploiting it.
*Smaller nations usually need even more time. 10 favors may take a large nation 10 years to gain, but can take up to 50 for a smaller one.
**There are some cases where your ally has a great opportunity to go to war with another nation, and taking that opportunity away from it might impact your ally. However, again, you never know when your ally will have said opportunity, so the entire feature is just peace of mind.