When my colony formed into Castilian Brazil, it quickly attracted the attention of Portuguese Brazil who invaded with 15 regiments and 13 ships to annex my colony in its entirety. How can I protect my young colonies without declaring war on their owners?
- Give them units?
- Give them money to buy mercenaries?
- Block the invader's armies from besieging the cities?
While I wasn't closely watching the area the whole time, I definitely never noticed Portugal's colony slowly building units over time. I scrolled past one day to find a sizable army and fleet sitting in one of its provinces.
When my West Indies colony formed, it slowly built up its forces over time. It was spread across islands which helped for defense, but early on 3 rebel regiments spawned on one of the islands that I had to dispatch why my own forces. I can't do that in this case without declaring war on Portugal, but I really want to remain friendly with them given the size of their fleet.
Best Answer
You have the option to "Enforce Peace"
Demand that a country make peace in a war - refusal will bring you in to the war on the side of the defender. You can't enforce peace on a defender and you need to have at least 100 relations with the nation you want to protect.
You can find it under Influence Actions. If they accept, the war is ended, if not, you join. Then there of course is a chance that Portugal will do the same.
You can also give subsidies to a colonial nation. You can find it under Economic actions