As expected, my troops can move into territory that:
- Belongs to me
- Is occupied by me
- Belongs to a nation that grants me military access
- Belongs to a nation I am at war with
However, in some cases I have noticed that my armies can walk over foreign territory when I have no diplomatic relation with the owner. For instance as France, if I fight wars with Denmark or Southern Italy, I am sometimes able to walk my troops all the way through 5 or so different nations, most of them neither allied with me nor otherwise granting access rights. This usually creates a "you have troops in foreign territory" message in the top left.
I also notice that sometimes foreign armies walk over my territory, even though again I have no relation with them and never gave them access. For instance, right around 1444 as Spain, sometimes Genoa will just waltz right through Spain.
Why are armies sometimes able to enter foreign territory without access rights? What is the full of list of conditions that allow a troop to enter a given territory?
Best Answer
There has been some controversy over this phenomenon in the recent past. You used to need military access granted to you directly to be able to enter neutral territory, but this was open to exploitation, such as hiding units in neutral territory that your enemy can not pass.
The developers chose to implement a change, meaning that from version 1.11 onwards all sides in a war can pass through the territory of a nation, as long as they grant military access to one or more countries involved in the war.
Given the fact that many AI nations use up the majority of their Diplomatic relation quota on access treaties this can lead to a very open playing field indeed and vastly complicates getting military victories when playing as a smaller nation.