AI when it's your ally and they have the largest army in the world: uwu i'm just a smol bean don't hurt me
AI when it's some dipshit minor whose independence you're supporting: LET'S COMMIT FUCKING SUICIDE HELL YEAH LEEEEEROOOOOOOOOOY JJJJJJJJJJJENKINSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
I swear to god EU4 AI has one mission, one goal, and it is to piss off the player. There is literally nothing I can do to make this winnable, at all. I could hire every mercenary on the continent and they would all just be mulch
dude, i'll never, ever ally England again. i was playing as Naples and owned everything in the Italian peninsula south of Naples. then the Engl*ish called me into a defensive war against France. i didn't really have much of an army at the time but didn't think it was too much of a big deal since England shouldn't have too much of a problem dealing with France as they were much much stronger. well, they never left their godforsaken island so the French decided to destroy my ass for war score. this happened a couple of months ago and i'm still malding.
as to the main point of your post, yes i agree. allied AI seems to just fucking wing it, not a care in the world. when it's the enemy AI they always seem to have a stack of doom and if they don't they'll keep doing insane micro to dance around the map and avoid a battle unless they are in favorable terrain.
great game though, fuck the english.
indubitably
lmfao never ever ally AI england when you're a minor continental power, especially early in the game