I just realized that I cant invade through turkey unless I declare war on all strict neutrals. is there a big downside to that??Â
The downside is that, when you invade a strict neutral, every other strict neutral starts to lean in the direction of your opponents: if you’re an Axis power, all the strict neutrals become pro-Alllied; if you’re an Allied power, all the strict neutrals become pro-Axis. This means that your opponents can walk into those countries and take control of their income (if applicable) and their standing armies (if applicable), without meeting any opposition, whereas you can’t do the same: if you enter a “pro-the-other-side” country, it behaves like an enemy and you’ll have to fight its standing army, if it has one (check for the silhouette of an infantryman on the map, with a number next to it indicating how many infantry units are present). In essence, invading a strict neutral gives your opponents the chance to pick up lots of free infantry units. (Incidentally, invading a strict neutral doesn’t exactly involve “declaring war” on the strict neutrals in the same sense as declaring war on a player power; it simply changes the political status of the strict neutrals.)