War Reparations - How to get Provinces?

[Panzergraf]

Does anyone know what decides if a victory is minor or not? So far it seems most victories are at best minor victories, even if I completely mop the floor with the enemy.
Is it better to accept their first peace offer, or keep the war going until a peace deal is signed automatically?
How do you maximise the chance of getting enemy provinces as reparations?

In my current British campaign, I've taken Helgoland off the Germans, and Tunisia and Corsica off the French. AH split apart, but Italy still has provinces I can take, I think (if taking Sardinia and Sicily is even possible).
I am at war with Italy, and as the year is 1946 there's not much time left to get more provinces.

So tl;dr, if you want enemy provinces, is it better to accept their first peace offering, or keep the war going as long as possible?

[HistoricalAccuracyMan]

I've found that the longer you try to keep the war going, the better your chances at getting more money, ships and provinces are. Granted, just because you choose "Fight to the End," doesn't always mean that the war will drag on...I've had instances where I chose to keep fighting, but government said "we want peace" and I've accepted peace offers just to have government say "no, you're gonna keep fighting."

So I guess if you want provinces, try to keep the war going as long as possible and try to completely obliterate them while losing very few of your own ships.

[Admiral Donuts]

Blockade the Italians and eradicate their navy. I've never been offered Sardinia or Sicily as possible reparations.

[Hibbidyhai]

During my French campaign I nabbed Helgoland from Germany, and Cyprus and Gibraltar from the Brits. The key to getting provinces seems to be that they have equal the value of all of the reparations you could receive. I saw Ireland appearing on the reparations screen after a couple wars with the British but couldn't ask for it, as it was worth more than the total reparations I could ask for.

So, the answer seems to be that you have to beat the tar out of the AI, and continue doing so for as long as possible.

 

Edited September 1, 2022 by Hibbidyhai
clarification

[Cryadis]

In my Germany campain i managed to get Ireland and the 2 islands in the Mediteranian of the Brits.

From my expierience it is the amount of victory points and likely also the difference between you and the enemy that calculates the war reparations you can get.

If the amount is high enough you can nap the provinces.

Soo, i tend to "vote" against the first peace and keep going as long either having the AI under control is easy enough OR if the AI has almost no ships left (no enemy ship = no victory points thus pointless. Iirc you do not get VP for blokading per se).

Edited September 5, 2022 by Cryadis

[ZorinW]

As others have said, just keep your wars going to destroy every single ship of the enemy. Within 10 years, in my current Italian, campaign I have gotten all provinces in the Med and only need Helgoland and Ireland, but the Brits are just not building enough to give me sufficient canon fodder for the VP points I need to claim Ireland...

[Panzergraf]

Well my campaign ended and I never got the option of taking Sicily or Sardinia off the Italians, no matter how thoroughly I beat them. Which makes me wonder if those Islands can even be taken?
I got Helgoland off the Germans, and Corsica and Tunisia off the French, so that's at least something.