Yeah goretooth is ignorant, but I know what I'm talking about. I keep up with EU relations as well. I know that Nords are not working with UIF at the moment, in fact they have a NAP/Trading pact with the Crusaders, and the Crusaders are basically at war with UIF, and the Coalition is backing the Crusaders (at least signing up for them in the battles). Occitan is basically working with UIF as well (DRZ, Greys, and I'm guessing the empire).
Hell a lot of EU lands were still AI controlled up until they announced strat 4 was coming out, even though there were no enemies around.
There were wars in EU in strat 3, as there are now in strat 4, but when you had the whole EU lands divvied up last strat and controlled, then it was peaceful trading sim time. As evidenced by a lot of castles and cities still remaining in AI control until the last month of strat 3.
And for the record, the Hospitallers never cheated in strat 3. We weren't duping items, we played legit. I can't even think of a game mechanic exploit that we used in our favor either (like getting cities by spawning inside the city, or not having anyone sign up against us).