XXXX Country Prepares For War bug

[Lothos]

It seems in the EXE someplace when a minor reaches over 90% Mobilization that it shows a message "XXX Country Prepares For War"

The problem is this code is not checking who the parent Major Power is and if they are at war.

The Scenario is USA is at 20% Mobilization and Greenland Was Formed.

Greenland was made 100% Mobilization and the message pops up but they are aligning to the USA which is not at war.

Suggest before this message is displayed to check what is the status of the Parent Major Power and who they are at war with.

[Hubert Cater]

Interesting, but I believe Greenland can still enter the war even if the US is not yet at war, can they not?

[Lothos]

Interesting, but I believe Greenland can still enter the war even if the US is not yet at war, can they not?

No they cannot, it's the same situation Libya is with Italy. Italy is neutral in the beginning of the game with 60 mobilization but Libya is at 100 but align with Italy. Libya is neutral as long as Italy is.

[Hubert Cater]

I believe you could set Libya in this case to be belligerent with let's say the UK, and then any applicable Axis and Allied units could fight in Libya while Italy (Libya's parent) is still not yet fully mobilized.

[Lothos]

I believe you could set Libya in this case to be belligerent with let's say the UK, and then any applicable Axis and Allied units could fight in Libya while Italy (Libya's parent) is still not yet fully mobilized.

I am not sure about that, but what you are you saying does not apply to Greenland in this case. Greenland is not Belligerent to anyone and its parent country (USA) is only 20 Mobilization. So it says they are preparing for War but they are not at war with anyone and since they have no Diplomacy screen, they can't Declare war on anyone and no one has declared war on them.

[Hubert Cater]

If I can ask, why is Greenland mobilized and not desired to be at war?

Just asking as we allow minors to enter the war, or even to be at war etc., even if their parent is not yet fully at war, so I'm not sure if I would really want to change anything if I'm being honest.

The idea being that any country that is fully mobilized is typically at war so the message seems to be consistent in that respect.

[Lothos]

If I can ask, why is Greenland mobilized and not desired to be at war?

Just asking as we allow minors to enter the war, or even to be at war etc., even if their parent is not yet fully at war, so I'm not sure if I would really want to change anything if I'm being honest.

The idea being that any country that is fully mobilized is typically at war so the message seems to be consistent in that respect.

The reason to have a minor fully mobilized is so that if its parent is attacked, they will be immediately involved. If a Minor has anything less than 100 mobilizations, then its fair game for it to be politically manipulated.

Also at 100% mobilization its parent can build units for it even if the parent (which this case is USA) is NOT fully mobilized.

[Hubert Cater]

I see, however since in game Minors war status can logically be independent of their majors, e.g. at war when the major is not yet at war, or even at war while their major is surrendered, I don't know if there is an easy way around this for how you have implemented things.

As in there is no way to predict this from a design point of view, and the only thing I can think of is to perhaps add some sort of 'flag' on a per country basis where the designer 'knows' they will have a minor country become fully mobilized as you have done but definitely not be in the war so that the message might be different than 'Prepares for war' etc.

I can add this to my list, but it would be a real low priority if I'm being honest and not sure if or when it would ever see the light of day.

[Lothos]

I see, however since in game Minors war status can logically be independent of their majors, e.g. at war when the major is not yet at war, or even at war while their major is surrendered, I don't know if there is an easy way around this for how you have implemented things.

As in there is no way to predict this from a design point of view, and the only thing I can think of is to perhaps add some sort of 'flag' on a per country basis where the designer 'knows' they will have a minor country become fully mobilized as you have done but definitely not be in the war so that the message might be different than 'Prepares for war' etc.

I can add this to my list, but it would be a real low priority if I'm being honest and not sure if or when it would ever see the light of day.

Hi Hubert, perhaps this would help from a design perspective.

When a minor is about to become 100% mobilization before showing the "Preparing for War" message make two checks, first is its parent at war with anyone and second is the minor at war with anyone?

I can't think of a single case where a minor is at 99% mobilization but at war, game engine does not allow this, (which is when this message shows up when at 99% mobilization). Any minor that is declare war on is shifted immediate to 100% mobilization to the other side and that message I am referring to does not come up.

[El_Condoro]

This would need to be on a mod-by-mod basis. In my Orb & Crown mod, minors are often at war when their parent is not mobilized or has surrendered. The 'Preparing for War' and 'Joins War' (?) messages often come in the same turn, too - one at the start of a turn (90%+) and at the end when they reach 100%.

[Lothos]

This would need to be on a mod-by-mod basis. In my Orb & Crown mod, minors are often at war when their parent is not mobilized or has surrendered. The 'Preparing for War' and 'Joins War' (?) messages often come in the same turn, too - one at the start of a turn (90%+) and at the end when they reach 100%.

This is not a mod by mod check (explanation below)

it is IMPOSSIBLE for a country to be at war with anyone with less than 100 Mobilization.

With that said, I am just trying to point out that an additional EXE check should be made before showing the message "Preparing for War" which is, if its a minor, it should check to see if the Major is at war with anyone because if it is then the minor is automatically at war with whoever the major is at war with. If the Major is not at war with anyone then this Preparing for War message is giving false information to the user because the minor country is not going to war with anyone. They are simply Preparing for nothing as technically they are just fully aligned to a major.

The 'Preparing for War' and 'Joins War' (?) messages often come in the same turn, too - one at the start of a turn (90%+) and at the end when they reach 100%.

In this case if the Major they are aligning with is at war then that minor will be at war with anyone that major is. If the Major that will control that Minor is not at war then the minor is not going to war with anyone UNLESS a major declares war on it. When a Major declares war on ANY COUNTRY its mobilization immediately goes up to 100% (not 90%+)

One other note, even if the devs made this change that I am suggesting. You can put your own scripts to make it say the same exact thing when a country reached 90%+ mobilization.

One last note, this change is cosmetic. It makes no change really to the game itself. It is just so users do not get a message that is confusing under certain situations. Especially when the Join War command is already their if they are getting in a war.

[El_Condoro]

If the Major is not at war with anyone then this Preparing for War message is giving false information to the user because the minor country is not going to war with anyone. They are simply Preparing for nothing as technically they are just fully aligned to a major.

I agree with pretty much everything you have written but this is not quite right. When a minor joins the war, they join the side (Axis or Allies) according to the message 'XXXX joins the Allies/Axis' (or whatever the message is) and not their parent 'XXXX joins Germany/UK etc', so a minor could go to war without its parent being involved. I'm not sure how often that might occur but it is possible through scripts.

[Lothos]

If the Major is not at war with anyone then this Preparing for War message is giving false information to the user because the minor country is not going to war with anyone. They are simply Preparing for nothing as technically they are just fully aligned to a major.

I agree with pretty much everything you have written but this is not quite right. When a minor joins the war, they join the side (Axis or Allies) according to the message 'XXXX joins the Allies/Axis' (or whatever the message is) and not their parent 'XXXX joins Germany/UK etc', so a minor could go to war without its parent being involved. I'm not sure how often that might occur, but it is possible through scripts.

Thats not how the game engine works.

Minors do not join a "side" technically.

They align with a Major. If you look at the diplomacy screen you will see what major they will align to on the side they are leaning to. It is displays as a small circular flag.

So for example, Mexico leaning toward the Allies would become a USA minor (as that is what was specified in the Editor).

And yes I have tested this, if a minor aligns toward a side and its major is NOT at war they are simply at 100% mobilization but not at war with anyone.

EDITED: One note is their are limitations on fully mobilized minors that are not at war with anyone. No one can enter their territory except for the Major power that controls them and other minors that are full aligned and controlled by the same major power.

[El_Condoro]

The parent is the one that controls Diplomacy and so minors can't DoW. A belligerence script could change that but they can be made to join side 1 or 2 (rather than 0), so they are preparing for or at war but perhaps not able to attack if they can't DoW.

I do think that both current messages are legitimate, though:
Mexico prepares for war (Mexico goes on a war footing at 90%+ mobilization, even if it can't or chooses not to do anything militarily until its parent mobilizes).
Mexico joins the Allies (Mexico declares its political/military allegience).

Perhaps the easiest fix is to change these lines in the custom localization.txt file:
#PREPARES_FOR_WAR= Prepares For War
#JOINS_THE_AXIS= Joins The Axis
#JOINS_THE_ALLIES= Joins The Allies

[Hubert Cater]

I guess I could add a check for 'is major at war' and also check to see if there is a belligerence script for the minor to formally be at war with someone, but at the same time, as El Condoro suggests, you will still receive a XXX joins the Axis or Allies message.

Then I also think is 'preparing for war' really all that wrong even if they don't fully get belligerent, e.g. they still reach 100% and are mobilized and active on the map, e.g. they are now fully prepared for war even if not at war etc. and your opponent is now aware of this.

The other option is to change the messaging to something else for your mod via the localization that might be more suitable for all cases, but as mentioned this is still a very low priority IMO with everything else going on, on our ends unfortunately.