three bugs for the price of one

[ndrose]

Three minor problems in one situation: two AI bugs and one that appears to be a game bug. I can post to Mantis, but wanted to describe them here first to confirm which ones are true bugs, and what's a known bug and what's an unknown bug.

Prussia (AI) declares war on Denmark, Austria (human) gets control.

Bug 1: Why is Prussia declaring war on Denmark? It can't be taken unless the sponsor wants you to take it. You just put the fleet out to sea and they can't get to Copenhagen. In fact, usually they just come over the border, realize the situation is hopeless (even if the fleet isn't at sea yet), and sit there, hoping for a miracle.

Personally, what I like to do is to put the Danish corps on the middle island. This entices the Prussian army to cross over. Then, if you win the battle, they can't retreat and the war lapses. If you lose the battle, you have to surrender the corps, but you put the fleet at sea and they're stuck and out of supply. In winter, they starve.

Bug 2: So, the Prussian army crossed to the middle island, and the first day of battle was inconclusive. For the second day, they chose to withdraw! (But you can't withdraw from an island, so the Prussian army, along with Brunswick(!), surrendered.)

In general, I would say the AI chooses withdraw too often, both as a defensive chit and after a day of battle. You should only do it if the situation's hopeless, or in special situations. But the AI seems to treat it as a random choice. (I've seen them withdraw from the defense of the national capital, or withdraw after a day of battle when the enemy is much more weakened than they are.) But in this situation it's especially bad, since it means surrender of their army and lapse of war.

Bug 3: Austria seems to have retained the Prussian prisoners, including Brunswick, after the lapse of war. Usually, if a sponsored minor takes a prisoner, it doesn't seem to show up in the sponsor's prisoner list (I assume that's because the minor doesn't really "belong" to the sponsor). I don't know whether the problem here is the lapse of war in the same turn that the prisoners were taken, or is a fluke caused by the attempted withdrawal from an island. But in either case, there doesn't seem to be any way for Prussia to get them back (unless Austria and Prussia go to war later).