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My Terrible Turks have finally met the Brits in land combat, and an apparent bug has popped up. I have won all the battles, and in the course of them have taken several units prisoner, but once the next month begins there are no POWs in the province. This is especially annoying, because I've taken several batteries of artillery and have not gotten to use them. It's especially weird, because two "British" generals (Devins and Mackenzie) have defected to Turkey after two separate battles, the only time I have seen this happen so far. I would note that part of the British army is Armee_Holland (from which M. Devins has defected), but that is the only way these battles differ from others I have fought against different oppenents where POWs worked as intended. I wonder what's up?

A second strange event is even harder to nail down. Turkey "lost imperial status" one month, even though her Imperial rating was 24/20. As I recall the sequence of events, I was besieging a Polish town when Prussia formed a protectorate with Poland. They then declared Imperial status, and immediately after I got that message, I was notified I had lost mine -- even though I lost nothing that turn. What any of that has to do with the error, if at all, I dunno.

Playing 1.2.18 with a custom setup (a variation on the 1792 mod), but I doubt the mod is the problem.

-- Mal

First is not a bug, it is a WAD

I told Eric we needed it in the notes

the POW's you took were from a Protectorate Army, they just die when taken

you will also see something like this with some of the Russia, Aus and Turkish troops, you will take them POW, but then in the event page, see that they were Liberated (Died)

why and where for, I do not know, but they are not suppost to be become POW's

One theory as to the Empire loss situation, is that you lost ground in the Culture standings. Sounds like what (maybe) happened was that Prussia overtook your Culture when she absorbed Poland, knocking you off the top spot and that nice +4 points for highest culture. There may have been other point losses too; Empire status is calculated seasonally so any fluctuations in the prior 3 months would not reflect until that seasonal phase.

The protectorate issue explains the prisoners thing, since most British armies I've run up against are just about 100% protectorate troops. It's strange, however, that Devins was taken prisoner -- I had thought he defected, because I could attach him to a container unit, but after my recent conquest of Batavia he was "liberated," so he must've been a prisoner after all. This is, needless to say, very unclear and poorly implemented.

Second issue is still unclear, although it's good to know Empire status is computed seasonally, not every month. I reestablished the Empire the next season, even though my points had not changed, and have not seen the problem again. It might be useful, in such a circumstance, for the game to tell you *why* you lost Imperial status.

A couple of new questions have arisen as I've spread out over Europe.

First, a general query: does "conquest" work in the game as intended? For example, France conquered (independent) Switzerland, and when examining Switz you can see the small Swiss flag indicating subjugation, and presumably cause an insurrection there if you so desire. But when Austria took Switzerland from France, the small Swiss flag disappeared, and the province is now considered part of the Austrian homeland. Thus, no possibility of insurrection. This happens whenever a province changes hands in this manner, and does not, on the surface, make much sense. Swiss are Swiss, whether dominated by Frogs or Krauts.

I ask that question, because a real weirdness has cropped up. As Turkey, I besieged and conquered Pomerania, which was a Swedish province. But the province was awarded, for some odd reason, to Austria, and now it appears as an Austrian province with a Swedish subflag -- but I cannot cause an insurrection there. This is the only conquered province on the whole map of Europe with a major power subflag, and since there were NO Austrian troops in the province when I took it, I cannot understand how they managed to poach it. They have poached other conquests of mine, in the usual fashion, but always with a military force, however minor, present. It is also unique in that, instead of being "crosshatched" as a conquered province, Pomerania was awarded to Austria outright. What's up? I note that Austria was not even at war with Sweden at the time.

Also, in re poaching provinces: somewhere or other it is stated that when two forces are present in a province that surrenders, the one that "contributed most to the seige" is awarded the province. This turns out not to be the case. I have a Turkish army of some 150,000 troops which has had a crummy little Austrian corps of 30,000 tagging after it wherever it goes. Whenever that army beseiges and conquers a city, the Austrians receive the conquest. There is no way on God's little green earth that 30,000 Austrians are contributing more to the seige -- they don't even have any artillery. Good move by the AI, but bad move by the devs, IMO.

-- Mal

The Continuing Misadventures of Switzerland, and other odd issues:

Switzerland has been owned by nearly every country in Europe at one time or another, except Prussia (eliminated) and Turkey (busy elsewhere). Most of the time, this has proceeded normally: seige, conquest, peace, possession as a normal part of the empire. Recently, however, the penultimate owners of Switzerland, Britain, made a deal with the Swedes which involved a transfer of possession of Switzerland. Now, Switzerland appears with a Swedish flag and a British (!) subflag. This is the second time something like this has happened. What's up?

As a part of this land deal, the Brits (who were in trouble) also traded away Sevastopol to the Swedes -- despite the fact that Turkey had conquered it and was occupying it. Now, that's a neat trick. What is the rationale behind allowing a country to trade away a province it doesn't even control?

As a third interesting note, I have succeeded in creating a three-way war. It happened like this: Turkey and Austria are both, independently, at war with Britain. Turkey caused an insurrection in Hesse, and declared war on the province. The next turn, Austria formed a protectorate with Hesse, creating a war with Turkey. Supposedly, one cannot DW a power at war with one's own enemy, so this would appear to be an exploit of sorts. Even the AI tries to work around the rules, it appears.

-- Mal

When a city falls to a multinational siege it has a chance to be taken by all nations at war with the besieged city in proportion to each nation's current strength in the province.

Okay. And my other questions?

-- Mal