The current game mechanics are if you order your troops to attack a province, and neutral troops get there first, your troops will still attack the province. This friendly fire starts unnecessary wars and can ruin your reputation with AI.
To fix this you can change the mechanics to stop troops if the target is occupied, and add a "Direct Order" button to the unit controls to override that.
If you have units on a March order they will stop moving if the province changes owners, or if the diplomatic status changes, such as status changes from War to Peace or Cease Fire.
So providing your units are more than 5 km from the province center a war will not start.
If your units are within 5 km of the province center then that will lead to war, because you don't have permission to be there.
So in the case where you are at or near the province center perhaps what you want is something like a fire control setting. Where you could set units NOT to declare war or attack when they encounter peaceful provinces or units. Interesting idea.
War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can't smile, grin. If you can't grin keep out of the way til you can. - Winston Churchill VorlonFCW Retired from Bytro staff as of November 30, 2020. >>> Click Here to submit a bug report or support ticket <<<
14 Mar 2018, 19:38
VorlonFCW wrote:
If you have units on a March order they will stop moving if the province changes owners, or if the diplomatic status changes, such as status changes from War to Peace or Cease Fire.
Vorlon is correct: if the province changes hands while your units are en route, they should stop at the province's border, or if they are already inside the province, they should stop wherever they are. I have, however, witnessed several occasions when the automatic stop function did not work, perhaps because of the 5 km/5 pixel exception Vorlon described.
If, however, both parties are already at war, in my experience the loser of the race will not necessarily stop when the province is captured by an existing enemy. Another scenario I have witnessed is two neutrals attempt to capture the same province that is garrisoned by the defending player, then both neutral stacks will attack the defending stack until it is destroyed. One of the neutral attackers (of the two) will be the one to finish off the defending unit(s), and it will capture the province. Because the two formerly neutral stacks now occupy the same space at the province center, with one in possession, and the other with no right of way or alliance rights to be there, it will immediately attack the other former neutral and war will automatically occur. Of course, this problem is avoided if the two attacking parties are either allies or have reciprocal rights of way.
4 Apr 2018, 17:52
MontanaBB wrote:
One of the neutral attackers (of the two) will be the one to finish off the defending unit(s), and it will capture the province.
I've seen this answer to the question of two attackers before ... but have witnessed where the attacker who finished off the defender didn't capture the province - it was captured by the attacker who got there first (there was no mistaking who finished the defender by looking at the timers). Wondering if anyone else has experienced this?
4 Apr 2018, 21:25
Guioco wrote:
I've seen this answer to the question of two attackers before ... but have witnessed where the attacker who finished off the defender didn't capture the province - it was captured by the attacker who got there first (there was no mistaking who finished the defender by looking at the timers). Wondering if anyone else has experienced this?
I've not witnessed the situation you described, but I can imagine at least one scenario where that happens. If the second attacking stack (i.e. not the one that deals the coup de grace to the defending stack) is physically closer to the province center than the first stack (i.e. the one that does deliver the finishing blow), then the second stack might just "snake" the province instead of the first stack. Of course, in the scenario we discussed above, they're both going to be immediately at war with each other, so it may be a short-lived victory.
