Allies fighting in wars they aren't involved in

[Walter Raleigh]

I'm King of England and the King of France declared war on me. The King of France is also involved in a separate war, allied to the King of Scotland. A French and Scottish army linked up, started marching together and then proceeded to start jointly besieging one of my castles.

Since I'm not at war with the King of Scotland, should his forces be able to be besiege me? Is this a bug? Is the Scottish army not actually besieging me, but just sitting with the French besiegers, while not actually doing anything? The army counter label is red, indicating it's hostile, and is showing the combined strength of all armies.

If I attack the enemy stack, would I also be fighting the Scottish forces I'm not at war with?

Here's a screenshot:

 

[Walter Raleigh]

I think I've figured it out by looking at the siege details - the Scottish army's forces aren't being counted. I'm saving the game and will attack the stack. I'll report back if I end up fighting with all of its troops.

Still, maybe that's an AI issue to think about, as if this Scottish army - which is most of the Scottish king's forces - ends up committing itself to doing nothing in a war it's not involved with, then it's clearly shooting itself in the foot with regard to the war that it is actually fighting in.

EDIT: Reporting back. I'm fighting against the whole stack in battle. What's going on here then?

 

[Walter Raleigh]

I've been doing some deeper internet searching about this, and it appears to be working as intended. The logic seems to be that allies will help each other, if one is attacked, if they are located in the same county.

I wonder if this is only defensive or would it happen offensively also? If the French army decided to attack my army with the Scottish army attached to it, would the Scottish army continue to follow them into battle against me?

While maybe it doesn't make sense generally for an AI army to attach itself to an army that it's not fighting a war with, it does kind of work in this instance as, by shielding it, it's makes it harder for me to fight a war against its ally, which is in its best interest. So, in this example, it's kind of being clever rather than dumb.

 

[faiuwle]

It's an old bug. Maybe they will fix it some day.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

The combined stack did attack me - so the Scottish army attacked me, even though we're not at war. Definitely not right, if that happens.

 

[Snow Crystal]

 

[Dracko81]

It's an old bug. Maybe they will fix it some day.

It's not a bug. It is supposed to work that way. It used to work the other way, but the decision to make allies aid each other in battle was made - even if not directly in that war.

Obviously if the developers change that decision, than we have the instance where allies don't help and people complain that they aren't helping. After all you can only ask your allies to join one war at the end of the day.

 

[Tryvenyal]

They are attached to the frech troops so whatever France fights, the scotish is too. The scotish army are lent to the sake of France in this case, whatever they happen to fight. I have a hard time seeing that as a bug.