Corsican Succession War - just ridiculous

[stevieji]

So the king of Corsica dies without an heir and leaves it to me (Castille) in Personal Union. France decides to contest this and starts Succession War against me. Here's the thing, though - I am already in a war against Austria - allied with FRANCE in a war they started. France simply DISAPPEARS from that war (which I have absolutely no interest in) and attacks me with their 90+ regiments.

France makes no attempt to attack the wargoal (Corsica, remember), but lays seige to my entire country, until Corsica LEAVES Personal Union - at which point you might expect France's war to become invalid - but no.

So I have a few fundamental questions -

1. How does France extricate itself from a war they started,in which they are allied to me?

2. How does France manage to raise 90+ regiments by 1580 - I never manage anything like that when I play as France - not to mention their 3 star generals. I ask this just in passing.

3. After Corsica leaves P.U., how is it that France is still fighting me for something I am in no position to give them?

I just feel like quitting this game, which is SO f**ked up it seems more like a bug than anything. Otherwise I can play on and accept the loss of a few provinces - as well as my principal ally - but what's the point really, if there are no discernible rules.

Finally, Paradox, might it not be an idea to allow diplomatic resolution of conflicts - in this particular instance, if France had simply given me a choice of giving up my claim on Corsica, or a costly and unwinable war, the decision would have been straightforward.

 

[Llyw olaf]

Same thing happened to me in my Sweden Ironman campaign! It must be a bug, why was it a long time ally rather than a rival?
Sweden and it's ally the Commonwealth(200 years) were in a big war against Austria and a large amount of HRE members when I get a pop-up informing me that I had inherited Scotland(a two province minor) and then it's the Commonwealth who abandons our current war to declare war on me to contest the PU!
Thankfully I could white peace Austria. After a long and brutal war I beat the Commonwealth and afterwards they declared me a rival and allied Austria...

Surely that shouldn't of happened that way? I also didn't even get the "Royal Authority" and "Sweden is not overpowered" achievement after winning the war and taking the last land I needed from the Commonwealth for the "Sweden is not OP" achievement. In the end I had to abandon that game because that war must have broken something because I then had more issues such as having to reload two or three times because I couldnt click on any provinces, budget calculation messed up and my green ticked ally France not joining any more wars which meant I lost wars I could have won with their aid :angry:

Such a shame because I think Art of War is a great addition, and I was really enjoying that campaign until then, but that really knoked my motivation to play the game for a while. I think I will leave it for a few days until I start a new campaign...

 

[grommile]

1. How does France extricate itself from a war they started,in which they are allied to me?

This is one of those cases where the system breaks down a little.

2. How does France manage to raise 90+ regiments by 1580 - I never manage anything like that when I play as France - not to mention their 3 star generals. I ask this just in passing.

AI France takes the Offensive idea group, which includes an idea giving a significant buff to land force limits, as its second idea pick. What ideas do you take as France?

 

[Ranjid]

This is one of those cases where the system breaks down a little.

That's quite the understatement. I've seen CNs declaring a war on other CNs, resulting in a World War in the 17th century, just before declaring an independence war on their overlord (most likely due to rising WE->hitting 100% liberty desire). Afterwards their overlord had to fight 76487384738 enemies while the CN just sat there and waited to be granted independence. The current system is flawed. If the main participant of a war isn't involved anymore, the war should be ended with a white peace.

 

[Freudia]

AI France takes the Offensive idea group, which includes an idea giving a significant buff to land force limits, as its second idea pick. What ideas do you take as France?

I'm not OP, but I'm not even sure what idea they take as the first idea group. If it's not Exploration, and if it's not Administrative, then it's gotta be Offensive, right?

 

[grommile]

I'm not OP, but I'm not even sure what idea they take as the first idea group. If it's not Exploration, and if it's not Administrative, then it's gotta be Offensive, right?

AI France's first idea pick is Economic.

 

[Freudia]

AI France's first idea pick is Economic.

Yes, but I meant player France. Perhaps I should have specified.

 

[frolix42]

2. How does France manage to raise 90+ regiments by 1580 - I never manage anything like that when I play as France

They are scripted to take Offensive ideas. You apparently don't

 

[stevieji]

They are scripted to take Offensive ideas. You apparently don't

Ok - but that's only a 20% boost - and I can't see anything that increases tradition significantly - but hey, I'm fairly new to this - and as I said in the first post, I only mention this in passing - the main problems I raise are much more difficult to explain.

 

[Sorellis]

With mercs the 90 regiments isn't such a stretch. I agree this is something that needs to be fixed. This seems to be the only way to declare war on an ally that you are fighting alongside so I would imagine it is something that paradox has yet to come across.

 

[grommile]

Ok - but that's only a 20% boost - and I can't see anything that increases tradition significantly

On default settings, AI France is Lucky, which gives it +1/+1 fire/shock, and of course Offensive Ideas give it another +1/+1, and it tends to fight a lot of wars and complete a lot of sieges, and in previous versions France got a 50-point Army Tradition boost when it finished kicking England off the European mainland.

 

[Tacticus101]

I find the way the war started more interesting than anything else (which all seems reasonable).

I thought your opponent in the succession war is supposed to be one of your rivals....any idea how they ended up fighting you?
Also, was France the warleader in their war? Surely the war would have ended when they left it?

 

[Llyw olaf]

So getting attacked by your ally, who was fighting alongside you in another war, to prevent a personal union isn't a bug? it's a possibility?
I had the same dynasty as Scotland but had no royal marriage with them and hadn't claimed their throne, the Commonwealth had no connections with Scotland. Was it because my ally was a stronger power than any of my rivals? I hadn't been taking notice of Scotland's ruler so I didnt know he had no heir or what would happen when he died, a warning would have been nice.

 

[LanMisa]

Sounds like a serious bug that should be posted in the Bug forum.

 

[Zqrfmb]

Succession wars always get weird. I once was forced as spain into a PU by France without them declaring war, they just decided they had a PU over me while my ruler was still alive; he was removed from office, but was still able to lead my armies since I made him a general. I then immediately broke the PU that burgundy was contesting, causing france to fight a war on two fronts, lose to me, and keep fighting burgundy over a PU neither of htem could achieve. Meanwhile, my former and still-alive king led my armies through the interregnum.

 

[grommile]

I find the way the war started more interesting than anything else (which all seems reasonable).

I thought your opponent in the succession war is supposed to be one of your rivals....any idea how they ended up fighting you?

There are two ways for a succession war to start:

• Your rivals can, as you say, attempt to contest by force of arms a personal union you acquire via the death of another country's ruler.
• If, on the death of a country's ruler, two countries both qualify to gain a personal union over it for whatever reason, one of them gets the PU (presumably the better-qualified of the two) and the other can (or it might be automatic? I'm not sure; I'll bet the AI is programmed to always contest it, anyway) kick off a succession war.

 

[Xiahou Mao]

[*] If, on the death of a country's ruler, two countries both qualify to gain a personal union over it for whatever reason, one of them gets the PU (presumably the better-qualified of the two) and the other can (or it might be automatic? I'm not sure; I'll bet the AI is programmed to always contest it, anyway) kick off a succession war.
[/list]

As someone who's been on the other end of a succession war, with my own crown being fought over, the choice of who to give the Personal Union to is actually the choice of the country being taken over. When the succession war starts, you'll get a popup asking which of the two you want to be in union under, and that will be who you ally with in the subsequent automatic war with the other party.

Now, I don't know exactly how the AI would decide which to pick from the two. Perhaps just based on total relations modifiers, or proximity? Or maybe it would choose the weaker of the two powers in the hope it can break out of the union more easily later?

 

[Llyw olaf]

There are two ways for a succession war to start:

• Your rivals can, as you say, attempt to contest by force of arms a personal union you acquire via the death of another country's ruler.
• If, on the death of a country's ruler, two countries both qualify to gain a personal union over it for whatever reason, one of them gets the PU (presumably the better-qualified of the two) and the other can (or it might be automatic? I'm not sure; I'll bet the AI is programmed to always contest it, anyway) kick off a succession war.

Interesting, so in my game if my ally the Commonwealth had gotten a royal marriage with Scotland, while both of us were fighting Austria, then it is entirely possible that it would have become my rival for the PU? I know they weren't the same dynasty and didn't have a marriage before our combined Austrian war. I will admit I was focused on our Austrian war and had not checked the Commonwealth's relations for a while, and afterwards I was too busy fighting them off!

I know you can get a notice if you're about to fall under a personal union, is there one if you're about to inherit one and who will contest it? because I didn't get one and it was a "holy shit!" moment.

 

[grommile]

I know you can get a notice if you're about to fall under a personal union, is there one if you're about to inherit one and who will contest it? because I didn't get one and it was a "holy shit!" moment.

The closest the game gets to telling you this (rather than answering if you ask it) is the "weak/missing heirs" indicator that pops up on the top bar.

 

[SuperBearNut]

There really needs to be way we could refuse inheriting an union...