Army Trapped after war

[M_Roberts82]

So I went to war but couldn't take their last city. The army I had on the city was pushed to the side up against a cliff after the AI was given their city back. Now I can't move the army. They can only go five spaces and would be forced to enter the city... so I would need to declare war again to move them out. They literally cannot go anywhere until I have the war support to declare a surprise war. While I wouldn't call this a BUG... its definitely not an intended consequence.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2614230008

[VDmitry]

Likely yes. However under some conditions I saw how armies are moving themselves out of enemy territory ignoring obstacles. Not sure how exactly to do that, probably just stay in place.

This certainly doesn't work for Expansionist cultures though.

[FoxFox]

No.

It's incredibly dumb that the game does not explain this in any way. But you should be able to give them a destination outside the empire, even if it takes several turns to reach. They should be able to move through. While doing so, they will count as "tresspassing" which gives the other empire a grievance or a war support bonus I believe.

If you can't even do that, then it's a bug.

EDIT: Sorry my bad, did't realise the cliff + city problem... Which you perfectly described too, so my bad all the way.

[M_Roberts82]

Originally posted by FoxFox:

No.

It's incredibly dumb that the game does not explain this in any way. But you should be able to give them a destination outside the empire, even if it takes several turns to reach. They should be able to move through. While doing so, they will count as "tresspassing" which gives the other empire a grievance or a war support bonus I believe.

If you can't even do that, then it's a bug.

EDIT: Sorry my bad, did't realise the cliff + city problem... Which you perfectly described too, so my bad all the way.

Yeah... Its a weirdly specific issue where theres only 3 spaces on top of the cliff open, no way down or around the city, and the game won't let me walk over the city to get out. This is probably why there are other 4X games that give you open borders immediately after a war for a set time.

[FoxFox]

Originally posted by M_Roberts82:

Yeah... Its a weirdly specific issue where theres only 3 spaces on top of the cliff open, no way down or around the city, and the game won't let me walk over the city to get out. This is probably why there are other 4X games that give you open borders immediately after a war for a set time.

Or automatically transport over the nearest border.

It's not a bug, but in situations like this, you really should be allowed to move through the city.

I had something similar happen where I was exploring with a ship, hit a dead end because of an icebereg and then couldn't get out because an AI empire had just established a city that blocked the entrance to the strait.

[VDmitry]

Originally posted by FoxFox:

Or automatically transport over the nearest border.

I believe I saw this, at least for AI units. Just not certain how it works.

[AOM]

Originally posted by FoxFox:

No.

But you should be able to give them a destination outside the empire, even if it takes several turns to reach. They should be able to move through. While doing so, they will count as "tresspassing" which gives the other empire a grievance or a war support bonus I believe.

If you can't even do that, then it's a bug.

EDIT: Sorry my bad, did't realise the cliff + city problem... Which you perfectly described too, so my bad all the way.

I've had this happen in a different scenario, where I was moving my troops within a territory to ransack an outpost. I was one tile away from it when it was turned into a city. My units lost all ability to move in any direction at all. There were no cliffs involved, they were just stuck. In my current game, my neighbor was wandering around in the unattached territory next to me where I had an outpost. Since I attached it, his units have not budged. It's an AI player, so I can't ask what the problem is, but I suspect his units may be stuck in there.

[Dorok]

Usually you order move out of the enemy territory and let auto path calculate the path on multiple turns, it will take multiple turns but it works. Not in this case because of the city?

What's bizarre is how you get there if the city blocks you.

Did you wait multiple turns? You should have escape asap, but your unit is very few damaged, so you hardly wait more than one turn.

EDIT:
In my opinion, you didn't get move target just need be out of enemy territory, don't bother on range as you mention in OP.

[M_Roberts82]

Originally posted by Dorok:

Usually you order move out of the enemy territory and let auto path calculate the path on multiple turns, it will take multiple turns but it works. Not in this case because of the city?

What's bizarre is how you get there if the city blocks you.

Did you wait multiple turns? You should have escape asap, but your unit is very few damaged, so you hardly wait more than one turn.

EDIT:
In my opinion, you didn't get move target just need be out of enemy territory, don't bother on range as you mention in OP.

The city was already there. I had occupied it in a war. I thought I'd have the war score to keep it and had left my unit on top for stability. But at the end of the war, I couldn't force the city to be mine. And then the game auto-shifted them left into that open space.

I've tried targeting outside of range to queue up moves for multiple turns and it won't let me for that unit because it would need to occupy a city space when I'm not at war. Similarly, auto-explore just makes them shift between the three open spaces.

[FoxFox]

I understand why armies can't scale cliffs normally. But if they are going to be their for the next few centuries, they should have plenty of time to tunnel their way out.

[Dorok]

Originally posted by M_Roberts82:

Originally posted by Dorok:

Usually you order move out of the enemy territory and let auto path calculate the path on multiple turns, it will take multiple turns but it works. Not in this case because of the city?

What's bizarre is how you get there if the city blocks you.

Did you wait multiple turns? You should have escape asap, but your unit is very few damaged, so you hardly wait more than one turn.

EDIT:
In my opinion, you didn't get move target just need be out of enemy territory, don't bother on range as you mention in OP.

The city was already there. I had occupied it in a war. I thought I'd have the war score to keep it and had left my unit on top for stability. But at the end of the war, I couldn't force the city to be mine. And then the game auto-shifted them left into that open space.

I've tried targeting outside of range to queue up moves for multiple turns and it won't let me for that unit because it would need to occupy a city space when I'm not at war. Similarly, auto-explore just makes them shift between the three open spaces.

Oops I forgot the forced kicked out of town at end of war, sorry.

Yeah bug in this kicked out code.

[Twelvefield]

I've had this happen as well. Just let the army guys sit there, make their own Guantanamo Bay. There's no cost penalty.

I agree, though, that it is untidy. The soldiers' families are long dead now, and whoever inherited their houses occasionally get letters from overseas written in ancient Carthaginian.

[M_Roberts82]

Originally posted by Twelvefield:

I've had this happen as well. Just let the army guys sit there, make their own Guantanamo Bay. There's no cost penalty.

I agree, though, that it is untidy. The soldiers' families are long dead now, and whoever inherited their houses occasionally get letters from overseas written in ancient Carthaginian.

Luckily I have autosaves. But if I didn't I would probably just disband them so they don't cost me in upkeep. But that would still be lost time, pops, and industry from having made them originally.

[Twelvefield]

Where were you at the end of my war? I don't trust the autosaves, but I have many manual saves. I simply didn't think of using one to rescue my troops since compared to the other bugs in this game, a stuck regiment is minor (but it would be good if the devs addressed this).

Maybe eventually there will be a "war of liberation" and I can free these guys. A bunch of spearmen will get repatriated into the world of laser-guided submachineguns. In that case, the pops won't be wasted, just displaced for a couple thousand years. It might make a good episode of "The Twilight Zone".

EDIT: I get my wish:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7th_Is_Made_Up_of_Phantoms

[Dorok]

In enemy territory the unit should die fast, otherwise you can try make a treaties of open borders or pick an expansion culture, but for sure one unit doesn't worth it.

When I see a war end coming I start consider path of armies back home, but for sure there's also the captured cities/territories.

[NoWayi]

yea its an unlucky situation where the units got stuck due to the districts blocking way out
they would have died in few turns due to trespassing, that does dmg every turn except if you are an expansionist

also stealth units can trespass even if you aint an expansionist but if they get spotted you triggered a grievance and also forced to leave if i recall not 100% sure but would make sense i guess