The war that wouldn't end

[unmerged(1299)]

This might be a common occurrence, but I've missed any posts that discussed it. Russia attacked Astrakhan, which invoked the assistance of its ally, Turkey. Russia got the snot beat out of it and made a separate peace with Turkey. Russia (and its maritime allies, England and Denmark) remained at war with Astrakhan. By the peace, the Turks got Samarra and Volgograd. (The Swedes have Kuybishev.) Astrakhan has control of Uralsk, but Russia still owns it. Russia (and its allies) are unable to attack Astrakhan. (The only force that Russia has which can reach Astrakhan comprises 2 men in an unclaimed province on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea.) Yes, they should die soon, but this war has been going on for over 60 years. This "war" has prevented the diplomatic annexation of Astrakhan by Turkey for decades (a victory of sorts for Russia). So what happens? Is peace really being delayed until those two guys die? Astrakhan is evidently not willing to make peace without annexing Uralsk. Will Russia finally cede the province once her Caspian "army" dies? To get to Uralsk, the Russians have to go through the Turks in one province. All other approaches require defeating the Poles and the Swedes before getting to the Turks. The current year is 1607.

 

[unmerged(1645)]

Hi,

it is not an isolated occurrence. I' ve had the same occur a couple of times, and it also involves a country losing one of its isolated Provinces but refusing to surrender it.

At some point I got fed up and I edited the latest autosave to stop the war and concede the lost Province so the AIs could move on from there.

I am not sure whether it is a bug or an oversight but I'd be nice if, after two ennemies had no contact or skirmishes with each other for 3 years, lost Provinces were ceded automatically, even in exchange of money or something, somewhat akin to a white peace, so that interminable wars could end.

 

[Xanadu]

I had the same situation when I played the Golden Hoarde. Unfortunatley it was me who was at war fot abot 70-80 years...somewhere around there. Denmark refused to give me a provinces in a war they started. I tried to revolt risk them to death by declinig all their white peace offers getting their war exhuastion to 10% , but never in those 80ish years did it go over 5%..that pissed me off enough to stop playing that game altogether.

But of course I had 10%....grumble...grumble.

 

[unmerged(3466)]

From what I've seen, war exhaustion won't get above +5 in national provinces. Only in non-national provinces will it go higher.

I've also seen the 'long war syndrome,' though I believe in every occurence one country has eventually capitulated.

What's unfortunate is that a country at war won't start another one, though they may be dragged into one by their allies. This can really hurt Russia if she can't move on to take the Khanates. Turkey, too, can get hurt by this.

It seems that another war spurs the AI into making peace, though.


- Raife