Some beginner gameplay and strategies questions

[Zywack]

Question about something that just happened in the multiplayer game I'm part of. earcaraxe did suggest something but I'd like to make sure I understand it correctly since one part doesn't click in my mind and I'd really like to understand this so that I can prevent this from happening again.

Let's say I have province A and B, the enemy has province C (with a castle) and the other provinces are neutral.

I give the order to A to attack C. I give the order to B to attack C.

What ended up happening is that A attacked C alone, while B didn't move: Their order simply returned to "Defending". They didn't get attacked or had any event happening. I double-checked the turn I sent, and I did have all my movements configured correctly.

How can this happen?

The enemy caught a scout of mine before the battle and their entire army fought scout which indicates the enemy was likely on Patrol. Plus, during the attack from army A, their entire army was defending outside the castle, which should indicate that they had all their forces on Patrol. If I understand the patrol/castle defense mechanism correctly at least.

The only way that I could sort of see is if they had given orders to attack B. My army at B consider itself under attack, so it switch to defending. My army from A lands on C, stopping their movement and making them defend. Is that correct? It doesn't make too much sense, but it's the most logical explanation I can think of right now...

[Soyweiser]

Sometimes armies do not move. It sucks. There is a high chance next turn movement from B to C still doesn't happen. (At least in my experience).

[Amhazair]

Originally Posted by Zywack

The only way that I could sort of see is if they had given orders to attack B. My army at B consider itself under attack, so it switch to defending. My army from A lands on C, stopping their movement and making them defend. Is that correct? It doesn't make too much sense, but it's the most logical explanation I can think of right now...

Most likely something along those lines, yes. This happens occasionally, though not at all often. I'm not sure if it's a bug or a 'feature'.

[thejeff]

It likely has nothing to do with what the army from A did.

Occasionally 2 armies crossing will block each other instead of fighting on one of their territories. They will also sometimes swap provinces.
There is a bug, where this happens repeatedly if you continue trying to move the two armies. It's not clear whether it happens at all without the bug.

[Vanguard X]

Does dominion spread follow along movement paths only? In other words, if 2 provinces appear to border each other, but they are not connected (cannot directly move troops into) does dominion spread as if it is 1 province away, or more than 1?

Example: Impassable mountains separating 2 provinces.

[Amhazair]

Originally Posted by Vanguard X

Does dominion spread follow along movement paths only?

Yes.

[Soyweiser]

Originally Posted by Amhazair

Yes.

Normal dominion only spreads along movement paths.

However, there are spells and random events that influence dominion. And there is nothing stopping sneaking domspreading units from being inside your lands.