some praise for 1.3

[Slaists]

I wish the AI would make any sea attacks against me or otherwise act smart in 1.3. Maybe I just defend too well?

I mean, even when I was Spain and at war with Italian States, I sent my Lombard+Naples stack to take Rome and the Italian states never bothered to use their stack to defend - they just parked it in their port at Venice, inevitably dying as Rome was defended by citizens only.

Then, as I take Rome, Savoy declares war. They got a full stack but don't bother attacking Lombardy which has 1 militia as defense. Even as I can only send my troops there piecemeal (2 a turn as Rome suffers from PO), they still don't bother to attack. Eventually I get all my units up and just take Savoy...

Similarly, I left Florida undefended to attack Lousiana who declared war on me. Cherokee have 2 stacks parked at the border of Florida but never bother to do anything even though Georgia only has a 3/4 stack defenders who could intervene. They also had a few extra stacks in their settlement they never bothered to get out.

It seems, 'something' is bottlenecking AI's 'thought flow' (if it can be called that) at times. I have witnessed successful AI naval invasions in 1.3 a few times, the best one being the Maratha full-stack invasion of Ceilon. The Dutch sending a stack of natives from Curacao was quite a surprise too, but I managed to defeat them. On other occasions, I've seen what you describe: AI's stacks sitting in harbors or on coastlines forever not moving and not being transported anywhere: as if the AI has 'totally forgotten' about these troops...

Nonetheless, 1.3 seems like quite an improvement so far.

It's a little different when you do not play Britain. As a continental power, the AI countries will declare war for the simple reason that you share a border. If you make peace with one, another will attack. The AI is programmed to make sure you always have 1 (usually 2) wars.

It's like they are capable of making a good game, but they intentionally put in mechanics that will obviously result in stupid automatic results.

Playing as VH France, my AI neighbors have been quite reasonable in their declarations of war so far. The Dutch declared war on Spain early in the game and I joined my ally. However, I cunningly waited for the Dutch to take Brussels so I could grab it for myself. Westphalia declared war on me while I was recovering in Belgium: quite reasonable on their part. My army (I had one) was tied down near Brussels (a full stack of Dutch were lurking across the border) and my lands were wide open for Westphalian invasion.

Nonetheless, the Dutch lost (Amsterdam too in the process) and Wurttenberg was happy to take the Dutch capital in exchange for becoming my buddy and protectorate. Hannover did the same in exchange for Westphalia a couple turns later... Since then, the Continentals have been quite timid. It's the North American Indians and the Pirates that are giving me a headache, LOL. 2 tribes (Iroquois and Cherokees) are raiding New France and I cannot afford a proper army there yet; meanwhile, the Pirates are blockading my trade. + while solving my continental problems, I have started to lag behind in naval development. I have a bad feeling in my stomach as I watch the massed British fleets cruising in the channel... ;)