[BUG] Unreliable neighbour coastal state CB rule

[moretrim]

Many state-level CBs such as the bog standard acquire_state include the following rule when it comes to the allowed_states trigger:

https://github.com/arkhometha/Historical-Project-Mod/blob/09afcba51fb953097dbce5b5c424f87e32ac5cc0/HPM/common/cb_types.txt#L3925-L3937

I noticed in a playthrough that German Silesia was ineligible despite bordering a coastal state. After some research I suspect that the rule does not work, or at least it did not work in this case. My methodology was as follows:

• replace the rule in acquire_state by THIS = { ai = no }, to make sure it is the only limiting condition

• inspect the following debug decision:

  debug_me = {
    potential = {}
    allow = {
        # emulating `allowed_states` CB trigger
        PRU_682 = {
            any_owned_province = {
                any_neighbor_province = {
                    state_scope = { any_owned_province = { port = yes } }
                }
            }
        }
        # another way of reaching the same scope
        682 = {
            state_scope = {
                any_owned_province = {
                    any_neighbor_province = {
                        state_scope = { any_owned_province = { port = yes } }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        # state scope shortcut
        PRU_682 = {
            any_neighbor_province = {
                state_scope = { any_owned_province = { port = yes } }
            }
        }
        # investigating tooltip issues
        GER = {
            PRU_682 = {
                any_owned_province = {
                    any_neighbor_province = {
                        state_scope = { any_owned_province = { port = yes } }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
    effect = {}
    ai_will_do = { factor = 0 }
  }

As player country Wales, this produced the following tooltip:

Results & explanations of the four condition blocks, from top to bottom:

• ❌ an emulation of rule in the allowedstates` trigger, starting at Silesia's scope directly
• ✔ running the same rule, but by opening a state_scope starting at Breslau within Silesia
• ✔ same as the first but taking a shortcut, because sometimes putting province-level things at state scope just works
• ❌ looking into the bracketed countries (e.g. "(Wales)") in the other tooltips, I believe this turned out to be purely a matter of display & a red herring

The worst in all of this, though, is that using the shortcut solution in acquire_state does not help. No new state becomes eligible. I'm running out of ideas, perhaps somebody can shed some light on the matter.

Included is the save game in question. I did not check to what extent the situation applies to other states, countries, etc.

[arkhometha]

Hi @moretrim, thanks for the report. Well, for starters, I think I owe an explanation here. The rule is there to avoid some nonsense - namely, a landlocked player being able to take a coastal state far away from him and thus not be landlocked anymore. But to avoid the player only being able to take neighboring states, he can take one state over - 2 states deep inside a country. It's not perfect, but avoids some nonsense.

Second, I was unable to reproduce your problem. As you can see here

And here

It seems to be working properly. No changes from my end.

[moretrim]

Well, for starters, I think I owe an explanation here.

I find both the neighbour state and neighbouring-of-a-neighbour state rules very sensible myself.

Second, I was unable to reproduce your problem.

Were you testing on Development? In a9e8d42fb889bd520fb7904ea572149d3e486e41 you added the following:

https://github.com/arkhometha/Historical-Project-Mod/blob/da81b5f48631508fc2cd49331181f453bf4dabee/HPM/common/cb_types.txt#L3904

That makes any state valid during a war, but the issue should persist when fabricating. (edit: when starting in 1836 as France, a fabricated acquire_state won’t allow targeting Silesia.)

[arkhometha]

Yes, I was testing in development. I was making changes to avoid CBs being null for countries during crisis but I ended up making previous changes moot. I will have to find another solution, thanks for this. I will test it again.

[moretrim]

At the risk of being off-topic...

I was making changes to avoid CBs being null for countries during crisis but I ended up making previous changes moot.

I've witnessed the incredibly disappointing vanishing CBs during a crisis war, so I can understand.

Would allowed_states_in_crisis be of any help? Does it apply to more than one of the following:

• eligibility for starting a crisis
• eligibility for subsequent offers, to sway a GP on the fence
• validity during a crisis war (are there crisis wars besides crisis great wars?)

[arkhometha]

It's not off-topic at all, @moretrim. There's quite a few of the CB bugs with the crisis system and I need to hunt them all down.

Anyway, I can confirm your bug. It's not working as intended. At all, for no states. I will try and figure it out but worst case scenario I might have to either remove it or live with it.

Would allowed_states_in_crisis be of any help?

Possibly, but the main problem is not having a save where this is consistently happening for me to test on. That and a list of CBs affected by this. I think adding allowed_states_in_crisis for a few cbs that are missing them, like the acquire_core_state can help.

[moretrim]

@arkhometha I still think that it deserves its own topic to keep things nice and tidy: #164