Resolved [e1.4.3 - beta] Vassal army (in personal kingdom) loses personnel very rapidly post siege (Game-Breaking Bug!)

[Concomitant]

Summary: I noticed that several armies were disbanding even though they had a stable Cohesion (some were above 50), but then after besieging a settlement they would disappear from my kingdom army tracker. I witnessed what is supposedly happening: after a siege (and during?) the army loses personnel at an alarming rate. An army of 1300 strong lost 300 to a mere 100, dropping to 1000 by the end of the siege. Afterwards, they lost personnel at an exponentially decaying rate until the army comprised of only the lords which formed it. At this point, the army will simply splinter into several parties of 1 strong (the lord themselves) with the rest of the party listed as "injured." An army of 1000 loses personnel very rapidly compared to an army of 100 (but both are still outrageously fast and eventually decline to such a point where the split occurs and the army disbands).
How to Reproduce: I am unsure. It could be unique to my save, and I can provide that if needed.
Quest/Settlement Name (if related): N/A, but in my save I am near one where it actively happens (again I can provide the save file).
Media (Screenshots & Video): None.
Version: e1.4.3 - beta
Installed community-made modifications: Defection Overhaul (but the bug happens regardless)
Computer Specs:
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K @ 4.00 GHz
RAM: 12.0 GB
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary
Storage Device (HDD/SSD): WDC WD10EZEX-00BN5A0 (HDD)

 

[elysebluemoon]

Forwarding this issue to the QA team for further investigation. Thanks for reporting. In the meantime, can you share your save files? You can upload it at upload.taleworlds.com. Please paste the link to this thread in the description box on the upload website so I can identify it.

 

[Concomitant]

Forwarding this issue to the QA team for further investigation. Thanks for reporting. In the meantime, can you share your save files? You can upload it at upload.taleworlds.com. Please paste the link to this thread in the description box on the upload website so I can identify it.

I've just uploaded the file. Can you confirm that it was received? I essentially copied all info in this bug report to the details to ensure it is easily identified. I also want to point out that there is some variance in how the army splits. I just ran the save again, and this time the same split happened, but no party sizes were marked. As such, I am unsure as to whether or not those parties exist in the game logic anymore. I will keep an eye on them as best I can (but they are just numberless parties now and hard to track). They do leave a "track" on the ground, however.

 

[elysebluemoon]

Yes, I've got the save file, thanks for the upload.

 

[Concomitant]

Yes, I've got the save file, thanks for the upload.

Thanks for the reaponse. I've done some testing, and it seems to be based entirely on starvation. The save is quite late game so many cities and settlements are just not stocking enough food for massive armies. That, and armies tend to form on the border areas and those cities and settlements are rarely stocked at all. I have seen far fewer citizens, and caravans don't seem to sell very much at cities. I've been buying most of my food from caravans, and it works for me. However, my armies do not buy from them and tend to starve out.

Finally, I noticed that things shifted significantly for player armies as for how food is handled. When I share food with my army, I share it with each party, and my personal food takes a hit now. I actually think that's great, and it makes sense; however, I have a suggestion for a feature based on all of this chaos with starvation. I am posting it here but might also post it in the suggestion forum.

Army supply caravans. These are recruitable/purchaseable (expensive per day) caravans which the player/AI army can get at any city. Ideally a huge army should have 2-3 of these caravans, and they essentially just bring food which must then be purchased from the caravan. This, or the player can order what they want the caravan to bring (and some logic gives an ETA of how long that might take with some fluff of course). These caravans are targetable with unique names such as "Supply Caravan," so it is possible to disrupt enemy supply chains.

This, paired with a large reduction of current starvation mechanics and an increase in food + villager + caravan effectiveness will in my opinion add a great layer of depth in army management and campaign strategy.

 

[elysebluemoon]

I have been informed that a fix will be implemented regarding this issue with the later patches. Thanks for reporting!