All of us who have played COW for more than a handful of games are familiar with some of the very odd things that AI countries will do, especially when they have been left unmolested until late in the game, and they have had the opportunity to fully manifest their programmed "personalities."

I am presently in the last 2 to 3 days of a 22-player game, and the only players left are two humans (me and an ally), and AI Northern States of America and AI Canada. Most of us have encountered the large fleets of high-level naval units that some AIs will build, but I have now witnessed the single most preposterous, weirdest, most bizarre AI behavior in my 18 COW games to date. . . .

Contrary to what I would usually expect to find late in the game, the AI Northern States of America did not build a large fleet of destroyers and submarines to patrol its Atlantic coast; in fact, it produced no more than a small handful of mid-level sub units, which was mildly surprising. Well, imagine my surprise when I occupied the Cleveland province that borders on Lake Erie (one of the 5 Great Lakes) and discovered an AI Northern States L6 battleship cruising back and forth in apparent opposition to seven AI Canadian L7 "elite" level cruisers! Keeping in mind, of course, that the in-game versions of the Great Lakes are completely landlocked and have no outlet to the Atlantic Ocean. (NB: the real lakes have access to the Atlantic via the St. Lawrence seaway.)

Now, that, gentlemen, is just plain weird.

UPDATE: It just got weirder. Having now completely occupied all of the territory of the AI Northern States of America, I have discovered that there is not just one L6 battleship cruising Lake Erie, but four of them! I hope some of you German and European players have some idea of just how odd it is to see the Bismarck-class battleship icons cruising back and forth on one of the inland Great Lakes of North America. Absolutely bizarre. LOL

Good God.

I've seen several AI countries with ~100 aircraft squadrons of various types late in the game, but I've never seen 70 squadrons in a single wing.

I'll let you in on my dirty little secret: I hate the in-game versions of rockets and nuclear missiles because the real V-2 rockets were neither accurate enough, nor powerful enough to wipe out entire regimental or brigade-size units; the in-game versions are an order of magnitude more accurate and more powerful than the real thing was. Most days, the Germans were lucky enough to hit cities the size of London or Amsterdam with their V-2s, let alone a combat unit in the field. The only attempted tactical use of the V-2 on record -- when the Germans were desperate to destroy the Ludendorff bridge at Remagen in March 1945 -- they had 11 misses in 11 shots, the closest falling on shore several thousand meters from the target, and the furthest afield landed 40 kilometers off. Keep in mind that was cutting edge guided missile technology in 1945, and that no rocket then under active development could lift the 5-ton weight of a 1945 atomic warhead. The in-game versions of the V-2 and our "nuclear missile" are complete fantasy.

That said, I will use all means available to take down AIs with giant fleets of elite cruisers or giant wings of elite bombers and fighters. If you have not had the pleasure of watching 30 AI squadrons disappear in the blink of an eye while they are grounded and refueling -- and when their hit points drop from 20 or 25 per unit to 5 per unit -- you really should try it. One nuclear missile will kill 25+ refueling squadrons, one rocket will destroy 4 or 5. Your mileage may vary.

My advice to you: nothing obligates you to fight fair against AI opponents. Squish'em like bugs.

There is no Geneva Convention for AIs.

You're not the first forum participant to severely criticize the present rebellion mechanics and outcomes. And, yes, the whole idea of a lightly occupied or ungarrisoned Valencia (Spain) rebelling and joining Sweden, or Bakersfield (California) joining the Philippines, is just a bizarre feature of the game that only some 20-something programmer, with a mandate to create maximum chaos, would believe was an appropriate outcome for a WW2-based war game.

And, yes, the idea that an elite unit, like a medium tank brigade, with 100% combat effectiveness, would flip and join a rebellion against its parent country is also unrealistic and completely without precedent during the WW2 era. It would make far more sense just to have the entire unit wiped out during the rebellion, rather than keeping it alive, turn traitor and fight its own former comrades.

That is weird. Elite AI enabled?