Possible workaround for sub bug

I was thinking about the sub bug and I may have come up with a clever way to work around it.

Let's create a dummy unit. The dummy unit should cost 1 shield. It should be tagged as a sea unit. It should be tagged as a "tactical missile". It should have no bombard or attack/defense. The idea is that the dummy unit could be loaded onto subs and let you make your sub visible or invisible at will. So if you want to make it visible you can just unload the dummy unit and let it sit stacked with the sub for the AI's turns. If you want it invisible you can just load the dummy unit back into the sub.

The idea is that if you run into the sub bug you could reload to the end of the previous turn and make your sub visible.

So, do you think this idea would work? Or is there some problem? I wonder if a sea unit can be loaded into another sea unit, for example. I also don't know for sure if a loaded tactical missile remains invisible when inside a sub or if the presence of a tactical missile allows the AIs to see the subs, as in CivII. If so, this would make my workaround impractical.

There is no pratical workaround for the invisible unit bug. The only thing that will work to prevent AI's declaring war on you and other AI's by running into them is make the unit visible.

Hidden nationality is an option but that comes with it own set of problems.

Loading an invisible unit in a ship won't make the ship invisible.

I don't think the unit stays 'unloaded' after ending your turn.
However, if you only want a workaround for your Subs, so the AI isn't forced to declare on you mistakenly, simply flag them with Hidden Nationality. This also means the AIs won't declare on each others.
But of course, you need to protect all your ships after that - but considering how few Privateers the AI builds, this shouldn't be too problematic.

I rarely have the problem with subs, but I always have the problem with assassins and other invisable units starting wars.

This has always been called the Sub Bug, but really it is the Invisable Unit Bug.

Doc Tsiolkovski said:

I don't think the unit stays 'unloaded' after ending your turn.
However, if you only want a workaround for your Subs, so the AI isn't forced to declare on you mistakenly, simply flag them with Hidden Nationality.

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Yes but then the AI can attack my subs with impunity. And in my personal mod the AI builds lots of privateers and quite a few subs. So I imagine it would fill the seas with hidden nationality subs.

watorrey said:

Loading an invisible unit in a ship won't make the ship invisible.

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Do you mean that loading a visible unit into a sub won't make the sub visible?

NP300 said:

Do you mean that loading a visible unit into a sub won't make the sub visible?

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A sub is just an invisible ship as far as game mechanics.

Tactical nukes are visible and don't make the sub visible. Likewise, loading a ninja onto a ship doesn't make the ship invisible.

Remember when CIV III came out? We never had this problem. What happened with the subs that the AI will declare war on you if they stumble on one since then?

There was this same bug in the original civ3. It got fixed in the 1st patch and now we have it back again.