Hidden Nationality Units attacking cities?

[Jesusfreak]

I'm a bit confused on this issue:

I was playing the Midgard scenario (for Civ3) as the Merfolk, and I noticed that the Stygians were conquering cities left and right (this is to be expected). However, the Stygians never declared war on anyone but me (I know this because for one thing, one of the people they were attacking, the Humans, signed an alliance against me with them, even as they continued conquering the Humans ). I figured this was normal, since all of the Stygian units have hidden nationality.

However, when I tried playing the Stygians for lulz, I noticed that I couldn't attack cities with my skeletons unless I declared war on the civilization (the skeletons wouldn't respond to the order otherwise).

Are hidden nationality units not supposed to be able to take cities? Why was the AI able to do so when I couldn't?


(Also, I noticed that the Stygians never really tried to attack me until they actually declared war, even though the civilopedia explicitly states that their hidden nationality units are supposed to go after everyone regardless of peace treaties. Why?)

 

[vmxa]

Yes humans are not able to attack with hidden units, but the AI can attack towns and not DOW.

 

[Boss Tweed]

I've seen some weird things with hidden nationality units. If I remember correctly, I was once able to take an undefended AI city with a hidden nationality unit (in a mod I created) without a DoW, however it did affect my relations with the AI. I'm not sure if I did something with my mod that made that possible, or perhaps I'm just remembering incorrectly. Its something to look into though.

 

[vmxa]

I have been playing CCM and no hidden units are able to attack a town, without a DOW. The AI has attacked my towns, with no DOW. I do not recall anyone posting using a hidden unit to attack a town, without a war.

I am not sure, if this can be changed in the editor or it is hardcoded.

 

[BuckyRea]

I modded guerillas once into hidden nationality "contras" so that I could plague a rival I was having a cold war with. I found I could conquer an enemy city w/o declaring war if my guerilla/contras took a town. But it felt like a cheat (even though I'd reduced its attack strength to 4), so I quit using that unit that way.