I've never been in a game where a nation that was leading by so much suddenly turned themselves AI, so not sure how it will affect things overall, but to me it just doesn't seem right to allow it to happen.
I understand the logic behind it from a 'at least the AI doesn't hold the game up and can defend itself' point of view, but in this specific case I think it does more harm than good. As if nothing else some nations may be able to take advantage of an AI Atlantis by attacking them, and some may not. But one thing for certain is that nobody is going to decide to attack them right now if they were human controlled, since that would be suicide. So to me this just seems too unbalancing for the game right now.
Of course I also have a pure hatred of nations going AI in MP games, so am probably very biased in my views
but happy to go with the majority on this.
Have created a new post looking for a sub anyway. Can't hurt to look I feel, since finding one would at least give us the option of using the sub.