Why do generals ransom back enemy faction leaders?

[keet]

I wish you at least had a choice to ransom or execute, is there any way to choose ?

[Knight_Yellow]

yes before the battle ends kill all the prisoners

[MonkeyMan]

You have to kill him by executing prisoners in battle (little icon in bottom left with a pic of a dagger). Other than that no. The general and his men basically have this leader in their possession and they take a share of the ransom, giving the rest to you. Essentially by executing him they would be missing out on a fat bonus and so you'll upset them by making them miss out and the general may well find people refusing orders.

[Exile]

Ransoming the King is the 'honorable' thing to do historically speaking I think. The nobles and royalty looked out for each other, even when they were enemies. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pat.gif

You get about 10k florins for ransoming a King, which is a hefty sum. It's pulled me out a financial difficulty a few times.

On auto calc, the best you will get is ransom. I've never killed an enemy King on auto calc. You have to actually play out the battle to kill the King, the posts above explain how.

[solypsist]

kkep in mind that killing prisoners demoralizes your men, both during battle and afterwards as certain Vices. while it seems common sense to kill the enemy so they don't return, your soldiers expect loot, and left to their own devices will take it every time.

[keet]

Gee, that was so obvious * kicks himself in butt*

But what would happen if the king was all that was left and had no money?

[Foreign Devil]

Then the faction will refuse to pay ransom and you will be informed that the prisoners "no longer need concern you".

The Byzintines once refused to pay the ransom when I captured their Emperor. This was however, after a string of defeats on thier part, and he was a very weak Emperor- a good runner, among other things. Oh, and I was knocking of the door of Constantinople http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[gabrielvilleda]

I remember the movie Bulletproof that starred Adam Sandler and Damon Wayans from quite a few years back. It had this cop named Keets and Adam Sandler was his prisoner. He had such a keen sense of humor that the movie was a blast