To kill the prisoners?

[cheetah772]

Hello,

Is it even wise to kill the prisoners after they've been captured in the battles?

There was a time when I had captured over 300 men and a few nobles including a top-notch general. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find out just how much florins I would receive in the ransom of my captives, I had a tough time deciding whether to do this or that.

Finally, I decided to kill all of them, risking a few dread points. I wanted to deny my opponent an opportunity to retain his top general and best units, and I was able to exploit this advantage over my opponent.

To be honest with you, I was really frustrated with the way the ransom is handled. Sometimes I would like to open the negotiations with my opponent, jacking for an opening to exploit his weaknesses or conserve my strength, etc. What's more, I have to decide right there on the battlefield on whether to keep my captives or not. It's quite frustrating.

Maybe hopefully in a future patch or expansion pack, CA can put in an option to negotiate for captives. What do you think?

Dan

[rasoforos]

well it you need money dont kill , if you dont need money kill , if you capture a king and you are not trying to destroy his leinage dont kill , else kill . if you fell good today dont kill , if you fell evil kill , if its the 6th time the rebels rise kill , if you had a fight with your girlfriend kill....simple ...this is the way it works for me

[Exile]

a couple factors:

1st - do you need the money?
2nd - are you prepared fight the same troops again?
3rd - V&V, do you want dread? (kill) or mercy? (happiness modifier)

By default I usually ransom, but I kill if the war is close and I have elite troops/generals as prisoners and I dont need the florins. Usually I am more prone to kill troops from a faction of different religion than my faction. Just trying to keep it real http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

In Medievel times there was an honor system regarding ransom - to my knowledge they did not negotiate, but accepted what the loser offered. This was with the Christian knights of course. I don't think the rank and file anf other religions enjoyed such benefit.

[Cheetah]

Well, it seems we have an other cheetah http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif Wellcome at the ORG cheetah772 http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

IMHO, the golden rule is that you should never kill unless you need the dread points or hard pressed on the fronts.

[TheViking]

If im happy I kill
If im sad I kill
If im angry I kill
If im hungry I kill
If i feel mercyful I kill
If i dont need the money I kill
If i need the money I kill
If i like the enemy I kill
If i dont like the enemy I kill

Why fight against the same soldiers more then once?.

If the enemy can pay the ransom he will do it plus he probably have plenty of money to get new units. This will make you face battle hardend enemy plus new fresh full units. This can turn the war against you.

Are you prepared for that? If not kill the prisoners, and if you are kill them anyway.

once i got over 4000 prisoners, among them was the king and some of hes heirs, I surely could get a damn good ransom for them. But i killed them instead, the sound was nice muhahahahahaha

[Sir Black Raven]

In the beginning i always spared their lifes to ransom, but then i found that the lovely sound it does when we put them to die. And since then i kill them all without mercy. Let them know that if they attack me that's what htey get http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[Sir Crashalot]

I usually execute my prisoners before the battle ends because I like the squishy noise as they die. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Mr Frost]

I judge based on the faction and circumstances : If you use same general to slaughter battle captives twice , you are likely to gain a negative moral vice {minus one moral because the troops think they are going to miss out on their share of the ransom} but just once gives a useful pluss one to dread .

When I play England I almost always slaughter ... it's a roleplaying thing I suppose http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif {the Pomms were rather nasty for most of their history} but when I'm a small faction , I like my Kings and Goverors to have the bonus to happyness that comes from the various levals of mercy virtues . {Once you have that , the odd slaughter comes in handy} .

Sometimes I need a good large pile of Florins fast , and that can do the trick {fund that vital building so you can get the advanced troops you need ASAP } ; still , you can usually get more from pillaging good provinces {blitzkreiging England works nicely , especially when you let 'em out the castle then hit 'em again , and again http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif} .

It depends a lot on my mood also .

[Theodoret]

I generally ransom in skirmishes (little border disputes you sometimes get when another faction tries its luck). In full scale wars I tend to kill the prisoners as otherwise I just end up fighting them again. Judging by the measely amounts of troops I get back when I lose a battle, I guess the AI generals kill most of their prisoners too. My all conquering Turks have just executed 1700 Spanish prisoners after their King betrayed our alliance at the Battle of Grenada. I always execute monarchs and heirs unless I'm really short of cash.

[rob s]

I was just a little bleeped off that I auto fought a battle from the map late in a conquest campaign (about 25 years to go and only Spain, western France, Naples and Sicily left to conquer ). It was announced I had won with few lost men but it also stated that my general (a 6 star&#33http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif had ransomed the Almohead faction leader plus 4 of the remaining 5 princes for a mere 10,000 florins and didn't give me an option of killing them off. I didn't need the money but only one prince to kill off would have been a lot better. So I dropped an assassin on the dumb arsed general http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Greeny]

OK, slightly OT but on the benifits of dread: I met a rebel general in Italy with MAXIUM dread i.e. 9 skulls (he had the nurderer vice http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif )
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif I quickly bribed him and am now using him as a fixer for rebellius provinces, when he's governer the peasents are clearly to petrified to even think about rebelling http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif