POW's

[The_Emperor]

So how many brutal tyrants do we have out there? How many merciful and popular ones? And who is just brutal so long as they are not fighting Rebels?

Vote now, and we shall see

EDIT: Whoops looks like I made a typo in the third option, But you all know what I meant really http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[Balamir]

I always kill prisoners of factions because i dont like facing enemies I fought before and Im not usually seeking funds. The rebels, I execute their leaders and leave the rest.

You cant call me a merciless bastid then can you, since if I released em for ransom, I would have to kill em again, so they'd die anyway hehehe http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Lancer6969]

I always kill them, before I can see my battle stats, becuase I like more death Actually, the more people you kill the better chance one of you generals will gain valour ratings, and command ratings. I not sure, if its a good idea to hold on to them for ransom, unless you really need money, and its over 200 POWs. Yet, I still kill them, its not fun when you have over 200 POWs, and your faction starts routing, then all the sudden you have 0 POWs, and the enemy has 200 extra soldiers. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

[Guthwyn]

Unless I capture a king or a prince, and expect a hefty ransom, I like my generals to be brutal. I usually kill the prisoners more than once a battle, because I like the sound effect it makes. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
The ONLY reason I let rebels live (and often the ringleaders) is because it grants the king the merciful list of virtues, and the resulting increase in happiness of the entire kingdom is worth it.
So, let the king be the nice guy, while his generals are out committing attrocities. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

Guthwyn

[GDukeofKiev]

Kill them all & let some God or another sort them out.....

Watch the cowards flee from my ************** Dread Generals

[The_Emperor]

I really should have added in the Factor of Imprisoned Royalty into the poll... Would have made an interesting addition. (How about it Mods? Can you guys Edit the Poll and add in a line or two concerning Royal POWs)

[Shahed]

Kill all prisoners when badly outnumbered and/or outclassed by overall military balance.

99.9% of the time I release all the rebels.

So I have a null vote as no options fit the above.

[Portuguese Rebel]

Free some rebels to get the good vice for the king, beyhond that kill them all everytime. Gotta love those secret blood lovers... Sometimes enemys retreat just at the sight of them... hehehe

Does anyone actually know the effect of dread in battle? Is it myth or is there some hidden feature?

[Dîn-Heru]

It depend on the situation. Somtimes they get to live other times they don't.

[Dogmeat]

Hard to answer. If i'm an ecomical powerhouse and don't need any more cash, i tend to be quite ruthless.
That said, i do tend to be merciful to rebels now and again.

[The_Emperor]

Personally I like to get ruthless with the enemy prisoners, but soemtimes it is worthwhile to ransom them back, especially if you have a King and an Heir or two prisoner (and the faction is on its last legs)

Rebels I tend to release a lot for the Kingdom-wide bonus for mercy.

But generally I kill much more than I save http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Anyway looking at the poll so far, it sounds like we have a large bunch of Saddam's in the room, with only a handful of merciful guys.

[Popeye]

Well, I voted (first, in fact) to release them, and it's clear to me that either I'm way off base or the majority is...so here's my line of thought on releasing prisoners.

First of all, the decision to ransom or not usually doesn't change the ultimate fate of the prisoners. More often than not, the ransom is refused, and they're dead anyway.

I see the advantage of executing prisoners so you are certain that you don't have to face them again. However... there are aspects to this that are not being considered, even beyond the potential negative V & V.

It isn't about raising money for ME. Prisoners cost more to ransom than they do to recruit. It's about keeping the enemy impoverished.

In addition to that, the troops ransomed seem to lose morale along the way. I have found that even good units that have been captured once will break much more easily next time. Of course, I lose track of them after a few years, so maybe the effects wear off.

If the ransomed troops are placed in a province you attack immediately, you can expect to face some partial and disorganized units. I don't know about you, but I like it when I see that my enemy's initial force has several units that are at half strength or less. That lone peasant just doesn't scare me much, and I'll leave him alone to block reinforcement by a full-strength unit.

What is also nice is when the ransomed units have no place to go but an isolated island. They can't get off because of lack of port or a blockade, and all they do is drain the enemy economy. He has less money, less net income, and no gain of any kind. Suits me just fine.

Bottom line is that I will NEVER execute prisoners unless I LOSE the battle. (Seems that if I lose, all the captives get liberated without ransom.) I also don't tend to PAY ransoms, for the reasons cited above.

[vortex]

What I do depends completely on the situation. If they are rebels I usually let them go. If a capture an heir or king, and the faction has lots of heirs, I will ransom them. But if they don't have any/few heirs, I kill them so they will be eliminated. If I don't capture any royalty, just faction units, I kill them, cause I don't usually need the money and I don't want to have to fight them again.

[Monk]

It really depends. If a rebellion breaks out in my own land i execute the leader and let the rest go, if i conquer a Rebel provence i let them all go (they were leading their own independant country...i can hardly execute them for that ). if i capture faction's soldiers i kill them. unless i have capture their king, then i ransom him back, a few thousand florins will help bankrupt them before i whipe them out.

[Wilbo]

I also often kill just for the great noise http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

If I am outnumbered, or wish to scare the enemy (though I do not know if it actually makes a difference) then I kill the prisoners. Similarily, I also kill them if I really dont want to have to fight them again, as what often happens is that you get a huge wedge of troops stuck in a single final province. A real problem if you like to simply 'sweep' through

I normally kill the ringleaders, as I always just presumed this meant they could not cause future rebellions.

[Talbot]

I tend to let 'em go for the ransom. Nice to have a bit more cash coming in, especially if it is my enemies cash.

[Longasc]

Usually I kill them all.

Sometimes I release rebels for positive happiness traits, but otherwise I do not give my faction enemies back their soldiers alive. Sacking and pillaging provinces is more rewarding either. But do not think I am a merciless Butcher, I rarely sack really well developed provinces, I just could not stand destroying Constantinople e.g.

Lately I killed over 1000+ Naptha-Throwers and Handgunners, the responsible General now has the Reputation Butcher and a full DREAD bar...^^

[Ryttare]

Slay them all

[Longasc]

Boah, we are all bitches here... most are merciless or calculating slaughterers... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/angry.gif

[jadast]

I release all rebels. Faction troops are spared for a time. Once a ransom is refused than I kill all of that factions prisoners. I like the quick boost in income. Besides I do not mind taking these troops captive again and again.

[Doug-Thompson]

When I started playing this game, I never killed/enslaved prisoners.

Then I got tired of having whole armies tied up for several turns to pacify a province.

I still don't have a general rule, though. I still tend to do the rough stuff to ringleaders and avoid killing or enslavement of other prisoners.

One of the things I like about the Vikings is that spies seem to be very effective in helping to pacify a province. This reduces the need to take drastic action.

I kill prisoners only if the number of prisoners is small -- 150 or less -- or if the province is famously feisty, like Portugal.

[The_Emperor]

Quote[/b] (jadast @ June 03 2003,15:25)]I release all rebels. Faction troops are spared for a time. Once a ransom is refused than I kill all of that factions prisoners. I like the quick boost in income. Besides I do not mind taking these troops captive again and again.
Hang on I thought prisoners were automatically killed when a ransom fails, so its not like you have much of a choice whether to keep them alive or not http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

Taking a king or heir captive a couple of times often gets him the Tortured vice, his army is hard to break with a slight Morale bonus, but he loses command and Health as a result... its great to do to an already weak enemy Monarch (and to bleed your enemy of their Florins before you truly finish them off)

So I can understand both situations.

[BryanBoru]

Always kill all during battle against other factions.....

When battling rebels I always choose the execute ringleaders option and let the people know I am a merciful lord and as long as you know your place you will keep your head

[RisingSun]

It really depends on the situation. If its a pivotal battle with large amounts of troops involved on both sides, and i break the first wave with the best troops, i will take a many prisoner as possible, and then execut them It worked prfectly for me as the English against the HRE in Toulouse. Ended up killing 1400, and he HRE was easy to plow through after that.

As for rebels, if it is a rebellion within own lands, suc a when my OWN TWO SONS REBEL AGAINST ME IN CIVIL WAR, they all must die. However, if its because i invaded them, then they live.

[Rob The Bastard]

I am Rob The Bastard... not only do I kill them all, but I invent new and interesting ways to do it

You have heard of Tamerlane?, Attilla The Hun, Vlad The Impaler... morons http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

I tend to butcher a few during the battles to get my dread up... but if the general is captured I keep him for the ransom.

[HopAlongBunny]

The first couple battles against any faction I usually execute them all. Normally, those battles are the ones where the A team shows up; I just don't like having to face stacks of high valour units over and over http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smokin.gif

After that...its better for the AI to get negative morale mod's for running, than get negative ones myself for a lack of mercy http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[Hoplite]

Depends on the situation, really. I generally leave prisoners alive, because the AI doesn't ransom them back very often. If the AI does ransom them back, money is always nice. If, on the other hand, I've just spent half the battle chasing the enemy general with high command or other attributes, and he just barely manages to escape the battlefield, then its the red button for everyone else.

[Portuguese Rebel]

There are vices related to killing prisioneers in battles. The first two vices harm your troop morale, the third vice is secret blood lover, +3dread, a real must for my generals.

[The_Emperor]

Quote[/b] (Portuguese Rebel @ June 04 2003,07:13)]There are vices related to killing prisioneers in battles. The first two vices harm your troop morale, the third vice is secret blood lover, +3dread, a real must for my generals.
I thought that effects Morale as well... doesn't it?

Anyway what about Kingly vices for mass-killings of Rebels, any good ones out there?

[DemonArchangel]

KILL THE SPRITES

[Portuguese Rebel]

Quote[/b] (The_Emperor @ June 04 2003,07:23)]I thought that effects Morale as well... doesn't it?

Anyway what about Kingly vices for mass-killings of Rebels, any good ones out there?
Secret blood lover has no morale penalty... those peasants better fight well for me, or i'll be drinking their daugthers blood tonight Bwahahaha

About kingly vices i never went to the extreme, don't know if there is an uber vice to it...

[Hakonarson]

I often kill off all the prisoners I capture early in a battle, as these tend to be the good troops, but leave the peasants, spearmen and other 2nd rate reinforcements alive to be ransomed back http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

It's as much economic warfare as anything else - the apepar in an odd place, their units are all small and he has t keep paying upkeep for them.

I also rarely ransom any prisoners I lose - probably because often as not they're an enemy army I've bribed anyway lol

[The_Emperor]

So if Secret Blood Lover has no Morale Penalty... What does Blood Lover have? (after his vice is made public)

[BDC]

I just free everyone... If they are bought back I will just have to massacre them again. Giving an entire royal family the captured/tortured vice is quite good as well.

[A Nerd]

I always release the rebel prisoners. Cant't see them causing mush trouble after the battle. Factions however, I usually ransom them back unless I am trying to deplete the reserves of a particular enemy. Over 1000 prisoners executed gives you a butcher vice and no morale penalty http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[Longasc]

Secret Blood Lover:
He kills prisoners even when it is not necessary, which causes discontent amongst his men. He secretly indulges his passion for blood, personally executing many captives.
*** +3 Dread ***

Blood Lover
It has become known that he kills prisoners for his own pleasure, denying his men their share of the ransom.
*** +3 Dread, -3 Morale, -2 Piety ***

Butcher
He is famous for the massacre of thousands of prisoners in a single battle. Few can match the horror of this deed.
*** +2 Dread ***

MY CONCLUSION: If you like killing people, you should kill over 1.000... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[KukriKhan]

Rebel POWs:

if they rebelled against me (I held the province): kill the ringleaders; rebel next year too? Kill them all. Nuttin' personal - just tactics to quell the province.

if they were just rebels on their own, or vs another faction (i.e. I never held the province): release them all, for the influence.

Faction POW's:

depends on the era; Early: catch & release for the $$$; middle: estimate the ransom and their likely next move; Late: kill 'em...just cause trouble down the road.

[DDogwood]

If I've captured royalty, I like to ransom them back... but if it's a mass of foot troops or rebels, I say kill'em all. I also generally refuse ransom on my own captured troops - if they failed me in battle, why should they live?

When I'm feeling REALLY evil, I force my princesses to marry my own princes. Nothing like an evil empire ruled by a cone-headed moron with thirteen toes.

[FesterShinetop]

I try to kill as many captured men while still in battle.
I just like the sound of it... MWUHAHAHAHAAAA

After battle I just execute the ringleaders.

[Papewaio]

First battle that I have a General who has no vices regarding merciless conduct and 1001 prisoners then, off with their heads.

Rebels get free as the virtue to the King is such a bonus.

Enemy factions tend to get wiped out unless I am so much better that I am not afraid of the factions army but would like as much cash as possible as I crush them... yet another reason to hunt down the kings stack first amongst enemy provinces... I will even cornor the king by sending to lesser stakes either side so that the king has no option to retreat... hopefully leaving a province or two for him to be ransomed to.

[Obex]

Faction pows almost always get the ax, unless i started the war in the first place.
Rebel pows from ronin (so to speak) provences i will pardon completely.
Rebels from my own provinces die the treacherous death they warrent. Traitors to the crown must die.

[econ21]

Well, I think this conundrum is one that shows what a good game MTW is. Personally, I cannot bear the thought of executing enemy soldiers or even generals. Capital punishment of murderers etc is one thing (not too keen on it, but can understand it) - but killing prisoners of war is quite another. As others have said, I feel this most strongly when I am the aggressor against rebel states etc and think I have a duty to behave well to a defeated enemy. (Coalition troops in Iraq, anyone?) And yet... that is not all there is to it:

(1) Survival: when you are outnumbered, far from home (eg crusading) and you just know you are going to have to face the same 1000 enemies in a couple of turns time... That is when I have to stop and think. Let's face it, those boys you let go are going to violate their parole and come back against you - a little like the freed then executed German in Bands of Brothers. It is still a tough one because the vices for a little killing that lower morale are something to avoid, unless you are going to go all the way. I generally allow each general to execute once and so only in the most dire circumstance.

(2) Regicide: killing off a downtrodden faction by executing their king and/or heirs. This can be tempting, but depends on how I feel about the faction ... leads to my next point ...

(3) Anger: sometimes a faction may just infuriate you so much you put them to the sword. I don't recall ever doing this, but if a faction killed my Princess or did something similar, I could imagine it getting personal.

All these emotions and thoughts engendered by the game seem so true to (Medieval king's) life, it's a tribute to the game.

[theadept]

the Blackadder has no mercy
fwahahahahahahahahahafwa cough etc etc

[The_Emperor]

Quote[/b] (Longasc @ June 05 2003,18:48)]Secret Blood Lover:
He kills prisoners even when it is not necessary, which causes discontent amongst his men. He secretly indulges his passion for blood, personally executing many captives.
*** +3 Dread ***

Blood Lover
It has become known that he kills prisoners for his own pleasure, denying his men their share of the ransom.
*** +3 Dread, -3 Morale, -2 Piety ***

Butcher
He is famous for the massacre of thousands of prisoners in a single battle. Few can match the horror of this deed.
*** +2 Dread ***

MY CONCLUSION: If you like killing people, you should kill over 1.000... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
hey I must try that sometime...

next campaign I have I will rule with the iron fist for a change http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[ichi]

Rising Sun has it right. If there is a rebellion in one of my provinces, or civil war, then all must die.

If I invade a factions province, then it depends on how I'm doing. If I need a few dread points, or if I do not wish to repeatedly fight the same troops, then they die on the field.

If I invade rebel provinces, nobody dies, in the first battle. Anyone who retreats to the castle dies.

ichi

[dlundie]

I like the cash in the hand..Im not a ruthless leader and i like the ideals of chivalry got it watching Excalibur too many times. I need the cash to pay for troops to conquer more turf, and enlighten the liberated peoples in the error of their ways. I guess i may roleplay just a little as well.

[Divine Wind]

Quote[/b] (SeljukSinan @ June 03 2003,10:19)]Kill all prisoners when badly outnumbered and/or outclassed by overall military balance.

99.9% of the time I release all the rebels.

So I have a null vote as no options fit the above.
I do the same

[Hamburglar]

I kill every prisoner all the time.

To tell the truth, my favorite thing is to kill every prisoner in battle except for one. It's a trick to pull off - you gotta slaughter them right when the enemy is running off the map but make sure to capture one more guy. I like to leave a survivor to tell the tale of the slaughter.


Rebels I always execute. I like when my King gets crazy vices about how brutal he is. Eventually my royal line starts getting born with 9 dread.

Almost every one of my generals has Blood Lover and Butcher, and if you REALLY kill a whole lot they can get Secret Killer too.

That one is pretty cool - it talks about how he enjoys killing so much that he kills people during practice tourneys and such.

My most dread-y general had these vices:
Butcher
Blood Lover
Secret Killer
Natural Born Killer
Scarred
Murderous Temper


I like to think of him as the scourge of the Earth.

I think it's kind of dumb when people let good generals and heirs go free because they get vices like Good Runner and Tortured and stuff. Sure, it makes them less qualified generals but they are still better than the 0 star grunts. If I execute every single general the enemy sends eventually he ends up leading his armies with 0 star generals. A 6 star general with a ton of bad vices is still better than a 0 star with none, many people don't realize.

[Tora]

Kill them. Kill them all......

What exactly is a pissable ransom? 100 barrels of mead?

[Odinn]

I kill all rebels, they do not pay off. Captured men from factions pay off... Specially members of the royal house.

[Gaius Julius]

I can't help myself; that sound when you click the execute icon is just too much to resist.
Yes, I kill POW's, all the time. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Mechstra]

I kill prisoners in one battle with my main generals, to get them the extra dread, but to spare them any morale penalties from extra killings.

I usually free all rebels; it helps the happiness of the kingdom, and I don't use my King in fights anyway, so no worries about performance in battle.

[Ser Clegane]

I do not want to see my prisoners on the battlefield again on the next day ... although as mentioned before - the sound is too inviting (no, I did not rip the wings off flies when I was a child)

Rebels I let live, though (well, mostly)

[MiniKiller]

Closest to what I do is the second choice. Normally I kill the first 50-100 caprutes and ransome the rest back. If it looks like I'm lossing I'll kill em all. For rebels I ge their ringleaders and let em go.

[antek]

what about something totally different? a new total war game of world war 2, or the stone age? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif tell me what do you think of that?

[hrvojej]

Depends on teh quality of troops usually. Peasants can go, since they are a liability for enemy armies. High valour and high quality troops usually die, especially when they are in high numbers as well. I mean, once you've captured 1200 elite Mongols from the first wave, who could resist... I also tend to execute good generals if they are caught, and royals. I never seem to catch them anyway, they either fight to death, or manage to flee when my entire army is blocking their way. I usually free the rebels, since I already got the money for them. And yes, sometimes I just have to execute some annoying characters that I'm facing for the third time... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[RaistlinX]

I didn't think that dread had any affect during battle. I've heard people talk about this but I thought this only helped cow a population... The manual says nothing about it and I've never seen anyone from CA say it does.

[The_Emperor]

It seems this is quite a divided issue with gamers... very interesting comments guys, keep em commin

[DrHaphazard]

Well the start of all my games almost ALWAYS involves ransoming the enemy king to get 10,000 florins, otherwise im sunk. Its really kind of a turning point in my game since up to that point i was floating around the 0 florin mark.

In any case i NEVER kill prisoners. Not from any kindness on my part but because i dont want bad vices. Everytime i kill prisoners the general gets a negative morale vice which is not what i want. If you keep killing prisoners do you get a vice that doesn't involve morale penalties? I'd use that a lot more often then so i dont have to keep fighitng the same guys over and over.

[DrHaphazard]

Quote[/b] ]Don't kill any Prisoners & allow for pissible ransom.

pissable http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif i dont know if this was a typo, but its even funnier if it wasn't.

[ChErNoByl]

I get a lot of POWs because when they start running away, i mow them over with my cavalry and the POW number goes up by hundreds. I don't execute them because im not sure what'll happen if i did (like if something bad happens) but i usually execute the generals and kings and small numbers of troops because of that crazy-cool sound effect.

[The_678]

In Battle I always kill Prisoners But in the other option I always let them free for the Happiness boost. Until I learned about the Happiness boost I would always kill them just because. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Dhepee]

If I am losing a battle I kill the prisoners out of spite and for the sound effect.

[flyd]

Once, I let about 800 Spanish prisoners go because I thought my general would get a bad penalty for executing 800 men. Two turns later, there was a civil war in spain, and the army I released joined the rebels. They proceeded to defeat a fairly large Spanish army (about 500). Then, I bribed them with a significantly smaller amount of money than the ransom. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

So, don't be too eager to click that little red button.

[Akatura]

i usually let them free,..as killing them will give me a bad rep http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[dessa14]

personally i kill all prisoners doesn't matter who.
i kill rebels because i believe if im nice to them they will have more experianced soldiers and they will also use those experienced soldiers to revolt again so killing everyone soughts out the problem imo
thanks dessa

[bighairyman]

the mongols know no chivalry, i kill every single single i can get my hand on. in my mongol army, i only have two types of soldiers, mongol heavy cavalry and mongol cavalry archer. the heavy break the lines and the archer ran them down. that way i can get at least 80% of the routing enemy soldiers. then i excuted them all. after a couples of battles, the enemy won't have many soldiers left. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pissed.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/angry.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif

[LordKarolinger]

I slaughter as many people as possible in engagments then order the cavalry charge and begin executing whoever I catch hmmm 1.2.3.. 400 http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif Although the ransom of a king or prince can come in handy from time to time. I don't tend to care too much about the dread since most of my guys end up with it in one way or another.

[gaelic cowboy]

I just butcher everyone for about 3 or four times them release them sometimes to get the ocasional mercy virtue

[Bevan of Hertfordshire]

I have a complicated policy..

-If i capture loads of prisoners i execute them so they can't get back into circulation.

-I free rebels if i invade their province but i slaughter every last one if they rebel against me.

-plus if a factions taken one of my provinces or just annoyed me i'll slaughter them all too.

...Fun times http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif ...

Otherwise i ransom them.