POW's

[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

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

[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...

[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...

hey I must try that sometime...

next campaign I have I will rule with the iron fist for a change

[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.

[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? 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...

[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 i dont know if this was a typo, but its even funnier if it wasn't.