A moral issue

[SwordsMaster]

Having read various topics saying something like: I execute all prisoners, except...blah, for ransom, i came up with the idea of writing this post.

What is acceptable from your point of view?

Starting a war on an ally is? Executing thousands of prisoners? Never ransom back your captured soldiers?
Marrying princesses to their brothers?Do you launch a frontal attack or wait for the enemy to be weak and then use hit-and-run tactics?


Personally,
As a general rule, i never attack allies, i hardly ever help them, all to be said.

I always release all the rebel prisoners if the province was owned by rebels when i attacked. After that all the rebellions on my lands are rewarded by death for everyone involved.

If an enemy has a good army with no artillery, and i have a good army, i never use arts.

In battles with reappeared factions i never take prisoners.I consider them rebellions in my land.

I always ransom bck troops that stood until the last man, but never ransom runners.

I never set the taxes to very high, except when im the russians and expecting the mongol invasion.

I do use hit and run tactics on poor provinces.But only destroy the troop producing buildings.


Thats all i can think of.Add your never written laws, and maybe someday froggy will compile them in a book of Chivalry in Total war or something...

[Satyr]

I never use hit and run tactics. The AI has a hard enough time building infrastructure without me knocking it out all the time.
I never use arty, period.
I always set taxes to auto which means my taxes are always very high.
I only attack allies when there is no one else to attack.
I treat all prisoners the same and kill them unless they are just rebels and then I let them go. If I capture a king and I don't need money badly, I will kill him.
I try not to camp on the edge of the map. I will if it is the only hill but otherwise I try to allow the AI some latitude to use tactics against me.
I only play with Mods that make the game harder.

[katar]

i follow three preceps:

[1] all is fair in love and war.

[2] do it to them, before they do it to you.

[3] when you have your enemy by the throat, squeeze harder

[katank]

mine is similar to katar.

1) never trust allies

2) go for the jugular. always try and position conquests to isolate and ransom enemy king.= no matter what time it is for the payoff.

3) sharpen your stiletto faster than others can and stab fast before you get stabbed

[Don Corleone]

Well, I've got a few rules of my own. Some are because I project myself into the game, but some are limitations that keep me from making things too easy on myself.

1) I never attack allies. If I want to attack one of them, I go take the time to win over one of their enemies, or I wait for them to throw down with somebody I'm already allied with.

2) If I'm invading a province, I only execute ringleaders. Ditto if I get attacked by a neutral party. If an ally attacks me, or one of my provinces rebels, I execute everyone.

3) If a neutral party attacks me, I take one of their richest provinces as punishment before I begin to sue for peace. If an ally attacks me, I take 3.

4) I never touch the pope.

5) I try, don't always succeed, to build a crusade when the pope calls for one.

Why? I try to think Gee, if I was a medieval warlord, what would seem like the decent thing to do and go from there. Also, the AI can begin to be a little predictable, and by employing these 5 rules, it really randomizes the game.

[Red Harvest]

Never marry your own princess to your heir. ...unless your king is unmarried and old, and the only heir is kinda old and unmarried, and there won't be anyone to run the place if you don't get some off spring quick...

Actually had to do this once. Tucked the happy couple off in a backwater full of assassins so that they wouldn't be discovered. Sure it was a bit disgusting, but the empire must go on.

[PseRamesses]

I tend to take the game a bit personal, after all I´m the king, right?
1. I never break an alliance.
2. Always marries my princesses into other factions.
3. Never accept an alliance from another faith.
4. If catholic I never touch and always protect the Pope. Unless I´m playing the HRE who has a GA-goal to hold Rome.
5. I only use assasins in my homleand provinces since I´m not a Machiavellian type of guy.
6. On the battlefield I never run down an enemy that flees but get huge amount of captives anyway since I use pincing manouvers on the field instead.
7. I never kill prisoners unless they are rebels from a homeland province or from an ally that has broken an alliance just to get my dread up.