Occupy/Enslave/Exterminate options

[Kekkonen]

The last thing I wanted to do when taking a city is exterminate the population. But I've realized you simply have to do it, and do it often. It makes the game so much easier. I think it's a bad design of the game to force you to keep exterminating populations, but that's the way things are right now.

It's realistic though. When Romans took Carthage at the end of the 3rd Punic War, they went from house to house killing everyone they saw before razing the city to the ground; if anyone survived, they were sold into slavery. That was the Scipii family; a certain member of the Julii family put a huge dent into the population of Gaul in his expeditions there, again by slaughtering villagers during, after, and between battles. I can't think of a famous example of Brutii brutality off the top of my head, but I strongly suspect that they weren't humanitarians either.

[Bob the Insane]

Personally I find enslavement to be a great option... And very true to the whole Roman thing...

It really builds up population in your core cities as long as they have family members for Governors (what happens to the salves if you don't have any governors?!?!)... This allows for massive recruiting in these cities...

[Ulug Beg]

I have to admit I’m rather partial to extermination at the moment, but that is because I need the dinarii. If I didn’t need the money then enslavement is the preferred option. The ancients were always afraid of conquered enemies rebelling.

I remember having rather idealistic views about the ancient Greeks - foundations of Western culture and democracy and all that – until I read Thucydides. The actions of both sides upon capturing an enemy city are nothing short of barbaric by today’s standards. The conditions within a besieged city must have been truly awful for them even to contemplate surrender, knowing what the likely outcome would be.

I haven’t done this yet, but I wonder if you take another Roman city and occupy it, the potential for unrest is reduced. I suppose it must as the game tracks cultural difference as a source of unrest, and there shouldn’t be any of those icons in the Public Order index when one Roman faction capture the (Roman) city of another. Perhaps the same should be true between the Britons and the Gauls - the Belgai (sp?) did live on both sides of the Channel.

[Sizzlorr]

My most recent campaign as the Brutii has so far been unmarred by rebellion. I think I've enslaved all of my conquered cities, and in cities that are farther away I've been building the temple of Juno, which is great for keeping the populace under control. Couple that with the Statue of Zeus wonder, and I've got a lot of very happy plebes.