Bribing Armies

[Budwise]

I have always seen some rediculous prices for armies belonging to factions but then I tried bribing some rebel factions and they go for pennies on the dollar. I did the math and on an average, with troop loss during fighting and building what they have, you can actually save some money just buying the rebels. Plus, often they have kickass units or high command stats.

[King Edward]

Bribing Is a grat way you get some good generals, esp when a faction splits into civil war! (Byzantium has some truly top class generals.)

[Sir Price]

I guess the bribes for rebels are lower because they don't have a loyalty rating, as opposed to a faction general with (hopefully) a medium-high loyalty rating, or am I way off the mark here?

[King Edward]

Spot on Sir Price! There is also an inherant cost for bribing another factions army. It will cost more to bribe a 0 loyalty French general than it would a 0 loyalty stack of rebels. Occasionally you do get rebles with loyalty raitings (Usually Resulting from a Civil War.)

[Etym]

The usual questions for me (regarding Rebels) are:
#1 - Can I afford it?
#2 - Would I rather have their troops and leaders, or gain stars/valor for mine?
#3 - Are there province improvements I could save by buying them off?
#4 - Is there a fort/castle they can retreat to if I don't kill them all (and will that slow me down or cost too many troops)?

For enemy generals, I'd ask the same questions, but usually never even consider bribing them unless there's some very compelling reason to do so.

[mikkele]

Good points, Etym.

Another consideration (for me) is whether I prefer to use my troops elsewhere in the short term. Even if battling rebels are generally easier than faction troops (they tend to rout faster), my armies will usually take losses, and if they are better spent on a more worthy opponent, then bribing may be a quicker solution.

You may also have fewer province loyalty problems, since you will have more men occupying the province than you would after a bloddy battle. But the first consideration is definitely the money :-)