Prisoners...

[ULC]

What is the benefit/point of executing the ringleaders/executing them all/releasing them. What abou the "Value of Confiscated Lands"?

[Tratorix]

Executing them all gives your leader a chance of gaining a dread boosting vice. Executing the ringleaders does nothing. Realeaseing them gives your leader a chance of gaining a happiness boosting vice. Don't know what the value of confiscated lands thing means.

[Dodge_272]

That's just the money you get from them anyway, regardless of what happens to them.

[caravel]

Gaining the butcher line of vices from slaughtering prisoners in the field is not worth it IMHO. You're better off waiting for the ransom as either way you win. If the AI pays you get richer and potentially blow away his economy, as he goes into debt and also acquires a host of demoralised and low loyalty units that could plunge his faction into civil war. If he doesn't pay then you win because he loses his army anyway and loyalty for not paying to bring his own men back. It's win win.

[macsen rufus]

What Caravel says is true, but applies to AI FACTION troops, but YLC was referring to the post-battle options for captured REBELS, who IIRC once captured, exit the pool of combatants even if they are released. The choices there are simply whether you want to make your general a nice, neutral or nasty cop. On balance I tend to choose between nasty and neutral - either I execute them all or just the ringleaders. In maybe 1% of cases I might release them all, if I feel like taking the risk of my general turning into some sort of enlightened lily-livered crypto-pinko pansy This is Imperialism, dammit, not a popularity contest

"Value of confiscated lands" is just a way of covering the fact that rebels don't have anyone to ransom them, so it's presumed you steal their land instead (but it always got me little confused as to why you can't steal the lands of those you'd actually KILLED in the battle - after all, dead men are easier to rob )

When it comes to slaughtering prisoners ON the battlefield (ie the little red box) your general is likely to earn the "butcher" line of vice, but if you kill them off AFTER the battle he's likely to get the "swift justice" line instead. I can't recall how these develop, but both add dread.

[caravel]

When it comes to slaughtering prisoners ON the battlefield (ie the little red box) your general is likely to earn the "butcher" line of vice, but if you kill them off AFTER the battle he's likely to get the "swift justice" line instead. I can't recall how these develop, but both add dread.

IIRC if you do not execute prisoners on the field then you will not be able to decide later. Either the AI faction will pay for them or it will not. Once the battle is over it's totally in the AI faction's hands. It is only in the rebels situation that you get the all/ringleaders/release option.

[Bregil the Bowman]

"Value of confiscated lands" is just a way of covering the fact that rebels don't have anyone to ransom them, so it's presumed you steal their land instead (but it always got me little confused as to why you can't steal the lands of those you'd actually KILLED in the battle - after all, dead men are easier to rob )

Dead men's sins die with them. If they die in battle their land passes to heirs who may have no taint of rebellion or treachery. But if they are captured and tried, confiscation of property may be part of the punishment, along with enslavement or removal of body parts if so desired.

Isn't King John supposed to have said the best favour he could do his son was to die before he lost the civil war?

[Jxrc]

When it comes to slaughtering prisoners ON the battlefield (ie the little red box) your general is likely to earn the "butcher" line of vice, but if you kill them off AFTER the battle he's likely to get the "swift justice" line instead. I can't recall how these develop, but both add dread.

Swift justice is only for the king to get an not the general. You can only have you king get it once you decided to kill all captured rebels (and not other factions prisoners) a few times.

A weird thing I noticed is that selecting "kill all rebels" once the king is past fifty is rather dangerous. Almost everytime I do it my king dies in the same turn (call that retribution ???)

[gregori99]

What is the benefit/point of executing the ringleaders/executing them all/releasing them. What abou the "Value of Confiscated Lands"?

I actually roleplay this. If I invade a rebel-held province successfully, I always release the prisoners - after all, they were just defending their homes. But if one of my own provinces rebels I have no mercy on them and execute them all, because they were disloyal. They took their chances and lost

[Bregil the Bowman]

I actually roleplay this. If I invade a rebel-held province successfully, I always release the prisoners - after all, they were just defending their homes. But if one of my own provinces rebels I have no mercy on them and execute them all, because they were disloyal. They took their chances and lost

You shouldn't take it personally. Execute the ringleaders and send the misguided peasants back to the fields.

In battle, I slaughter prisoners only if I'm in danger of losing or if there is a prisoner I particularly want dead - e.g. an enemy king with no heirs. I try not to pick up vices unnecessarily, hence my general rule of mercy for the common soldier.

[Heidrek]

Hi all, I recently started playing MTW Gold Ed. - Great game, I'm throughly addicted now!

Is it possible to get both the Swift Justice type vice/virtue and also get Occasional Mercy or other nice guy traits as well?

How much does Dread actually help in keeping the populace happy? Is it worth it or should you just go for straight happiness boosting traits?

I often kill prisoners in battle for a couple of reasons:

1. To get the Scant Mercy vice/virtue for the +1 Dread.
2. To restrict the amount of soldiers my opponent can potentially field against me later. This makes the conquest easier and more importantly faster. this is particulrly true against the Golden Horde, who show up with a huge army, but no provinces of their own to replenish themselves. Killing every one of their captured soldiers means their army gets dramatically smaller than if you ransom them, and therefore reduces their ability to mount further attacks.

The money you get from ransoming back a bunch of horse archers and heavy cavalry wont help you much when those same units come back with more friends in a copule of turns under a new general. It's not unusual to get 3-400+ prisoners against the Golden Horde, which equates to around 6-10 full units or troops. If I can sacrifice a couple of thoudsand florins to kill half an army that the enemy can't replace, especially when I'm already outnumbered, I'll do it.

Most often I'd rather lose a bit of cash than have to re kill good or annoying units like Horse Archers, heavy infantry/cavalry units. Also, if I've captured an enemy general with a decent command rating I'll kill them all for sure, just to get rid of him. I'd rather face an enemy with a 1 or 2 star general than a 4-5 star general with a -ve morale trait. Especially when they can also get the Captured trait which loses them 1 command, but gives a morale bonus to offset Good Runner.

Didn't know that killing prisoners reduces enemy morale, good to know. I wonder if the number of trooops executed affects the amount of morale lost? I hope so, otherwise you could get big morale swings by many small groups of troops.

The exception to my Kill 'em all approach is weak units. I'll happily ransom back pesants, woodsmen, spearmen and other weak units I've chased down. Good untis though are unlikely to survive a lost battle against me.

Question: Is it only the commanding general that takes a morale hit if they flee? If I ransom back 40 heavy cavalry, and they get lead by a new general, do they have lower morale, or do they keep their natural morale?

[Heidrek]

One other thing too, the Captured Vice gies +3 Morale but -1 Command. If this is on the General of an army, does the whole army get +3 Morale or just his unit?

I have a 9* general at the moment with Expert attacker. If he got the Captured Vice, he'd be 8* with +3 Morale, a pity good trade considering the 9th * only gives extra morale anyway.

Likewise, the Good runner vice gives a -3 morale penalty. does this apply to the generals unit only, or the whole army?

I still favor killing prisoners unless I desperately need some money. I'd rather hasmtring my opponents ability to raise an ongoing defense or counter attack than gain a few hundred florrins. Most likely that would only buy me a couple of new units anyway, some or all of which would die fighting the men I ransomed back. I'd also have to wait to get those new units to the front where I needed them. Killing them now gives me the benefit immediately.

[Tratorix]

The captured and good runner vices affect the entire army under that generals command. So getting your 9* general captured can be helpful, though if your not careful he might flee the field or get himself killed.