Ransom

[Heidrek]

How does the Ransom calculation work for captured prisoners?

when deciding how much each man ransom cost what factors are considered?

Here are my thoughts on what might make a difference:

1. Whether they are a King or Prince.
2. Unit build cost.
3. Command rating if any.
4. Armour/weapon/Morale/valour upgrades?
5. Is a Noble (has a provincial title or title of office).

I have a superb general stuck in scotland, that I'm probably not going to be able to reinforce before he gets worn down by attrition. I really want to keep this guy and I actually think it might be beneficial for him to get captured and ransomed back to me as he could really use the Captured vice (-1 command, +3 Morale). He's already got plenty of command stars, and is a Field Defense Expert and Skilled Poor Odds Defender, but he's managed to get the Merciless trait as well which gives -2 Morale. i could afford to lose 1 command to get the +3 Morale to compensate......But I'm not sure I can afford the ransom!! He's not Royal thankfully but still, saving him could be very pricey.

[I of the Storm]

These five points should cover it, I think. I haven't seen a ransom higher than 15k btw and that was for a king AND a prince, so with your non royal general you should be way below that.

[macsen rufus]

I believe having command stars just counts towards the "is Noble" factor - and I only believe this as last night I had a stack of rebels (okay, it's the stealing land rather than true ransom thing, but I think the difference is only the text and the fact that the units then disappear with rebels...), and the rebels had quite a few units with stars (the province was the last in a long line of rebel-withdrawals) - there was only one titled unit, but the list of "nobles" was quite impressive. Hence I think stars = nobility for the calculation

Not sure about the upgrades, either, as upgraded troops cost just the same to train as they did before the upgrades were available. But apart from those bits I think you have it covered.

However, with your guy in Scotland, tread carefully... getting him captured might not necessarily earn him the "Captured" vice - remember he has to be running away to be caught, and could well end up with "Good Runner" instead. And losing a star for the lost battle might not be the only command loss - he may also get a "Weak defender" as well...

[Martok]

How does the Ransom calculation work for captured prisoners?

when deciding how much each man ransom cost what factors are considered?

Here are my thoughts on what might make a difference:

1. Whether they are a King or Prince.
2. Unit build cost.
3. Command rating if any.
4. Armour/weapon/Morale/valour upgrades?
5. Is a Noble (has a provincial title or title of office).

In my experience, everything but the 4th one (unit upgrades) factor into ransom amounts.

Back when I first started playing MTW in early 2003, I was stupid enough to have my Spanish uber-King lead a seaborne invasion of Naples (which was owned by the Sicilians at the time). Unfortunately, he was ultimately captured, as he wound up fighting not only the Sicilians, but the Pope as well. Even worse, my king had been accompanied by a couple of my governors, which meant they were captured as well. Combined with the other troops caught by the Papal army, I ended up having to pay over 60,000 florins for the whole lot of them.


Also, I second macsen rufus in advising caution with your general in Scotland. He faces a very real risk of either developing the Good Runner vice, if not being killed outright. Your best bet might be to just get him out of Scotland if you can.

[Brandy Blue]

There may be another solution. Is your general threatened by constant rebellions? If that is the case, you might want to get an emissary up there. That way, if your general retreats to the fort/keep/whatever, your emissary can bribe the rebels. I don't know if that would be cheaper than a ransom or not, but at least you get some more troops for your money, and if you can bribe enough rebels, then you will be able to hold down the province, especially if you can get a spy up there too. If he can hold the province, then your general can wait until your navy can get him home, or maybe he can even fight his way home, right through England, and across the Wessex-Flanders land bridge.

[Heidrek]

Well, rebellions are a problem because his troops have been worn down to very low numbers and Scotland is a very rebellious province, but the main worry is the French. The control the rest of Britain and are at war with me. He's sucessfully held off two determined attacks despite being heavily, heavily outnumbered and out gunned, but the last ine he only just held on by the skin of his teeth.

You know you're in a truely desperate situation you form your Vanilla archers up into a Wedge to send into hand to hand as your best attacking unit! That's what it came down to before the french retreated last time...

But, this win did earn him an automatic leap from skilled defender to Field Defense Expert and he got the super cool and rare Skilled Poor Odds Defender virtue as well. Besides, I've grown attatched to him and he's done a fantastic job with the few resources available to him so I fell I owe him.

Because he's trapped in Scotland and has nowehere to retreat to, if I abandon the province he'll automatically be captured and ransomed. The other option is to set him up on the map edge and withdraw him at the start of the battle but send the rest of this remaining forces into the fight to kill a few Frenchies - should also keep the total ransom amount down.

From memory, Withdrawing doesn't trigger the Good Runner vice.

Interesting but unrelated point: If I have a unit with heaps of armour or weapon upgrades thats taken losses, and I retrain it in a province with no armourer, the new unit coems out with all the armour of the original unit! However, If I build another vanilla version of the unit in the same province, I cant merge them because they have incompatible upgrades. So, in low tech provinces it pays to retrain units rather than build and merge - it's like having the armourer buildings without having to build them.

[Aldgilles]

But, this win did earn him an automatic leap from skilled defender to Field Defense Expert and he got the super cool and rare Skilled Poor Odds Defender virtue as well. Besides, I've grown attatched to him and he's done a fantastic job with the few resources available to him so I fell I owe him.

Keep this man, he's worth his weight in gold!!!

Interesting but unrelated point: If I have a unit with heaps of armour or weapon upgrades thats taken losses, and I retrain it in a province with no armourer, the new unit coems out with all the armour of the original unit! However, If I build another vanilla version of the unit in the same province, I cant merge them because they have incompatible upgrades. So, in low tech provinces it pays to retrain units rather than build and merge - it's like having the armourer buildings without having to build them.

I don't understand, I alway train troops with no armour upgrades to top off my armoured units. I train my battle troops in Sweden (with the arms & armour upgrades) and replace losses with locally trained troops...

[Spongie]

I don't understand, I alway train troops with no armour upgrades to top off my armoured units. I train my battle troops in Sweden (with the arms & armour upgrades) and replace losses with locally trained troops...

Seconded, I find you can merge vanilla troops into regiments of that same type that are armoured and weaponed up. That's after I finally learned to turn off automerge, of course

[Ravencroft]

Whoa there,

So you can retrain troops like this?

Ex. Poland has an Armorers workshop, I train FMAAs there, then send them to Bohemia, with a Metalsmiths workshop there, and retrain them for +2 for both weapons and armor?

[BAD]

Whoa there,

So you can retrain troops like this?

Ex. Poland has an Armorers workshop, I train FMAAs there, then send them to Bohemia, with a Metalsmiths workshop there, and retrain them for +2 for both weapons and armor?

Correct.

[Peasant Phill]

As long as the captain of the unit has the armour/weapon upgrades, all his men have them. This doesn't apply for morale upgrades.

[Heidrek]

I find that I can't merge units with different weapon/armour upgrades?? If I have a damaged vanilla unit of spearmen, and a damaged +1 armour unit of spearmen and I try and merge them it won't let me from memory. Isn't this what you've found as well?

I do fiond that if I have a unit with on;y 1 man left with silver armour and i retrain him in a province with no armour upgrades, his whole unit has silver armour.

[macsen rufus]

If I have a damaged vanilla unit of spearmen, and a damaged +1 armour unit of spearmen and I try and merge them it won't let me from memory.

Spearmen might possibly be one unit of standard ones, and one unit of round-shield spearmen. Though they're both translated as "spearmen" they are separate units, so unmergeable. But otherwise they should merge Sometimes units given to a faction in the startpos aren't actually trainable by that faction (eg in VI, the Scottish get a Celtic warrior unit, the Picts get a Highland Clansman unit - I guess the devs changed the province owners at the last minute and forgot to switch the units over?)

[Ravencroft]

I'm guessing also that it could be caused by "who could train whom/what".

Like Poland with non-retrainable HAs, So I went and replace it with Light Horsemen(A custom unit I made).

[Heidrek]

Coincidentally I found out something about my beloved Bashkorts today thatnks to F1. They are a Halbard unit, not a Spear as such so they get +3 attack and +1 Def vs cavalry.

with this in mind, it really relegates Kazanchi's to being my anti heavy infantry unit, as the Bashkorts will do a fine job against cavalry.