For my first little while playing MTW, I treated it much like an advanced Risk......I got my territories, did what I needed to build up a good army and then just moved them in and hoped for the dice to fall in my favor.

Just recently, however, I have begun actually fighting most of my battles personally.

One thing I've noticed is that when I let it automatically resolve, the casualties (on both sides) were much higher in general.

If I attacked a full stack with one of my own, it wasn't out of the ordinary for the total casualties to be around 1000 men. But, when I fight that same type of battle personally, I end up losing around 200-250 men, killing an equal amount and then capturing 300-400. I am just assuming that I am good at hitting the enemy at the right moments to route their troops but not really sure. I also tend to build the better troops, which might help.

Do a lot of players see similar outcomes in your battles?

Additionally, do you aim to kill as many in a battle to totally eradicate their army or do you try to hold on to prisoners to make some extra Florins?