War Mongering

[applepiepod]

Capturing an enemy lord
Does the most benefit come from
1, Not even selecting him to be a prisoner and thusly letting him go, or
2, Make him a POW until they give you ransom money, then releasing him?

Villages
How long does it take for a village to become un-burned and un-looted?
Can you bring cattle anywhere, or do you have to have prior engagements? ("Get me dem cows!")

Companions
They ***** a lot, but does it even mean anything? Do they leave you or steal **** or something?
Companions level, making them better than an average soldier. Equipping them with fine gear also makes them formidable. Is it possible to have an army of Companions, gathered from around the land? I'd like that. !

Generally Immoral Things
Do they even do anything? I've done my share, and the only impact is that some villages like me less.
Also, I hate that the village and my companions hate me for getting peasants back to the village. Wtf! If you don't make food your village starve, dumbasses! Don't hate me!  .. And no, I'm not your ****ing cattle herder.

 

[Pii100]

Capturing an enemy lord
Does the most benefit come from
1, Not even selecting him to be a prisoner and thusly letting him go
-Imo the best benefit is to capture him and then let them go with ransom. Although relationship bonus is fun, you really need high relations (+20-40 it think) to have it any use.

Villages
How long does it take for a village to become un-burned and un-looted?
-Not sure. I think safely arriving peasants make it faster.
Can you bring cattle anywhere, or do you have to have prior engagements? ("Get me dem cows!")
-You can buy and move cattle, but it doesn't go into towns/villages unless quest wants so

Companions
They ***** a lot, but does it even mean anything? Do they leave you or steal **** or something?
-Eventually yes. You can always get them back at taverns
Companions level, making them better than an average soldier. Equipping them with fine gear also makes them formidable. Is it possible to have an army of Companions, gathered from around the land? I'd like that. !
-I think ~8 is the biggest number of non-*****ing army. You can have bigger companion armies, but they will be just temporary as eventually someone goes nuts and leaves.

Generally Immoral Things
Do they even do anything? I've done my share, and the only impact is that some villages like me less.
-Huh? Do you mean raiding them or what?
Also, I hate that the village and my companions hate me for getting peasants back to the village. Wtf! If you don't make food your village starve, dumbasses! Don't hate me!  .. And no, I'm not your ****ing cattle herder.
-Well, the lord treated them like scum, so of course they don't like being there

 

[applepiepod]

Alright, awesome, thanks

By Generally Immoral things I meant does a kingdom start to dislike you for burning their villages, or only the village?

Do they rebel against you, or keep on getting picked on?

 

[Togakure]

Capturing an enemy lord
Does the most benefit come from
1, Not even selecting him to be a prisoner and thusly letting him go, or
2, Make him a POW until they give you ransom money, then releasing him?

I don't capture and ransom lords, only kings.  Relationships with lords come into play during a rebellion, and I prefer to have them join me readily over quick ransom cash.

Villages
How long does it take for a village to become un-burned and un-looted?
Can you bring cattle anywhere, or do you have to have prior engagements? ("Get me dem cows!")

A few days.  You can buy cattle whenever, but I'm not aware of any way to store them.  If you don't slaughter them, they wander off and I think they get taken by bandits etc.

Companions
They ***** a lot, but does it even mean anything? Do they leave you or steal **** or something?
Companions level, making them better than an average soldier. Equipping them with fine gear also makes them formidable. Is it possible to have an army of Companions, gathered from around the land? I'd like that. !

Yes, companions leave if you piss them off enough.  You can hire a bunch of companions (I have eight), but some don't get along well with others (see Library, NPCs) and so will eventually get tired of their nemeses and take off.  I'm not sure if there's a cap on the number of companions you can have in your party, other than your normal party maximum.

Generally Immoral Things
Do they even do anything? I've done my share, and the only impact is that some villages like me less.
...

Relationship values come into play throughout the game.  In villages, it affects your ability to hire recruits.  In towns, same.  With kings, it affects the chances of you being awarded fiefs.  With lords, it affects the chance of them joining you in a rebellion.

 

[Theo]

Capturing an enemy lord
Does the most benefit come from
1, Not even selecting him to be a prisoner and thusly letting him go, or
2, Make him a POW until they give you ransom money, then releasing him?

I don't capture and ransom lords, only kings.  Relationships with lords come into play during a rebellion, and I prefer to have them join me readily over quick ransom cash.

Yea if you are planning to go through rebellion, then it is wise to release those lords in civil war since they will join into your kingdom once it is over and it will affect your future relations with them, for example marshal selection.
If you have captured enemy kingdom lords they you can probably ransom without big problems (perhaps one thing to consider is that once their kingdom is destroyed, relationship score might affect if they are going to join into your kingdom, or another - not sure about that).

Releasing lords should give you honor points, which will give relationship bonus when you are talking with honorable lords even you would meet them first time. Money might be more useful in some situations though.

 

[chantrain]

you CAN gather a small army of companions and deck them out in elite gear and have them slaughter stuff for you. I have 8 or 9 companions now decked out in great helms, heraldic armor, swords, shields and bows. they kick quite a bit of ass. Some will complain every now and then but nobody leaves if you keep your morale high, they will only leave if your morale is really low.