Killing vs. Surrender?

[AltPlusF4]

What's the real benefit to killing anyone? I've put a couple hours in, and I had a much rougher time when I chose to kill everyone instead of accepting surrender because it pissed off all their friends and gave me tons of banes. What am I missing?

[GeminiEclipse]

Killing gets you loot. It's done mainly versus assassins or people who start fights when they are alone (like no witnesses). You can kill them safely.

Also if you just feel like it. Sometimes the banes aren't that big of a deal.

[ZeroHindsight]

It's like real life. Become public enemy #1 and no one will help you.

[AltPlusF4]

Originally posted by ZeroHindsight:

It's like real life. Become public enemy #1 and no one will help you.

When you put it that way, then it sounds like killing is straight up never the best option. So why would it be in the game then if it's always a sub-optimal choice?

[NeverLucky]

People cannot hate you if they are dead
If the area is isolated their friends will not find out

[GeminiEclipse]

Originally posted by JM0:

Originally posted by ZeroHindsight:

It's like real life. Become public enemy #1 and no one will help you.

When you put it that way, then it sounds like killing is straight up never the best option. So why would it be in the game then if it's always a sub-optimal choice?

Because it's not always a sub-optimal choice. And sometimes it's hard to avoid and so you need to face the consequences.

[HandsomeFridge]

Killing will often anger their friends, but you can usually try and kill them later via provoking them. For min maxing it allows for additional negotiation and combat allowing for more card picks/xp.

[αкєя]

It's pretty dangerous, especially when you start building a bad reputation. But it's not always bad, and the fact that you can kill someone accidentally is a cool mechanic.

[Krisis]

If you kill people in public you can get awesome nagotiation cards. Especially strong if you play a threaten / vulnerability / draw set. There seems to be a provocation limit though so you might not be able to get rid of all your banes. Depending on your set, some banes can even be helpfull. And comeon it's also fun to see how many you can kill in 5 days^^

[SimoneX93]

Originally posted by JM0:

Originally posted by ZeroHindsight:

It's like real life. Become public enemy #1 and no one will help you.

When you put it that way, then it sounds like killing is straight up never the best option. So why would it be in the game then if it's always a sub-optimal choice?

have you ever played... like... elder scrools?

[Gankatron]

I am not always satisfied with the kill quests especially in the prestige mode because there are negative ramifications which can make progress more difficult if you run a green build.

On the pro-killing side, if a quest requires it, and you do it, then you will get a reward. You will also get loot, which after killing them once, you can right click on them in future games to remind you what item they drop.

One the pro-not killing side, you won't get the the negative effects, which include other NPC friends hating you and giving you a debuff (again right clickable after the first kill), and/or you may get a status card inserted in your negotiation deck, which actually makes sense, as negative actions should affect how people perceive your words.

One cool thing is that when a NPC hates you for killing their friend, you can try to goad them into a fight, where you can kill them without further negative consequence, and more importantly their debuff will be lifted.

So, killing an NPC, followed by killing their friend, yields 2 opportunities to level your deck and get loot, where 2 wrongs end up make a right, or at least have no lasting effect, other than the cards that were inserted into your negotiation deck, which may be perceived as either good or bad depending upon your play style.

Now I generally consider the loot that will drop, as some are clearly superior to others, especially the items that don't have the "destroy" keyword, and if not killing makes me fail the quest, so be it as I tend to run a green negotiation build, and many of the status cards are better suited for red (plus they can dilute out your deck synergy).

[Leslian Lexter]

Because you want Hanobis Power Core.

[Hekateras]

There are situations where leaving someone alive means they are now alive and hate you. In other situations, killing someone means their friends now hate you. So it's situational.

[Whatever Man]

Once i opened up Mutators i turn off penalty for killing opponents.

[Null Winter]

Personally, I've only ever seen it worthwhile to kill certain bosses, since their personal items are re-usable and pretty strong on any deck. At times, it's too easy to accidentally kill weak enemies when you have quest-given allies.

The accompanying banes range from literally harmless ("Gambling hurts you... but you're playing as Sal") to devastating ("All statuses cost more to get rid of! And look at all those bosses tossing statuses into your deck!").

[Tower Dove]

In terms of "meta" it can double dip. Generally you pick a side, if killing someone angers someone of the other faction(for example you side with army and anger a civilian), you can double dip and menace into killing that person so you get 2 chances at getting upgrades and dodge the drawback of the bane(and sometimes even more because the person you killed won't bother you anymore). On bosses it is more meaningfull, some bosses give a real benefit not killing so it is a about the loot or the later value, some others you get screwed by not killing them.