in the stock game, offering a ransom was akin to killing them, as the AI never had enough cash on hand at the end of a turn to pay a ransom. so, you could have them defacto killed and not suffer any hits to your chivalry.
however, now with all the nations flush with cash (most of the time, and in most situations), if you offer the ransom they pay it! doh! so, in some heated (and close) frontier battles, where every man counts in a turn-after-turn struggle, I find the need to execute the priz! not happy about it really.
international rep is plummeting. dread increasing. sucks. but, what you can you do?