I finally decided to root out a faction altogether, something I have not done earlier in my 2.3 Rome campaign. The Numidians were holding the westernmost corner of Africa after losing all other settlerments. They were continuously harassing my African provinces. After conquering their last region it turned out that the leader escaped together with a significant army (that seemed to have materialized out of thin air). That seemed like a cool feature at first, but soon things got weird.
Now I find myself chasing the remnants forever. After each battle with one of the Numidian stacks they always manage to pay ransom and carry on with almost the same force as the one before the battle. I could just enslave them, but there is a game mechanism that punishes the player diplomatically for not offering the adversary a chance to ransom their troops. I eventually managed to surround one of the runaway armies in a pass and found that I can just ping pong them from one of my armies to the other. I incapacitate almost all of them in battle, they ransom themselves out and escape to my other army. They fight that army, ransom themselves out, and flee only to be intercepted by the original army.
I am about to fight the same stack for the fifth time now during one turn. Sure, I get money and experience for my units after each confrontation, but this just doesn't feel right nor fun. Has any fix been applied to 2.35? If not, could one be implemented in the next release? Or is there something I am doing wrong here?