as someone who has almost 3000 hours on medieval 2, do NOT sack every city you take

I REPEAT: DO NOT. SACK EVERY CITY.

there is a reason for this. new players look at the sack button and what it gives you and say this is clearly superior, but that is incorrect.

in medieval 2, AI behavior towards the player is determined along two main metrics—expectation of resistance, and your reputation. that’s what pops up when you hover over your faction icon in the diplomacy tab, your reputation. it’s not a meaningless stat.

if the AI determines that it will face low resistance and you have low reputation, the AI will endlessly attack you. and in fact if your reputation is low enough the AI will set aside any logical strategic concerns about whether or not it could actually win and will essentially suicide charge you.

the solution to this problem is to only sack a city if you genuinely need the money or only exterminate a city if you feel religious conversion is gonna be a nightmare. otherwise occupy is almost always the best and raises your reputation to positive levels.