[The Panther]

I believe it goes like this:

Each hunting attempt causes unrest, from 0 to maybe as much as 35 (the outliers mentioned by Boron). Supposedly, it averages 3 per attempt. Each captured slave causes an additional 1 point of unrest plus, on average, a loss of 2 in population. A growth level of 1 (0.2%) is almost enough to stop population loss without patrolling.

For patrolling, don't forget that slaves are lousy patrollers since they are weak and slow. Plus both the chiefs and slaves cost you upkeep, so you must factor this into your equation. I prefer to use my free slaves as front-line fodder.

Each briggand killed is the same pop loss as the slaves: a loss, on average, of 2 in population per briggand. Of course, the killed briggand decreases unrest by one which cancels the 1 increase from the captured slave.

I have always thought that because the primary blood nation (supposed to be Mictlan) is actually WORSE at blood hunting than Abysia, then something must be terribly wrong indeed.

The fact that you have to sacrifice something like 20-30 slaves per turn just to keep your diminion in MP is a disaster for Mictlan. This is one reason you don't see very many MP experts choosing Mictlan whereas Abysia is typically one of the first nations grabbed.