Wars suck now and they're ****ing tedious and boring. Not to mention when two factions are fighting, there's no sense that there's any kind of overall war strategy or organization. That's cause there isn't; and it make wars chaotic and frustrating. By bringing back the Marshall position and adding a few quests, you could make wars feel dynamic and give the player an actual crucial roll in the out come of a war.
Marshall System
So first of all, I think this position should be brought back into the game. As the noble in charge of running the current campaign against the enemy. This position is needed because there has to be a character giving quests to move the war effort forward as well as plan what to do next based upon what is happening in the game. As normal, it could be a vote that the faction leader has the final decision on and you can use influence to put yourself or your friends in that position. Of course the position should come with a huge influence boost and a large increase to your influence rate for as long as you are Marshall.
Army Creation
The next part is that the Marshall can order other vassals to create armies for specific purposes or to counter enemy moves. At the moment, nobles just create armies seemingly at random to do one or two things before getting destroyed or being disbanded. This system will still allow you to create armies on a whim if you want but an army created on the orders of a Marshall should cost no influence. I'll explain why it's important in the next section.
Quests
There is an opportunity here to have war related quests that help and improve your immersion into the game. The Marshall can give the player various quests that are not just arbitrary and gamey but can actually move the game forward. For example:
1) Your faction has a large army besieging an enemy settlement and all of a sudden the enemy produces a small army that is raiding fiefs. You could get a quest from the Marshall, ordering you to form an army with 3 lords, locate the enemy army and destroy it.
2) The enemy has formed 2 armies and are attacking but you get a quest from the Marshall to take your party and patrol a certain area where an enemy party was sighted. Or he gives you an order to create a party with x amount of lords and protect the faction lands from enemy incursions while the main army is fighting in enemy territory. You can add balance to quests like this by allowing the player to spend influence to get other tasks instead. Fighting the enemy would give you more loot and money but protecting the homeland could give you an influence and relationship boost. You can allow the player spend influence to try and persuade the Marshall to give them a task that would favor the player's needs at that time.
3) Perhaps you are not participating in the war. You could get a quest from the Marshall ordering you to take your men to settlement 'x' and join the garrison in preparation for an impending siege defense or to army 'x' to help them in a siege attack.
4) You can get a quest to simply go and reinforce an army as they suffered heavy losses in a recent battle.
5) When your clan tier is higher, you can get quests to form an army to go take a settlement.
6) Or if your relationship with the Marshall is high you could persuade him to give you orders that favor you or your faction. Maybe there's a town you really want to take but the Marshall is focusing on another front. You can have a system where you can persuade him to allow you create and army (without influence remember) with orders to take the city.
There are a lot more quests that could be formed here and they are all modular so they can crop up based on how the war is moving. No two wars will be the same as different situations in the sandbox will arise, needing different quests. This would add a sense of organization to wars, while keeping the old system in place and adding much need quests to the game which currently suffers from a lack of interesting quests.
Marshall Personalities
Of course the quality of leadership will depend on the quality of the man that is appointed Marshall. Their different personalities and traits should have an effect on the kinds of orders and quests they give. An aggressive lord may focus on finding enemy armies and defeating them in the field, while a greedy lord may focus on besieging settlements and raiding villages. Or a cautious lord could focus on being defensive and create armies mainly to patrol the faction and defend against attacking enemies. All these approaches will lead to different successes or failures and that's exciting for the sandbox. It could be in your best interest to have a certain type of leader for an upcoming war so you as the player could spend influence to make sure the "right man" was chosen for that position.
Player
As the player you should also have the access to give these orders if you are appointed as the Marshall. It would really give you more control on how you plan your overall strategy during a campaign.
Marshall System
So first of all, I think this position should be brought back into the game. As the noble in charge of running the current campaign against the enemy. This position is needed because there has to be a character giving quests to move the war effort forward as well as plan what to do next based upon what is happening in the game. As normal, it could be a vote that the faction leader has the final decision on and you can use influence to put yourself or your friends in that position. Of course the position should come with a huge influence boost and a large increase to your influence rate for as long as you are Marshall.
Army Creation
The next part is that the Marshall can order other vassals to create armies for specific purposes or to counter enemy moves. At the moment, nobles just create armies seemingly at random to do one or two things before getting destroyed or being disbanded. This system will still allow you to create armies on a whim if you want but an army created on the orders of a Marshall should cost no influence. I'll explain why it's important in the next section.
Quests
There is an opportunity here to have war related quests that help and improve your immersion into the game. The Marshall can give the player various quests that are not just arbitrary and gamey but can actually move the game forward. For example:
1) Your faction has a large army besieging an enemy settlement and all of a sudden the enemy produces a small army that is raiding fiefs. You could get a quest from the Marshall, ordering you to form an army with 3 lords, locate the enemy army and destroy it.
2) The enemy has formed 2 armies and are attacking but you get a quest from the Marshall to take your party and patrol a certain area where an enemy party was sighted. Or he gives you an order to create a party with x amount of lords and protect the faction lands from enemy incursions while the main army is fighting in enemy territory. You can add balance to quests like this by allowing the player to spend influence to get other tasks instead. Fighting the enemy would give you more loot and money but protecting the homeland could give you an influence and relationship boost. You can allow the player spend influence to try and persuade the Marshall to give them a task that would favor the player's needs at that time.
3) Perhaps you are not participating in the war. You could get a quest from the Marshall ordering you to take your men to settlement 'x' and join the garrison in preparation for an impending siege defense or to army 'x' to help them in a siege attack.
4) You can get a quest to simply go and reinforce an army as they suffered heavy losses in a recent battle.
5) When your clan tier is higher, you can get quests to form an army to go take a settlement.
6) Or if your relationship with the Marshall is high you could persuade him to give you orders that favor you or your faction. Maybe there's a town you really want to take but the Marshall is focusing on another front. You can have a system where you can persuade him to allow you create and army (without influence remember) with orders to take the city.
There are a lot more quests that could be formed here and they are all modular so they can crop up based on how the war is moving. No two wars will be the same as different situations in the sandbox will arise, needing different quests. This would add a sense of organization to wars, while keeping the old system in place and adding much need quests to the game which currently suffers from a lack of interesting quests.
Marshall Personalities
Of course the quality of leadership will depend on the quality of the man that is appointed Marshall. Their different personalities and traits should have an effect on the kinds of orders and quests they give. An aggressive lord may focus on finding enemy armies and defeating them in the field, while a greedy lord may focus on besieging settlements and raiding villages. Or a cautious lord could focus on being defensive and create armies mainly to patrol the faction and defend against attacking enemies. All these approaches will lead to different successes or failures and that's exciting for the sandbox. It could be in your best interest to have a certain type of leader for an upcoming war so you as the player could spend influence to make sure the "right man" was chosen for that position.
Player
As the player you should also have the access to give these orders if you are appointed as the Marshall. It would really give you more control on how you plan your overall strategy during a campaign.
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