Hello mod peoples. First, I would like to start off by saying I am enjoying this mod so far. The start was very rough, but once you get passed that bit where everything kicks your ass, it's great. Anyway I voted for other, so here are my thoughts on what I would like to see added.
One thing I would really like to see is a large upgrade to tactical options. Having it set to the default formation when a battle starts is nice, but more control in battle would be awesome. For example, lets say I use an army comprised of mostly heavy infantry. They start the fight in formation. I have them follow me into the enemy, and the enemy gets steamrolled. All is well there. Now let's say instead of leading the infantry, I have a 50/50 split army with archers. I can't have them both follow me, because then they try to form one line. And then adding cavalry means more micromanagement. If I command the infantry to charge while I have the archers and/or cavalry following me, they break formation and just blindly run in as in native. I would like an option to make them charge while keeping in formation. It would help minimize the micromanagement of controlling each group every couple of seconds. Also, some Roman style tactics would be interesting. When infantry are in ranks, if a soldier gets heavily injured, have him back up to the back of the formation and a fresh troop takes his place.
Also on the note of tactics, perhaps making scaling tactics that give you more options with a higher tactics skill (just for your character, even though it is a party skill otherwise). Maybe give us options of preset troop arrangements on the deployment menu before battle. It might just be me who wants this, because I love tactics so much, but I think it would be a good addition. I spend a good portion of the beginning of a tough fight scouting the land and looking for the advantage before the enemy charges me. Of course, if they just charge right away, I am stuck with whatever defensive position I can scramble in the few seconds it takes the riders to reach me. This is where it would come in handy to preset some formations to suit the enemy you are fighting. A densely packed 2 or 3 deep line of infantry with shields will stop most cavalry charges. One thing I have seen in other mods (left unnamed as I do not want to compare things) is the ability to have the archers skirmish, avoiding melee. This is also handy to have.
Sorry if this was a bit long, but the short version is tactics, tactics, and more tactics. Good tactics can turn an impossible situation into a heroic victory, which is drastically needed in this mod as it is very difficult to start. My god, the amount of hostile groups at the start of the game made me nearly cry. Every 10 feet some group was chasing me. Ran into one bit where I had 4 different types of bandits on my heels as I was trying to recruit. First time seeing those demon worshipers and eagle war parties made me realize I did not have enough pathfinding as I thought I did. Also to note, I usually play Warband on max difficulty. This is one mod I had to turn down the damage a bit. Might need some tweaking to balance it out. I don't want it to be too easy, but the way it is now seems like there is no easy setting. Just normal (which is damn hard) and impossible. Maybe adding that mod that lets you enlist in a lords army would help, so people can train up a bit before striking out on their own.
Thanks for all your hard work. I look forward to further releases of this mod.
