I think this would definitely be an improvement to the existing party UI. I very much appreciate the effort to get an easier overview over your party. I am aware that at this stage, the order in the party screen can be used for the purposes listed above (hideouts etc.). For these purposes the system is certainly quite useful. However, I would prefer a sorting system as described
here and
here.
The reason is that I see 3 main problems with the 'lock system' described in this thread:
1.
I like to build a diverse army using troops from different cultures (e.g. battanian skirmishers with vlandian sergeants etc). While leveling I would have to lock all intermediate stages of a culture tree to retain order. Unlocking one would reclutter the entire setup once one stage drops to 0 while leveling and I would have to sort again. So overall this could make for a very long party list for those who want to build diverse armies. Scrolling through the long list is already annoying as it is now.
2.
While at war I can not always chose which type of unit I have in my party. However, I would still like to keep my party screen easily sorted. The sorting options would give me a very easy option to get an overview over my troops. The locking system does not really help here because I only want those troops temporarily and I still have to do what is described in 1 to retain order.
3.
In the garrison overview the 'lock system' does not help at all. Often I have to stash some of the lower level troops there after I just conquered a fief. The sorting system would also very easily help me to clear up this mess and give a very quick and good overview over the status of the garrison.
But what about the utilization of party order for hideouts?:
This topic is already discussed in several other topics and I very much agree that it should be possible to handpick certain troops for a hideout. The reason is that different hideouts will (hopefully) demand for different strategies and different troop compositions. In this situation the 'lock system' would actually be detrimental as I would have to re-sort my entire party for every hideout. In my opinion it would be much easier for the player to simply choose some troops for each specific hideout. For this picking step a 'lock system' would actually be nice so you can save your composition for later raids. Army reinforcments could be handled in a separate small box where you could chose which type of army you want to respawn preferentially (e.g. first formation 1 then 2.. etc.; or even have respawn ratio sliders as in the custom battle)
How would I like sorting to look like:
If custom sorting is for some reason to complicated to implement, I would also enjoy a fixed method of sorting.
I guess the most useful system to sort would be: First by formation/class (infantry, archer etc) then by culture then by tier. This fixed sorting system would also provide the opportunity to make the corresponding groups collapsable which would tidy up the party screen quite a bit. Companions could be sorted into a separate collapsable group.
I am sorry to bring this up in a topic that deals with a completely different system. I am just worried that a 'lock system' will be implemented thereby forever burrying my hopes of a simple and efficient sorting system. To be honest I can't understand why a game that focuses so much on building an army doesn't have a halfway decent way to organize it in the first place.
Thank you to everyone for working on improving this game. I never had an experience like this where I can think of literally every part of the game as a small game itself. Opportunities with Bannerlord 2 just seem to be endless.
