Well, I must admit that I really like this mod so far. Especially since it enhances the game without taking anything away.
If I could be so bold as to make a suggestion: today I saw on the suggestion board the idea for giving parties names. I think this would be a wonderful addition to your mod. Not only the ability to make patrols, but the ability to name them as well. This way you can actually have a scouting party named as a scouting party.
I would think that the best way to add this dynamic would be to add a line in the conversation menu where you tell them to change the name of their party, then you type in the new name.
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As far as other suggestions go: I really think ten patrols is a bit much, especially if they are all following you at a time. I would just limit the patrol number to half of one's leadership score.
This way a patrol is more of a commodity, and not something that can easily break the game. I also like the idea of maximizing the patrol size to 1/3 of your own army size, and increasing their wages. This gives me a great way of keeping my lands bandit free.
Maybe it is just me, but I hate seeing bandits and deserters running around my properties. I would certainly use some patrols to keep my lands safe.
OR, if you want a high number of patrols, then maybe you should limit the amount that can follow the player at any given time. This could be broken though, a user would just have to leap-frog their army of patrols (take some and move them, then take the next group and move them.) *this was the edit*
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Also, if it is at all possible, it would be great if a player could hire a caravan. Not escort one, but actually pay for one to go between one of their villages/castles/cities and other cities. The in game mechanic would be to increase the players popularity with the city in question, and to raise the cities prosperity. The caravan would just spawn from the city, travel around a while, travel back, and then the prosperity would increase by a set amount (maybe 2% per city visited by the caravan.)
To add this, I would make it an option when talking to a guild master or a tavern keeper. It would of course not be cheap, but I think it would add a bit of exotic flavor. Especially if you got a cut of the profit from the caravan.
