Regarding beta 1.4.2:
I managed to get to mid/late game (about 8 cities) and am now sure to take the rest of the map if I keep pushing. The only mod I use is KeepYourOwnFiefs since early on I urgently needed settlements for the income/garrisons, yet there appeared to be no native way to keep them after joining/forming a kingdom. My army now ranges from about 800 to 1,500 men, and typically faces AI forces ranging from 400 to 2,000 men, which should give an idea of where things are at.
So here are my impressions at this stage:
1) Lords Constantly Leaving My Faction, And Switching Between Other Factions.
I can't keep clans without serious save-scumming. Sometimes things run fine for a while, but then the game arbitrarily decides someone's leaving, and it could be anyone. Doesn't seem to matter if I've got 2 clans or 7 clans, although this behaviour is tempered somewhat if they all have fiefs (which is initially impossible, and rulers can't give fiefs away later). Reloading a save, a different clan will leave. Reload the save, a different clan will leave. Reload the save, a different clan will leave, etc. The game basically just decided there's a high probability that someone's leaving, and like I said, it takes a lot of save-scumming to ride it out.
It's not just me either; the AI is doing it to itself. Which is the most disturbing aspect. I might encounter the Battanian faction (for example), and with the exception of the ruling clan just about all their other clans are from every faction but Battania. This is not ok. Save-scummming aside, the result is that all other factions end up with a mix of troops from wherever. Long-term, factions lose their identities, become homogeneous, and the excitement of facing different factions is lost.
A similar issue applies to party members recruiting troops; they could come back with anyone.
Clans leaving factions ought to be extremely rare. So rare that if we ever see it we stop and think think "Ooh, I wonder what happened there..." (and know that something
actually did happen there other than rng clan-quit spam).
[There's a guy in my campaign I really dislike (long arena-related story), but after I saw the treacherous fiend in no less than 5 different factions within the space of just a couple of years, I had to stop counting to preserve my sanity.]
2) Every Time I Attempt A Siege The Game Arbitrarily Decides There's A Very High Probability That A Faction Is Declaring War On Me.
Reload the save, it's a different faction declaring war. Reload the save, it's a different faction declaring war, etc. Could be anyone, but it will be someone, and it's always on me; similar to the first issue in this respect.
On the upside, this is not as immersion-breaking as the first issue, and similarly it can be ridden out eventually with some severe save-scumming.
Instead of rng declare-war spam I would like to see wars happen for a reason. Perhaps a faction wants your city. Perhaps you annoyed them so much they want to burn you to the ground. Their behaviour should reflect their objectives. Variety is good. Obviously this might all be planned, but meanwhile the rng declare-war spam needs to go.
Another related issue is when I start a siege, rather than protect the besieged target in question, the AI will randomly go siege another settlement. Now I get this from a strategic perspective, and it's actually rather effective, but the issue is I often end up playing whack-a-mole, which is just tedious. Better for the AI to focus on the immediate issue at hand, and deal with other issues later (within reason; again, variety is good).
3) Perks.
These all need implementing yesterday. Having so many perks not working really sucks the juice out of progression.
4) Smithing Bugs.
Vendors filling up with crafted-weapon spam needs to go. I wouldn't say this is necessarily a bad concept in principle, although certainly to a lesser extent than is the case now - but given the crafted-weapon vendor issue as it stands, this mechanic needs to be deactivated until it's fixed properly.
I have to wonder, given we can make these items so easily, why we would ever want/need to buy them? And consequently, why have vendors sell these items at all?
Also the prices of some polearms (looking at you war-razor head with pine shaft, lol) and javelins needs fixing. Obviously the player can choose not to exploit this, but the will is weak when we're strapped for cash, and knocking out 8 polearms to sell for a million denars is not ok.
5) Diplomacy.
I addressed some aspects of this above, but wars need to be rarer, more gratuitous, and generally more profound. War should mean great opportunity (for expansion) but also involve great risk if things go wrong. The current "Gonna take your city and buy peace with 60k denars before you can even assemble an army" doesn't work very well. The only time I'm involved in a protracted war is when I'm feeling too greedy to stop at one city/castle (bearing in mind if we didn't save-scum we'd be at war with every kingdom all the time).
Alliances are just...necessary, and ought to be a priority. Smaller factions ought to put their differences aside and form alliances to protect themselves against stronger factions. In my campaign I was appalled to see the three Empire factions start hacking away at each other and weaken themselves to the point where they were all obliterated by the other factions before I had a chance to start my own Imperial kingdom, or even get my first settlement. Was kinda looking forward to working with these guys. I didn't have to do the "Unify The Empire" quest because my "Eastern Empire", with but a single castle, was the only Empire left...the others all suicided. The AI needs to prioritise self-preservation.
Another observation; something needs to be done about "dead factions". I've got several dead factions where a single "ruling" clan that has no territory/settlements, and that can't actually do anything, but just won't die (no matter how many times they get captured by looters, lol). They should get off the map, or have a way to rebuild. In future perhaps the player/AI could give them a settlement and have them as very grateful allies.
Personally, the ebb and flow of the initial factions doesn't quite cut it for me. I'd like to see factions rise and fall. Some might disappear permanently, and other new factions would emerge; but not specifically to replace them one-for-one. I'd like to see campaigns where three huge factions ended up duking it out (for example), but other campaigns where all the original factions somehow survived along with the addition of several new factions. In short, when it comes to factions and the balance of power, I'd like to see myriad possible permutations and plenty of variety. Variety is good.
6) Reinforcements & Battle Size.
I routinely have encounters which involve over 2,000 units, excluding horses. Except the maximum battle size is 1,000 men? This is confusing. I assume a proportion of each army is selected to start the battle, but I don't understand how said units are selected, or whether remaining units are being fed in later via reinforcements, simply discarded, or in some way auto-resolved. Things usually get too hectic for me to keep track of this once the fighting starts.
Some in-game clarity regarding this would be much appreciated. Such things should be made obvious to the player.
7) Imperial Cavalry Are Probably Impossible To Obtain.
I almost never see the relevant recruits. And now I'm fairly close to global domination I find it somewhat bemusing that I've never actually been able to field a unit of my own cavalry. Because I never had my own cavalry. Because there aren't any Imperial recruits for cavalry.
8 ) Prisoners.
When I capture an enemy in battle, it bothers me when they inevitably escape and raise another party and attack me again before I even had a chance to sell their loot. Strategically, this is a cheap and obtuse mechanic to have to contend with.
Conclusion:
Re-reading this post, much of it now seems rather critical. This was not intended to be the case; far from it. Bannerlord is a great platform with massive potential. I've done nothing but hammer this game since the day I bought it, which speaks for itself. It's compelling, and overall I feel it's coming along well. Obviously Bannerlord is Early Access and there's still a long way to go.
The issues I raised above are merely the main issues I experienced that either irritated, annoyed, or confounded me. Bugs/crashes aside, these issues are the ones that I personally would like to see addressed in order that Campaign #2 is even more spectacular/engrossing than the first one has been thus far.
Incidentally, when I refer to save-scumming I think I'm at about 1,500 saves and guessing 5,000+ loads? Save-scumming on an industrial scale is unfortunately necessary for a non-modded game at this point to address not only crashes (fewer now though, it has to be said), but mostly for desertions/wars. I cannot fight all other factions simultaneously with no vassals :p
Finally, thank you for providing by far my best gaming experience in 2020! Taking my first castle was so difficult I thought it was probably never going to happen, and then, after the carnage (and there was so much carnage; mostly due to incompetent and panicked leadership, lol), to stand on the battlements knowing the place was MINE...hell yeah, that gave me the epic feeling that these games are supposed to be all about. Haven't felt that in a long time