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StaceMcGate said:

In this thread, I'll discuss the current issues plaguing the hideout system and what I think would improve it.
From my experience, Bandit Hideouts are the worst part of the current Bannerlord II experience and I desperately wish
to see changes to them.

Bandit Hideout Issues

- Spawn Rate: Hideouts spawn faster than the player can deal with. Regions like Aseria, Vlandia, and Kuzait can have dozens of hideouts spawn over time.
Even if the player dedicates time to destroying them, a new one will pop-up as soon as they eradicate one.

- Rewards are Poor: It is not worth the players time to eradicating hideouts apart from quests. The notable relation gain is measly and the trait gain makes no sense (honest trait?)

- No true impact: Hideouts don't do anything significant in the grand scale. They spawn parties that harass villagers and that is all. Why take the time to destroy them if they simply have a small impact on economy?

- Dissuade establishing caravans: Caravans have no chance mid-to-late game. There are hundreds of bandit parties roaming the map and the caravan size ensures it will be attacked. Combined with the low profits that caravans provide ensures the player most likely will not bother with this mechanic.

- "Uglify" the map: The hideouts spawn just way, way too many parties. Travelling to regions to just see dozens of small parties roaming the map is an eyesore. These parties also eat up the performance of the game.

- They never go away: This is the BIGGEST issue with hideouts. They simply never go away unless the player directly deals with them. They will just continue to spawn more parties who will eventually spawn even more hideouts.


Bandit Hideout suggestions

- Reduced Spawn Rate: Hideouts will only spawn by towns and will be limited to 1. After clearing a hideout, a new one will not spawn for 30 - 90 days.

- Rebalance Rewards: Increase the notable relation gain to +10, including settlement owner clan. Clearing the hideout also provides valor trait points (which as far as I can tell from 600+ hours of gameplay is a trait I can never obtain in-game, as well as calculating)

- Hideouts affect settlements: When a hideout spawns, it will reduce the town's security and loyalty daily. I suggest -4 security and -1 loyalty per day.

- Reduce bandit parties spawned: Maximum of 5 bandit parties per hideout, with 15-30 unit size.

- Disappear over time: Hideouts will only exist for 100 - 120 in-game days before they disappear, after which the cooldown timer will prevent immediate respawning.


This next part is a more radical proposal to the hideout system.


Bandit Kings

- Hideouts generate infamy over time, the longer they are in an area the more infamy they occur. Infamy is also generated by bandits in that area attacking villager and caravan parties.

- If enough infamy is accrued, the hideout disappears and a Bandit King minor faction appears.

- This faction will then declare war on the settlement's kingdom and begin raiding villages.

- All nearby bandit parties will be absorbed in this army.

- Once the army is defeated, the faction is destroyed.

- If they persist for a certain enough period, they become a permanent faction and make an attempt to take a settlement to start a kingdom.


Why I suggest this

- Hideouts are simply an annoyance and not a fun mechanic in the current game. They are not worth the time of the player to deal with, add nothing positive to the experience, and are a chore to deal with. No matter how much effort the player puts toward eradicating bandit hideouts, they will never make a dent in the sheer number there are of hideouts on the map.

- By increasing rewards, limiting their appearance, and increasing the detrimental effects a hideout can have; hideouts can be a worthwhile investment for the player.

- Implementing methods in which hideouts disappear over time is ESSENTIAL. I cannot stress how annoying it is that only the player can deal with these. If there is anything to take away from this suggestion thread, please add a method in which hideouts disappear over time.

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niekdegrijze said:

Good well thought out suggestions! I would like to see the scout system implemented. I like the way you can use the base as a supply dumb and as a way to destabilize the enemy region.

instead of harassing the enemy army, I would suggest the scouts to trail the army and send you updates whenever the army destination changes. (with an option to turn notification on and off to prevent annoyance)

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bfmsc said:

Hi, everyone
As the recent update deployed just two days ago, there is a new feature about bandit hideouts: they now have influence on settlements, a -2 penalty on security. to me that's reasonable but it also brings an issue: NPCs won't clear hideouts, that means settlements controlled by NPCs will take that penalty forever unless player clear them. which is unreasonable, also what can be and should be improved compared to M&B: warband. So, after some thinking, I have some suggestion on hideout system to share with community and developers. Here I will post two version of my so called "plan" on improve bandit hideout systems, a "minor fixes" version and an "expand" version.

"Minor-fixes" version
This version focus on spend less time and resource to improved the current situation, also the base logic of the both plan is posted here , here's the detail:

NPC lords may also clear hideouts affecting their settlements, the possibility of that action is depend on a base probability value and following factors:
a.The current security value of such settlement. If a settlement's security value is low and or decreasing rapidly , NPC lords will clear hideouts more actively.
b.The category of settlement. NPC lords are more likely to clear hideouts near cities, because cities donate more money for them and may launch rebellion against them.
c.The time passed after the hideout spawned, the NPC lords are more likely to clear out a hideout terrorizing locals for years than for days.
d.The current status of the faction, NPC lords are more likely to clear hideouts during peace time. the more faction their faction are having war with, the less likely they clear hideouts(they must focus on the war with another kingdom rather than mere bandits )
e.For the clearing hideout missions, the NPCs won't clear those target hideouts before the mission failed.
f.some character traits.

So, here we got an example: an NPC lord find a bandit hideout near a city he controlled, what happen in his "brain" is (note all number posted here are just for example, not for actual game code):
the settlement it affecting's security value is a bit high with a value of 70 (-10%) and still improving slowly (-10%)
the settlement it affecting is a city(+10%)
the hideout was there for 42 days (+30%)
peace time(+20%)
the lord is a brave(+10%) and good(+10%) person
The result is 60%, plus base value of 10%, which means this lord have 70% possibility to take action against the hideout.

"Expand" version
This version focus on expanding the current bandit hideout system based on the basic logic of the "minor fixes" version.

According to the game texts, the bandit hideouts are usually abandoned fort, hidden Fjord, forest maze, concealed desert caves, etc, which is good for hiding and can sustain life for a small party, these are not only good for outlaws to hide, but also a good base of operation for scouting or raiding operations conduct by lords and generals. so, here's what I'm thinking:

1.After a successful hideout assault, you or NPC lords can choose to change it into an outpost with following functions:
a.Outposts will respawn a limited mount of scouting and raiding parties made of "scout" troopers with unique upgrading line. They are light armored soliders with horses, fast in both tactic and strategy scale.Those party have following stances:
patrolling: the scouting party will patrolling the region, capturing bandits and bring prisoners back to the hideout or nearby settlements( the choice is yours) (I don't know if bandits can respawn from just thin air, so this may be useless)
raiding: during war time, scouting parties belongs to outposts deep in enemy territory or in border can be set on "raiding" stance, in this stance they will attack enemy villagers even caravans, which will generate gold to the outpost owners and reduce the security value for the target enemy settlement like the bandit hideout, but be careful in this stance the outposts are more likely to be spotted by enemy lords and lords are more likely to clear an enemy outpost than a bandit hideout.
harassing and scouting: the scout party will focus on harassing enemy armies and scouting for friendly armies in the region, reducing enemy armies's marching speed and boosting friendly armies's marching speed depend on the number and strength of the scouting parties. also, the scout parties will try to clear enemy scout parties in this stance.
b.Outposts can be a secret storage for its owner, you can store supply here during peace and use them during war time

2.A clan can only maintain a limited number of outposts according to their leader's relevant skills and perks at the same time, and they must pay wage to the scouting parties they have.
3.NPCs and players can destroy or capture enemy outposts just like hideouts, abandoned outposts may become bandit hideouts again after several weeks.
4.With new function posted above, here are some new missions interact with them:
a.Outpost setting: A lord order you to capture a bandit hideout deep in enemy territory and change it into an outpost for his clan, May only appear for those clans didn't reach their outpost limit.
b.End enemy harassing: A lord in an legion order you to hunt enemy scouting parties harassing his troopers.
c.Stop enemy raiding: someone merchant or landowner order you to hunt enemy raiding parties.

that all for now.
ps: how can I delete a thread post by myself? I just find I formerly post this thread in a wrong place.

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