A few ideas, some harder to implement than others.

[Fenril]

I am a great MnB fan, I am or used to be an hardcore gamer, although these days I am more between casual and serious, I do not focus on one game at a time but MnB with a couple of my favorite mods never seems to leave my desktop.

With that being said there a few "whishes" that I had for a long time regarding the game.

The combat system:

Many people will probably want to crucify me for typing this but I think the basic melee model could use some gameplay expansion, for example how long you prepare your weapon for the strike does affect your hitting force but not by much and its never clear when you are packing full force behind the next blow. A solution from Ultima Underworld could be used, a small graph of some sort, a color indicator with brightness or different colors to show the force of your next slow strike. It is not necessary to simply hold the weapon in pre strike position forever, that would be silly, but still you could hit the attack and hold to gain more force for a longer time.

Power hits/ Combinations /Combat styles or forms:

Again in the same vein, I think Mnb could have different movements or small intuitive key combos depending on position, movement and how long you hold the attack button that produce different results, think power or combination strikes.

My personal favorite is combat styles or forms, and im not thinking about simple "stance" changes where your attack and defense values simply switch around and everything plays the same, Im suggesting a system where by changing your combat style from a queue the way you swing your weapon and move and try to block is different.

For example you could have a style that would be more effective when surrounded or pressed by many lightly armored enemies and one more suited for a couple of heavily armored and armed enemies.


General gameplay enhacement wishes:

1) I do believe there should be a menu or submenu where you specifically indicate exactly what troops you will bring with you to battle and also what kind of weapon will they be carrying. Not just swith tactics in the dialog. For example for a price you could replace the weapons of your cavalry from lances to shield and morning star, or from light to heavy armor etc.

At the battle start menu another option could  be added where you pick each and every NPC that goes in for the next round, this should also work if you are fighting with an NPC allied party.

2) Battle commands

I think a "guard me" command could be useful, hold position or follow me sometimes fulfill the same purpose but its not quite same, another way to make it interesting would be to be able to select any other NPC in your party in battle mode to be "guarded".


3) Misc

I think armorer and weaponsmith NPCs should have an option menu for dying or changing the color scheme of an armor model that is about to be purchased. Yeah Yeah might be a small girly wish but I do get quirky about the way my char looks
I dont think this would be very difficult to implement.

 

[Golcondio]

1) I do believe there should be a menu or submenu where you specifically indicate exactly what troops you will bring with you to battle and also what kind of weapon will they be carrying. Not just swith tactics in the dialog. For example for a price you could replace the weapons of your cavalry from lances to shield and morning star, or from light to heavy armor etc.

The possibility of customizing troop equipment has been explored in the Customizable Troops mod: with 4 different troop types you can fine-tune your army to maximum effectiveness.
But, yes, having it hardcoded would be simpler...

For the rest of your suggestions, I think we're in too late a stage of development to consider implementing combat styles; on the other hand, IF the mod system gets improved enough, it might be possible to include new animations, like a power attack, and assign them to the pressure of a key (I really hope the devs add

on_whatever_key_pressed

, so we don't have to limit ourselves to

tab

and

i

). I don't know how hard would it be to include the powerbar you mentioned, but, if not in native, I'd surely like the possibility of seeing it in a mod!

 

[The_Invincible_Knight]

Nah, Gculk was the one who liked to crusify people. I am more patient... I'm not impossible to annoy, but it takes some real effort to make me want to punch your lights out.

In regards to your suggestions I like them. The powerstrike you speak of could be interesting if used on horseback.

*Vaegir screams as TIK pulls back his balanced bastard sword in order to concentrate the blade which is about to stab him in the chest*

*Vaegir ducks and falls on a mine*

*TIK chuckles and attacks a Vaegir Knight*

 

[Golcondio]

Nah, Gculk was the one who liked to crusify people. I am more patient... I'm not impossible to annoy, but it takes some real effort to make me want to punch your lights out.

Well, you seem more the type who makes other people want to punch your lights out 

The powerstrike you speak of could be interesting if used on horseback.

I think it's already ridiculous enough to swing two-handers from horseback (the animation is one-handed, which only adds to the effect)... I hate horses so I've never ridden one, but in real life I think it'd be difficult enough to concentrate and actually control the force behind the blow.

 

[Archonsod]

its never clear when you are packing full force behind the next blow.

Weapon preparation doesn't affect the force of the blow (not sure why it would to be honest, if you swing straight off you have momentum on your side, and you won't tire out your arms quite so quickly). Speed bonus is the closest indicator of how well you hit, and it depends on relative directions both characters are travelling, the point in the swing you hit (timing) and the area of the weapon which hits (the actual blade does more damage than hitting someone with the hilt).

1) I do believe there should be a menu or submenu where you specifically indicate exactly what troops you will bring with you to battle and also what kind of weapon will they be carrying.

Not really possible the way the game handles troops at the moment. You're party is treated as a template and troops randomly generated from it for each combat. There's no tracking of individuals (except for NPC heroes) outside of a combat round. A menu allowing you to select which troops begin a battle has been requested quite a lot though, and would be nice. Perhaps tie it in to leadership skill, the better a leader you are the more of your starting combat line you get control over.

I think a "guard me" command could be useful, hold position or follow me sometimes fulfill the same purpose but its not quite same, another way to make it interesting would be to be able to select any other NPC in your party in battle mode to be "guarded".

Follow me is pretty much the same, as long as you don't go racing away from your troops. Thing to remember is that the AI has a 'threat' range, enemies within this range will be pursued and attacked, those outside are ignored. Cavalry have a longer range than infantry. If you're an all cavalry force, you may as well give up on keeping them together. Infantry tend to hold their orders better, but an enemy horse archer or similar can drag them out of position.

I think armorer and weaponsmith NPCs should have an option menu for dying or changing the color scheme of an armor model that is about to be purchased. Yeah Yeah might be a small girly wish but I do get quirky about the way my char looks
I dont think this would be very difficult to implement.

Possibly not, although given the comments Armagan made regarding on armour heraldry it may well be time consuming (if you need to make an entirely separate piece of armour for each colour that is).

I hate horses so I've never ridden one, but in real life I think it'd be difficult enough to concentrate and actually control the force behind the blow.

Not exactly. A practised rider could do it, but you wouldn't be wielding it one handed - you'd drop the reigns and use the stirrup to both control the horse, and stop you overbalancing when you swing. Would depend on the weapon and the balance of the weapon though.