Towns, and perhaps castles, should automatically pull mounted units from their garrison to form a party that will patrol around the primary settlement and between that settlement's bound villages to hunt down bandits, protect villager parties, and enemy parties attempting to raid villages.
Mounted units don't make much sense as garrison units if all they are going to do is patrol the walls on foot. Give them a job they are suited to and that makes sense.
Bandit party spam is a problem as many npc lords are usually too busy or too slow to properly clear out bandit parties. A dedicated mounted patrol would be fast enough to clear out smaller bandit groups while also avoiding larger parties. They could also serve to alert the settlement owner of the presence of nearby hostile parties.
It might be worthwhile to add some protections to these patrols, specifically so that player doesn't lose garrison units because the patrol is sent out while being too weak. e.g. a settlement management screen option to toggle on/off patrols or set a minimum patrol party size, patrol aggression, or patrol units can only be wounded, not killed, while in the patrol party.
Mounted units don't make much sense as garrison units if all they are going to do is patrol the walls on foot. Give them a job they are suited to and that makes sense.
Bandit party spam is a problem as many npc lords are usually too busy or too slow to properly clear out bandit parties. A dedicated mounted patrol would be fast enough to clear out smaller bandit groups while also avoiding larger parties. They could also serve to alert the settlement owner of the presence of nearby hostile parties.
It might be worthwhile to add some protections to these patrols, specifically so that player doesn't lose garrison units because the patrol is sent out while being too weak. e.g. a settlement management screen option to toggle on/off patrols or set a minimum patrol party size, patrol aggression, or patrol units can only be wounded, not killed, while in the patrol party.
