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I have currently clocked in 1105 hours in Bannerlord and have over 700 hours in Warband, so suffice to say I've played a lot. An idea I've gathered from other games (Stellaris primarily) is that Bannerlord would be a far better game if devs introduced 'flavor encounters'. What I mean is pretty much exactly how Stellaris implemented such encounters: a text screen pops up informing you of an issue, whether it be related to a workshop you own, your troops during a march, a fief being governed by your companion, etc. etc. There are an incredible number of possibilities regarding what kinds of events can exist in the game. Below the text window are options that essentially boil down to dice rolls: i.e. any given event usually presents a problem (although not always) and as such, there are options for how to resolve said problem. For example, a workshop of yours burned down due to an accident. One option may be to simply rebuild for a fixed cost, while another might be to write a letter to the fief owner requesting some funds or aide. The first option would essentially be a wealth check, while the second might be a speech check. You could expand the secondary option to include sending out companions with high speech, and these rolls can give them substantial EXP in a given skill.
I think this system would do a couple things.
1. It would, as is obvious by the name, add flavor to the game. It makes the world generally feel more alive, and it makes your decisions feel more impactful even if such events are generally surface-level. Stellaris definitely gives me this exact feeling personally and it would be hard to imagine a Stellaris without this feature.
2. It introduces a mechanic into the game that enables the possibility for skill increases for the player and their companions. This is sorely needed because some skills are very difficult to increase for your companions and take a lot of grinding or patience.
3. You can also use the system in order to add flavor to other events that aren't spontaneous and random. For example, weddings could include potential rolls regarding diplomacy with guests for improving relations.
Interestingly, both Warband and the very popular Prophesy of Pendor mod had inklings of this idea. In Warband, there would be spontaneous interactions between companions that you'd have to "decide" on but generally those events were incredibly boring. However, Pendor had a more interesting system regarding fief management. Your steward would notify you of an issue with your fief, and you'd ride back and talk to him and then pick from a few options on how to resolve said issue. This is rather tedious, especially if you own many fiefs and I'm sure many players eventually ignored many such issues. However, in Bannerlord this could simply be improved by not requiring the player to trek back to their fief in order to complete the event.
Anyways, that's about it. Thanks for reading!
I think this system would do a couple things.
1. It would, as is obvious by the name, add flavor to the game. It makes the world generally feel more alive, and it makes your decisions feel more impactful even if such events are generally surface-level. Stellaris definitely gives me this exact feeling personally and it would be hard to imagine a Stellaris without this feature.
2. It introduces a mechanic into the game that enables the possibility for skill increases for the player and their companions. This is sorely needed because some skills are very difficult to increase for your companions and take a lot of grinding or patience.
3. You can also use the system in order to add flavor to other events that aren't spontaneous and random. For example, weddings could include potential rolls regarding diplomacy with guests for improving relations.
Interestingly, both Warband and the very popular Prophesy of Pendor mod had inklings of this idea. In Warband, there would be spontaneous interactions between companions that you'd have to "decide" on but generally those events were incredibly boring. However, Pendor had a more interesting system regarding fief management. Your steward would notify you of an issue with your fief, and you'd ride back and talk to him and then pick from a few options on how to resolve said issue. This is rather tedious, especially if you own many fiefs and I'm sure many players eventually ignored many such issues. However, in Bannerlord this could simply be improved by not requiring the player to trek back to their fief in order to complete the event.
Anyways, that's about it. Thanks for reading!