Introduction:
I've played the Mount&Blade series since 2007, and I can safely come to the conclusion that banditry is one of the most inaccessible, artificial and lacking features in the game. Sadly, this approach seems to have been ported over to Bannerlord, and the only logical thing we can do right now is to suggest more substantial changes while we still can at this stage in the game development.
The issues:
1. Bandit population. Bannerlord seems to have introduced a more dynamic kingdom simulation, which means that the player and kingdom AI parties (lords, villagers, caravans and garrisons) need special input to grow in size or spawn. When any of the kingdom AI parties are attacked or destroyed, there are immediate consequences in the whole simulation: villagers getting killed means they cannot supply a town with food/resources; destroyed caravans cause a disruption in supply, while a defeated/bankrupt lord party means less security. Once destroyed/bankrupt, all the aforementioned parties need to be recreated or grown step by step. Even worse for lord parties, the amount of troops that one can recruit from any given location is limited, which means they need time to regain their strength. Bandits, on the other hand, don't play by this ruleset, and the reason is simple: they seem to spawn out of thin air over and over again and disrupt the kingdom simulation in an artificial way. They don't need to recruit new troops; they don't need to care about relations with notables; they don't have a general population number which you can control over time. They just spawn, and that's the whole issue: there is no way you or the AI can possibly control this factor. In the end, any effort to make a region more safe for villagers or caravans is futile.
2. Bandit party size. In one of the feedback threads, mexxico pretty confirmed that bandit party size is bound by player level. Thus, as you level up, bandit parties will be bigger. Such a mechanic, while also proving that bandits have next to no simulation at all, brings two problems: 1. The AI lords will have a harder time dealing with them late game, simply because the player has a high level. 2. Villagers and caravans will have lower chances of survival in battles against bandits for the same exact reason, which in turn will hit the global economy harder.
3. Bandits don't starve or go bankrupt. Settlements starve, lords pay wages, go bankrupt, suffer of hunger and desertion, towns lose prosperity to a plethora of factors, but bandits are immune to everything. They don't pay wages, they don't starve, the don't have deserters and they never go bankrupt. This is unfair to the kingdom AI and the player too, because all the kingdom/player parties have to manage food and finances to survive and grow. It is especially frustrating to have your caravan destroyed to a bandit attack, knowing that you paid for its troops, while the bandits did not, and you precisely know that if you defeat that bandit party, a new one will spawn out of thin air anyway.
4. Hideouts are very lackluster and the player can't interact with them. As of now, all you can do is destroy them, hoping that there will be less bandits for a while. We don't know whether the bandit parties are stashing stolen goods in hideouts; we don't know whether they have some hidden recruiting mechanic in there; all in all, they are pretty obscure to the player. You can't enter them to deal with bandits, recruit bandit troops, buy stolen goods, find bandit notables etc. It feels like a big opportunity missed.
5. Town gangs and campaign bandit parties seem to have no link at all. This is probably another issue in the 'missed opportunities' department. I'm not aware of any mechanic that links town gangs with the other bandits you can find on the campaign map. They don't influence one another, and it feels like they live in totally different worlds.
The solution: Bandits need a simulation of their own.
Just like the kingdom AI, bandits need to be affected by the same mechanics in the game world. Their number, quality, wealth and spawn chance needs to be affected by a number of factors that are logical and comprehensible for the player. In practice this would mean:
1. Bandits should not spawn out of thin air anymore. Instead, their spawn chance and number could be determined by a formula which takes in account settlement population; prosperity; food stocks and opportunistic events near said settlements, such as lootable battlefields. Therefore, a combination these factors would determine the chance and number of bandit parties spawning from a settlement (If TaleWorlds wants to make things more complex, settlements could lose a percentage of their hearths when bandits spawn, which would mean that some people in said settlement abandoned their previous activity and chose a bandit life).
Example 1: Two lords fight near Tevea, which is a very poor village and the people are starving. After the battle ends, the village would spawn some looter parties. Looter party size would depend on how big the battle was.
Example 2: Car Banseth is a poor town and has issues with food supply. As result, forest bandit parties would spawn to poach or ambush villagers and caravans.
2. Bandit parties need to be persistent. Just like any other AI party in the game world, bandit parties could be led by distinct, randomly generated NPCs, who are in charge of party finances, food supplies recruitment and upgrades. The possibilities are endless here:
- When a bandit party is first spawned, the game could generate a bandit hero (i.e Borcha the Looter) and a number of Tier 1 bandit troops;
- The party would need to maintain itself by stealing from villages, attacking villages/caravans. Therefore, the party requires food and money;
- If Borcha the Looter manages to defeat a villager party, he would be able to upgrade his troops to the next tier or recruit new bandit troops from poor villages or hideouts.
- If Borcha the Looter is captured, he can be ransomed to the Ransom Broker or to any Gang Leader for money. Executing him would lead to a relation loss with the gang leaders he is friends with.
3. Bandits need to be integrated in the game economy. After Borcha the Looter defeated the villager party, he can sell the stolen goods to a gang leader in the closest town. These goods would eventually make their way to the market. The more deals a gang leader has with bandit parties, the more powerful he becomes in his town. In turn, Borcha the Looter may have the opportunity to recruit more troops from the said gang leaders, just like AI lords do. These dealings can also open opportunities for player quests (i.e Kidnapping, ransoms, protection money and all the bandit things).
4. Hideouts need to be expanded and opened to the player. Hideouts are safe havens for bandits and should give them opportunities to grow:
- Bandit parties may sell and buy goods at the hideouts;
- Interact with bandit notables and recruit troops from them;
- Train and upgrade their troops;
- Garrison there if an imminent threat is around;
Players should also have the opportunity to interact with the hideouts in the same way as bandits do, after building relations with bandit notables in towns.
Example: Klethi the Goat owns a hideout near Phycaon. If the player increases his relations with her, she would offer him access with the bandits stationed in her hideout for troop recruitment, sales of stolen goods etc.
Too long didn't read version: Bandits are their own kingdom; each party is led by a NPC who interacts with the world economy and gang leaders in towns; they don't spawn out of thin air and they have to maintain and upgrade themselves like lord parties.
Indeed, adding such complex mechanics would require a lot of testing, balancing and retuning of the game economy, but it's nothing an Alpha branch couldn't handle. I might have had other ideas, but I'll add them later as I remember them.
I've played the Mount&Blade series since 2007, and I can safely come to the conclusion that banditry is one of the most inaccessible, artificial and lacking features in the game. Sadly, this approach seems to have been ported over to Bannerlord, and the only logical thing we can do right now is to suggest more substantial changes while we still can at this stage in the game development.
The issues:
1. Bandit population. Bannerlord seems to have introduced a more dynamic kingdom simulation, which means that the player and kingdom AI parties (lords, villagers, caravans and garrisons) need special input to grow in size or spawn. When any of the kingdom AI parties are attacked or destroyed, there are immediate consequences in the whole simulation: villagers getting killed means they cannot supply a town with food/resources; destroyed caravans cause a disruption in supply, while a defeated/bankrupt lord party means less security. Once destroyed/bankrupt, all the aforementioned parties need to be recreated or grown step by step. Even worse for lord parties, the amount of troops that one can recruit from any given location is limited, which means they need time to regain their strength. Bandits, on the other hand, don't play by this ruleset, and the reason is simple: they seem to spawn out of thin air over and over again and disrupt the kingdom simulation in an artificial way. They don't need to recruit new troops; they don't need to care about relations with notables; they don't have a general population number which you can control over time. They just spawn, and that's the whole issue: there is no way you or the AI can possibly control this factor. In the end, any effort to make a region more safe for villagers or caravans is futile.
2. Bandit party size. In one of the feedback threads, mexxico pretty confirmed that bandit party size is bound by player level. Thus, as you level up, bandit parties will be bigger. Such a mechanic, while also proving that bandits have next to no simulation at all, brings two problems: 1. The AI lords will have a harder time dealing with them late game, simply because the player has a high level. 2. Villagers and caravans will have lower chances of survival in battles against bandits for the same exact reason, which in turn will hit the global economy harder.
3. Bandits don't starve or go bankrupt. Settlements starve, lords pay wages, go bankrupt, suffer of hunger and desertion, towns lose prosperity to a plethora of factors, but bandits are immune to everything. They don't pay wages, they don't starve, the don't have deserters and they never go bankrupt. This is unfair to the kingdom AI and the player too, because all the kingdom/player parties have to manage food and finances to survive and grow. It is especially frustrating to have your caravan destroyed to a bandit attack, knowing that you paid for its troops, while the bandits did not, and you precisely know that if you defeat that bandit party, a new one will spawn out of thin air anyway.
4. Hideouts are very lackluster and the player can't interact with them. As of now, all you can do is destroy them, hoping that there will be less bandits for a while. We don't know whether the bandit parties are stashing stolen goods in hideouts; we don't know whether they have some hidden recruiting mechanic in there; all in all, they are pretty obscure to the player. You can't enter them to deal with bandits, recruit bandit troops, buy stolen goods, find bandit notables etc. It feels like a big opportunity missed.
5. Town gangs and campaign bandit parties seem to have no link at all. This is probably another issue in the 'missed opportunities' department. I'm not aware of any mechanic that links town gangs with the other bandits you can find on the campaign map. They don't influence one another, and it feels like they live in totally different worlds.
The solution: Bandits need a simulation of their own.
Just like the kingdom AI, bandits need to be affected by the same mechanics in the game world. Their number, quality, wealth and spawn chance needs to be affected by a number of factors that are logical and comprehensible for the player. In practice this would mean:
1. Bandits should not spawn out of thin air anymore. Instead, their spawn chance and number could be determined by a formula which takes in account settlement population; prosperity; food stocks and opportunistic events near said settlements, such as lootable battlefields. Therefore, a combination these factors would determine the chance and number of bandit parties spawning from a settlement (If TaleWorlds wants to make things more complex, settlements could lose a percentage of their hearths when bandits spawn, which would mean that some people in said settlement abandoned their previous activity and chose a bandit life).
Example 1: Two lords fight near Tevea, which is a very poor village and the people are starving. After the battle ends, the village would spawn some looter parties. Looter party size would depend on how big the battle was.
Example 2: Car Banseth is a poor town and has issues with food supply. As result, forest bandit parties would spawn to poach or ambush villagers and caravans.
2. Bandit parties need to be persistent. Just like any other AI party in the game world, bandit parties could be led by distinct, randomly generated NPCs, who are in charge of party finances, food supplies recruitment and upgrades. The possibilities are endless here:
- When a bandit party is first spawned, the game could generate a bandit hero (i.e Borcha the Looter) and a number of Tier 1 bandit troops;
- The party would need to maintain itself by stealing from villages, attacking villages/caravans. Therefore, the party requires food and money;
- If Borcha the Looter manages to defeat a villager party, he would be able to upgrade his troops to the next tier or recruit new bandit troops from poor villages or hideouts.
- If Borcha the Looter is captured, he can be ransomed to the Ransom Broker or to any Gang Leader for money. Executing him would lead to a relation loss with the gang leaders he is friends with.
3. Bandits need to be integrated in the game economy. After Borcha the Looter defeated the villager party, he can sell the stolen goods to a gang leader in the closest town. These goods would eventually make their way to the market. The more deals a gang leader has with bandit parties, the more powerful he becomes in his town. In turn, Borcha the Looter may have the opportunity to recruit more troops from the said gang leaders, just like AI lords do. These dealings can also open opportunities for player quests (i.e Kidnapping, ransoms, protection money and all the bandit things).
4. Hideouts need to be expanded and opened to the player. Hideouts are safe havens for bandits and should give them opportunities to grow:
- Bandit parties may sell and buy goods at the hideouts;
- Interact with bandit notables and recruit troops from them;
- Train and upgrade their troops;
- Garrison there if an imminent threat is around;
Players should also have the opportunity to interact with the hideouts in the same way as bandits do, after building relations with bandit notables in towns.
Example: Klethi the Goat owns a hideout near Phycaon. If the player increases his relations with her, she would offer him access with the bandits stationed in her hideout for troop recruitment, sales of stolen goods etc.
Too long didn't read version: Bandits are their own kingdom; each party is led by a NPC who interacts with the world economy and gang leaders in towns; they don't spawn out of thin air and they have to maintain and upgrade themselves like lord parties.
Indeed, adding such complex mechanics would require a lot of testing, balancing and retuning of the game economy, but it's nothing an Alpha branch couldn't handle. I might have had other ideas, but I'll add them later as I remember them.