1. Install Allegiance overhaul and you can set how often NPC”s would leave/join kingdoms.
2 & 5. Install Diplomacy Fixes and make war/peace sensible again by adjusting all aformentioned factors and duration of war/peace/alliance
3. Install Community Patch, they have updated it yesterday and it has already implemented almost all of perks
Mods are awesome
I actually did! I was curious, lol. The modded campaign is already feeling a lot better, although I haven't started a kingdom yet so can't comment on the late game. This confirms to me that the platform itself is very promising; just needs a lot more work on implementing complete systems, mechanics, and balancing.
Saying that, I prefer to focus on the unmodded game and will probably revert to it again next significant patch. I would like to see the unmodded game reach a state where we can get a decent playthrough without having to use mods.
Everyone - everyone - in these forums is already playing the savescum game and never losing their full army. Not trying to call people out for doing so, but definitely calling attention to the absurdity of it. It shouldn't be difficult to build up your fortune quickly with savescum. I question why devs are even trying to balance around it, rather than focusing their time on implementing the game's core features (e.g. perks, diplomacy), and maybe balancing once that's all done. More generally, I'd orientate the game in a direction where the simulation feels fair enough that an ironman playthrough (no save/reload option, single savefile that overwrites on autosave constantly) would eventually* become the proper way to have an exciting, challenging playthrough.
Same here. I'm really looking forward to being able to run a single-save ironman playthrough with no save/reload option. Having to suffer the setbacks without savescumming is going to provide the most interesting and challenging experience by far.
I fear it is some way off though; a lot more needs to be done before we are able to play like this.
It really does blow my mind that so far the devs have made it so difficult to have multiple playthroughs start to finish. How are we supposed to test the fullness of the game when it feels like the game will never end due to obtuse and flawed mechanics?
Don't get me wrong, this is quickly becoming a favorite game of mine. Each point of yours is a crucial thing for the devs to address. It's been a position of mine for some time now that rather than having the lord/prisoner/faction turnover rate at absurdly high rates, they should be rare events to add twists to the campaign. I like how you put it. It's homogenized the armies of different factions and has essentially spoiled the uniqueness of each culture in battle. Right now the rate which lords come and go makes it impossible--truly impossible--to build a kingdom that is lasting without save scumming. Personally, I use a single mod, and it helps factions hang onto their constituents based on honor, which I think should play a role in that decision.
Some of the issues are balance issues, and these ought to be relatively easy to solve. Trade, smithing, etc.
Other issues are to do with the mechanics, and could require a complete re-work. For example; prisoners escaping so often. It seems such a simple thing to fix, yet taking lords off the map for extended periods will not only cripple that faction (spelling doom), but lead to a snowball effect with regard to the victor. There may be no way to balance this - the mechanics might have to be fundamentally changed.
If I was the devs then I'd basically be doing the following:
1) Fix crashes and game-breaking bugs.
2) Implement all systems and review mechanics based on testing, and focus on overhauling systems and re-working mechanics that seem unlikely to be viable long-term.
3) Then when all systems/mechanics are functional and practically viable, start balancing everything.
I suspect we are somewhere between stage 1 and 2 at the moment (given some systems like diplomacy haven't been properly implemented), so getting a playable campaign from start to finish is probably going to take a while. We should cut the devs some slack here as focussing on the wrong priorities now will not be in anyone's best interests, least of all ours (like Sidrath said).
[Incidentally, for players who wish to start multiple campaigns, but who got attached to the visual appearance of their main character, we can go into the character editor of an existing campaign while having a text file open. Ctrl-C in the character editor, then Ctrl-V into the text file (and save it). When starting a new campaign do the reverse and paste the character info into the character editor.
Kinda pathetic I know, but at least we can run multiple campaigns without having to set up the visuals on our character each time (assuming players don't want to edit a new character of course.)]