Preface:
So there's no secret that Bannerlord suffers from a snowballing effect as a result of many misbalances and some bugs. This is a series of suggestions aimed at providing an additional system by which factions are required to slow down expansion, preferentially target land once held, seek peace and punish factions that either overexpand too quickly or refuse to seek peace. It should be noted that any numbers I'm stating here are literally thrown out there, if you have a better grasp on how balance should be feel free to say.
Casus Belli:
Casus Belli literally means, "an act or event that provokes or is used to justify war." Basically the onus should be placed on the faction seeking to declare war to have a reason for it. The scope of this suggestion right now only details that a singular claim can be used as Casus Belli at any one time, even if other claims are there to be enforced. Currently at game start factions are at war, preferably with this suggestion they would not be at war at game start.
(Any further expansion of reasons could theoretically include simplier one like right of conquest, prisoner raids, embargos, etc.)
Claims:
"But what is a Claim?" I hear asked. A claim is legal rite pressed by clans that they should legally own a piece of land. Currently at game start every settlement with walls (castles and cities) is owned by a clan, with this suggestion these clans would have permanent claims on these walled settlements (just called settlements from here on out) that do not expire while the settlement is held by that clan. If a clan has a claim on a settlement which they do not control as a result of war or other reasons (expanded in a bit) then their claim begins to decay over a 10 year period.
If a claim can decay due to the clan not owning the settlement then there must be a method by which clans can form new claims for which the faction can use as Casus Belli. There could be developed a clan level intrigue option that utilises clan jobs (setting a clan member as a spy), clan influence and cash, and skills such as roguery, tactics and ?leadership?, and also is influenced by the mental attributes; cunning, social and intelligence of the clan member. This feature would have the clan spy directed towards any settlement that the clan does not have a claim on, and through dice roles influenced by skills and attributes, supplemented by influence and cash costs, the spy would generate a claim on that settlement, which also lasts 10 years. Should remind readers at this point it isn't clans that press these claims but the faction the clan belongs to.
Three more things must be clarified with relation to claims and Casus Belli:
1.If and when a faction goes to war for a claim, when the settlement is captured byt the faction, normal voting should take place to decide who would get the settlement, with the clan with the claim having a buff to their voting block, basically the other clans would have the option to vote and ratify a clan's claim to the settlement and would more likely vote for them if the relationship between the clans is not too bad, while also opening the door for intrigue and clans looking to take advantage of the situation.
2.If a faction captures the settlement it declared war for, it does not end the war, the war continues and further battles and settlement taking can take place. the Casus Belli is only the justification for war, it does not dictate its' conclusion. To this end, War Exhaustion would be a mechanic to encourage factions to make peace.
3.This system of claims could ferment a large degree of internal strife and give justification for clans to rebel against the faction if they are either bullied by the faction leader or lose out due to intrigue by other clans.
War Exhaustion:
Before I get into War Exhaustion; this is the suggestion where I am least confident on the numbers and how they may balance, any issues people have with this, please suggest either alternate methods or numbers.
War Exhaustion exists for both the attackers and defenders, directly influenced by the taking of settlements and a general tick up over months. It would be a scale of 0-100 tracked for each faction in the conflict, with consequences taking effect at the higher limits for the faction that reaches them:
At first, no penalties should be applied to the faction, reflecting a desire and drive among the clans to fight the war. However, after a point, which I suggest should be 60 war exhaustion, penalties relating to influence costs for forming an army should be applied, the gist is that after 60 war exhaustion it should become harder and harder to form a cohesive army to fight enemy armies and lay siege to settlements. In terms of figures I suggest for each point from 60-100 war exhaustion, a 3% increase to influence costs for armies should be applied, leading to a 120% increase in influence costs by 100 war exhaustion, reflecting the unwillingness of clans to continue fighting a war and a desire to return to peace. These figures are the those I am least confident in, if you have a better grasp please comment.
The reason I would prefer war exhaustion to be tied to settlements and not field battles is to keep the system less complex and more focused on the more important feature of taking land from the enemy in a war.
After a point, suggesting 70 war exhaustion, the AI faction leader would begin to have background weight applied to make it more likely to seek peace, but peace must be accepted for both sides, reflecting an attacker over extending themselves and defenders then fighting back with a more cohesive force, helping to prevent snowballing.
The final part of the war exhaustion suggestion (and part I am least sure on, conceptually) is the idea that it can accumulate in multiple wars.
For example; the Vlandians take land from Sturgia, Battania and the Western Empire in seperate wars in quick succession. After a truce period those three factions individually declare war on Vlandia at the same time to attempt to retake the land the Vlandians took, resulting in war exhaustion potentially peaking out at 300 for Vlandia, or a 360% increase in influence costs in forming an army for the Vlandians, reflecting a situation where the Vlandians are completely overwhelmed. This can be prevented by the Vlandians taking and holding over a period of time, those lands until claims have decayed or, the clan with the claim has defected or been wiped out.
The consequences of this prospective series of systems is the following:
So there's no secret that Bannerlord suffers from a snowballing effect as a result of many misbalances and some bugs. This is a series of suggestions aimed at providing an additional system by which factions are required to slow down expansion, preferentially target land once held, seek peace and punish factions that either overexpand too quickly or refuse to seek peace. It should be noted that any numbers I'm stating here are literally thrown out there, if you have a better grasp on how balance should be feel free to say.
Casus Belli:
Casus Belli literally means, "an act or event that provokes or is used to justify war." Basically the onus should be placed on the faction seeking to declare war to have a reason for it. The scope of this suggestion right now only details that a singular claim can be used as Casus Belli at any one time, even if other claims are there to be enforced. Currently at game start factions are at war, preferably with this suggestion they would not be at war at game start.
(Any further expansion of reasons could theoretically include simplier one like right of conquest, prisoner raids, embargos, etc.)
Claims:
"But what is a Claim?" I hear asked. A claim is legal rite pressed by clans that they should legally own a piece of land. Currently at game start every settlement with walls (castles and cities) is owned by a clan, with this suggestion these clans would have permanent claims on these walled settlements (just called settlements from here on out) that do not expire while the settlement is held by that clan. If a clan has a claim on a settlement which they do not control as a result of war or other reasons (expanded in a bit) then their claim begins to decay over a 10 year period.
If a claim can decay due to the clan not owning the settlement then there must be a method by which clans can form new claims for which the faction can use as Casus Belli. There could be developed a clan level intrigue option that utilises clan jobs (setting a clan member as a spy), clan influence and cash, and skills such as roguery, tactics and ?leadership?, and also is influenced by the mental attributes; cunning, social and intelligence of the clan member. This feature would have the clan spy directed towards any settlement that the clan does not have a claim on, and through dice roles influenced by skills and attributes, supplemented by influence and cash costs, the spy would generate a claim on that settlement, which also lasts 10 years. Should remind readers at this point it isn't clans that press these claims but the faction the clan belongs to.
Three more things must be clarified with relation to claims and Casus Belli:
1.If and when a faction goes to war for a claim, when the settlement is captured byt the faction, normal voting should take place to decide who would get the settlement, with the clan with the claim having a buff to their voting block, basically the other clans would have the option to vote and ratify a clan's claim to the settlement and would more likely vote for them if the relationship between the clans is not too bad, while also opening the door for intrigue and clans looking to take advantage of the situation.
2.If a faction captures the settlement it declared war for, it does not end the war, the war continues and further battles and settlement taking can take place. the Casus Belli is only the justification for war, it does not dictate its' conclusion. To this end, War Exhaustion would be a mechanic to encourage factions to make peace.
3.This system of claims could ferment a large degree of internal strife and give justification for clans to rebel against the faction if they are either bullied by the faction leader or lose out due to intrigue by other clans.
War Exhaustion:
Before I get into War Exhaustion; this is the suggestion where I am least confident on the numbers and how they may balance, any issues people have with this, please suggest either alternate methods or numbers.
War Exhaustion exists for both the attackers and defenders, directly influenced by the taking of settlements and a general tick up over months. It would be a scale of 0-100 tracked for each faction in the conflict, with consequences taking effect at the higher limits for the faction that reaches them:
- As a base, ?both? sides would have a gradual increase of 10 war exhaustion per month/seasion. This should be consistent and slow enough to allow factions to fight pitched battles and give an impression of stalemate if no settlements are taken.
- When war is declared a Casus Belli targets a settlement which has a claim on it from a clan within the aggressor faction. During the war, if either side takes that settlement, no war exhaustion is gained, reflecting a focal point for the war, increasing field battles and general struggle for the settlement (hopefully).
- If either side takes a settlement other than the one for which war was declared, war exhaustion should increase for the faction that takes the settlement; 20 war exhaustion for castles, 40 war exhaustion for cities. This should reflect a faction's "Right of Conquest" during the war but also reflect increasing disillusion among the clans for fighting the war if the targeted settlement isn't the focus of attack.
At first, no penalties should be applied to the faction, reflecting a desire and drive among the clans to fight the war. However, after a point, which I suggest should be 60 war exhaustion, penalties relating to influence costs for forming an army should be applied, the gist is that after 60 war exhaustion it should become harder and harder to form a cohesive army to fight enemy armies and lay siege to settlements. In terms of figures I suggest for each point from 60-100 war exhaustion, a 3% increase to influence costs for armies should be applied, leading to a 120% increase in influence costs by 100 war exhaustion, reflecting the unwillingness of clans to continue fighting a war and a desire to return to peace. These figures are the those I am least confident in, if you have a better grasp please comment.
The reason I would prefer war exhaustion to be tied to settlements and not field battles is to keep the system less complex and more focused on the more important feature of taking land from the enemy in a war.
After a point, suggesting 70 war exhaustion, the AI faction leader would begin to have background weight applied to make it more likely to seek peace, but peace must be accepted for both sides, reflecting an attacker over extending themselves and defenders then fighting back with a more cohesive force, helping to prevent snowballing.
The final part of the war exhaustion suggestion (and part I am least sure on, conceptually) is the idea that it can accumulate in multiple wars.
For example; the Vlandians take land from Sturgia, Battania and the Western Empire in seperate wars in quick succession. After a truce period those three factions individually declare war on Vlandia at the same time to attempt to retake the land the Vlandians took, resulting in war exhaustion potentially peaking out at 300 for Vlandia, or a 360% increase in influence costs in forming an army for the Vlandians, reflecting a situation where the Vlandians are completely overwhelmed. This can be prevented by the Vlandians taking and holding over a period of time, those lands until claims have decayed or, the clan with the claim has defected or been wiped out.
The consequences of this prospective series of systems is the following:
- Factions cannot declare war without a claim to press from a vassal, or personal, claim to a settlement in another faction.
- Provide a system for clans to build claims which allow increased internal strife and, expand and increase clan importance within factions.
- Seek to provide a backdrop to allow for longer games, spanning generations of characters.
The concept WOULD be a nice addition to the game. It would also make sense that the higher the War Exhaustion, the cheaper it is to make peace, which would make it easier for players when fighting a much larger Kingdom. If you can hold out for a while, the political pressure will lead the enemy to value the peace more.
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