When it came to the RPG elements and different character development metrics, in both Mount&Blade and Mount&Blade:Warband there were never any visible restrictions: be it honor, 99 limit of which was hardly reachable any time after creating a character, 63 STR/AGI/INT/CHA which one would (in most cases) only ever get by using something like Cheat Engine or Art Money, and even reaching 460 points in a weapon was not a limit and getting over that limit always felt great.
But in Bannerlord there are A LOT of limits which you can reach very early in the game (I would have argued for Attributes/Skills being one of them, but that's off-topic), some of which, after they've been maxed out, completely disappear from players perspective of "Things that develop my character". Be it not being able to be "The greatest lancer/trader/smith in Calradia - because, well, the limit is fairly easy to reach for both you and companions, revoking you of the title "One and only" when your companions get to that limit, too, or, more to the topic at hand, not being able to make the greatest Clan ever as one of your goals, just because in 100s of playthroughs you've reached Clan level 6 in the first 10 hours of those playthroughs, making you stuck at an arbitrary number of 9 companions, just to make it 10 with We Pledge our Swords perk (which makes it a no-brainer anyway, as if it never existed) and results with you having almost two times fewer companions then in previous games, where it had already felt not enough because they were arguing all the time, but you also had to make some of them focus on specific party skills before doing what you want with them in terms of equipment.
In Bannerlord it's even worse, and let me explain:
You have 10 slots.
Preferably, one has to be a Quartermaster
One a Surgeon.
And one an Engineer.
That leaves us with 7.
Some of them you would want to lead caravans, but having less then 5 already makes the passive income hardly noticeable (I personally usually go all-in and am left with no party members in the end to make the perks in Trade stat count), which would leave you with from 0 to 7 people left in your party, depending on how many you would want to lead caravans.
Assuming your party has every type of unit in battle
One goes to lead Ranged troops
One goes to lead Footmen
One goes to lead Spearmen
One goes to lead Melee Cavalry
One goes to lead Ranged Cavalry
and this is assuming you don't have distinctions like Lancers, Shock Cavalry/Footmen, Crossbowmen, Heavy/mid/light armor and many others which I loved having myself, including just having several different faction troops in one party (which some would argue is morally not efficient).
Which leaves you with 2.
2 people that you have to save for leading parties, so you can't really make them your personal guards, you can't put them into cities narrow allies as bandit leaders, nor can you make them cool overpowered units wearing the dientical with you armor and weapons that hack and slash together with you, or roleplay as Twelve Knights of Whatever, because the maximum number of companions is 10, and plus you - makes it 11. No City/Castle Lords, no companions to meme with.
Please, consider making the Clan Tier infinitely levelable. Yes, the game may break like with having 10k deserters in older games when reaching high renown, but the sandbox aspect is what makes it fun.
If you want to grind for having tons of companions - you should be able to. That - would be your choice.
But in Bannerlord there are A LOT of limits which you can reach very early in the game (I would have argued for Attributes/Skills being one of them, but that's off-topic), some of which, after they've been maxed out, completely disappear from players perspective of "Things that develop my character". Be it not being able to be "The greatest lancer/trader/smith in Calradia - because, well, the limit is fairly easy to reach for both you and companions, revoking you of the title "One and only" when your companions get to that limit, too, or, more to the topic at hand, not being able to make the greatest Clan ever as one of your goals, just because in 100s of playthroughs you've reached Clan level 6 in the first 10 hours of those playthroughs, making you stuck at an arbitrary number of 9 companions, just to make it 10 with We Pledge our Swords perk (which makes it a no-brainer anyway, as if it never existed) and results with you having almost two times fewer companions then in previous games, where it had already felt not enough because they were arguing all the time, but you also had to make some of them focus on specific party skills before doing what you want with them in terms of equipment.
In Bannerlord it's even worse, and let me explain:
You have 10 slots.
Preferably, one has to be a Quartermaster
One a Surgeon.
And one an Engineer.
That leaves us with 7.
Some of them you would want to lead caravans, but having less then 5 already makes the passive income hardly noticeable (I personally usually go all-in and am left with no party members in the end to make the perks in Trade stat count), which would leave you with from 0 to 7 people left in your party, depending on how many you would want to lead caravans.
Assuming your party has every type of unit in battle
One goes to lead Ranged troops
One goes to lead Footmen
One goes to lead Spearmen
One goes to lead Melee Cavalry
One goes to lead Ranged Cavalry
and this is assuming you don't have distinctions like Lancers, Shock Cavalry/Footmen, Crossbowmen, Heavy/mid/light armor and many others which I loved having myself, including just having several different faction troops in one party (which some would argue is morally not efficient).
Which leaves you with 2.
2 people that you have to save for leading parties, so you can't really make them your personal guards, you can't put them into cities narrow allies as bandit leaders, nor can you make them cool overpowered units wearing the dientical with you armor and weapons that hack and slash together with you, or roleplay as Twelve Knights of Whatever, because the maximum number of companions is 10, and plus you - makes it 11. No City/Castle Lords, no companions to meme with.
Please, consider making the Clan Tier infinitely levelable. Yes, the game may break like with having 10k deserters in older games when reaching high renown, but the sandbox aspect is what makes it fun.
If you want to grind for having tons of companions - you should be able to. That - would be your choice.
