Companion Recruitment System Suggestion

[RichardtheCat]

Like many of you, I have been playing Bannerlord since it's released. As we see, as an early access game, I’m excitedly waiting for new and more content that is open to developments and will be added. I do not know if there is currently any content planned to be added, but as you can see from the title, I will have some suggestions for companions recruitment.

I think it is somewhat monotonous to hire every companion we meet at the taverns and where we can afford it. As a new orphan, I think it will be more difficult to hire a companion with the highest level of talent to your clan, and it will provide players with different motivations to hire better companions to their clans, and a more in-depth role-play gaming experience.

For example, a low skilled level companion you will hire to your clan at the beginning of your adventure will gain experience, develop their skills with/by you and your bond with them will naturally become stronger as time goes on.

The skills of the new companion that you hire to your clan and in the following stages may be more useful. But when you appoint your companion as Commander or Lord, it can bring the internal conflict to players in the role-play perspective. This may make the external conflicts of your Lords involved in the game more meaningful and valuable. In this way, we also have these external conflicts and our internal conflicts so we can get a deeper roleplay gaming experience.

I am not a game designer, but if the money, clan level, influence and charm mechanics and tools currently used in the game are used to hire a companion to our clan, this can make the interaction of the players with the companions more meaningful. I would like to roughly explain the needs and tiers of the companion recruitment system.

Companion Recruitment System: Tiers and Needs

• Companion is divided into different Tiers according to their skill level.
• The items of companion in the high-level Tier may be of higher quality than the lower-level Tier.
• The fee paid to the companion may vary depending on the level of the Tier in which they are located.
• Requirements for companion joining the clan vary depending on the level of the tier they are in.
• Companions in the higher Tiers require higher money, clan level, influence and charm than companions in the lower Tiers.

Tiers:

Tier 1: Money
Tier 2: Money + Clan Level
Tier 3: Money + Clan Level + Influence
Tier 4: Money + Clan Level + Influence + *Charm (High Charm Skill will be needed)
Tier 5 - The Legend** :Money + Clan Level + Influence + *Charm + Kingdom Army Size

* Charm Skill and Dialogue Extention:

I think that this system can be a much deeper and more enjoyable experience if the dialogue mechanic used to convince the NPCs (Lords to join your kingdom, propose to Lady or landlord’s lost daughter's mission, etc.) in the game is also used when recruiting companions. But this maybe can create more than enough confusion or difficulty. After all, Mount&Blade Bannerlord is a game that can be played for hundreds of hours. But this will make use of charm skills in the recruitment system more meaningful.

**The Legend:

Maybe we’ll be able to have the one -and only- legendary companion under our banner. I’m not sure about this idea. Maybe it’s too much. But who doesn’t want Achilles, Hercules or Spartacus if you’re able to have? LOL

I don’t know does this suggestion makes any sense or it’s too complicated but somehow I feel this part of the game missing this kind of detail. I hope it’s in the developers' plan. I know in my suggestion there are lots of things to be taken into consideration but it’s also a good and designing part of the game, isn’t it?

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who worked and still works at Taleworlds for their efforts. It’s been looong time for us to wait but we’re happy to have and play the game. For the rest of the journey of Bannerlord, I wish you the best luck!

 

[Grumpy Hermit]

I think part of the issue, for me, is that so many things don't seem to have a set definition. We're used to individuals being given a fief, individuals having a relationship with the player, individuals being recruited. But individuals don't have the same level of autonomy we were used to in Warband.

Now a clan is given the fief. For the player, everything the clan does is primarily funded by the player's fiefs, workshops, caravans, and actions. But the workshops and caravans are owned and run by 'notables' in the towns for the AI rather than the clan or clan members, and the lords and ladies don't seem to ever do trading or quests or crush bandit hideouts like we do so not sure how the funding matches up. They just lead hordes of recruits everywhere until someone crushes it, rinse and repeat, or sit plotting in a town's keep until you go and ask if they want to play a game with you.

It isn't that they're doing less than they did in Warband, but it is that they seem a lot less impactful. They don't feel memorable or like they matter in the slightest because they feel owned by the clan. Though I will say that hearing the ten different versions of the same event through the main quest was rather brilliant, and about the only time in the game I've felt like the different individuals were...different.

Our 'companions' are members of our clan, the same as any of the other lords and ladies wandering around with armies, but they are governed by different rules.
- They can stay in the clan leader's party.
- They can lead a caravan.
- They can lead their own party(and I haven't seen any way to give them any guidance on what to do with it, but I have randomly been given relationship boosts with notables in different areas and boosts in charm to match that I assume has to do with said army saving villagers from bandits).
- They can become a governor(which seems pointless at this stage of EA).
- They can absolutely complain and probably abandon you for raiding those villages(unlike in the other clans, where good-aligned people happily cut down villagers for a sack of grain and pair of smelly shoes).
- Or they're drinking in taverns and dominating the town tournaments.

So they are both more and less than the 'companions' we are used to, and also both more and less compared to the people in other clans.

I will also note that if one of them wins a tournament while a member of your clan, the item they supposedly won never shows up in your inventory, so one could assume that the sword is mounted above the mantle and the leopardskin cloak is laid out as a new rug in the home that every sad companion no longer has, since no vagabond soldier would deign to USE equipment they won. But I digress.

So I'd love to see the things you just suggested added in. In Warband some companions wouldn't join you until you met such-and-such criteria, like renown or honor minimums, on top of a cost. And if you then gave them a title and a fief, there would be consequences to make it feel real. Now, after hiring them there is almost no interaction at all(partly because they never level up either)

I don't want to be able to start the game, find someone with the nickname 'the Swordsman' who has to be Cruel because honorable skilled warriors are a myth, and weapon skills close to 300, and yeah, he'll just follow me because I offered him enough gold to buy a decent horse, as long as he's not so stuck-up that he requires a saddle too. And because he follows me, he's automatically a member of my clan, even though no one ever said that would be the case when I hired him. As far as he was concerned he was getting paid for his hack-hack-cut skills and tendency to strike gallant poses with his nose in the air.

So I would love to see additions to the game that define the roles of the companions. Does your clan Surgeon only help where they are so their Medicine score is being used instead of your own, or do they have a staff they're employing, training, and dispersing to help everyone in the clan? Did you hire 'the Swordsman' to be a personal bodyguard? Do they get paid extra for these services? Is everyone in a clan leader's employ a member of the clan, or only those designated by choice, deed, or bloodline? If the former, should probably stop letting us hire prisoners from enemy clans every day too. I'm sure their families back home are very hurt by that betrayal when we inevitably conquer their hometown.

Point is, we have all these people in the game who are nothing more than a soldier or civilian TYPE with a number showing how many there are, but these people have names, so there needs to be something to show why them having names matters in a semi-RPG.

And yes, I am well aware this is EA and this is a wish list, not a 'get it done now' list.

 

[Xratter]

This is an interesting idea. Not sure how much of this would get implemented, but I'd like to see companions get an overhaul. They are an iconic part of M&B1 and should be for M&B2 as well. This could help make it a little different from the original game.

 

[RichardtheCat]

I found out 4 days ago you can bring back your parents from game file and use them as a companion and they will stay in your family part rather than a companion part in your clan.

 

[bodhi]

I really like the idea and it certainly would add an extra dimention to companion recruitment if it (or something similar) could be implemented well. I like it because it enables NPC's to make dynamic decisions, rather than just robotically complying to our demands. Enabling NPCs to make decisions with regards to the player's stats helps to add a sense of depth and realism to the game. The world will seem more alive and real if we feel the NPC notice our character's unique attributes, either in a positive or negative light.

I like this kind of thing in general as it can be applied and lead to emergent gameplay in many areas of the game.

 

[BannerJamminRaps]

I really think there's a place for this kind pf companion overhaul, would be good to see a few things happen with it:

1) Overhaul of the Traits system and questing to make it a bit more transparent as to what choices lean towards in terms of affecting traits to promote player agency.

2) Have traits act as conditions or modifiers for the tiers of companions.
Eg: For say Tiers 1 through 3, having similar/opposing traits affects a companions cost to hire on, being wary or pleased by your reputation.

Tiers 4 and 5 won't hire on with someone who has an opposing trait to their own, but no strict requirement on needing to match their traits, just don't be someone they'd consider too evil/good.

Legendary calibre companions.. you have to match their traits, they'd never stand to work for someone whose reputation and character tarnished their own.

 

[RichardtheCat]

I really think there's a place for this kind pf companion overhaul, would be good to see a few things happen with it:

1) Overhaul of the Traits system and questing to make it a bit more transparent as to what choices lean towards in terms of affecting traits to promote player agency.

2) Have traits act as conditions or modifiers for the tiers of companions.
Eg: For say Tiers 1 through 3, having similar/opposing traits affects a companions cost to hire on, being wary or pleased by your reputation.

Tiers 4 and 5 won't hire on with someone who has an opposing trait to their own, but no strict requirement on needing to match their traits, just don't be someone they'd consider too evil/good.

Legendary calibre companions.. you have to match their traits, they'd never stand to work for someone whose reputation and character tarnished their own.

I've been thinkinh about this idea and it's getting deeper but trying to keep it implementable as well. And also I'm waiting for TW to finish the game or give modding tools modders. I'm not a modder but hope to find people to join and help me to make this mod. For legendary companion I'm planning to some kind of events as well. I see your pov and agreed with it. I'll keep it mind while I'm shaping this idea. Thank you so much for sharing your ideas.

 

[Maximum997]

I want to see any other companion system rather then what we have in the game.