AkiraSovu
Recruit
This is one of my pet peeves/hopeful areas of improvement and my take on what would fix things:
The problem: Factions declare war, make peace, and otherwise decide things as one single unit. In a game called Bannerlord you'd expect there to be some functional difference between a clan and a faction. It seems curious then that raiding one member clan of a faction suddenly makes you a priority for every member clan of that faction. Even going so much as to chase you down on the map or ride for days to break sieges. This goes doubly for mercenary clans who should care about making easy money as part of larger battles, and is where they are most needed. As a whole, there is very little distinction between member "Clans" and Faction members. Even when the 'fluff' text would make it sound like a particular lord wouldn't lift a finger to help their faction leader, you become their main target.
And clan to clan wars being able to escalate into larger conflicts makes far more sense from a gameplay standpoint. So that one clan attacking another doesn't necessarily trigger a faction to faction war. It would give clans motivation to maintain strong defenses or hire mercenaries independent of the faction as a whole.
For instance, if two clans within the same faction hate each other and one lord happens to vacate his castle with all his troops to go off to join an army, why wouldn't the other lord take that perfect opportunity to eliminate a rival?
This is compounded by the fact that executing anyone makes you take a penalty to 'diplomacy' so that there is virtually no motivation to unseat or hunt down certain lords (or free others from prison to challenge their rivals). Indeed, when one would expect maintaining a positive relationship with your bannerlords to matter, they become [questionably] functional autonomous appendages of your/their faction.
And this is even without including politics within some clans. Where it might prove politically advantageous to remove or imprison certain lords and prevent them from leading or to empower someone with a more favorable attitude or loyalty, instead each lord is functionally identical.
The solution: Make each lord and clan "a king unto themselves". Give certain factions more acceptable options for ousting rival clans (perhaps politics for Vlandia and raiding or capturing enemy castles for Sturgia etc) as well as varying levels of repercussions for doing so. Make clans the base unit for diplomacy so that each clan has their own goals and corresponding behaviours. Give other methods of succession than execution, so that a rival lord may become clan head and refuse to relinquish power when the clan leader is released.
This also makes wandering lords suddenly have very different values. Do you really want to hire a lord who has cruel and deceitful? Can you rely on a lord to send reinforcements when they are closefisted, cautious, and calculating?
These are just my musings and some of my pet peeves, especially in the relatively early game. Also, there is very little use for some attributes and perks given stacking everything in combat related perks gives you more than enough power.
The problem: Factions declare war, make peace, and otherwise decide things as one single unit. In a game called Bannerlord you'd expect there to be some functional difference between a clan and a faction. It seems curious then that raiding one member clan of a faction suddenly makes you a priority for every member clan of that faction. Even going so much as to chase you down on the map or ride for days to break sieges. This goes doubly for mercenary clans who should care about making easy money as part of larger battles, and is where they are most needed. As a whole, there is very little distinction between member "Clans" and Faction members. Even when the 'fluff' text would make it sound like a particular lord wouldn't lift a finger to help their faction leader, you become their main target.
And clan to clan wars being able to escalate into larger conflicts makes far more sense from a gameplay standpoint. So that one clan attacking another doesn't necessarily trigger a faction to faction war. It would give clans motivation to maintain strong defenses or hire mercenaries independent of the faction as a whole.
For instance, if two clans within the same faction hate each other and one lord happens to vacate his castle with all his troops to go off to join an army, why wouldn't the other lord take that perfect opportunity to eliminate a rival?
This is compounded by the fact that executing anyone makes you take a penalty to 'diplomacy' so that there is virtually no motivation to unseat or hunt down certain lords (or free others from prison to challenge their rivals). Indeed, when one would expect maintaining a positive relationship with your bannerlords to matter, they become [questionably] functional autonomous appendages of your/their faction.
And this is even without including politics within some clans. Where it might prove politically advantageous to remove or imprison certain lords and prevent them from leading or to empower someone with a more favorable attitude or loyalty, instead each lord is functionally identical.
The solution: Make each lord and clan "a king unto themselves". Give certain factions more acceptable options for ousting rival clans (perhaps politics for Vlandia and raiding or capturing enemy castles for Sturgia etc) as well as varying levels of repercussions for doing so. Make clans the base unit for diplomacy so that each clan has their own goals and corresponding behaviours. Give other methods of succession than execution, so that a rival lord may become clan head and refuse to relinquish power when the clan leader is released.
This also makes wandering lords suddenly have very different values. Do you really want to hire a lord who has cruel and deceitful? Can you rely on a lord to send reinforcements when they are closefisted, cautious, and calculating?
These are just my musings and some of my pet peeves, especially in the relatively early game. Also, there is very little use for some attributes and perks given stacking everything in combat related perks gives you more than enough power.
