Some of these aren't from old games, but they're features I'm dying to have.
6) There are a lot of features in the Warband Diplomacy Mod I'd like to see too. Such as recruitment parties. Guard Parties. There are so many bandit parties in my map because I haven't bothered to destroy the hideouts... Gifting and winning favor. Just pretty much that entire mod was so ubiquitous that every feature should have been considered requisite in Bannerlord.
7) Renown and News should be Local, and spread like a tradeable good. so you "generate" a renown "Item" instead and your renown with an individual is based on the amount of your "renown" in their inventory. Same with news and messages. You have to pass by a town, or into a town to get news, and it could be old or new depending on how far away it's from.
8 ) You should be able to give companions quests. like, send them to sell your inventory items for you. Or Collect the News (from 7) or send a message, or locate someone.Or recruit more troops. Or train troops up to a certain level.
9) You should be able to tell formations to attack other specific formations. Like, tell your cavalry to attack their cavalry. Tell your horse archers to form a cantabrian circle, and join the regular cavalry when their out of ammo.
10) tell troops where to go when they are out of ammo. Whether the join infantry or the spear wall.
11) There needs to be way, way, way more formation options. And you should be able to delegate command, but still give general directions like hold hill. hold flank. Skirmish the enemy. Break through... yadda yadda.
12) Way Larger battles. and when armies fight, have 3 battles happening at once. Left Flank, Center, and Right Flank. If you are general you can select which bannermen go to which flank. And if one flank loses or wins it can overflow bannermen into the adjecent flanks. Or even more than the three flanks. Have it like in a siege, but the option of what to put where are the individual parties, and each little "equipment" slot corresponds to the opponents armies "equipment" spot and those are each individual battles zones. And the whole battle isn't complete until each is complete. So if you battle on one flank and your men all flee, you can try to fight again the next "day". essentially have large, cinematic like battles.
13) Reorganize how the screens show up when encountering a party. the "what to do" screen should come up first, with an option to meet in person if you want. And then if you decide to battle, your armies are already loaded, and you can ride back, and it's more like in the movies where the leaders meet in the middle of the battlefield first. Plus, putting the "what to do" screen first allows time for everything to load behind it.