Yeah, but why are the Khan's Guard protecting the Empress who's going to subjugate their people? Now if by some chance the Southern Empire does conquer the Khuzait land's - okay that makes sense at that point because then the Empress is effectively the Khan.
She did; besides, aside from linguistic differences, it really makes no difference if the khan's a native of the steppe, a descendant of Urkun Khan, or whoever to qualify as a "khan's guard" in the literal sense and simply being so good that they ought to be guarding royalty would qualify in a figurative sense. I don't know about you, but I find it much more fun to fight enemy armies comprised of the best of multiple cultures because it's a lot harder to counter them whereas when they're all of one it's easier to identify their weaknesses relative to your own army and exploit it accordingly.
It was a pretty crazy map at the time; I think the "Western" Empire had conquered most of Eastern Calradia (everything from Lageta and Ortysia in their home territories to Chaikhand and whatever's around it that I cannot name off the top of my head) while the Southern Empire only had Onira and Danustica in Imperial territory proper and was mostly migrated into the southern half of the Khuzait territory. The actual Khuzait Khanate comprised only Baltakhand and maybe a couple castles, if I recall correctly.
Some kind of patrol party wouldn't be bad.
But honestly Kingdom parties should hunt down bandits much more aggressively. Especially during any peace time. In theory the layman pays taxes not just so they are protected from rival nations, but you know bandits that try to rob them on the way to market.
Don't they already? Usually it's more tidy during peacetime, but when war's going on bandits and remnants have free reign to terrorize unless there's some odd nobles hanging out in the hinterlands for some reason. I don't know how much A.I. behavior differs due to traits, so I can't say if some lords actually do hang back like they did in Warband or not, especially not if overall kingdom policy ("Aggressive/Neutral/Defensive") overrides this innate behavior.
That's the problem. Battle Loot is the main source of income in this game, when it should absolutely not be. If a Clan has no fiefs it should either have to turn bandit, raiding to survive, or essentially stop existing to where it's only a small warband of like maybe 20-50. And when a Clan is fief-less, Kingdom-less, it should cease to exist as a threat and effectively find a new home or leave Calradia.
Yes, I definitely think destroyed kingdoms ought to cease as kingdoms after a certain period of time and only reconstitute should, for example, a rebel city emerge (ideally of any culture, just for the funzies of seeing the Aserai take over a rebellious Tyal lol) otherwise they're worse than bandits since they actually deveastate local economies (peasant parties can overwhelm bandits if their hearths have grown enough after all).
I also believe when a Kingdom loses its last fief, it should revert into some kind of "Minor Kingdom". No longer able to declare war or receive tribute, but it remains at permanent war with whoever took their last fief, kind of like Minor Clans. That could be good reason for player/A.I. to not outright destroy rival Kingdoms... because you risk having to deal with a bunch of freedom fighters til you kill em all.
Don't they almost already function like this? When a faction's destroyed, they're effectively in a permanent state of war with the faction that destroyed them with only brief periods of "peace" to rebuild before resuming their "freedom fighting." I'd say them ceasing and turning into neutral clans would be an ideal solution to this nuisance, or at least some dedicated measure specifically designed to crush remnants (like patrol parties of some kind). I like the idea that factions can be restored through happenstance, however, but not that they'll be spending forever setting fires in people's backyards around their former capital city until/unless it happens.
With multiple parties able to siege now, it should not be necessary for A.I. to form armies to take a castle/town and reform their Kingdom proper.
I'm confused; was it not possible for parties to join together in previous versions? And why shouldn't A.I. need to organize an army to take a castle/town to restore their kingdom? If it's too easy, you'll/other A.I. will need a permanent staff of 1-2,000 Militia + Soldiers to make it effectively impossible. I'd prefer it if it were not a financial drain to own and maintain territory and, with things as they are, a fully staffed city is an economic drain unless its prosperity is very high.
Ah if only the player could give real commands to their parties! Then just imagine as King/Queen you could like actually order your armies! Take this Town/Castle, defend this fief, follow my party, etc. Coming SOON in 2025!
I certainly wouldn't mind being able to at least "suggest" people go do this or that like in Warband lol, never mind set a more strict war goal with rewards and punishments for obedience (I don't want them to just do whatever I say; I think Bannerlord's appeal is the illusion that every A.I. actor has a mind of their own, so I think it'd be ideal to achieve this effect by offering rewards that not everybody will accept while reserving punishments that not everybody will tolerate).
I think that's right, otherwise Towns will never rebel. Best way I've found to deal with it is just build one project at a time, set daily default to Festivals. That way when 1 project completes and you come back Loyalty will be back up again.
Yes, I think it's necessary to keep it as it is for cities to have a probable chance of rebelling, and as a way of maintaining the current unification rate. I think what needs working on is the A.I.'s intelligence in handling this mechanic so that they aren't shooting themselves in the foot.
Would you suggest "Cultural Conversion" go so far as to change the local troops to match the new culture? I like the idea as a means of voiding the loyalty penalties in the long term but NOT if it means homogenizing army compositions, especially among A.I. opponents.