WALL-E
Recruit
I don't think its a lame excuse. 3 things were rejected. 2 of them was telling your calm members what to do and where to go and the 3rd one was about absolute control as the king.I keep hearing this and it's a lame excuse. Kings and others sent messengers with orders, they didn't go everywhere to tell everyone personally what to do.
It doesn't matter if it's RTS or you just call it RTS. Is it more realistic? Does it give the player agency? YES and YES. So it needs to be done.
If you complain that instant messaging is not realistic enough, send messenger parties with the orders, so there will be a (realistic) delay between issueing and receiving orders. But this doesn't really bring much to the player experience.
1-prioritized target: Im not against the idea, would have made it so that you can communicate with a clan member roughly what to do, and the the AI brain will decide if it want to do that. And base on you tactics + social + INT and their stats, will determine how well they work and listen to you. I don't think making it RTS style (where units are just like dead pieces on a board) fits the game which is supposed to be more of living world.
2-prioritized upgrade: same as before. I don't mind them adding a small dialogue where you tell your dude, focus on shock or cav with my culture. But it should be up to the AI brain if they want to or not. Then if they mess up we can fire them, have a sort of boss employee relationship.
3-more power as king: The game is meant to be played as if the AI are real and have their own agendas. Figuring out ways to navigate around them is part of the intended gameplay (I think).
I play CK2 and CK3, and they are great games. In this game, I think the player is supposed to work with the AI and hope they do their job (kind of how we hope that the people we work with do their job).
During the crusades, the crusaders were famously bad at working together. So were the Turks btw.
However it would be an interesting Idea to introduce more RTS elements if the player has more social skills. To simulate you being a better communicator and leader.