If the fighting in Calradia goes on too long...

[Amerlain]

If the fighting between factions lasts too long or past a certain year, there could be a chance that The Padishah's armies would show up in the east and start trying to conquer Calradia. It could be an event that would give factions a chance to ally together to face the menace, or possibly fall one by one to it. The armies could be large to compensate for not having a lot of territory to replenish themselves and could benefit from special bonuses that allow for them to have enough supplies at the beginning. The special parent faction could also have some economic bonuses to reflect how it is supported by a united empire that lies just beyond the borders to the east. Maybe this could be a DLC or maybe a mod.

 

[dannazgu]

If the fighting goes too long, would look like a real war between kingdoms as it should be not skirmish as the way it's

 

[Lesbosisles]

So, in addition to an endless war you want... More war? Great idea!

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

This gets suggested all the time but I've never, ever played a game where a lategame enemy spawning out of thin air is actually fun. Medieval 2 popularised the idea but it really sucks in that game. The Mongols are numerous and absurdly OP meaning you're encouraged to use tedious cheese to defeat them. Every warband mod that included the Black Knights or whatever had the same problem.

If you want a lategame challenge it should come from factions and situations that are already on the map. Spawning a bunch of annoying crap in the lategame is the laziest possible way to make it harder.

 

[Totalgarbage]

This gets suggested all the time but I've never, ever played a game where a lategame enemy spawning out of thin air is actually fun. Medieval 2 popularised the idea but it really sucks in that game. The Mongols are numerous and absurdly OP meaning you're encouraged to use tedious cheese to defeat them. Every warband mod that included the Black Knights or whatever had the same problem.

If you want a lategame challenge it should come from factions and situations that are already on the map. Spawning a bunch of annoying crap in the lategame is the laziest possible way to make it harder.

Exactly what I think! Late game invasions are either too strong to be fun or too weak to make be noticeable (or scripted in some way to have a specific impact). Even more importantly, it puts a "timer" (or some conditions that is needed to be fulfilled) to the game, which would be to the detriment of a sandbox rpg where you can also be a trader or a criminal (regardless of how lackluster the criminal gameplay currently is).

If anything, the game difficulty and gameplay variance should come from inherent differences between the factions (like in EU4); e.g. Battanians struggling to survive due to their low fief count and being surrounded by several factions on all sides, or Vlandia being likely to split into Rhodoks and Swadians and devolve into a civil war (if we ever get decent diplomacy updates) or maybe something like a one city challenge playing as the ruler of an independent kingdom with a single clan on mirrored Cyprus between Sanala and Poros (if we get a naval travel & battle update) etc..

 

[Amerlain]

I never said that my idea is something that I myself would want. I actually prefer things to be more peaceful, or at least defensive and slower paced. There are other things in the game I prefer to do if peace allows it. However, I recognize that many people in the community have other wishes for the game and I thought that maybe some kind of potential for a bigger invasion from outside would give them more of what they want. BUT I should stress that the invasion of some kind of hypothetical ruler, be it a Padishah or someone else, would be far from a certain event, at least as far as my original idea would allow. It would only have a chance to happen if the conditions would be met, possibly if Calradia was still divided by a certain year. Even then it could only be a chance for it to happen. There could be plenty to do to prevent even that chance from being rolled, though it would require game mechanics that don't currently exist, like alliances or, for those that like the sort of thing, total conquest of Calradia. Probably something for modders.

So far from the few responses that have been posted so far I see that maybe I overestimated the possible interest in such an idea, but it will be interesting to see what other thoughts about this there might be if more people chime in.

 

[Totalgarbage]

I never said that my idea is something that I myself would want. I actually prefer things to be more peaceful, or at least defensive and slower paced. There are other things in the game I prefer to do if peace allows it. However, I recognize that many people in the community have other wishes for the game and I thought that maybe some kind of potential for a bigger invasion from outside would give them more of what they want. BUT I should stress that the invasion of some kind of hypothetical ruler, be it a Padishah or someone else, would be far from a certain event, at least as far as my original idea would allow. It would only have a chance to happen if the conditions would be met, possibly if Calradia was still divided by a certain year. Even then it could only be a chance for it to happen. There could be plenty to do to prevent even that chance from being rolled, though it would require game mechanics that don't currently exist, like alliances or, for those that like the sort of thing, total conquest of Calradia. Probably something for modders.

So far from the few responses that have been posted so far I see that maybe I overestimated the possible interest in such an idea, but it will be interesting to see what other thoughts about this there might be if more people chime in.

Don't get me wrong, I would absolutely love a medieval (Indo- ?)Persian based faction to be added (with war elephants maybe), just not late game invasions. The late game's main problem for me is not the lack of difficulty (though it's also an issue), but rather the tediousness of conquering the map. Practically dead factions should get destroyed rather than hiring minor factions without having any money to raid villages and attack newly taken castles/towns with 100 troops, clans that have very positive relations with the ruler and has several fiefs should not defect, etc..

 

[Lord Irontoe]

This gets suggested all the time but I've never, ever played a game where a lategame enemy spawning out of thin air is actually fun. Medieval 2 popularised the idea but it really sucks in that game. The Mongols are numerous and absurdly OP meaning you're encouraged to use tedious cheese to defeat them. Every warband mod that included the Black Knights or whatever had the same problem.

If you want a lategame challenge it should come from factions and situations that are already on the map. Spawning a bunch of annoying crap in the lategame is the laziest possible way to make it harder.

I don't know. I always thought Perisno's Zann invasion was one of the coolest things in all Mount & Blade. First time I played it, it looked like the lights were going out in the world as the Zann rapidly painted half the map black. It seriously freaked me the **** out the first time. But that invasion was scripted and well thought out. The initial wave was unstoppable, but shortly afterward, they'd settle into normal faction behavior and could be beaten like any other

Actually, Perisno was a great example of how you can make a world with wildly unbalanced factions and it can still play out in unexpected ways.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

It's cool the first time you see it in the same way that a jumpscare is scary the first time. But once you know it's coming it just sucks the fun out of the lategame. Instead of fighting 5-6 factions periodically, you fight just one. And since the invasion has to be stronger than all the other factions, you have to fight them almost as much as all the other factions combined.

The best implementation of a lategame invasion I've seen is Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion. But in that game all the hordes start on the map, with some starting way up in central asia and siberia. You can, as Rome, head over to start killing them on turn 1, because the game tells you they're coming and you know where they are, but you have so many other things to worry about that it's a race to prevent your empire from collapsing. The Huns, Sarmatians, Roxolani and Vandals can then arrive on your borders at any time, in any condition, and in any position. Sometimes the arrival of the huns is actually beneficial because they can wipe each other out or ally with you against other barbarians. There's a lot more replayability because the campaign has an actual structure beyond "fight everyone then spawn in doomstacks".

But because Taleworlds seems completely allergic to asymmetry in the campaign, their own "barbarian invasion" is about as flaccid as an 80 year old man. When I saw the first screenshots of the map back in 2016 or whatever, and all the factions were exactly the same size, I knew something was seriously wrong. All that talk about "the end of the empire" in the flavour text is meaningless when nobody is invading anywhere, there is no sense of movement or change throughout the campaign except ever increasing bordergore, and nobody is meaningfully stronger or weaker than anybody else.

 

[Doofus]

So, in addition to an endless war you want... More war? Great idea!

I wouldn't mind an additional foe arriving from off the map in late game. At least that could make sense (except you couldn't go take their existing territories). The biggest problem I have with Bannerlord is you can't really eliminate any factions (short of being an executing homicidal maniac). I would enjoy the game more if within 6 months of a faction losing all their territories, if they haven't gotten any new ones, then they are eliminated and disappear. Then you could add a new faction from off the map (once or twice only) and it would make more sense.

 

[monoolho]

This gets suggested all the time but I've never, ever played a game where a lategame enemy spawning out of thin air is actually fun. Medieval 2 popularised the idea but it really sucks in that game. The Mongols are numerous and absurdly OP meaning you're encouraged to use tedious cheese to defeat them. Every warband mod that included the Black Knights or whatever had the same problem.

If you want a lategame challenge it should come from factions and situations that are already on the map. Spawning a bunch of annoying crap in the lategame is the laziest possible way to make it harder.

This.

At the very least, considering it to be well balanced... all it would add is another faction. Would be nice of there was a qjeat to try and unite the faction leaders against that foe, as cheesy as it may be, but itd never happen that way. Itd just be another op faction. So more of the same. Whats the challenge in actually having to do the same stuff over and over? Not that its not challenging per se, but its not novel, there is no addition of content, only increasing what already is there.

Now, if the conspiracies actually led to your faction becoming divided, your siblings fighting you, demanding your fiefs or something of the sort, that would be different. Not necessarily good. Just different. Which is more than just addong another faction that does what all others do: endless war