This is my first forum entry, I'm not going to quote anyone and almost all of what I'm going to say is not going to relate to this threads main topic. But I've kept up with all the blogs over the development of BannerLords and I just got to spill my thoughts on what could be added or changed from the original and a lot of its mods.
Basis for my idea is kids like if Mount&Blade and Rome total war 2 were painter's, this would be there masterpiece.
1.Troop trees- This need to be expanded and broke down into specific tiers ex. polar with shield infantry, mele infantry, polar no shield infantry, archers, crossbows, lance Calvary, mele Calvary, throwing units, ex..... with a system like that you can improve upon the formations and per battle orders and recruiting and the purpose and use of each type of combat. You could make formations that those units could actually put to use and be worth while so strategy would truly become a factor in the battle. You could also tell what type of unit each specific unit you want to focus on (I.e. want mele infantry to focus on archers). Still have the same view as the original, keep the 3rd person view on you as the general free to go as you please
2. Lord- I like the idea of lords being able to be killed after so many defeats in the field, it adds a real since of every battle being important and not just a minor set back and nuisance when you lose one. Also the mentioning of a house system for the player and AI is very intriguing. A system to show there power or influence in the faction based on rank and skill levels, and not trying to rip Rome 2 completely off but a special traits system would be cool too ex. all archer in your army have plus 3 damage.
3.Cities/ Towns- Honestly I like the way its set up more the most part. Yes they could add more texture to really make each unique and culturally suited. But the one thing I would really like to see is some boarder lines for towns cities and castles. This way not only will you be able to see what all your kingdom covers but it will help with setting patrols. With a border system you now have a set area around let's say Suno where your patrols will actually patrol around and not just go aimlessly across the map. You can also break it down this way and say I want this group to patrol around the area of (city...) or (city...and town...) or all my lands.
4.Custom troops/Recruiting- I love the custom troop feature on some of the mods out there and is one thing I always look for, but it can be improved. First thing is that it need a crap load more items put in it so your kingdom's troops can really be your own in every way and be able to keep a style trend through all the tiers, That way you don't have archers that look like sarnairds at the low level but end up looking like the roducks at the higher levels just cause of the limited selection.you can also make this better by when you start your own kingdom you pick a specialty for your troops, like throwing, one handed, two handed, polarm, crossbow, archery, defence, ex... that way your troops will have higher stats and better quality items related to your selection and further making your kingdom your own. Now with recruiting, some type of population system would be cool be not necessary. What I think would make the recruiting aspect so much better is if you showed the recruiting time. But break it down into two building options that you can upgrade multiple times to enhance the affect of them, first would be the barracks and that would tell you how many troop you can recruit at a time and how long it will take to muster them at the location i.e.(you can recruit 20 peasants and it will take one week) or something like that, second should be a training field and that would show how fast your stationed troops level up i.e. ( troops earn 25xp a day from training). You should have these building options in all the towns castles and cities but have them capped at certain levels for each type of settlement it is. Also on the troop tree, there should be options beside each troop that say (town only, castle only, army only, patrol only, dont recruit, and so on) that way you can control what can what your armies will look like for you cities and your lords and what type of troops you want and where. Oh and it should be made so that you can capture towns just like you can castles and cities and not just raid them.
5.Other- I've kinds lost my train of thought so I will end it with these two notes.1) Battels, when you enter one no matter how big your army is all your troops should be on the battle field at once and not that stupid and sometimes useless reinforcements thing. If that's not possible at least put a high cap limit to it so the fights can be bigger and more intense. 2) Items!!!!!!!! This is one thing that can turn people away from a game. It just needs variety like massive variety. I don't care if you have a hundred sabers with the same stats as long as they all have different looks to them and it could be as little as different handle color all the way to blade and hilt decoration. My suggestion would be to ask all those modders out their to design as many weapons, armours, horses, and what ever else and add all of them to the game or put it into dlc or one giant mod for all of us to enjoy.
Well that ends my rant for today but stay tuned for a second one later on!