Realism mod(s) discussion

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Something that breaks my immersion in Bannerlord is all the instant knowledge/communication/transacting that takes place in the game. When an Army is formed, all the parties called to it instantly know that and where they have to go. When you start the game you have detailed knowledge about everyone and everywhere that matters. Your caravans somehow instantly transfer their profits from the other side of the map to your coffers. So do your Clan's parties with the profits from prisoners/loot. The Clan and Kingdom management menus make all sorts of communication and politics abstract and often instant.

This is also one of the reasons why Kingdoms currently act like ruthlessly efficient war machines. They have almost perfect knowledge of the world and instant coordination, all the inefficient overhead that would exist in a medieval world is "streamlined" away. Yet that overhead is exactly why I usually prefer games set in ancient times over those in modern times. The overhead prevents them from becoming spread-sheet simulators.

I would be interested in eventually developing a big "realism" mod that introduces a lot of this missing overhead, possibly as a team. Some possible features could be:

  • Adding Messengers as physical parties, carrying orders/information between Lords. If they get killed, the message is lost/intercepted.
  • Political/Policy decisions are made by a council of Lords physically present at a certain location. Can't make it in time? Too bad, no vote for you.
  • Restricting Gold transfers to direct party-party and party-settlement contact, possibly settlement-settlement through gold transport parties.
  • Adding Fog of War and an initially near-empty Encyclopedia.
  • Making after-battle looting cost time, like raiding villages.

Not only would these make the world more believable and alive, most also unlock a ton of strategic potential. By grounding more activities to time and the campaign map, they are also opened up to disruption.

I realize this would be a lot of work, but Bannerlord is a rough diamond and I expect it will have a big and dedicated modding community. So I think we can afford to be ambitious. I will certainly do my part.

Any thoughts or suggestions?
 
I'd love to see medieval assemblies (like Estates General,Cortes, Parliament - depending on the faction culture) being invoked by the rulers to discuss the internal affairs, laws, policies and future plans.

I've also previously posted about the encyclopedia fog of war and I hope it's possible to mod it.
I totally agree that having a deep up-to-date knowledge about all the settlements, notables, nobles and heroes just as you start is not very realistic for the time period.
I think it'd be really interesting if we could just have access to a few notable/lords(apart from monarchs and main cities around the world) at first. Then, we'd be able to learn more about the remaining cities/villages notables while we visit those places and interact in the tavern, markets, playing tavern games, completing quests, etc.
Quite more immersive if you ask me, and we would have a point to interact more with the villagers and lords. For instance, they could tell that X Lord rules Y castle, and he is honourable; then all the info is added to the encyclopedia. If we talk to him later on, then some skills would become visible for us, and as we increase the relations with him, we'd see his remaining skills,perks,relations,etc.
 
Adding Messengers as physical parties, carrying orders/information between Lords. If they get killed, the message is lost/intercepted.

I like this, in fact I think it was part of the original M&B design because there were messengers in every faction. The problem is the cat-chasing-mouse game on the campaign map. I'd remove it for the most part limiting the map to armies and lords parties.
Also the time scale would be important. How many days is an army away from its destination? how much time to send a message and get the answer.
Probably it's not what you have in mind because it would need a big overhaul but it is what a serious medieval strategy would need.

Political/Policy decisions are made by a council of Lords physically present at a certain location. Can't make it in time? Too bad, no vote for you.

Possible if you remove the lords roaming around all the time, less campaigns but meaning something when they happen. Lords spend their time doing their politics, not leading patrols chasing bandits. If a campaign is planned the king calls the assembly.

Restricting Gold transfers to direct party-party and party-settlement contact, possibly settlement-settlement through gold transport parties.

If there is a fief treasure, then caravans and lords interact with it when they enter the settlement. I think this should be doable

Adding Fog of War and an initially near-empty Encyclopedia.

Yes, and player's own notes about the known characters so far. If their personality traits were hidden the player should have to guess

Making after-battle looting cost time, like raiding villages.

Not a fan when you are caught by bandits because you are stuck in the looting process but it could work if this is taken into acount.
 
I'm ok with how it is. M+B map gameplay to a huge extent is anyway far from realism or a closer simulation. Real world units for example are not baked into stacks moving with a fixed speed, unable to detach subunits, hide, distract, encamp and so on. I don't see it necessary or even fair then to have the finer points of "what's going on" you mentioned on the map. I can easily imagine that messengers are sent a lot (like in reality), that you constantly gather intelligence from spies, traders, wanderers and that there is a kind of bank business busy all the time.
 
I would be interested in eventually developing a big "realism" mod that introduces a lot of this missing overhead, possibly as a team. Some possible features could be:
  • Adding Messengers as physical parties, carrying orders/information between Lords. If they get killed, the message is lost/intercepted.
  • Political/Policy decisions are made by a council of Lords physically present at a certain location. Can't make it in time? Too bad, no vote for you.
  • Restricting Gold transfers to direct party-party and party-settlement contact, possibly settlement-settlement through gold transport parties.
  • Adding Fog of War and an initially near-empty Encyclopedia.
  • Making after-battle looting cost time, like raiding villages.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Agree (with this modification, if you mean I can't be voted if not present).
But you should post this in Feedback & Suggestions. It should not be only a mod. :xf-wink:
 
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