As far as I understand it, the morale of your party, if below average, can cause some of your soldiers to leave you. What I would like to see (I'm not sure if this is the case, or if it would even be feasible) is morale having more of an effect on combat.
For example, for every lower 'level' of morale, it could negate or lower your Tactical/Battle Advantage.
More realistic morale for both your troops and the enemy would also be nice. Currently, only the protagonist can choose to leave the battle, but there are deserters in wars, and I think it would make the game more realistic if you had, say, a band of 10 peasants and were trying to attack a band of 15 Dark Knights, if some of your peasants fled instead of rushing blindly at the enemy. If an enemy were too high in ability or level for your current party, there could be a % chance that one or more of your soldiers could try to flee instead of attacking.
Likewise for the enemies, they keep running to their death even if there's only 1 of them left. The way I imagine, for example, pirates or raiders or bandits, is as dishonest men who would not give a second thought to abandoning their fallen comrades if there was only one or two of them left to fight an enemy of overwhelming odds.
Maybe even introducing a 'surrender' option could add a different feel to the game. Enemy troops down to their last warrior or two could choose to surrender and be taken prisoner instead of facing the possibility of being killed (making some of them easier to capture as prisoners, which I think would be fitting for bandits or pirates, but for some reason I can't see a Dark Knight or Swadian Knight surrendering).
Also a surrender option for yourself, in which you lose a portion of your gold or loot to the enemy, instead of being 'killed' if you're faced with overwhelming odds.
This could be useful as sometimes your escape route is cut off.
For example, for every lower 'level' of morale, it could negate or lower your Tactical/Battle Advantage.
More realistic morale for both your troops and the enemy would also be nice. Currently, only the protagonist can choose to leave the battle, but there are deserters in wars, and I think it would make the game more realistic if you had, say, a band of 10 peasants and were trying to attack a band of 15 Dark Knights, if some of your peasants fled instead of rushing blindly at the enemy. If an enemy were too high in ability or level for your current party, there could be a % chance that one or more of your soldiers could try to flee instead of attacking.
Likewise for the enemies, they keep running to their death even if there's only 1 of them left. The way I imagine, for example, pirates or raiders or bandits, is as dishonest men who would not give a second thought to abandoning their fallen comrades if there was only one or two of them left to fight an enemy of overwhelming odds.
Maybe even introducing a 'surrender' option could add a different feel to the game. Enemy troops down to their last warrior or two could choose to surrender and be taken prisoner instead of facing the possibility of being killed (making some of them easier to capture as prisoners, which I think would be fitting for bandits or pirates, but for some reason I can't see a Dark Knight or Swadian Knight surrendering).
Also a surrender option for yourself, in which you lose a portion of your gold or loot to the enemy, instead of being 'killed' if you're faced with overwhelming odds.
This could be useful as sometimes your escape route is cut off.