Army battles are a definite improvement over the Warband way of doing battles alongside other lords: unless you were the marshall, watch in awe as your allies waste their troops and throw a perfectly good victory, whereas now you can atleast save one whole division from the slaughter and potentially win the battle because of it. It is quite frankly strange that you can still suffer the old experience when you engage the enemy, while not in an army, alongside atleast 2 more lords.
It is also very strange to include the possibility of permanent death for your companions but not include ways to protect your precious specialists from death. People used to give them actual bodyguards, but now that's impossible to do.
I figured these 2 grievances could be addressed through the new OOB system which has also caused the latter problem: what if heroes could be assigned to more than just divisional command? What if there are more things they can do beyond the binary "Leader/Grunt"?
I propose the addition of the roles of Field Commander and Support/Bodyguard
FIELD COMMANDER
The guy actually in charge of leading all units in the field (POSSIBLE EXPANSION: Similar to how Field Marshals in Hearts of Iron IV work, they apply all their buffs to the relevant units under their command though the buff is reduced than if they were a captain). This will allow players to lead units they're not in an army with, and militias in village defense.
UI wise, it should have a prominent role, pushing down the list of unassigned heroes.
HOW TO BECOME ONE
Hero units can be chosen as Field Commanders by the other leaders in a similar vote as all kingdom decisions. To prevent waste of influence, certain conditions are considered:
Quite simply, an additional command division (key 9) where you put your most important companions. It has 2 types of troops in it, Support and Bodyguards. Heroes are assigned as support by clicking on their portrait, their portrait is shown in the support division card (VERY rough sketch below of how it would look like). Bodyguards are assigned with the same ui and system you choose who comes with you in keep battles and hideouts. The role of Bodyguards isn't limited to heroes, any troop can be assigned as long as it can fight.
The game could very well be able to handle a specific AI behaviour for Support and Bodyguards: the former would act defensively and shy away from all danger (I really would like to avoid babysitting them), with the bodyguards actually doing the fighting, though they must mantain a minimum of distance from any Support (might cause problems with large bodyguard contingents). POSSIBLE EXPANSION: Bodyguards for field commanders too, re-establish Royal Guards for the player.
UI would look like this (except not, God I hope not)
My player character is the Field Commander, my engineer is in the support group and I've assigned 20 Bodyguards to guard her, one of them being one of my own heroes (red dot to signal that the hero is assigned, though not in a command capacity) while the remaning Battanian noblewoman is still unassigned to any role, be it division command or bodyguard duty.
It is also very strange to include the possibility of permanent death for your companions but not include ways to protect your precious specialists from death. People used to give them actual bodyguards, but now that's impossible to do.
I figured these 2 grievances could be addressed through the new OOB system which has also caused the latter problem: what if heroes could be assigned to more than just divisional command? What if there are more things they can do beyond the binary "Leader/Grunt"?
I propose the addition of the roles of Field Commander and Support/Bodyguard
FIELD COMMANDER
The guy actually in charge of leading all units in the field (POSSIBLE EXPANSION: Similar to how Field Marshals in Hearts of Iron IV work, they apply all their buffs to the relevant units under their command though the buff is reduced than if they were a captain). This will allow players to lead units they're not in an army with, and militias in village defense.
UI wise, it should have a prominent role, pushing down the list of unassigned heroes.
HOW TO BECOME ONE
Hero units can be chosen as Field Commanders by the other leaders in a similar vote as all kingdom decisions. To prevent waste of influence, certain conditions are considered:
- Army leaders are chosen by default. Biggest army commander (size is determined by parties that have already shown up) is chosen if more than one is present.
- If there are no Army leaders, rulers are default army commander.
- Player can still instigate a vote to become army commander, this is just to prevent having to spend influence every damn time you encounter the enemy with somebody else
- If there are no Army leaders, rulers are default army commander.
- To be eligible, party leaders have to meet the requirements they would have to meet to be invited in an army (to prevent random 5-men minor faction captains to waste your influence)
Quite simply, an additional command division (key 9) where you put your most important companions. It has 2 types of troops in it, Support and Bodyguards. Heroes are assigned as support by clicking on their portrait, their portrait is shown in the support division card (VERY rough sketch below of how it would look like). Bodyguards are assigned with the same ui and system you choose who comes with you in keep battles and hideouts. The role of Bodyguards isn't limited to heroes, any troop can be assigned as long as it can fight.
The game could very well be able to handle a specific AI behaviour for Support and Bodyguards: the former would act defensively and shy away from all danger (I really would like to avoid babysitting them), with the bodyguards actually doing the fighting, though they must mantain a minimum of distance from any Support (might cause problems with large bodyguard contingents). POSSIBLE EXPANSION: Bodyguards for field commanders too, re-establish Royal Guards for the player.
UI would look like this (except not, God I hope not)
My player character is the Field Commander, my engineer is in the support group and I've assigned 20 Bodyguards to guard her, one of them being one of my own heroes (red dot to signal that the hero is assigned, though not in a command capacity) while the remaning Battanian noblewoman is still unassigned to any role, be it division command or bodyguard duty.
