MedicRabbit
Recruit
A few changes I think would help, after 400 days in the sandbox mode of 1.59 (and 300ish hours elsewhere).
Cultural bonuses:
Sturgian, Battanian and Khuzaits- Instead of (or in addition to) movement bonuses or negation of penalties, these cultures could have an additional effection on specific troops: IE- Footmen, Archers, Cav. A plus to combat movement speed, morale, or damage in simulations seems fair and would keep them relevant for longer.
AI Parties-
1) AI Lords/mercenaries don't seem to do a very good job of killing off bandit parties. The steppes lords seem especially bad at this. Making them better at clearing bandit groups, and capable (or willing to, I'm not sure which one. Maybe both?) of clearing hideouts, would help a lot with the current issue of workshops/caravans not really being worth the money mid-late game. I feel like it'd also help with performance issues since you won't be (or are less likely to be) riding into areas with 10-30 parties of bandits milling around like ants.
2) Player-Created Parties- Currently there's no way to direct your AI parties. You just create them, pay for them daily, and hope they don't die, while also hoping they do something good. Some basic commands would be a HUGE relief. Examples- Patrol (patrols around the nearest city, or nearest clan-owned city/castle focusing on bandits). Adventure- Does the normal "roaming" thing across the map, but focuses on solving village issues and/or gaining relationship with notables. Attack/Defend- Like patrol, but shifts the priority to enemy factions instead of bandits.
Bandit bases- Currently in higher bandit activity areas, it takes some real work to clear them out, which ultimately feels fruitless. They seem to create an infinite loop. No matter how many you kill off, or how many bases you clear, a group starts a new base fairly quickly after you destroy the last one, thus spawning *even more* bandits. I feel like adding a throttling mechanism to how frequently and in what proximity the bases can exist, per faction, would help solve this. (I.E. Only 1 steppe bandit base per town. Or only 1 bandit base can be built within 7-14 days can be built by a party of at least 20 bandits). That combined with more "bandit aggressive" npc parties, could help fix some of this. None of this is to say I think bandits should be a "destroyable" faction, mind you. But right now, no matter how hard you work to lessen the presence of bandits in an area, they simply overwhelm you. (Last second idea before posting)- Destroying the local base could cause an attrition effect on all the parties (like starvation does) in the area, killing most of the groups off until the trigger for a new freshly spawned group happens.
Economy-
1) In warband you could own 1 workshop per town, for something like 18 total. While currently, you can own up to 3 workshops per city, you can only own 7 workshops total. My gut reaction is to double that number. Though I recognize the need for an upper limit. I feel like you could control it with increased clan levels. At clan tier 6 you have access to 7 workshops. Instead- Clan tier 6 gives you access to 8 total workshops, clan levels continue to increase after that. Clan levels after that (up to 10) give you access to either A) 2 more workshops, B) 1 more party C) +1 companion. Or milestone levels that give all 3. Obviously, some "limit" could be applied (here it's clan tier 10).
Example-
Clan tier 7- +1 companion
Clan tier 8- +2 workshops
Clan tier 9- +1 party
Clan tier 10- +2 workshops, +1 companion, +1 party
2) Tournaments- Not sure if this is a bug or a feature, but after a while, tournament rewards fall off, and never recover. Whatever formula caused them to recoup after a number of in-game days in Warband should be reapplied here. Or- move the perks in the rogue/charm skill trees that up tournament rewards, to much earlier in those trees (like the 25 level) and slightly nerf the renown gain perk (gaining a total of 6 renown per tournament instead). The rewards formula could probably be looked over as well, since (often) it comes up with the same (albeit culturally appropriate) reward- a tier 3-4 helmet.
3) Horse breeding- Should be a thing. If you can breed with your spouse (or married couples with their spouses) through RNG in your party, a small chance for live animals to breed in your inventory should be available.
4) Caravans- The ability to add extra troops to your caravans. Or an option at creation to customize the number of troops at a cost (say 1000-5000 per extra troop). This would keep caravans a relevant income source longer.
Skills-
1) "Captain" skills should also apply to party leaders, making them relevant to take for more than the off chance that you'll be assigned a position in an army that you may or may not join. I'm not sure about others experience, but 95% of the time I'm either leading an army or taking my personal group into battle.
2) Medicine- Unless you're consistently losing battles, and/or sabotaging your own army, I've yet to find a way to naturally and halfway efficiently, at least until you take the "Doctors oath" perk. Buffing the amount of xp you get for healing yourself outside of combat, and/or healing companions could help. A small, but consistent tick-up for having high moral and/or healthy troops, and/or diverse amounts of food (preventative medicine, perhaps?) could salvage this. You aren't going to get to 275 in any reasonable amount of time from it, but getting to 50-100 without turning your hard-built army into a sacrifice to the gods, could be a thing.
3) Smithing- Larger Passive smithing stamina regen as you move around the map. Double stamina regen for actually waiting in a town. Fairly simple.
Diplomacy/Kingdom management-
1) Other clans in your kingdom seem to be *really* obsessed with creating armies. Even if you're at peace with everyone. Instead, they could be using that time to do more useful things, like clear out bandits. Make babies. Or win relationship for the clan with notables in the areas they own, or with other clans not currently under your banner.
2) Feasts- Bring them back, make them great again.
3) Some way to gain relationship companions/spouse/kids besides rescuing them in battle.
4) More diplomacy options- I'm sure this has been said 500 times, but there it is again.
5) Basic directions for the other clans in you kingdom- Something simple to give them priorities, ala the party management (build forces, domestic focus, attack/efend)
That's all I got for suggestions. Thanks for reading (if you got through this wall of text, have some butter).
Cultural bonuses:
Sturgian, Battanian and Khuzaits- Instead of (or in addition to) movement bonuses or negation of penalties, these cultures could have an additional effection on specific troops: IE- Footmen, Archers, Cav. A plus to combat movement speed, morale, or damage in simulations seems fair and would keep them relevant for longer.
AI Parties-
1) AI Lords/mercenaries don't seem to do a very good job of killing off bandit parties. The steppes lords seem especially bad at this. Making them better at clearing bandit groups, and capable (or willing to, I'm not sure which one. Maybe both?) of clearing hideouts, would help a lot with the current issue of workshops/caravans not really being worth the money mid-late game. I feel like it'd also help with performance issues since you won't be (or are less likely to be) riding into areas with 10-30 parties of bandits milling around like ants.
2) Player-Created Parties- Currently there's no way to direct your AI parties. You just create them, pay for them daily, and hope they don't die, while also hoping they do something good. Some basic commands would be a HUGE relief. Examples- Patrol (patrols around the nearest city, or nearest clan-owned city/castle focusing on bandits). Adventure- Does the normal "roaming" thing across the map, but focuses on solving village issues and/or gaining relationship with notables. Attack/Defend- Like patrol, but shifts the priority to enemy factions instead of bandits.
Bandit bases- Currently in higher bandit activity areas, it takes some real work to clear them out, which ultimately feels fruitless. They seem to create an infinite loop. No matter how many you kill off, or how many bases you clear, a group starts a new base fairly quickly after you destroy the last one, thus spawning *even more* bandits. I feel like adding a throttling mechanism to how frequently and in what proximity the bases can exist, per faction, would help solve this. (I.E. Only 1 steppe bandit base per town. Or only 1 bandit base can be built within 7-14 days can be built by a party of at least 20 bandits). That combined with more "bandit aggressive" npc parties, could help fix some of this. None of this is to say I think bandits should be a "destroyable" faction, mind you. But right now, no matter how hard you work to lessen the presence of bandits in an area, they simply overwhelm you. (Last second idea before posting)- Destroying the local base could cause an attrition effect on all the parties (like starvation does) in the area, killing most of the groups off until the trigger for a new freshly spawned group happens.
Economy-
1) In warband you could own 1 workshop per town, for something like 18 total. While currently, you can own up to 3 workshops per city, you can only own 7 workshops total. My gut reaction is to double that number. Though I recognize the need for an upper limit. I feel like you could control it with increased clan levels. At clan tier 6 you have access to 7 workshops. Instead- Clan tier 6 gives you access to 8 total workshops, clan levels continue to increase after that. Clan levels after that (up to 10) give you access to either A) 2 more workshops, B) 1 more party C) +1 companion. Or milestone levels that give all 3. Obviously, some "limit" could be applied (here it's clan tier 10).
Example-
Clan tier 7- +1 companion
Clan tier 8- +2 workshops
Clan tier 9- +1 party
Clan tier 10- +2 workshops, +1 companion, +1 party
2) Tournaments- Not sure if this is a bug or a feature, but after a while, tournament rewards fall off, and never recover. Whatever formula caused them to recoup after a number of in-game days in Warband should be reapplied here. Or- move the perks in the rogue/charm skill trees that up tournament rewards, to much earlier in those trees (like the 25 level) and slightly nerf the renown gain perk (gaining a total of 6 renown per tournament instead). The rewards formula could probably be looked over as well, since (often) it comes up with the same (albeit culturally appropriate) reward- a tier 3-4 helmet.
3) Horse breeding- Should be a thing. If you can breed with your spouse (or married couples with their spouses) through RNG in your party, a small chance for live animals to breed in your inventory should be available.
4) Caravans- The ability to add extra troops to your caravans. Or an option at creation to customize the number of troops at a cost (say 1000-5000 per extra troop). This would keep caravans a relevant income source longer.
Skills-
1) "Captain" skills should also apply to party leaders, making them relevant to take for more than the off chance that you'll be assigned a position in an army that you may or may not join. I'm not sure about others experience, but 95% of the time I'm either leading an army or taking my personal group into battle.
2) Medicine- Unless you're consistently losing battles, and/or sabotaging your own army, I've yet to find a way to naturally and halfway efficiently, at least until you take the "Doctors oath" perk. Buffing the amount of xp you get for healing yourself outside of combat, and/or healing companions could help. A small, but consistent tick-up for having high moral and/or healthy troops, and/or diverse amounts of food (preventative medicine, perhaps?) could salvage this. You aren't going to get to 275 in any reasonable amount of time from it, but getting to 50-100 without turning your hard-built army into a sacrifice to the gods, could be a thing.
3) Smithing- Larger Passive smithing stamina regen as you move around the map. Double stamina regen for actually waiting in a town. Fairly simple.
Diplomacy/Kingdom management-
1) Other clans in your kingdom seem to be *really* obsessed with creating armies. Even if you're at peace with everyone. Instead, they could be using that time to do more useful things, like clear out bandits. Make babies. Or win relationship for the clan with notables in the areas they own, or with other clans not currently under your banner.
2) Feasts- Bring them back, make them great again.
3) Some way to gain relationship companions/spouse/kids besides rescuing them in battle.
4) More diplomacy options- I'm sure this has been said 500 times, but there it is again.
5) Basic directions for the other clans in you kingdom- Something simple to give them priorities, ala the party management (build forces, domestic focus, attack/efend)
That's all I got for suggestions. Thanks for reading (if you got through this wall of text, have some butter).
