Stuff that has probably already been covered...(Noob)

[Wicked]

1: Banking system.

Yes, I KNOW this has been mentioned before, dozens of times most likely, as many, if not all of points I'll mention in this post have been, but this is my own take on it.

First off, you need a bankers guild, and while I personally haven't played enough yet/interacted mission-wise with the merchants to determine if their faction-based (Swadian Merchants Guild etc), it would make sense for it to be that way, in which case the bankers most definitely have to be neutral, based in Zendar, with representatives spread out among the other faction cities, paired off with a merchant like the armourer/weaponsmith combo in the smithy.

Now, I'm not a big supporter of the "Deposit gold at point A & have it magically teleport with no explanation to point B, C, etc for pickup " banking system you normally see in games, this particular game being modeled as far as I can tell on the late 14th century, it would make sense to base it on the RL 14th century Italian banking system.

This means bankers notes, you start in Zendar anyhow, which is neutral, and therefore the only logical place for the bankers guild to be headquartered, in order to start your 'account' you simply waltz over to their NPC there, and deposit some coinage, which needs a minimum deposit, say 100, and has a regular service charge like the tavern, although with discounts based on how long you've been banking there and how much money is in the account.

In return you receive your bankers note, which is essentially a medieval ATM/Debit Card, valid with all reputable merchants/armourers/weaponsmiths, and of course any local bankers.

The 'Reputable' bit is important, as it means this note is useless to anyone who defeats you in battle, and therefore can't be looted, however in the same vein it's worth about as much as dirt for protection money, necessitating hard currency if you get waylaid by brigands and would prefer to pay them off.

And of course as those various bandit/unaligned camps I see become active in the game their not going to be 'Reputable' in any way, shape, or form, so there's another reason to carry gold in some quantity, as I assume there will be a pressing reason like special items available to visit places where it is very likely you will be attacked in force on the way.

In regular transactions however it is perfect, any purchases/sales are withdrawn/credited to either your bankers note or gold, whichever you specify, and you can visit your local banking guild representative to deposit more gold or redeem your bankers note partially or in full for hard currency.

So yes...it IS being teleported to & fro, however it's realistic in the time-setting, explained, and you are paying for this ease of mind.

Anyhow, that's my take on banking...

2: Item Storage.

Alright, definitely no magical transportation possible here, and I'm not sure if the devs are planning to include land ownership at any time, so this means taverns, including that 4-Ways Inn (sp?).

My basic desire for this stems from how much of a b!tch it is to track down good equipment, especially cool things like assembling a full suit of Reinforced Black Armour, a Reinforced Steel Shield, a Heavy Charger, and accompanying pimpass death-dealing weaponry.

And of course once your wealthy enough, outfitting your fellow heroes with similar equipment, and since there appears to be several more heroes planned...that could get very frustrating, sure, you can order a couple to chill out at the inn with half your stuff in their inventory...but you have to pay them to get it back...not what I'd call a win-win situation.

And of course it can drive you to tear your hair out and utter curses that'd make a sailor blush when halfway through assembling the most badass complement of weapons, armour, and mounts Calradia has ever seen...one too many random bands of raiders crushes your party into the dust and thieves the lot of it...$95,000+ worth of hard-earned, hard-sought equipment.

So...you need storage, badly, set it up like the banking system idea, a surcharge for items stashed, with the basic storage space being the same as the basic inventory space for a character with no inventory skill, and an option to increase it in increments like each inventory skill level, with a storage charge similar to the inn, with discounts for additional space and how long you've been storing equipment there, but it's still far better than running the risk of getting it looted or paying full price to get it back out of the inventory of one 'Your' heroes.

Granted, each item stays wherever you put it, and can't be picked up anywhere else, but then again that works fine, just set up 2-4 regional supply dumps for your equipment-hunting, it's safe & cheap (compared to other methods), and realistic, just add another option to the tavern-keepers dialogue box.

3: Soldier Recruitment.

I'd like to see an option to call up high level armed retainers subject to immediate recruitment, I haven't played enough yet to determine if allying yourself with a faction and rising in rank allows recruitment of high level retainers right off the bat, although that would IMO make sense, I'd think both main factions military & trade guilds should allow it for their respective units, while neutral trade guilds or bandit military guilds would do the same.

Sorry if that is already in...

4: Equipment Selection.

This is very important for anything remotely RL, Medieval soldiers didn't go on epic quests to find that special suit of armour/sword/horse, they ordered it if they had the cash, this definitely doesn't negate the item storage system or searching for certain equipment however, it enhances them.

For one thing low level guys aren't going to be able to pay the gold for a brand new fitted suit of armour/perfectly forged sword/specially bred warhorse, their going to have to buy whatever they can get, in whatever condition it's in, or what they can loot from similarly low-level enemies.

And in my version the items you can special order are only those which your faction uses, based on the equipment of each factions armed retainers, so if your the V-guys (can't get their name straight...) plate armour built to specification is off the list, it's just not something friendly armourers forge regularly.

Meaning that things like Black Armour are still going to be rare as hell and expensive enough to break the bank, even if at some point the guys which use them (Black or Dark something-or-other) become a faction you can join, as in my version special order equipment will be more expensive than the same piece of equipment found on the open market, to represent fitting and personal tastes, and it'll take awhile for the merchant/armourer/weaponsmith to find/create/forge whatever you order in any case.

So it won't be much of an exploit, your only really going to be able to buy something similar to what a faction soldier of your rank and role uses anyhow, your going to have to be one rich bastard to get the best stuff no matter what, this is just something which somewhat rewards you for surviving that long and prospering.

And like I said, if it's not something your guys use there's no way in hell short of switching sides (and starting off low-ranking again) that you can order it, you'll still have to search high and low.

5: Resting.

This is kinda unimportant...but still, I'd like to see options for length of inn-stays, perhaps my training skill is top-notch and I'd like to spend a few days doing peaceful training drills and letting my guys party it up before our next 2 week raid...it's a bit annoying having to check back in every 12 hours...just a simple option to specify would be nice, however it should be proportional to how many men you have with you, unlike now, to balance it out however you could have discounts based on how long you stay and large numbers of retainers.

6: Financial Screen.

This would be in line with having a banking & item storage system, telling you what you have, and what's being paid to whom, and where, simple...

Oh, and IMO the "Trade" skill should decrease the costs for banking/item storage/special orders/inn stays as it gets higher, again, makes sense, your a big time trader, you should be dealing with these people enough to gain a 'preferred customer' discount, and at base it really just represents haggling skill.

Anyhow...that's all for the moment, too sleepy to think of much else ATM.

 

[Kynes]

Not only that but you could also have a system whereby you could have a keep but you'd have to buy it and if you didn't have the money you'd have to take out a loan compounded quarterly for the first 9 months with a fixed-term deposit of 14,000 dinars and an interest rate 5.65%.

This, in turn, would make you eligible for a Calradia Express card which would entitle you to membership reward offers including frequent flyer miles which would allow you to earn interest on your account every time you shot an arrow that flew a mile.

Account-keeping fees and deposits would have to be made through the bank via a complicated system of ropes and pulleys. Runners from the nearest town would track you down each month to deliver your bank statement which would also incur an additional 4.1% account-keeping fee. If you failed to pay off the loan within the financial year the bank would follow up with a letter threatening legal action and then repossess your horse and armor and possibly your meat. That would be followed by a visit from some dark nights who would promptly stove in your face with a pike and break both your kneecaps.

So there you have it- Dark Knights are actually hired goons from the Calradia bank and River Pirates are actually previous adventurers who failed to correctly manage their finances.

[/beingasarcasticprick]

Seriously tho I agree the trading system needs to be ramped up a bit and the reputation you lose from attacking caravans should actually have an impact on something.

 

[alphabeta77]

Please note that your keep may be repossessed if you fail to keep up payments on your loan.

 

[Wicked]

Couple more things...

1: Melee Strike Options.

Just an option to specify what your going to do when you attack, Left Swing/Right Swing/Overhead/Thrust, just bind them to hotkeys for easy access. A second option to enhance this would be a drop down menu for each multiple-attack-type melee weapon you have equipped, where you could string together specific attacks in sequence, specifying number of attacks per type before moving to the next attack in the sequence etc, allowing to tailor your attacks to your fighting style, weapon, and whether your afoot or mounted.

This second ability would be activated by a hotkey for special attacks and then the current method of holding down the L mouse to prime an attack, however in this case you would continue to hold it down to execute the attack sequence, releasing it or taking a knockback blow would end the evolution.

This ability would be enabled by putting points into the Weaponmaster (sp?) skill, the first/second point would allow it to be used, while each additional point would allow attacks to be strung together in a more complex system, for instance the first point would just let your pull off a simple swing to the left-swing to the right-repeat evolution for something like a battleaxe, while high-end skill would enable you to swing left-swing right-swing left-overhead-swing-left-repeat etc.

Meanwhile your proficiency with that particular type of weapon would determine how many attacks of each type you could put into the evolution, i.e. 2 left-3 right-1 thrust-etc.

Of course your agility/strength/riding/athletics levels would determine how powerful and fast these attacks were afoot or horseback, at the low end this type of attack would cause a good bit less damage than a regular attack and be rather slow, therefore it's really only something an experienced warrior would find useful, not an exploit for everyone, low end guys would be better served by specifying single attacks.

Just a way to represent a veteran's strength, skill, and endurance basically, allowing you to continue a steady rhythm keeping your opponent off balance and unable to respond, a reward for getting that powerful.

2: Formations & Unit Orders.

Just simple stuff, like the ability to group units, either all mounted/foot/ranged, or combinations thereof, and put them in formations, mob/line/square/wedge. Mob is default formation, basically just a big solid box/circle.

Line is just that, any group solely comprised of one type gets in a line, multiple unit type groups arrange any foot melee troops in the first rank, any foot ranged troops second rank, any cavalry would be in a mob formation on the flanks.

Square would be a foot-only formation, any ranged troops on the inner side, any melee on the outside, hollow center for protecting your inventory box/rally point for separately-grouped cavalry.

Wedge is melee only, either a foot wedge or a cavalry wedge, self explanatory.

Mount/dismount troops as needed to change the unit lineup in the formations, allowing knights to get in a square for instance.

They would of course have to be smart enough to face in the general direction of the enemy/or have an option to manually order unit facing.

Tactics skill could determine what formations are available to you at any given time, the first 2 points would allow for grouping in the first place, with mob being your only formation, second 2 gives you line, third 2 gives wedge, last 2 give access to square. Your Tactics level would also determine how fast they changed formations & facing, and also how close their spacing was, a low skill would give you pretty ragged formations with gaps in them, at the end even the mob would be a close-ordered solid box with even spacing.

Leadership meanwhile would determine how well your orders were followed, an order to charge from a low level commander would result in a ragged surge with no particular aim besides running into the other guy, high level would give you an unstoppable wall of steel that crushed anything it hit.

Same with things like hold position, low Leadership would have men drifting out of position and starting charges when ordered to stay, high level would have even knights stay perfectly still until an enemy came into melee range. Follow would be mostly how well your men kept formation while executing a change of position, low level would have them strung out all over the place, easy meat for any enemies, high level would be a perfectly drilled march to the new location, ready to repel any attack en route.

Then a new order, retreat, same as charge, just going the opposite direction, similar to hold this position as you have to designate somewhere to retreat to, ranged foot withdraw first, stopping along the way to provide cover fire unless their under direct attack, melee foot retreat second, protecting the ranged troops and keeping their facing towards the enemy, cavalry go last and fight a rearguard action, everyone tries to stay facing the enemy.

Low leadership there would result in first off an unwillingness among knights & heavy foot to listen to you, and secondly a very unordered withdrawal with most likely many casualties, as the faster troops would just run ahead, leaving their lesser brethren to die, high level would obviously be a nice ordered retreat with constant harassment of the enemy, and a quick turn-around into a static defense once they reached their destination.

That last might be a bit hard to implement, but some type of fighting retreat needs to be in.

 

[Sir Jodi]

I like all your ideas. expecially number 4. some major cities and towns should have a special option in the smithy to construct armour. this would be vvery expensive and time-consuming, but you would get the best of the best stuff! also What about a horse breeder, from whom you would be able to order (againg for a mountain of cash and some time) a spirited horse!
and you could lover the cost of the process by bringing your own goods with you(for example for s watered longsword, you need three iron, so bring some with you so the smith wont need to buy the iron and the cost would lover! someone please bring these ideas to the ears of amargan(the admin) (spelling?) and the team. i would love to see this implemented in the next versions.


PS: forgot to add this: good idea also with the faction specific types of armours. there would be a svadian plate armour, and a vaegir counterpart with lover encumberance and less armour(vaegir seems like a steppe faction like mongols to me) and then a svadian war shield with a specific "style" on it. and the vaegir counterpart!