Theorytalk - Best number of factions

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7c Nickel

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I've been thinking about trying to get a mod project off the ground for Bannerlord.  Right now I'm working on fleshing out the designs for the factions.  I'd like to keep them all very distinct, but I'm worried because I've only managed to make four thus far that I'm happy with.  I'm worried that just not enough.  So what do you say?  What's the minimum number of factions to get interesting war and diplomacy and all that good stuff?  When does the faction count become too high?  I'm interested in hearing thoughts from other mod developers.
 
You can make things more interesting by deliberately unbalancing the factions in size. Having a billion factions is no different to having three if they're all the same sort of size. Make some big, some small, some have more lords than others, and some have larger or smaller armies, or wealthier settlements.

I'd say a minimum of six is needed to get the most out of the diplomacy system. Any fewer and you're prone to extended peace, stalemate wars and just a lack of variety for the player.

Having more factions (i.e. 10-15) can be very interesting, but the main limitation is overworld lag and stutter that increases exponentially with the number of factions and settlements. 1257 is an example of a mod that had to remove lots of features in order to make it playable. This isn't usually an issue under 15 factions, though.
 
I'd say that for single player, a high amount of factions adds to the fun. Throw in some weaker smaller factions, throw in some stronger factions and you'd have choices that Warband doesn't have: join the weak one to get a challenge, join the strong one for an easier time, etc. Variety doesn't always have to come from the units themselves. You could just go for culture groups, in which case it'd be okay if some factions share similar units. You'd have to strike the sweetpot of not having too many factions though.

Depending on how much depth the faction/diplomacy of Bannerlord will have, I'd say having 3 to 5 major factions and about the same amount of minor factions would be a nice amount to have. Possibly expanded with one or two really unique factions.

For multiplayer it'd be the opposite though. Fewer but solid factions would make it easier to ensure balance and player familiarity with the factions.
 
hard to say as it will depend on the game features.

If Bannerlord is more like CK you can have lots of fun with few factions, as the court live will have a big focus.
If Bannerlord is more like EU4/Native you better off with more factions, as there is not much to do besides conquest.

About performance: no way to know until we get our hands on the new engine. Maybe it will let you build a 1257AD size mod with great FPS, maybe not :XD
 
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