Joren123
Recruit
Let me start with saying that I absolutely love this game. However, I do have my share of complaints and forgive me if I don't word my thoughts well.
1. Populations should matter. You know how you defeat an enemy lord, he escapes from prison and returns at the head of another army? This shouldn't happen as often as it does. Towns and villages should have population counts, even if we use the prosperity stat as an interim. The more you recruit from one spot, the less people you have living there. There should be finite recruitment until the population 'regrows'. When your/your enemy's army routes and loses, the prisoners that arent taken, would either turn into bandits, or eventually find their way back into their former homes. There already is a form of forceful conscription ingame that could be used as well as a lord option instead of a raiding option. Naturally forcefully conscripting would lower the population's opinion of you. Also, constantly losing your men should also have demerits such as making people less likely to be recruited by you(Higher recruitment costs I guess?) and desertions. (They return home)
2. Cavalry. Currently cavalry has a lot of problems, but there are a few that drive me crazy. If you are already in a full speed charge, for good or for ill, you should continue the charge instead of coming to an immediate full stop if someone hits you with a spear. Even if you die and fall off your horse, the horse itself should definitely keep going forward until it slows or dies. Second, lone horsemen should not just be riding through your spear ranks at a walk and totally push past your men and out the other side. The depth and formation of the infantry line should matter, even if they arent all spears. Horse and rider in a charge has a lot of energy, but a lot of that energy should be spent on the first or second ranks. If you have a square formation 6 ranks deep, enemy cav shouldnt be passing through them all with no f***s given. Cav getting bogged in enemy spears should be death. That is why infantry charges should follow to take advantage of the gaps created by the cav.
3. Spears. Spears should be the basic recruit weapon, not the sword. It takes 3 years to create a functional swordsman while a spear would take less than 2 weeks. Also in these times where metal is precious, noone would be wasting 10 lbs of metal on a sword for a recruit who may not live past 10 minutes of combat, compared to a spear which is probably 2 lbs of metal and some wood. That being said, the spears in this game are terrible and will likely remain so without the ability to stab while shield blocking. Spears are meant for tight formations, with shields interlocked in the front ranks and attacks being done in short stabs in unison upon command through gaps created by turning the shield or little holes in the shields themselves designed for that purpose. Or from the 2nd ranks over the shoulders of the shield bearers in front. Now when a unit tiers up, swords would be fine. Namely short swords used for thrusting over the top of the user's shield. Which again relies on the shield block still being up.
Pilums should knock out shields on a good hit. Thats what they are there for. A shield with a pilum stuck in the middle of it should make it unuseable because of the added weight. Or add in the animation from 300 where they break off the arrows and javs from their shields for immersion. Not critical.
4. Pikes. Pikes share the same problem as spears, but has its own issues on top of that. The pikes we have now are too short. Actual pikes are about 15 ft in length no? Just look up the macedonian phalanx to see what I mean.
5. Clan stuff. Does anyone else hate when they create an army of their companion parties, filling it with soldiers, and then the next time you visit a town to sell, they promptly donate a 1/3rd of their troops in exchange for +2 recruits? Like what? Dropping off their prisoners, selling their loot is fine. But as the army commander, isn't the decision to donate troops or not in your hands? Can you kindly not give away all my top tier troops without my permission?
Also, if a companion was turned into a party leader, if he is defeated and eventually escapes, it is incredibly annoying for you to hunt him back down, have him rejoin, and then create the party all over again. Would it be possible to grant authority to companions and spouses so that they can recreate their party on their own? And in case of your spouse, enable them to create their own army, and draw from any existing garrisons? Like you married some bad ass and they go from a leader of soldiers into some meek little thing you have to order around every little time? I ran through hoops(Save scummed) and paid 10k and 2 horses for them to be another commander, not for them to pop out 1 kid and die in childbirth.
6 Bandits. raiding, crime&punishment. Constant warfare breeds chaos. Remember the 500 enemy prisoners you couldn't take with you? They should go somewhere. Either return home(my population idea) or turn into bandits. Looters should be attracted to sites of large battles and grow larger the longer they are left alone and with how many prisoners get released. Any anime fans remember Log Horizon? Where the adventurers left the goblins alone so long it led to the goblin king event? Maybe have something similar, if the bandits are left alone too long, they form a huge army that comes to sack one of your towns.
Pesky raiders. You know that one enemy lord that loves to raid your villages? And every time he gets captured and eventually escapes, he goes back to raiding? We alread have a crime system in place, where if you raid a faction's territory too many times, you become an enemy of that faction and they go to war with you. Likewise, the enemy AI lords should also have a crime rating, and if they become a public enemy of your faction, you should be able to execute them without taking penalties within your faction. Naturally, if youre a criminal and you get captured, then well, the same thing would happen to you.
7. Getting fiefs. I get it, we're moving on from the era of meritocracy into a place where we have to reward everyone for participation to avoid hurting feelings. But you should at least have to show up. If I gather up my entire clan to 800 strong and take a castle at the expense of 200 men, some ass I never met should not be on the list. If that douche Derthart takes it, it can't be helped, thats what happens when you bend the knee. But people who weren't even there shouldn't be on the ballot. Also, people that consistently fail to protect their territories should not constantly regain them through other people's efforts. I get it, sometimes its hard. You get your 1st castle and naturally its on the front lines. And 2 minutes later its under attack by a 1500 strong force and you only have 90 men. But when it is recaptured, you should at least be part of the force that took it back. IE You should at least show up.
8. Policies and diplomacy. Might makes right. If I have 14 fiefs, my vote should have substantially more weight than some pleb clan with no territory. If my combined soldiers outnumber all the combined soldiers of the rest of all the other lords, and I say we aren't going to war then that should decide that. Who cares if 6 landless lords decide they want to war 3 factions all at once. There should be collaborations like secret alliances. "Hey buddy, support me on next vote and Ill owe you a favor". Or, "Help me kick this guy out of the kingdom and we'll split his land and womenfolk". Actually, nevermind the last one, I am just looking forward to CK 3. But you guys get the picture.
If you read up to here, thanks for hearing me out.
1. Populations should matter. You know how you defeat an enemy lord, he escapes from prison and returns at the head of another army? This shouldn't happen as often as it does. Towns and villages should have population counts, even if we use the prosperity stat as an interim. The more you recruit from one spot, the less people you have living there. There should be finite recruitment until the population 'regrows'. When your/your enemy's army routes and loses, the prisoners that arent taken, would either turn into bandits, or eventually find their way back into their former homes. There already is a form of forceful conscription ingame that could be used as well as a lord option instead of a raiding option. Naturally forcefully conscripting would lower the population's opinion of you. Also, constantly losing your men should also have demerits such as making people less likely to be recruited by you(Higher recruitment costs I guess?) and desertions. (They return home)
2. Cavalry. Currently cavalry has a lot of problems, but there are a few that drive me crazy. If you are already in a full speed charge, for good or for ill, you should continue the charge instead of coming to an immediate full stop if someone hits you with a spear. Even if you die and fall off your horse, the horse itself should definitely keep going forward until it slows or dies. Second, lone horsemen should not just be riding through your spear ranks at a walk and totally push past your men and out the other side. The depth and formation of the infantry line should matter, even if they arent all spears. Horse and rider in a charge has a lot of energy, but a lot of that energy should be spent on the first or second ranks. If you have a square formation 6 ranks deep, enemy cav shouldnt be passing through them all with no f***s given. Cav getting bogged in enemy spears should be death. That is why infantry charges should follow to take advantage of the gaps created by the cav.
3. Spears. Spears should be the basic recruit weapon, not the sword. It takes 3 years to create a functional swordsman while a spear would take less than 2 weeks. Also in these times where metal is precious, noone would be wasting 10 lbs of metal on a sword for a recruit who may not live past 10 minutes of combat, compared to a spear which is probably 2 lbs of metal and some wood. That being said, the spears in this game are terrible and will likely remain so without the ability to stab while shield blocking. Spears are meant for tight formations, with shields interlocked in the front ranks and attacks being done in short stabs in unison upon command through gaps created by turning the shield or little holes in the shields themselves designed for that purpose. Or from the 2nd ranks over the shoulders of the shield bearers in front. Now when a unit tiers up, swords would be fine. Namely short swords used for thrusting over the top of the user's shield. Which again relies on the shield block still being up.
Pilums should knock out shields on a good hit. Thats what they are there for. A shield with a pilum stuck in the middle of it should make it unuseable because of the added weight. Or add in the animation from 300 where they break off the arrows and javs from their shields for immersion. Not critical.
4. Pikes. Pikes share the same problem as spears, but has its own issues on top of that. The pikes we have now are too short. Actual pikes are about 15 ft in length no? Just look up the macedonian phalanx to see what I mean.
5. Clan stuff. Does anyone else hate when they create an army of their companion parties, filling it with soldiers, and then the next time you visit a town to sell, they promptly donate a 1/3rd of their troops in exchange for +2 recruits? Like what? Dropping off their prisoners, selling their loot is fine. But as the army commander, isn't the decision to donate troops or not in your hands? Can you kindly not give away all my top tier troops without my permission?
Also, if a companion was turned into a party leader, if he is defeated and eventually escapes, it is incredibly annoying for you to hunt him back down, have him rejoin, and then create the party all over again. Would it be possible to grant authority to companions and spouses so that they can recreate their party on their own? And in case of your spouse, enable them to create their own army, and draw from any existing garrisons? Like you married some bad ass and they go from a leader of soldiers into some meek little thing you have to order around every little time? I ran through hoops(Save scummed) and paid 10k and 2 horses for them to be another commander, not for them to pop out 1 kid and die in childbirth.
6 Bandits. raiding, crime&punishment. Constant warfare breeds chaos. Remember the 500 enemy prisoners you couldn't take with you? They should go somewhere. Either return home(my population idea) or turn into bandits. Looters should be attracted to sites of large battles and grow larger the longer they are left alone and with how many prisoners get released. Any anime fans remember Log Horizon? Where the adventurers left the goblins alone so long it led to the goblin king event? Maybe have something similar, if the bandits are left alone too long, they form a huge army that comes to sack one of your towns.
Pesky raiders. You know that one enemy lord that loves to raid your villages? And every time he gets captured and eventually escapes, he goes back to raiding? We alread have a crime system in place, where if you raid a faction's territory too many times, you become an enemy of that faction and they go to war with you. Likewise, the enemy AI lords should also have a crime rating, and if they become a public enemy of your faction, you should be able to execute them without taking penalties within your faction. Naturally, if youre a criminal and you get captured, then well, the same thing would happen to you.
7. Getting fiefs. I get it, we're moving on from the era of meritocracy into a place where we have to reward everyone for participation to avoid hurting feelings. But you should at least have to show up. If I gather up my entire clan to 800 strong and take a castle at the expense of 200 men, some ass I never met should not be on the list. If that douche Derthart takes it, it can't be helped, thats what happens when you bend the knee. But people who weren't even there shouldn't be on the ballot. Also, people that consistently fail to protect their territories should not constantly regain them through other people's efforts. I get it, sometimes its hard. You get your 1st castle and naturally its on the front lines. And 2 minutes later its under attack by a 1500 strong force and you only have 90 men. But when it is recaptured, you should at least be part of the force that took it back. IE You should at least show up.
8. Policies and diplomacy. Might makes right. If I have 14 fiefs, my vote should have substantially more weight than some pleb clan with no territory. If my combined soldiers outnumber all the combined soldiers of the rest of all the other lords, and I say we aren't going to war then that should decide that. Who cares if 6 landless lords decide they want to war 3 factions all at once. There should be collaborations like secret alliances. "Hey buddy, support me on next vote and Ill owe you a favor". Or, "Help me kick this guy out of the kingdom and we'll split his land and womenfolk". Actually, nevermind the last one, I am just looking forward to CK 3. But you guys get the picture.
If you read up to here, thanks for hearing me out.
