Many modern Browser-based games have developed a system such as this.
Basically, crushing your opponents through means other than skill will net you Dishonor, and defending underdogs in conflicts will grant you Honor.
This will be determined by the two side's gear and troop situation, and who is attacking who. There would of course be a threshold, perhaps a % + 50 troops, so that a 49 troop army can still raid unarmed caravans.. Equipment would also be taken into account.
Anyway, to get to the point: You accumulate Honor, and with Honor comes perhaps an increased Strategus production bonus, and extra EXP while fighting in Honorable battles. In essence, the strat spoils go to the winner - but if it was a fight in which the loser had no chance, they'll see an increased EXP reward.
This will hopefully ENCOURAGE large factions to give their opposition a chance. They will still have the troops/gear in surplus to use later, of course. Factions may have to ask themselves: Is assuring myself victory in this battle worth the Dishonor? And when it does, the side that's losing will at least go out in a big bang of EXP and may have a chance yet to produce the goods needed to recover.
As an example: Naked village slaughter with a huge geared army - dishonorable. This happened a lot in the NA conflicts, and was basically all DRZ did to fiefs. Most of the NA VS DRZ battles would have been *slightly* Dishonorable, as they had a sizeable ticket and massive gear advantage. Red VS Green army battles would have been honor-neutral, as they were pretty evenly matched.
Of course, Honor will be displayed on the battles page, and one can not lose honor as a defender, or gain it as an attacker.
As there has been some discussion of more maps, split EU/NA on different servers, etc. this may improve strategus without the need for the extra "continents" so I am curious as to what everyone's thoughts are on this.