As some of you may have noticed, we already have several topics in the general discussion and the suggestion corner which are about cav+archers vs. infantry, one of the oldest topics in cRPG at all. Since the beginning of the game cavalry and archers made the life of many infantry players really hard and often demotivating, at least to a wider extend than vice versa (you don't see many archers or cavalry complain about infantry).
The reasons for this are manifold, but one of the most important (in my eyes) is the missing teamplay of infantry players. Most infantry players, even the very skilled ones, simply rush towards the closest targets to engage them, and they don't give a fuck about what the rest of the team does, which results in a lot of single headless rambo-lemmings, and single headless targets are the easiest prey for archers and cavalry. But as you can't change the players you must change the system. So here are my suggestions. Some of them can even get combined, and if someone posts another suggestion I will edit it here into my OP, so that we can have all suggestions together in one post.
1. Implement a commander system
Make a system where players follow the orders of a commander. The commander needs to be elected automatically, a player vote won't work. Next to this every player must have the system enabled by default when he enters the server, and there should be some little rewards for carrying out orders, at least in the period after implementing the system. When (if at all) the community changed its behaviour and plays the game more consciously, things can get changed. Actually this solution would aim to "change the players". The idea is to make infantry play together, and thus buff each other by complementing their abilities and nullifying their weaknesses.
2. Add an area buff to certain classes.
Make certain infantry classes grant buffs to other infantry classes, the best way would be that classes, which cover a weakness (e.g. shielders which cover 2hd players from projectiles) grant a buff which is most useful for the particular player (for 2hd that could be PS, for example). The bonus for several players should be cumulative, to a certain maximum, which shouldn't be too high. 2 or 3 points, I would say. This is another try to make infantry not only stick together, but also encourage players to look for classes which provide an effective combination with their own class. This buff should only apply FROM infantry players TO infantry players. If you think a skill buff would be too much, you could also think about a gold or XP buff. Or make it basing on kills the OTHER players around make. WHich would encourage players more to support each other, instead of seeing the others only as extras to your own one-man-show.
3. Change battle mode.
The main strength of infantry is conquering and holding terrain. With a battle mode where not killing but conquering and holding flags would be the goal, infantry would gain importance, and reward calculation could become easier. For example infantry could be rewarded most for being close to the flag and less for killing, while archers are rewarded more for killing and less for staying next to the flag.
4. Give infantry extra skills.
This suggestion is rather extreme. You can click a button on your character screen, which is called something like "Infantry training". Once pressed (and confirmed!) the way you can spend skills is changed. This change can't be made undone unless you retire or respec. The skills "Power Draw", "Power Throw", "Horse Archery" and "Riding" get locked or limited to a very low value (2 or 3 at the most). Already spent skill points get refunded, of course (only of the locked skills. This shouldn't be a cheap way to respec!). Same applies to the corresponding proficiencies like "Crossbows", "Bows" and "Throwing Weapons". Simultaneously you need only two governing attribute points to level the following skills: "Power Strike" "Athletics" "Iron Flesh" and "Shield". (You need to find a solution to prevent builds with unbreakable shields which can still hit pretty hard, though). Additionally the item weight will always be reduced by a certain percentage, something like 30-50%. This would make infantry the absolute kings of ground combat, and with the higher IF and ATH values they should be more difficult to kill.
Edit: a less extreme version of this suggestion would be that you have to choose either STR or AGI, and depending on your choice IF and PS or ATH and Shield become sheaper, the other two remain the same.
5. Rework armours
Currently, top tier armour is a rather bad choice. That's why I would suggest to make the armour values climb more exponentially to the top tier end of the list, while simultaneously lowering upkeep a bit. In exchange you can raise the item weight a bit. That way really heavy infantry could be viable again, and if wearing plate items armour values from 70 over 80 to perhaps close to 90 (with loomed items) could be reached. That way you could have heavy shock infantry at the front of your team, covering the rest against enemy arrows, even without shield. (Which would also, as beneficial effect, add a little bit of realism)
Tell me what you think about the suggestions, which you like or dislike, or whether you have own suggestions. Keep in mind that although the effects are similar, I want to focus on improving infantry, not making the other classes less effective. cRPG had enough nerfs, it's like the old story of a wobbling chair with heavily sawn of legs, because every time you saw off one another one has the wrong length. It's time to stop the sawing and put something under the shortest leg.
If we have enough suggestions, we can even start a poll.
