The problem is economic balance. there's no cap on fief points and no check against prosperity. Fiefs started at 200 prosperity I think, now most are over 1000-2000 even the cities with 10 heirloomed items at 40% discount. This will only continue to increase as castles gain 10 per day, cities 14. S&D used to be scarce now it's everywhere especially on EU where there's 50% more fiefs than NA even though activity levels are roughly the same. So every day the amount of gold sloshing around increases, completely open ended while the costs of equipping an army remain constant, so gold has reached trivial levels (on EU )and there's no reason not to equip everything with top level plate (NA is not too far behind).
So the problem is too much money? I'm new to strat, so I'm not sure what's what, but I'm guessing that when villages are attacked, they don't lose prosperity. Cuz if they did, people wouldn't wait for armies to attack them in the fief, but would go out to meet them. Or am I wrong?
I would suggest that fiefs lose prosperity when attacked according to how long the attack lasts. I'd also suggest that troops costs should get exponentially higher when out in the field, a percentage of men times the value of gear. Then you'd have to choose between quantity and quality. The only places troops should be cheaply garrisoned is in castles and towns, where a clan member could quickly grab some troops to make a large army to meet an oncoming large army. If you are an independent village owner, you could pay for either protection or pay to station troops in a nearby castle or town.
This would stop the constant village sieges, and would make defenders send armies out to intercept attacking ones, and would only do the village siege thing as a last defence, which also has the added benefit of a scorched earth policy should you lose. And as war continues, large areas of the map will become poverty stricken, making the trade routes more and more competitive as caravans fight over the little S/D in the peaceful villages, perhaps making hawk factions force trade agreements on the dove factions with gunboat diplomacy- which will either make the doves more hawkish, or make other hawks charge in and turn the dove's lands into another battleground.
I think this would lead to more interesting strategies, and get rid of those 1500 man caravans carrying 2000 crates. This would also give new players and lower rank members more stuff to do- ie more small caravans (and probably caravan 'privateers'), scouting enemy areas, patrolling friendly areas, harassing enemy villages, and getting ready to rush to your comrade's aid when a battle starts nearby.
So I may be all off on this, being new to strat, but I'd like to see this made more interesting for everyone, not just the clan leaders. Also I think that would increase a demand for the small time mercenary, which is my greatest aspiration in life.
