A few valuable suggestions :)

[KhealchHierarch]

First I would like to point out that this is my first post and I have only experienced Battle Brothers a short week, and knowing that a large update is on the horizon, the suggestions i would like to point out is maybe already on their way. I am also aware that some or maybe all of my suggestions have already been presented, but failing to find them again in separate posts, I would like to gather them in a single post as I feel they would add much to the game.
Second I would like to praise the development team for an absolutely exellent game! The design-choices of a limited setting, and challenging gameplay makes for a very clear and focused experience. The feeling of authenticity adds alot as well for me, especially when spiced up with low level magic/fantasy elements!

To the suggestions:
1: The first suggestion is just a short QOL nitpick, namely an easier way of swapping items in combat. Opening the character screen every time u want to swap weapons is much to clunky, especially as quickhands perk is an integral tactic for success i feel. An addition to this is a way to designate a characters main and secondary loadout, too many times I have started a battle with my soldiers equipped with the wrong weapon, so an automatic swap when a battle is over would be a great help.

2: The second and third suggestion is related to eachother, and is regarding the permanent injuries system. This is integral to the game and should in no way be removed, as it adds alot of flair to the campaign. My gripe with it is that there is no positive incentive to keep permanently injuried soldiers in your roster, as the 12 cap in the battleline makes roster-spaces a very expensive commodity. If there was a system that over time gave injuried warriors positive buffs (ofcourse also a possibility of worsening injuries as well) when they stayed in active or reserve duty would make managing your little band of battle brothers that much more interesting and rewarding. These buffs can be of a multitude of possible effects, not only statbuffs and the like, but passive as well. For example passive exp gain for low-level recruits even when in reserve, resolve buffs for the entire team, prestige and influence gain, scavenging, bonus goldgain from successful missions and foraging skills etc. The gruff and scarred veterans that have learned their lessons the hard way should be valued in a band of mercenaries. And this sentiment carries over to the next suggestion;

3: The problem of disbanding characters. Simply put it feels like cheating! From a gameplay perspective it is a musthave, but I feel it can be handled with a bit more finess. I have hired alot of new recruits just to find they have a debilitating statline or quirk, and immediately disband them and try again, and every time that feels wrong. Instead i propose that every new recruit is contracted for a few days as a sort of “trial-period”, after which the player is given a choice of keeping the recruit permanently or letting them go. Or maybe a system that punishes mercenary bands that have a high attritionvalue in either/or new recruits and deaths, in form of lower moral/desertions etc. The ability to disband a warrior is particulary weird when it comes to above mentioned permanently wounded veterans. The choice game wise is to disband a warrior that no longer can earn their keep becourse of wounds that make them a liability in the battleline, but that takes away from the immersion and the challenge and reward of the game. Instead I would like to be able to retire individual soldiers from the company (or them asking to be retired as well) and by how generous the pension they get to leave with (their equipment, additional funds etc.) I can get either rewarded or punished with an increase in moral, reputation and other buffs as well as negatives like battlebrothers missing their trusted and loved comrades and be outraged by the blatant misery. In my opinion that would add a lot to the game as a whole.

I might add that I only play Battle Brothers in Ironman mode, as i took what the developers wrote in the description as gospel, and i encourage everyone to do the same! :)
I thank you for an absolutely splendid game and I wish you the best of luck!
Regards
KhealchHierarch

[MGL]

To your 2. point. It is heartbreakingly hard to decide to dismiss your level 10 brother who has been a badass, who at times had more or less kept the company alive single handedly, due to his partly collapsed lung and broken elbow joint. And to then replace him with a squimpy green recruit that isnt fit enough to wear his armor, and much less worthy of wearing it.

[Wargasm]

I can never bring myself to dismiss my veteran mercs who’ve acquired permanent injuries – not even injuries that contravene the whole rationale with which I’ve built them up for so long. I might send them into battle and put them into perilous situations without much support, but they always seem to survive miraculously when I do that, and how can you then dismiss them after such heroism?

It really isn’t very realistic to just suddenly dismiss someone with no payoff and no repercussions involving other members of the band. Nor, for that matter, to send them into battle against orc warriors with a leather tunic and a wooden club, in the hope that they might not make it through …

Maybe, based on what perks they have, some suitable equipment should be retired with them (e.g. at least one top-tier weapon in accordance with their mastery, and a selection of shields if they were a shield expert, and some heavy armour and helm if they were brawny and/or battle forged), and/or they should get to take at least one trading item or piece of equipment for each perk, in addition to a minimum payoff (e.g. # of days times daily pay) that you can choose to increase (e.g. for someone who was originally a raw recruit with a low starting pay).

Unfortunately, the level cap means that you become disinterested in veterans once they reach level 11 and can no longer develop and improve. If the number of level 11 veterans and permanent injuries in the band both resulted in an increased rate of experience gain by newer recruits, that would give them some more value (though of course it wouldn’t solve the problem of not being able to recruit new people once the band is full of level 11s).

I wonder whether the Vererans’ Hall (still to come in early access) could have something to do with increasing the value of veterans by some auxiliary means …

If proper retirements were introduced, one good idea for a new event would be a retired veteran making a volitional one-off return to the fold for a cataclysmic battle during one of the end-game crises … and/or a level 8-11 veteran who was slain in battle making a miraculous reappearance (e.g. revived slowly after being left for dead, or brought back by some sort of surgery-cum-sorcery).

[Ned Stark]

I’d like to throw in my support for a portion of your point 2..

You stated:

KhealchHierarch wrote:

For example passive exp gain for low-level recruits even when in reserve…

I highly agree that in reserve, Battle Brothers should gain a small amount of XP per day. Perhaps 10, 25 or even 50xp a day, with maybe a larger xp gain in reserve depending on the difficulty level. I know that a Brother simply watching tactics unfold before them isn’t as valuable as being in the arena fighting, but still… I believe that there should be an xp gain in reserve.

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." ~Marcus Aurelius

Game: "Characters with a height advantage against their opponents are harder to hit"
Me: "That's not true, and my short axeman is living proof!"

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