So went back to Bannerlord after finishing P5R the last few days, clock in about 20 hours now.
tl;dr: I don't think I'll able to go back to warband again.
Long version:
It's not because right now Bannerlord is head and shoulder above warband, it's just that once you see the new potential it's hard to go back. It's similar on how the X-series is for me. To this day X2 is still my most favorite, and I still wish Egosoft went with the plan of making X2+ rather than X3, but there were things that were offered in X3 that made it hard to go back to X2 (like factories complex). Or like X4R, despite it was a broken piece of crap at release, once I saw the potential there it was hard to go back and play X3 again. So Bannerlord is like that right now, you hope it will continue move forward because going back is not an option.
- Big battle: I fought my biggest battle today, I called it the battle for independence when 500 of my men go against 500 of the lord I declare independent on (and keep his city of course). That's a battle of ~1000, and by that I mean 1000 unit have a go at each others at the same time, not trickling in 100 at a time via reinforcement like warband. And it was ... smooth, no noticeable stuttering or lag. And I was playing on max graphic setting on a 5 years old CPU and a 3 years old GPU.
- Siege battle: it is a lot more elaborated now, I wouldn't go as far as saying I'm having a blast with them yet but it's no longer a simpleton like in Warband, as in 1 single entry. You have a full array of siege tower, rampart, battering ram, ladder, siege tower, ballista, catapult, trebuchet for both sides, and you can build multiple in one sieges. The AI still has to be developed more to utilize these tools effective (they're not exactly braindead right now though). But this is definitely a prime example of once I see how a siege battle here, I can never accept a siege battle in Warband ever again.
One thing I notice about the AI though ... is as weird as it sound, they seem to behave better the larger the battle get. In one of the battle I got sniped out of commission early when scouting even before the armies collide, so my troop were controlled by the AI. As I observed ... they control my troops way better than I do directly.
. Each troop types are moved in separate formation, Calvary in flank, archer advance in front of infantry for better range, but immediately move back to 2nd rank and replace by infantry for the counter charge as the enemy get closer. Weird they control their own troop much worse, but I'm guessing is because my army is must more cohesion then AI's armies, which is their weak point. Safe to say though, you won't see this behavior fighting small battles or with bandits.
And there are tons of other QoL too:
- You can form proper army with other lords now, instead of trying to herding around like Marshal did in Warband.
- Your companions are more like real retainers now instead of just playing body guard/super soldiers. They can run caravan to makes money, do quests on your behalf, or leading their own party. The great part is on that last note, unlike Warband once you makes them a lord it's a one way ticket, here you can recall them back to your parties at any time.
- You can overcap your party for a limited time. That was how I had that 1000 soldiers battle, it was actually just me (120 cap) and my wife (80 cap). But the game let you put as many troop you want to lead in your party for a very short moment (maybe a day) to do emergency battles like this (fought them right outside of town). After a time all of your troops over the cap will desert you though, so you can't just walk around with them.
But yeah, so far I'm enjoying it. It turns out exactly what I expect for EA of this game: it feels like a really piece a crap, but I love it anyway.