From my perspective there are several things that will need to be fixed to make this all work. And they would have to be fixed all at once to not challenge the balance we have now.
Things that need to be fixed:
* Move out and other formations- working only if other people from he group are in the formation
* Damage - Rebalanced for no armor vs.. armor
* Speed with full inventory - speed should also be reduced when inventory is being filled. Now a thief caught red handed and naked will run like a wild horse and outrun a person in leather armor that has nothing else in backpack.
* Mounted combat to deal with crossbow "Indians" attacking forts
Rebalanced the combat skill tree - light armor's -> heavy armor's, lighter weapons - heavy weapons (sword - two handed sword)
* Crossbows at the end of range combat!!! (please why did Indians use bows? Did they invented and used crossbows before and decided bows were better?
)
Idea for rebalance of armor vs. no armor:
no armor 150-200% dmg
padded - 100%
leather - 70-80%
chain - 50-60%
scale - 40-50%
plate 35-45% or 30-40%
That is the overall dmg you do meaning if I can hit for let's say 50 I will do
no armor - 100 dmg
padded - 50
leather - 35-40
chain - 25-30
scale - 20-25
plate 15-20
Then goes the armor vs.. dmg type ;et's say a plate would go like this
+80% armor vs.. slash
-20% vs.. pierce
- 60% vs.. blunt
(also add novice vs. royal armor differences I won't debate on those currently)
So we had a basic of 50 hit a plate that reduced it to 15-20
Now we have
slash 3-4 dmg
pierce 18-22 dmg
blunt 24-32
Now we have the balance. At the same time giving armored people a good defense against the attacker if he's not using a designated weapon for the armor, and the increase dmg when dealing with those who try to counter the weapons with their constitution. I believe in a high penalty for a person who tries to block a sword with his arm. At the same time armored person should not be forced to hide from bow made with a grass string.
of course it can hurt him but it will take a lot of effort to actually bleed out an armored giant with that pea shooter.
It should also work for even for crossbows or we'll have a bunch of naked crossbowmen who will run fast and hit hard. I believe this will be the hardest to manage in the game.