Suggestions for the next TW game

[Madae]

With my recent jump into untested territory, I did come up with a good idea for the next Total War game, and that would be some way to direct your vassals. The last game I played, I made a vassal very early in the game (this is documented in the Hattori guide). They proved to be a major asset early on, but caused more problems than I could keep up with later in the game. Coupled with a few very poor decisions (attacking the enemy with a tattered army and losing everything they had) made me think "It would be really great if I could open the diplomacy screen and tell that nub to not be dumb".

I normally never have issues with vassals, but I also typically only make them when the game is well within my favor, and when all they can really do is provide more support for me in the late game, as well as trade agreements. Making one so early (turn 10'ish) showed me that, while they can be a great benefit, they can also be a hinderance without direction. Giving them free reign to go about their business would be okay if I could just interject at a few key moments and tell them to hold off until I can reinforce them - otherwise they just put themselves in unwinnable positions and lose their only means of defending their newly conquered land.

This could be something simple as opening the diplomacy screen and having a few options to discuss with them; be aggressive (openly attack your enemies), be defensive (only defend your territories), be passive (focus on your economy, or otherwise just sit and wait until told otherwise), or use your own judgement (do whatever you want to do). There could also be additional requests, such as; attack this town (in the case that I want them to take a certain province to expand their territory), defend this town (if I, or an ally, maybe have a undefended town that needs support and they're the only army nearby), follow this general (if I'm, or another vassal/ally general, is on a warpath and I want him to accompany me/them), etc...

I think these are probably the bare necessities, and covers just about everything I can think of that I would want my vassal to do. Additionally, you could extend a slightly modified and less in depth list of commands to allies, that could basically just consist of attack, defend or be passive, but they should also have more freedom to disobey and do what they want since they are not directly ruled by me (like a vassal is).

There should also be a return of the "give territory" diplomatic action. Sometimes a vassal will lose a piece of land, and I will regain it - sometimes I would actually prefer that it still be in control of my vassal, and they should also be fairly thankful to me for doing it for them. Historically, Tokugawa distributed land to the clans that followed him, and punished those that fought against him. There really should be a way to reward your vassals, because there's very few ways to keep them happy outside of direct interference with enemies close to them. Unless you just happen to be in the proper location, setting up a battle where you can assist them is a lot harder than it sounds. I often times have to reload a game after I see what my vassal will do so I can properly position myself to help him, when it would have just been easier and make more sense if I told him to do it. One of the funniest examples I've seen on more than one occasion is a province right next to my vassal that has little or no troops, with a modestly sized force of my units standing right next to the enemy castle, and my vassals' half-filled province just sitting around do nothing, or running in the opposite direction. I usually just give up and take it for myself, but still...

Another add; my vassals should automatically be extending trade agreements (if possible) between themselves, or interacting with eachother in a mutually beneficial way. I've seen my vassals not trading with eachother, which really doesn't make any sense. When their turn comes up, this is literally the first thing they should be checking to see if they can do or not.