It also makes the game in general a lot tougher - the bandits have been up-gunned (in the case of the Desert Bandits, seriously upgunned) so the early part of the game is a good deal more difficult, but you still wind up being able to take on armies - even more so when you make smart use of the formation options. There are a lot more, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind.
Sign on as part of a Lord's army and fight as common footsoldier.
New economic options - you can buy land in towns, buy ships for fast travel between ports, and have more options for trading. New missions - there are new missions you can get from lords. Reworked maps - the various siege maps have been heavily reworked, and graphics improvements have been made to the random maps.ĪI improvements - the AI can use the new formations and in general fights better. New strategic options - you can pre-plan battles and formations, pick who follows you into battle, and in battle you have options to new formations and commands. New character creation options - expanded backgrounds that alter skills and improve on skills. This affects bandits and mercenaries, too (even the female mercs get expanded and powerful options).
Troop Tree Overhaul - every faction gets a complete overhaul to its troop tree with loads of new troop types.
Loads and loards of new and improved items, including weapons, armor, clothes, horses, foods (including quality), and muddafuggin' War Elephants (which don't look so hot in practice because of engine limitations, but still). New, fully-implemented companions with all the same features of the old ones. There's actually a full wiki describing what it does, but in brief:Ĭharacter overhaul - the appearance of every character in the game is generally improved.