I want to be able to steal items from Sovereigns I defeat in battle, even if they aren't vanquished.  Before they teleport home, I at least want something cool for defeating them.  It would be especially galling for the defeated.

Also, It doesn't make sense for my sovereign to fight with a spear while his troops fight with swords.  How about the Sovereign's gear can keep pace with his technology some how?

Data wise, the system has all the makings of a 'paper-doll' system. You can equip different things do diferent slots (helms, breastplates, cloaks, etd. ), though ATM accessories are limitless (if you find 100+ rings, I beleive you cna equip them all).

In the polish phase I can see getting an improved Unit Details window in that has the slots you're all looking for

well, since theoretically people could wear more than one ring upon a finger ... I would Hypothisize for Ring limit (for one person) to be either 10, 15, 20, or 30.

honestly I think 16 would be the best number, because that is one for each finger, and then an additional ring for each of the primary three fingers (excluding pinky and thumb).

Edit: Some games might explain that Rings of Power are too hard to control if you have too many, restricting either each finger to only one ring, or more usually, restricting ring usage to 2 or 4. The idea being that the energies of the hand can only contain the power of 1 or 2 rings before losing all sanity (or being unable to bridle the powers of the rings, damaging the hand in some way perhaps).

"In the polish phase I can see getting an improved Unit Details window in that has the slots you're all looking for "

BoogieBac-Could it also be tied to the miniatures?  My Soverign or Champions find a Axe of Headsmiting equips it in ragdoll inventory window and automatically the regular wood staff I was using becomes miniature with dble bladed large heavy axe of doom!   Would this be tough or easy to do?  Same would go with the other equipment.  I think I will be playing cloth map mode quite extensively.  Or is this just something a mod might need to do?

Magicke, currently you can find spears and such out of huts, so the next time you find one, equip it and see if it replaces the sword on the sovreign (w/ a sword-wielding sovreign naturally).  I wasn't looking at the mini the last time I found a spear, sadly, so I don't have a definitive answer for you.

I am kind of hoping that the "Item Stores" for champions will be consistently about 1 tech level above that available for regular troops.

Lets say that each piece of equipment has an inherent gold value X (like the default avg market value for various materials). If you have tech level N, then buying Items for your champions at tech level N will be 0.5(X), while buying Items for your champions at tech level N+1 would be X. Rare or Legendary items and artifacts would be available at 1.5(X). Sometimes a "rare" item could be simply an item you have found that exists at tech level N+2 or greater. These would also be available at the cost of 1.5(X).

Essentially, this allows for your Favored high level Champions to be consistently better equipped than your soldiers, even without using that Blazing Sword +3 you found from a quest.

This post has been quiet for a while, has it moved to another thread? I would like to keep it going as to my, Inventory, items and inventory management is very important in any RGP type game. Specially with the amount of strategy being packed into every turn, anything that speeds up or makes more sense of the inventory system is a bonus.

Does an improved (more mature) inventory system have a spot in the beta?

In Suikoden a character was allowed up to 4 rings and up to 3 runes.

The runes were Right Hand, Left Hand, and Forehead.

the runes were a good deal more powerful than rings as well ...

rings should be limited to 2 on each hand(so 4 rings total).  also i would LOVE to see a treasure room, or vault or something you could store stuff in that can be accessed from any town(its a magic vault).  this way you could drop off what you don't want to carry, and at the same time pass it on to other champs.

as a side feature i would like it so that if you take a town, you get 1 or 2 items from the players vault that you defeated.  this would be a random item.

as a side feature i would like it so that if you take a town, you get 1 or 2 items from the players vault that you defeated.  this would be a random item.

hmm I like that idea!

Im of the two rings per chr rule, after all they are strong magic, and you wouldnt want too much of that one the one hand.. BOOM!

Inventory management is a mess (3C) because it's unorganized in the bar. Clicking the unit and organizing through there is better. One solution could be to expand the bar when you click "items" to accommodate for more rows of items. I love the idea of keeping defeated enemies items! Lastly, when you upgrade your equipment it might be a good idea to update the character's portrait (or put an option in somewhere to manually update it).

We also need improved shop inventory organization. BIG TIME! Later in the game its ridiculous...

I'm for a "paper doll" inventory.

It always bothered me in Demigod when you were able to equip as many helms/breastplates etc as you wanted.

Butchered immersion.

- Othello

Yeah, I'm for a paper doll system too, with a limit of two rings per unit.  Maybe the rings could be made a bit more powerful too under this system.

Best regards,
Steven.