Looter rocks hit too hard, especially through armor. I often lose max leveled Samurai elite heavy cavalry to rocks. Bows, especially poacher and peasant bows, should probably use cutting arrows instead of piercing. Once again these random peasants with sticks ignore armor to a ludicrous degree.

All this combines to make companions in actual combat quite mediocre. At a whopping 38 upkeep the she wolves should be doing the work of 5 men, but they don't. They die to rocks and arrows. The reality of Japanese 16th-19th century warfare is not lost on me, it was dominated by bows, spears, and guns. That said, armor should work better than it does against under equipped enemies. If armor could be bested by a rock, no one would put money into it.

I wouldn't mind this if I also wasn't arbitrarily limited to 5-9 companions as if they are some kind of overpowered. Really the best use for them seems to just be sending them off to caravans.

I also can't really make use of the awesome promotion mechanic if my party is filled with skill monkeys that aren't very valuable at fighting, like a surgeon.