Mount & Blade Interview

In addition to a brief retrospective and a With Fire & Sword preview, Calm Down Tom has kicked up an interview with TaleWorlds' Mika'il Yazbeck about the history and success of the Mount & Blade franchise.
Other than the setting and weapons, are there any other big changes you have made to the core combat and structure of the game?

To the base combat model, no, there aren't any.The new troop system helps change up the dynamics of establishing, growing, and maintaining a healthy army which in turn changes the pace and style of the game to a certain degree. There are also other nice small additions that can change the strategy of your game quite a bit, for example '˜trade caravans' allow you to make huge amounts of gold by buying low and selling high stock amounts of goods. All of the changes made to the game are ones that players will most likely appreciate as they add more options and flavour to the series.