Wow this is such a long and thought out response I don't know how to respond! (I am on a trip so sorry for the long reply time) But thanks so much for trying it and putting so much thought into it.
You really hit the core issue I've been seeing as well, there needs to be *some* kind of narrative. One of my main take-aways from DD was games with a little bit of narrative are far more engaging them ones without. Unfortunately, this is something I am no good or confident at, but it needs to be done. Hopefully I will have something by next DD.
> Then add some Heads to swap on your Unit Sprites to more closely match the Portraits
This is a great idea, and partly not implemented due to my laziness. I have different hair style sprites, but there are all in different sheets. Swapping out the heads is a very good idea, I wasn't sure how to handle that, especially when converting units (this should be handle by greyscale as well now that I think about it)
I'm not sure about map generating, I've made some attempts but nothing compelling. Currently my plan is to just make tons of maps then just pick 1-5 when the conditions are right (5 beach maps, 5 river maps, 5 plains, etc.). But random generation would be a better solution, I just haven't made a random generation script I am happy with.
> Also some Dialogue on recruiting a new Unit would be nice, generate them some personality Traits, and based on that a bit of Text, just a few Lines.
This is a great idea, I loved this in Solasta. Definitely should add this, it could tie into a support system as well.
Thanks again for the super in-depth response, I'll defiantly be checking back here when I get home to build a todo list.