1) Increase the pop requirement for upgrading villages. Not much point having them at all if the few villages you ever acquire can be immediately upgraded.

2) Allow construction of Dirt Roads in Motte & Bailey castles. It can take a really long time to get these upgraded to Wooden Castles, regions with Motte and Bailey don't get any roads at all until well after all other regions.

3) Really need to get the AI to stop accepting Ceasefire offers so easily. The standard war in TLR goes like this: AI backstabs player, sending a very understrength army to besiege a settlement or a weak fleet to blockade a port, the player then immediately uses diplo to offer a Ceasefire. Not only does the AI accept this, it will pay 2-3k for the privilege, it will then pay another 1-2k to re-establish trade, and on the following turn will pay an additional 2-3k for an alliance. Meanwhile, as a result of declaring war on the player, ALL factions currently allied with the player will immediately break their alliance with the offending AI faction. Its no longer Total War, its Total Barney Player never has to fight an inconvenient war. AI shouldn't even consider a ceasefire unless: 1) Its been at war for x # turns (the game keeps track of how long factions have been at war/peace/allied with each other faction), or 2) At least 1 province has changed hands between the warring factions.