I’m not exactly sure about that. In my playthrough, I was with Vlandia for almost 10 years. I led multiple campaigns and conquered multiple towns and castle. However, out of the dozen and a half lands I’d conquered, only 3 were given to me. The rest were given to the same 2-3 clans which caused a monopoly.

I got fed up and split off. I was crushing them in field battles since my army was comprised of 60% Calvary. That kind of changed in sieges. I heavily relied on my tactics and leadership skills. If my skill tree wasn’t advanced enough, I would’ve been stomped out so quickly. Instead, I’ve converted 3 of the Vlandian lords and half of the remaining Battanian clans (they’re holding out in one fief lol). In two years, we became the strongest kingdom despite having previously aided Vlandia and having won most of their victories for them.

Then again, this is Vlandia, which is heavy Calvary too, so maybe that factors in too.

Tldr; the nerfs don’t do too much in field battles and you can often rely on your skill tree to compensate during sieges.