I'm not registered on Elderscrolls.com, so my suggestions will go here. Let me say in advance that what I, being on the user end of modding, want to see is a fine comprehensive attempt to make interactions with the law and life on the run interesting. I don't care to use several mods that do more or less the same thing and probably conflict with each other.
Firstly, you should have a look at Azzer's "Bounty Reduction Over Time." That mod has three esps. The first one, just like yours, makes it so that bounties gradually drop as the character's crimes are slowly forgotten; the second one is much the same except that bounties over 4000 stay, so we won't be forgiven for murder; and the third one actually causes bounties to grow as we become notorious for avoiding the law. I think the second version is the most realistic, given the setting, besides it would keep the pay-through-the Guild option for thieves useful. Why bother paying if you can just leave? At any rate, could you add these other options to your mod? To take someone's good thought, when it's not going anywhere further, and improving on it isn't to plagiarize.
Secondly, here is an idea I tried to sell to Tiddles, the author of "Bounty: Regional," in the fall. He promised an update then, but never got around to it. The suggestion was to have "sanctuaries" in the game - within churches and cathedrals and for a few meters around the walls. In these mini-zones bounty would be calculated separately. Enter them and it is lifted, exit and it returns; break the peace and lose the protection. Standing by a god's altar was common practice in both pagan and medieval Europe (e.g. Demosthenes tried to hide from Macedonians on Calauria). I thought this would be difficult to implement in practice, but Tiddles assured it could easily be done. Since your mod features bounty zones too, I'm assuming you can figure out a way.
It would add quite a bit of realism - running to the church's door, where the guards no longer chase you (they should still be angry with you, of course, and not immediately leave), and waiting out. Perhaps the siege will take a long time! Then, when no one is looking, we might sneak out.
Thirdly, I'd like to know whether your mod will counter changes made to guards' inventories, their names and appearence? There are too many mods of that sort out there. What about default combat behavior (from the NPC Object screen)? Hopefully no conflicts.
On the other hand, perhaps you can include in the same archive an optional esp file. Call it More Sensible Guards or some such. I'll tell you what I'm doing to the guards in my game from the Construction Set - only for Cheydinhal at the moment, only to the town guards (in the town and in the castle) and only for personal use, so this isn't a plug for anything but rather an invitation. I mostly wanted more sensible-
looking guards, but perhaps you can make it run deeper than that, down to skills etc.
1) I've diversified the guards, so there are no longer 8 clones of the same soldier standing vigil at various points indoors, or 1 cloned jailor for the day and 1 for the night. They are still spawns, but there is no helping it. I worked on the faces, too, with the standards of "TNR: The Imperials" in mind.
2) Service is now an equal-opportunity affair: there are women, Orcs, Nords and quite a few Dark Elves in the ranks, considering that the city is close to Morrowind. Imperials and men still make up the bulk.
3) Equipment varies for time and place of duty and from guard to guard. The setting is supposed to be Middle-Ages-meets-Roman-Empire, one can't expect uniform garb. So now some lug about basic steel shields, a few boast heavier armor, usually boots or greaves etc. Gate, castle and night guards are heavier-armed on the whole and carry polearms from the mod of the same name. Sallets (from another mod) are also commonplace. Day patrols, on the other hand, mostly do without helmets, have light armor and clubs for weapons. Jailors wear common clothes and a few armor bits to look impressive (who would idle away in there for hours in full combat get-up??) Indoor sentinels also have helmets off. And so on.
You get the idea. They look almost normal now, late-medieval instead of fantasy tin soldiers (look here for an example of what I was aiming at
). But I haven't delved into dialogue or fine-tuned reactions or touched other subtler things. Perhaps you can, after you're done with scripting?
Finally, in the long run what's really required is overhauling Oblivion's punishment system. Redeeming yourself with cash or short prison terms is quite ridiculous... I've suggested elsewhere other types of punishment: forced pilgrimages to holy sites, the bigger the bounty the more dangerous; wearing for some time special clothes that mark the character as a criminal and guarantee bad reactions from NPC; for the heaviest crimes, an almost-impossible fight on the Arena etc. Nor should prisons be free - they never were historically. One must pay or beg on the streets.
Such, then, are my suggestions. They go far, as you can see.
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