If you could change one thing in RTW (we're talking vanilla here), what would that be?

For me it's a tossup: either the trait system, which is abysmal at best, or the battlefield mapping system.

The system of assigning traits, as designed, is simply asinine. By the time a family member reaches 60 years old, he could acquire 15-20 traits, some of which are direct opposites. And who's to say that spending extended time in a city almost always leads to a slew of undesirable traits?

In reality, there are really only a small handful of traits that define a person. Type "A" vs Type "B" personality which could loosely correspond to a city governor vs field commander; one's religion (or lack of); one's attitude towards money (big spender vs penny-pincher); one's attitude towards the opposite sex (playboy vs good husband).

I would assign no more than about eight traits, two of which a 'coming-of-age" family member will have at the start (Type A or Type B traits). The rest he can acquire along the way depending on how and where he's used. Much more streamlined and sensible, IMO

The choice for starting positions on a battlefield map can be very annoying. How many times have you had a battle commence where, on the campaign map, the icon for your army stands head and shoulders above your enemy's, yet when the battle map opens you are at the south end of a north-bound kangaroo

There are 1800 different battle maps, IIRC, and the AI has a list of them all. Why not show them in a scroll-like manner in the lower right corner where the world map is shown? And make the Good Ambusher trait actually mean something by giving a general with this trait (and at least one cavalry unit), the choice of where to start on a battlefield. Starting position is one of the very few things in a game that cause me to reload when I judge by campaign map positioning that I should get the higher ground. when in fact, I end up having to climb.

What say you......