Little enemy stacks

[Habber Dasher]

Hello. I played an enjoyed Rome and Medieval II total war, but haven't played a TW game in a while. While the AI always did some questionable things in these games, the only thing that really bugged me was the fact that you would often only face large enemy stacks within cities, while the AI loved sending an annoying number of small stacks roaming through the countryside. My question: has this annoyance been fixed in Empire or any of the subsequent titles? Thanks for your input.

[Fisherking]

The AI is much improved from ETW on. While you sometimes find smaller stacks in an ambush, you don't find them often. Half stacks are about the smallest you will find.

[Habber Dasher]

This is awesome news! That was my major complaint about the Total War series. Thanks!

[Nelson]

In my experience, the AI uses small stacks to raid you, ie burning your farms, etc. This makes perfect sense since raiding hurts your economy with small cost to the raider. You can counter them with small stacks of your own. The AI can be relied upon to send large stacks your way when it means business.