Thanks to sapi for the prompt and full replies. More about those later. First off, I've also seen the campaign map slowdown and reported it on the technical forum soon after getting the game. Seems to hit after hours of sustained gamplay for me, making me think it's a memory leak problem again. Quitting the game and restarting the computer fixes it every time. Saving the game first is clunky, but can be done. Oddly, though, Windows XP has a hard time shutting down after this crops up. You get "program not responding" error messages after MTW2 has quit for things like Explorer and msnmgr, things I thought I'd shut off and wasn't using.
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On the other, I used the word "pilgrims" when I meant "fanatics." I paid closer attention after reading about the two-handed problem with other units. The next time I had a Jihad siege battle against cheap spear units, I discovered that my best, hardest fighting unit of Muslim fanatics fought and fought and fought — achieving a grand total of six kills, which I presume they got in their initial charge. And yes, they do use a club, so it could be a two-handed weapon.
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I stand corrected on the natural disasters issue. I also obviously misunderstood the "archers in the rain" problem. If they're not getting hits that count, then the animation showing them getting hits should be fixed if practical.
I'm not convinced on the rest, but it's not worth arguing about. I will do sapi the courtesy of answering the question on “rock bottom.” I’d point out that there’s war, then there’s “war to the knife.” If a powerful neighbor attacks me, I want peace but will defend myself, and expect an AI to do the same. If I want to wipe a faction off the map, that’s different.
Clausewitz would agree with me. :clown: