I find the average casualty rates per engagement, land and sea battles alike, a bit too high. The AI does not seem to understand that sometimes it is better to fight another day and retreat than go kamikaze. I would think if it saw that the fight was hopeless it would pullout of the battleground, hopefully in good order. But no, it throws everything at you till all its units are killed or shattered.
When generals saw no hope of winning they withdrew. Armies are rarely wiped out at such high casualty rates as you see in ETW. If ETW reflects realism, then American revolution would not have succeeded. Save the army, save the country.... It is not just a matter of realism but also better tactics. I would think the AI would be more challenging if it knew when to tactically retreat. And avoid fights until it is sure to win. I have not seen the kind of realism CA promised pre-release that the AI is suppose to behave with goal oriented objectives than simply react to what you do. I'm confused as to what the AI is doing with its armies on campaign map half the time.
In RTW and MTW2, when you click on an enemy army half your size to attack, it would avoid fight and retreat--not so with ETW; 10 against 1 it would hold ground and you are sucked into the battle ground, unless you decide to auto resolve. And in battlegrounds, it does not withdraw; it fights outnumbered 10 to 1.
Something is wrong here.
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