I understand why they limit the cannon ranges in the game and I doubt that will ever be made longer.

Rifle range should be long enough to at least get off two shots before they need to pull back.

Skirmishing units should be made to face the enemy they retreated from and give them another volley. They did this in the other TW titles I believe.

As the game now stands units are quite expensive enough without making select units more expensive and the term “Elite” applies to such a wide verity of types you might not like that outcome. I would say that maybe the top guards and cavalry units might need a longer time investment in their creation, say two to three years (4 to 6 turns). I don’t think the men were paid much better than standard units you know, and most equipment was basically the same. Time is a more accurate portrayal of the making of an elite force than just buying it outright.

As to the balance of artillery and its accuracy, to my way of thinking I have not found it so devastating. But then again if I expect to face artillery in strong numbers I deploy my troops differently to minimize casualties.

I think that a lot of the complaints have been shortsighted and knee-jerk reactions to being pummeled by the enemy when they deployed their troops in a mass.

If you don’t develop tactics to counter a threat it is not unfair to loose.

I think that some people are have an idea of standard doctrine of the era and think that it is “the way” instead of thinking tactically and reacting to the situation they find on the field.

Artillery and breach loading rifles put an end to massed line infantry doctrine though it took about another 150 years for it to sink in. With weapons ahead of their time on the field, not using tactics dictated by their presence might cause you to loose.

When something has an accurate portrayal, rebalancing to make it less effective is not the proper way to deal with the subject.

Or at least that is my opinion.