One of the earliest games I played in ETW was as Austria. This was back before the patches came through and I recall that right away I was basically at war with Prussia, Poland, Venice and the Ottoman Empire. One thing I found was that no matter how many territories I took from Poland, territories I did not want, they would never take them back in a peace deal or in exchange for Peace. All I wanted was West Prussia, but instead I had take over practically all of Poland to end the war, and even then they re-declared war on me a few times later on before finally giving it up and being annihilated totally. From what I'm hearing this situation has actually gotten worse with the new patches. And this does very much remind me of RTW.

I also agree the game is now far too complex for the Campaign AI, and so its faults are even more apparent now than ever before. I don't seem to be the typical TW player though, I hear alot of guys over at TWCenter like how things are. I have a hard time understanding that since there's no real depth to the game at all other than total war, all the time. I think this is one time where knowing alot about history is interfering with my ability to enjoy the game. I know this is the era of the balance of power, so the way the game plays is SO far off from what happened in reality I just can't accept it without reservation. I wish this wasn't so, let me tell you.