Redux: size-settings...

[Stazi]

I am aware that among the few others that also created grand-scale stuff for MTW some simply don't care about that and just focuses solely on campaign-mode in their designs - at the constant price of dysfunctional solo-battles that will crash the game etc. However, I am not in that category.

OK. I've got your point.

It might be a different story if that thing had been otherwise (by all means tell/show me how, if you think otherwise).

You want it!? You've got it. Below I'll try to show my point. No offense.

Keeping custom battles is nice but ask yourself "is it worth the cost"? As you said historical battles/campaigns are not working and probably never will (without investing a shitload of time and effort). So the game is not idiot-proof anymore. While the game is not 100% idiot-proof why not make it a little less idiot-proof? What we loose if we take that way? We won't even loose custom/mp battles as a whole. They will be still playable with default setting. What will we get? Greater variety of units with much more different units' sizes. It leads to different army setups, battle tactics, bigger units will last longer, etc. What will we get on the campaign level? Some bigger units will be more preferable as a garrison. Elite units but with longer training time (3-4 turns) will force a player to think about his priorities and better plan his production (strategically, production queues, etc). These are just examples. I'm sure you can think of many more advantages of that solution. Generally, more choices to make, more different situation to encounter, more challenging campaign - more fun!

Furthermore, I am uncertain on how a total lockdown/removal on this is truly successfully achieved in MTW without potential crashes – short of telling the player so….

I think you underestimate people playing MTW. The game is 10 years old now. I'm sure there are very few teenagers who plays it. IMO most of the players are 25+ and they are not stupid (I'm not saying that teenagers are stupid...they are just a little less... experienced ). If you put into mod description text saying: "Custom and MP battles work only with default size settings!!" 99% of people will get it. Furthermore, people using mods suspect that something may not work or some features were sacrificed for others. It's fully acceptable cause mods are not commercial products and they are limited by an engine of the original game.

If you are not convinced you could even make a poll about it. Question could be like this:
"What do you prefer: a) to keep custom and mp battles playable with "Huge" setting or b) to make the campaign better, funnier, more challenging and more impressive experience?"
Yes, I know . With that kind of question the answer is simple but it's just an example.