The Battles In S2 aren't that bad, although I do think they could lessen the killing rate. I agree as well that cavalry is too weak, not to mention their pretty rare too since there's only 5 warhorse provinces (The Chosokabe don't even use Awa's). Naginata cavalry like in S1 would be nice, another hybrid between the Yari and Katana cavalry. At any rate, I really do like the campaign, but I too auto-resolve most of the trivial battles. I actually like sieges defenses since they seem almost too easy even when massively outnumbered (Battles you'd normally lose auto-resolving, anyways the heroic last stand in a castle always appeals to me). The RPG element of the characters is good change ( I wish there were more traits line in RTW and MTW2, they give the characters a lot more personality, although they use a bit more depth and variety- I feel like I'm always using the same things every general and the right tree regarding the Bodyguard unit is not very useful since I'm not charging my general into battle constantly.