I preffer having an underperforming AR mechanic which forces me to lead 1 in 4 battles, than having a super biased AR like in Shogun 2 where 3 fullstacks of crap ashigariu units were able to mow down samurai because they had chevrons. Complete Legendary Chosokibe came in SII - only had to lead 2 battles. I ARed everything, and won mostly by spamming Ashigaru. I only made samurai fullstacks because I wanted to, not because I had to.

Trying to autoresolve with levy spearmen and and slingers in Rome II will get your killed in 2 turns by comparrison.