Just thinking about the idea of quicker battles...

It kind of dove tails with the expanding of the Campaign game. The battles now only slow down the Campaign. If you have a huge continent to conquer, you will have tons of battles... then you need to get through them quickly.

Has CA lost its Vision for the game?

In STW the campaign was the excuse FOR the battles. It gave the battles some overall meaning, but the POINT WAS THE BATTLE. We played the campaign to get the chance to do the ground breaking in-game fights.

In RTW, with such an emphasis on the campaign, I'm getting the sense that the battle only GETS IN THE WAY. The battles have become the necessary, and repetative evil that must be repeatedly endured before you conqour the world -- just like in the CIV games.