I don't know whether modding down the speed would help in achieving more control of one's units. The lack of control without pausing is one of the main reasons why I said it didn't "feel" right for me. I guess it would help, maybe together with the customisable key settings...

In MP, you can't use pause, but I think the majority of the MP veterans won't appreciate such a fast paced game, but I suppose that, in order to play slower battles, all participants would have to use the exact same mod as it is now in MTW, and getting large group of non-clan players to install and use a mod is quite an arduous task, as we have seen in the past. So, I really hope there will be some tweaks before the final release...

And Simon, I'm not really put off that much, more like indifferent. I can't say I was too much into the hype, I rather adopted some kind of wait-and-see attitude, and what I see now just doesn't blow me away. Perhaps that's because the demo is just two battles and it doesn't allow you to see the many other features that will make up the whole game. But I can only comment on what I see, and I don't see improvement in control or any revolutionary new features in battle. (Ok, the elephants are fun )
I guess I'll wait for a review of the final game by some veteran .org patrons before making a decision on whether or not to buy the thing....