I agree to a large extent with the originator of this thread.
Going back and forth between R & M I feel frustrated by both games.
I'm also vastly entertained, enthralled, captivated by both.
(I'm mostly playing VH XL mod and BKB super mod. Vanilla RTW)

Most of the issues with Rome should be possible to fix, but it's strange that after such a long time in developement the game is released with so many near-game-killers. Yesterday the Macs besieged Corinth, which I'd thoughtlessly obtained from the Greeks in return for a ceasefire, trade rights and a herring. I had no Julii troops nearby, and my nervous single bireme was still 2 turns away with the inadequate reinforcements when the Macs got to me. For some reason I had had no visible effect of the 10% order rating, and had trained 2 units of hastati. I thought I'd sally forth and see if I could chuck a pointy stick at their slow phalanx guys. I was allowed to do so, but then they started moving. They had lancers as well. I retreated behind my stone walls, and the Macs stood out there and got slaughtered by arrows from the towers. In the end, they had a few guys standing too close to the walls, about 250 or so. They were quick to run when I sallied again and outflanked their largest unit. Nice for my campaign, but very silly. And another thing: "Ooh, there's a fort standing in the way of my 1200 man army led by *******Lugotrix the Conqueror, and there's 80 town watch in it! Can't go there, then. I'm the clever AI!" And crossing bridges! It's totally FU. In my first bridge battle I just sat there laughing while the gauls went swimming. (anybody seen RRRrrrr!!! ?) Then I tried to counterattack, and a whole unit of dogs just dove in and snuffed it. A) dogs can swim B) there used to be a ford before roads were built C) why didn't they even try to get on the bridge?

Lovely game, though! There's a lot of feedback around, so if CA listen and make a real effort with the next patch, I'm confident that the modding community can make Rome a better game than Medieval. There's so much to like. In the mean time I think I'll try Hellenic and/or Napoleonic for a while. Or read a good book.