Quote Originally Posted by hoom
Its wierd because when you do a 1v1 custom battle with two units of similar stats, they can wind up fighting for like 10mins.
But if you do a battle between uneven units/numbers of units, the battles suddenly become much shorter.
That's why it would be great if we could mod the individual morale parameters, and not just the general morale of the units. I am more and more coming to a conclusion that the morale penalty for casualties and/or being outnumbered/outclassed is too great, and this is what causes the 5-second mass routs. And changing the general morale might not be the perfect answer, since you also mess up unit matchups and ratios of other penalties, such as morale loss due to being flanked.

With decreased battle speeds, charges are less devastating because units just don't intermingle as much to slaughter half of the enemy unit outright, so it's a bit better. But still, I think that there's something in the particular morale penalties that has changed from MTW which makes the RTW battles so short.