Hey Azi,

Yeah, RTW is certainly a beautiful game but there isn't much challenge to it as opposed to MTW. Certainly the combat is much more interesting which is of course the key ingredient in the Total War series.

I remember the first time I got my butt kicked by the AI which showed me clearly that this AI was a different creature than the one made for Rome.

I had my army in a well formed line... spearmen in the front, swordsmen and cavalry in the flanks with archers behind the line for support. The enemy was marching slowly towards me with what seemed to be a smaller army so I wasn't too worried. As they came within firing range of my archers, I got smashed on the side and the rear flank by their infantry streaming out of the woods... their line was marching slowly towards me so that they could get these other troops to slip through the woods and attack me. Panic ensues as my left sword flank is enveloped, my archers are routed and I draw in my right flank swordsmen to support. As this is going on the AI's archers begin to fire volley after volley upon my spearmen so I send my cavalry around their spearmen to stop them. However, my cavalry gets pinned by their cavalry and their spearmen charge into my cavalry and mince them. Needless to say my army soon routed and I received my rude awakening...

That led to my desire to research and develop battlefield techniques and now I give respect to my adversaries and I treat each battle as a strategic puzzle.

Also, a question for the community: Do you think CA intentionally watered things down for Rome to make it an easier game to appeal to a broader fan base?