Quote Originally Posted by King of Atlantis
Yeah I always figured that, but i thought Orda meant in gameplay. I thought MTW blew STW out of the water in gameplay, so i am interseted why he(and others) like shogun better.
It depends how you categorise gameplay. I have always been more MP than SP. MTW does not come near since the factions and units are not balanced. If we look at SP, in STW we had seasonal turns as opposed to the awful annual turns of MTW where years fly by. RTW has come close to improving this but even RTW is still 6 monthly. This aspect alone is better than ( IMO ) diplomacy that essentially is meaningless. Re emergeance of a faction was ( AFAIC ) generally just a frustrating way for the AI to cheat and make your campaign drag on for a few more years. Rebellion could be considered a nice feature but I had occasions where I was seriously questioning MTW because of the ridiculous constant rebellion I experienced with Lithuania. I had a massive army under one of my best generals there, yet every year they would revolt. I would end up killing an army of some 3000 or more lowly rebel troops. After a few years of this I began to ask..."Where are these rebels coming from because, by now, I must have annihilated the entire populace?"

With STW, there is every possibility that going back there and playing a custom battle on expert, the AI will kick your ass.

The whole setting of STW felt more realistic and immersive. The battle maps looked far better than the too bright maps of MTW. The map textures were more varied, more realistic and more easily applied than those of MTW.

Individual units looked better due to the lack of dayglo colours. The fact that each player used the same units went far towards a balanced outcome and different combinations of these units were possible without seriously limiting the efficacy of your army. MTW/VI and the endless stream of cav/pumped sword armies totally finished any endearment for the game. In short, I was glad to see the back of it.
The interface in MTW was easier to use over STW and an improvement. There was a huge outcry at the interface of RTW being changed. Having played it for some time, I have come to the conclusion that it is more user friendly than MTW was. The only thing I miss these days is the facility that allowed you to draw out your units and have them all deploy the same depth with a right click.

I could go on and mention the weather ( which has never been matched since STW )

My hopes now are that the silly bugs that haunt RTW will be mostly remedied with the arrival of BI. It is for this reason that I have become tired of hearing constant criticism of CA. There are some members who seem to forget the bugs that were present in the previous games and there were many " I will not buy MTW " posts in the weeks leading to its release.
I hope that BI becomes the greatest in the TW series. If they can reproduce the weather of STW there is every possibilty

.......Orda