Well RTW is my first total war game, and the reason I got it was the promise of better/realistic tactics and the combination of Civilizations type strategy and real time tactical combat, so CA shouldn't think that more strategic depth will scare of new players because thats what probably attracted many of them to the francize in the first place.

As for longer battles, I would like it if I had more to do during the battle, but I don't think actually joining in battle should take half the time.