STW so much tougher!

[screwtype]

Nope, that is true...
One would think with the phalanx units that it should have been the other way round.

I can still remember those battles where my army ends up victorious but too depleted to be worth anything the next year when another attack from another faction comes.

It's hard to go back to playing STW for a while without coming to the conclusion once again that RTW is a betrayal of the game system's promise. Yes, RTW should have been tougher and more complex than the previous titles, not easier and simpler!

The critical difference for me is that I still find STW fun to play, even after all these years. I can't see myself ever booting up RTW again. I just hope BI or the mods for it bring back some of the old magic.

The balance of these tactical aspects, which allowed flexible thinking in reaction to a changing situation to determine the outcome of a battle, was much better in STW than it is in RTW.

I don't know what you mean by "RPS", but I think you make some good points. The movement speeds and kill rates in RTW are so great that there is little time for tactics to develop. But I still think the AI is better in the older games.

As for balance, yes, going back to STW I've been impressed with just how finely balanced the game is. I've fought half a dozen battles in a row where half my units were blinking the white flag at some stage - yet in a few moments, and with some very careful maneouvres, I've been able to turn the tide and have the other side running a few seconds later.

In fact, it's that ebb and flow and turn of fortune that in some ways I miss most in the newer game. Battles in STW and MTW often have several different phases, in any one of which the tide of fortune can suddenly change (as in the battle described above). There's nothing like that in RTW, the whole thing is just over too quickly.