Quote Originally Posted by buujin
Im not sure if "complex" is the word u are looking for there Yuuki.

MTW/VI runs off a very similar engine to STW but has many more features and things which variate the combat and effect the base stats such as spear ranks , armour peircing weapons, and shield bonuses.

I dare to imply that rather, in its simplicity you find STW to be the most tactical and most enjoyable of all the Total War games...

but for complexity in gameplay I think that title must go to its successor...
I mean complexity in the gameplay. There is a difference between complexity in the gameplay and complexity in the battle engine. It's true that the MTW battle engine is an improved STW engine and has more features, but the tactical gameplay of MTW/VI v2.01 is less complex than STW v1.12. RTW has an even more complex engine (although it is missing a squeezed too tight feature and a man specific distance calculation for ranged shooters), but that didn't translate into a more complex gameplay because the features of the engine weren't sufficiently adjusted relative to one another. The gameplay of RTW is the most simplistic of all the total war games.

If CA continues on the course it has been on, then MTW2 will have the most simplistic battle gameplay of all the total war games. When you see them spending time on "finishing moves", that doesn't bode well for the kind of battle gameplay that is required to restore the complexity of the tactical game to what it once was.