I tried it once, at least a year ago. I remember as the Brutii I was just *barely* able to win a Hard battle, using the general cam, when I should have been able to trounce the enemy handily.

I finally stopped doing it because I figured each unit would, in "reality", have a commander of some sort who would give them individual directions -- they wouldn't just stand around because the general's eye was on another part of the field. Before battle, they'd all have some sort of plan which they'd be able to carry out with only minimal direction from the highest tier of command -- at least, I imagine that's the way it was. So when I'd go and order a unit of cav to outflank the enemy line, and then order my infantry to advance, and then forget about the cav and let them get charged when I wasn't looking, I figured it didn't make sense to play like that -- that unit of cav wouldn't depend on the general's attention for every movement they made on the battlefield.

Anyway, one thought I had at the time was using AI control for parts of the battlefield, depending on how well it worked, and keeping the camera locked on my general. Never tried it though; I just like too much control I guess.