[QUOTE=Puzz3D]LongJohn said that he considered 25% imbalance acceptable. Well I saw what good players could do with the warrior monks of STW, and they were only 15% out of balance. I don't think 25% imbalance is acceptable for competitive play. Possibly, several factions will be similar enough in M2TW that they will be automatically balanced, but that I think it's unlikely there will be 8 such factions.[QUOTE/]

Monks pwn cause they use Naginatas Seriously though, they were overpowered because they give moral penalty, and they have high starting moral which makes them more cost effective since you don't need H3 or H4 . Their combat stats weren't better than nodachi or naginata cavalry, and shooters eat them up.

Quote Originally Posted by Puzz3D
You're assuming that the factions are balanced, so that it's only a matter of learning how to use the faction properly. I'm talking about faction deficiencies that can only be compensated for by superior skill. RTW/BI has such deficiencies, and MTW/VI had them as well.
It's not simply a matter of the controls. You have players stacking units to make super units and using them to smashing players who don't stack. You also have the problem of things happening too fast to allow controlling 20 units individually. I can play RTW/BI if I only use 3 or 4 groups. Why should I play that game when I can play a better game such as Samurai Wars?
I've had enough of my time wasted by RTW/BI. Creative Assembly set the standard for Total War multiplayer gameplay with their first game, and they haven't maintained it notwithstanding the marketing rhetoric which is constantly calling it "improved".
Ergonomics of the controls is part of the balancing process. Different styles call for different statistical balance between units, but at top level game mechanics determines which styles are suitable.
For example, RTW engine disallows free and redundant unit hotkeying or free cameral rotations with the mouse. These seemly little changes forced more actions per order, and slowed down the rate at which orders could be issued. Coupled with the faster run speeds and unchanged threshold distances made rome less forgiving when issuing orders, and dramatically altered effectiveness of some the playing styles. The new set of favorable styles then call for a different balance compared to STW and MTW.

Quote Originally Posted by Puzz3D
They can bring more commitment to balancing than does Creative Assembly. I chose to build Samurai Wars around the MTW engine because it's better than the RTW engine, and it provides a modder with control over all the parameters necessary to balance the tactical battles except for fatigue rate.
Samurai Wars didn't remove any gameplay options except upgrades which damage the playbalance. Also, we understand the math of the STW/MTW battle engine very well. Samurai Wars is based on the STW unit parameters as developed by LongJohn who designed the tactical engine. It's a refinement of the balance of the original STW stat with changes kept to a minimum. In that sense, it is an evolution of the balance of the original stat which is something that Creative Assembly has never succeeded in doing. Creative Assembly has oscillated around the playbalance solution in every game since original STW because they don't go though enough iterative balancing steps after doing the initial analytical calculations. They wouldn't even allow the STW/MI beta team to go through another iteration of the v1.02 rebalance stat to improve their game eventhough we were willing to do that for free. That's the kind of commitment to playbalance that Creative Assembly exhibits. You're not going to convince me that Creative Assembly is going to do a great job balancing M2TW with their attitude toward balancing.
What about the choice between altering playstyles to suit the game mechanics or improving speed to make the accustomed playstyles more adaptable. In a STW, MTW modded game only the later option can be excercised since the suitable playstyles is already fixed from the long period of player evolution and the fact modded games offers little room to introduce new styles as the balancing is already done strictly for the sorted after sets. Not to mention, playing MTW, STW mods also means unable to take advantage of the new graphical engines. Don't you get bored repeating the same battle plan over and over while not much eye candy to look at?