In an ideal world it would indeed be a great idea. Unfortunately, the sophistication of games now and the reality of the games industry now, as opposed to then, makes such an epic project basically unfeasable.

Good ideas on the merchant front though. I know the series is called "Total War" but Id actually like to gain power through other means, including trade. There is a game called Knights of Honour, very much like the Total War games. In that I once became so rich purely through trade that I was able to buy my way past all problems. Many people may not like the idea of that but the point is that the choice was there.

Yeah I always like it when I can name my characters in games. It would be a nice little feature that would allow me to feel more attached to my generals because I usually name ingame characters after my mates.