Quote Originally Posted by grinningman
There seems to be an idea floating around that if only we can get a good cav/spear/sword RPS system then combat will be balanced. I think people should keep in mind that if a RPS system becomes the most important factor in unit match-ups, overshadowing the other factors above, Total War battles will become much less interesting, and all armies will end up having a similar composition.
But the opposite can also be said to be true. If some sort of RPS system isn't used, then you will certainly have armies compased of the same unit all the time.

Best example of this is STW. I don't know why everybody always waxes so fondly and poetic about this game. As soon as I realised that all I had to do was build a full stack army of Warrior Monks and I would be able to cut through anything thrown against me like a hot knife through butter, I completely lost interest in the game.

Every other TW game since STW has been better than STW, and it's precisely because of the variation of units and complexity that you are talking about.

So I mostly agree with what you are saying.