Quote Originally Posted by caravel
The one thing you can say about STW/MTW is that due to the Risk-style map, every battle had some meaning as every battle was for the control of the province itself and not simply a throwaway border skirmish, that you'll probably have to play again in an identical fashion in a few turns time.
So true! In RTW, battles in open field are kind of useless. (unless you murder family members in battle)

It's all centered in 'settlements'.. they are your only goal. forts are useless, armies in open field are useless. etc. makes the game more boring.. (even more! )