No further patches for M2TW or Kingdoms

[Puzz3D]

Yet I still do not understand why the community does not move to Crusades. It is much better than the vanilla in any sense yet people still prefer the vanilla.

The new multiplayer community is not using the gameplay of the STW/MTW battle engine as their basis of comparison, and are not aware of the tactical features of that engine. They come from some other gameplay system which doesn't have those features. So, to them the new RTW/M2TW battle engine is an improvement over what they were playing before, but it can be shown with objective testing that it's actually inferior in tactical features to the older STW/MTW battle engine.

Another thing these new players and some vets don't understand is that having a huge number of unit types degrades the gameplay because the gameplay becomes overly complex which undermines tactical decisions being the main determining factor of the battle's outcome. The outcome is determine more by what units you buy than by how you use the units. We saw this happen in MTW with the huge increase in the number of unit types. In an attempt to restore tactics and playbalance, more and more hidden bonuses are being used for various units in the new engine, but this technique emphasizes matchup tactics while maneuver tactics diminish in importance.

The increase of the randomization of combat results in the RTW/M2TW battle engine, due to using a less robust mathematical modeling in the simulation, is another factor that works against tactical decisions determining the battle's outcome.

The degradation of the unit sprites in the new engine also works against a player's ability to clearly see the units when zoomed out which adversly impacts the player's ability to make correct tactical decisions.

The simplification of the battle interface in the new engine reduces the player's options for tactical control and maneuver of his army.