Cinematic vs. Realistic

[Csargo]

I'd say a mix of both.

[Divinus Arma]

whatever keeps me playing for a year. I want to be entertained AFTER the novelty wears off.

[hoom]

Our battles are about decisive actions not the dull encounters where neither side felt like dying that day.

I actually found the indecisive battles in STW & MTW to be amongst the high points of the TW series.

After suffering a major defeat the AI would fall back, building up forces as the player advances into enemy territory.
Sometimes it would fight the unwinnable battle, seemingly attempting to hold a bridge or fort for a turn while reinforcements are brought up.
Sometimes it would come to battle & then either have a minor skirmish before retiring in good order or simply flee at the sight of your glorious elite army.
But sometimes it would bring in extra reinforcements & force your overstretched invasion to fall back & consolidate or fight a battle at severe disadvantage.

Probably my most memorable case was in MTW where the Golden Horde attacked me with the bulk of their forces & I dug in within a forrest area with my vastly outnumbered army.
The Horde skirmished and feinted left & right, took a few losses then withdrew.
It was technically a draw but my tactical victory in forcing the much more powerful army to withdraw.
More importantly it was a huge strategic victory for me as the Horde then split & expanded over the next few turns allowing my smaller army to break their power in a series of smaller battles.

In RTW & M2TW, with per-turn movement rather than province hopping, its far too easy to wipe out an enemy army that is trying to withdraw.
They'll withdraw a few grids but then can normally be forced to battle anyway since their movement is exhausted.
Also the withdrawal after skirmish/just taking a peek at the player army, while still there is much less frequent.

And now, back to your regular thread topic