Total War games...

[caravel]

One of the best things about STW/MTW is the decreased level of micromanagement involved. When playing an RTW campaign you're babysitting your armies and agents as they make their way across the map and continually building structures that for the most part do little more than offset squalor or improve public order. In fact every RTW campaign centres not around battles or warfare but micromaging settlements. MTW is much more "drag and drop" in it's approach. STW/MTW's approach is much simpler in that most buildings have an obvious role as a means to train units and any population loyalty boost is a bonus. STW/MTW also lacks the overcomplicated settlement statistics of the later games. This connects you more to the battles themselves instead of having the battles as an extra, almost optional, bit of eye candy, which is the case with later titles.