The "feel" of the game(s) / A brief foray into RTW:BI

[caravel]

...you've got a whole bunch of attributes for characters

Confusing and overly complex retinues and traits. They are a great idea but trying to decipher their effects requires a pen and paper. There should have been a better breakdown with the information displayed in a tabular form with the end results i.e. +2 command, -2 morale, +1 influence etc in plain black and white.

...but once you hit the battlefield WHOA. Chaos. Heavy cavalry can steamroll pretty much anything, even spears.

I think it's hard to get used to if you're coming from MTW. Spear units come in two types: Those with Phalanx ability and those without. Those without are not the same as your MTW spear units, even when in guard mode (Hold Formation/Hold Position). For cavalry destruction and generally very strong defence, you need phalanx units. There is not much chance of even heavy cavalry surviving for long when charging a unit of Armoured Hoplites head on. Also remember that your generals' cavalry units are 2 hit point units which basically means that every man in the unit takes two critical hits to kill. This is what makes them seem overpowered.

When you charge into a formation, there is no cohesion on either side. Just a mess of mixed troops. Kinda hard to play the "genius puppet-master" in that situation

Well this is pretty much how battles would have been, not fighting in solid blocks but becoming fragmented and intermingled. It's confusing at first but IMHO this is one small improvement.

A 3 star general is pretty much guaranteed to slaughter any army with no command stars, regardless of size

Not in my experience. In MTW/VI an army composed of crap units could take on anything if they had a 9 star general leading them. This is definitely not the case in RTW where your units individual merits count for more.

Archers are freaking deadly!!! You can deplete a unit by half with just a couple of rounds of missile fire!!

Yes archers are grossly overpowered, and the physics are all wrong for missile flight in general.

None of my battles have lasted more than 5 or so real-time minutes, and I've never lost more than 30 troops in any battle.

Yes the battles are far too fast because the movement rates are unrealistically fast and there is poor balance as regards morale, fatigue and general kill rate. Morale also appears imbalanced but that is also down to kill rates.

As for the campaign map, it's not perfect and it took me a long time to get into it, but I can now see it's merits and find it quite playable.

Have any of you thought of trying any of the mods such as EB or RTR?