A quick positive note about this community and post-release

[Lemur]

I wish there was more direct competition with the Total War series.

I guess I will be taking a very careful look at Europa Universalis IV.

And then there's always the mod love for the older TW games.

Beyond that ... sigh.

Empire [...] is just simply unplayable even with all those mods I've plopped on it.

I dunno, I had many hours of enjoyment with DarthMod and Empire. It's still broken in many ways, but it is, in fact, playable. (Also, I have a particular weakness for the period.)