Quote Originally Posted by YLC View Post
I think that's the issue Cute Wolf is trying to bring to bear. Your units, once routed, rarely rally in M2TW, even if they are far an away from the enemy or any danger. It's not so much initial morale, as it is bringing that morale back. An AI army, or almost any army for that matter, once routed, is finished.
The problem is that in reality you would have further gradations in behaviour. In TW it's fight or flight, but in reality, troops could attack on their own initiative, obey orders, refuse to move but not flee, move backwards, retreat until safety, or rout completely.

It's also too easy to mop up routers, allowing you to wipe out entire armies. In reality, it was rare if armies lost more than half of their men (as far as we can tell, at least). Off course, a defeated army would be in sorry state all the same, and most likely their morale wouldn't allow them to attack their enemy another time, barring special circumstances or very charismatic commanders. In TW this can't be simulated, so a defeated army needs to suffer large casualties in order to disable it.