I haven't been active for some time. When Warlords fell apart at end of VI era, I just kept wandering around, returning for each new game and then quickly getting bored with it.
I've read most of the posts here regarding Empire and replies to Shooshs questions cleared a lot but I still don't know if its worth for me to buy Empire.
Maybe some answers to these questions could help:

1. If I understand correct 3v3 is out, but how playable is 4v4? Is it laggy? Does connection hold? Are small units still a must?
2. Can attacker and defender pick same faction?
3. Does player with poor cpu (or too high settings) still cause lagfest for everyone else?
4. Are penalties for stacks of units back?
5. How does cavalry work. I've seen in demo that its still quite easy to charge with cav, run away from fight, then charge again.