To me M2TW was a disappointment. It was just blitz. Everyone is going to war with you at some point anyway so just have at it.

This game is different. There are a lot of things still to learn and the tactics both land and sea have some depth.

Everything is not working perfectly but I think it will be much better than the past games in the end.

Granted it has more starting issues then the others but it is also more complex.

Diplomacy is improved. Some times factions will make peace when they should…not always of course, but sometimes.

I don’t find Rakes of much use. Maybe they just don’t work as well as advertised. Gentlemen do research and that is a big deal. If you can kill the enemy it does slow him…though usually it has been my men who went down in flames.

I know it can be improved and I hope that I like what they do…in the past I went back to the older versions. Something we can’t do this time. So I hope they keep the AI balanced and don’t make it a bunch of aggressive warmongering mad men.