Has anything really changed from CA?

[Didz]

Which are you calling fantasy units?

Basically, any unit which would not have been available to the faction in question at the time depicted, or which would not be capable of being used in the role that the game allows it to be used in.

So, for example I have currently turned off. Native America Artillery, Native American Lancers, Bomb-Ketches and Rocket Ships. The main things I wanted to be rid of were the bomb-ketches and rocket ships, which are basically only in the game as a sop to the American flag and could never have been used in the way depicted by the game.

I have tried to figure out why some things are ignored or even changes from the historical without much reason behind it.

I know what you mean. The sad fact is that if they just stuck to the historical theme the results would be far more playable and interesting. For example: Why depict the Royal Ecossais in kilts when their real uniform was just as distinctive and interesting?

To me such things are insulting, its basically the game company saying we think that your all too stupid to cope with a game that's historically accurate so to make it easier for you to understand and play we are going to give you the 'dumbed-down' version. Its terribly demeaning to be treated like an idiot, and as a customer I object to it, but its a common trait when producing products for the American market particularly when the supplier is an American company, and you get it a lot in film and entertainment industry. For example the title of the film 'Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone' had to be changed to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' and the entire film re-dubbed for American audiences just because the American distributors thought their audiences would be confused, and yet a Frenchman, German or Dutchman who did not even speak the language managed to understand it.

The other driving force behind a lot of these changes is of course the multi-player sub-game. Something that I don't have the slightest interest in and will never play but seems to be 'the tail thats wagging the dog' on a lot of these ridiculous 'play-balancing' idea's. Personally, I have nothing against the multi-player sub-game as long as it doesn't have any impact on the actual game itself. So, if they want to stick fantasy units and over-powered rowing boats in the MP game, I have no problems with that as long as they don't appear in the campaign. Just give the MP community their own version of the unit tables or something, then you can stick whatever you like in there and I don't give a monkey's.