[Threadfin]

Yeah, melee AI is a bit crude, even after twenty years. The gunpowder titles are best for this. But in melee titles the presence of player artillery is a magnet for the AI formation and here they come.

So while I'll concede that battlefield AI may not be much of an advance, everything else -- factions, maps, campaigns, mechanics, trait system, settlement battles, building mechanics, diplomacy, economies, recruitment, replenishment, animations, objectives and much more -- is far better, for me anyway in the most recent entries compared to the games that came in the 2000s.

I hold those games in very high regard, but I can't objectively say they are better games than Rome 2, Attila, Three Kingdoms and Warhammer 2 and 3.