What were the most enjoyable battles for you (strat 1.0, 2.0, 3.0) (poll)

[Visconti]

Best battles were in strat 2 by far. You might not have got nearly as much xp as you get now, but the gear was normally lighter and the fights more fun (besides the EU archer spam). So much so that getting up at 4:00 AM for some of the fights just added to the experience. All strat is now is heavy cav spam with plate crutches. Still fun, but not nearly as good.

[BarBeQ]

>>>>>>>>

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Peasants defending Yalen vs Shiny Knights with tons of siege equipment.
We broke every fucking ladder in split seconds and raped them old school styleez.
As they´ve had lost all their ladders they retreated, it was so glorious.

[Casimir]

Beta strat siege, which I guess doesn't really count since it was just a gold limit and no one was actually on the strat map yet. It was laggy as fuck, no one knew how to siege a castle yet, barely anyone knew how to use ladders properly, but the element of novelty was still enough to make me enjoy it a lot. I felt more invested in that siege than anything related to the Strat map afterwards.

Although for the first half of V1 I was still really into it and all the "diplomacy" and balance of power between the clans, I lost interest after that. When the Templar block collapsed like the paper tiger it was and DRZ muscled into the power vaccuum, the first signs of stagnation and of two opposing power blocks started to emerge, with no room for independent factions to do anything except align with either side or disapear, especially small clans. It was and still is a lot more chaotic than that simple explanation, but I had imagined Strat as a lot more fluid in terms of land grabs and wars of conquest. Not even wipes can eliminate the meta-alliances, which endure version after version. It might be more realistic this way, but like someone said in thread it doesn't take advantage of the best part of cRPG, which is the combat. Too many civ nation building elements.

Being as i was forged in the fires of that war, joining the templars as they reached the hight of their power, i have many fond memories of strat 1.  The novelty of it all for me was amazing, granted strat 1 was a buggy, abused, unintuitive mess, but it all seems great with the rose tinted glasses.

The game has become more balanced and user friendly, the players have gotten worse.

[Keshian]

Best battles were in strat 2 by far. You might not have got nearly as much xp as you get now, but the gear was normally lighter and the fights more fun (besides the EU archer spam). So much so that getting up at 4:00 AM for some of the fights just added to the experience. All strat is now is heavy cav spam with plate crutches. Still fun, but not nearly as good.

Wholeheartedly agree, really miss having both sides use mid-tier to slightly lower tier gear in the vast majority of fights.  Economic system was actually a lot more balanced back then.