The only thing I dislike about this strategus is that people recruit 24/7 and stack gigantic armies inside the towns/castles, which makes you kinda think twice before attacking (and it takes a lot of time to prepare the attack). In strat 3 you had people crafting and gathering and recruiting troops, so you didn't get the mass recruitment you have today.
Wars and battles there has been plently of however
i think the current strategus works as a battle factory, churning out a lot of battles, but as for a strategic game i'm not so convinced ... a change of mechanics would be nice i think ... but hell, at least we get plenty of battles in this strat so meh