there's so many things improved over shogun 2 it would take me a very long time to list them all, plus most are incredibly obvious. whilst some of these may be subject to opinion, most are not. maybe you people just don't actually understand the new mechanics, or maybe just delusionally but-hurt since its not a finished product.
so many people on the hate train just because they *gasp* changed the game, I think people would be happier if they just pumped out the exact same formula every year like CoD.
Total War has become the Madden series for PC. Shuffle a few things here or there, add cool features and then remove them so they can be reintroduced down the line as "new," etc. A lot of the shit they added in SP is just bloat and doesn't affect anything either way (politics anyone?). The stripping down of the multiplayer from what it was in Shogun 2 was the absolute biggest disappointment for me.
A few other things I've noticed:
-battles are really short and armies seem march across the field to meet you in no time
-ai seem to do nothing, on hard mode I never get attacked except very sparingly long after I initiate the war (never in danger of my shit getting taken over)
-costs nothing to replenish troops, they just lolregen from anywhere on the map
-ranged units are pretty useless
Completely underwhelmed by this game. It doesn't even reach mediocrity as a run of the mill TW game, it's a step backwards really. Instead of more-of-the-same it feels like a watered down arcade version of what it should be.