The problem is that you'd THINK that at least some of the time, the guy who has spent the most gold on his Strategy Map troops would be able to see the benefit of that gold. It does not seem to work out that way.
I've currently playing a campaign and am keeping detailed notes. 9 turns in I've done 4 autoresolves. Chances of 81%, and 3 times 85%. I've won all of those, but I've lost more gold in victory than the enemy (except for the 3 Ironclads versus 1 Transport Autoresolve, which I won without casualties).
Just now a Lone Trooper (3 Gold) facing 1 Hunter, 1 Armour and 4 Shamans (38 Gold). In terms of Gold cost, my army is worth 12.67 times more than his army. He killed 1 Hunter and 1 Armour with that lone Trooper before it was killed by the Shamans. Net Result: For every 1 gold the enemy lost, I lost 4.67 Gold.
I'll keep playing, but I'm pretty sure that this will keep happening and there may only be one or two times at most where the trooper will not inflict damage out of proportion to its cost. I think it's a problem when you are basically guaranteed to make your opponent lose money by sending a single weak unit into his territory.
I do think RTS mode should be more valuable than autoresolve -
most of the time. I accept that autoresolving at 80% or less is too risky and I should fight those battles. I don't want to have to always enter RTS mode or else lose far more money. When I've got an 85, 90% chance of victory, I just want to get that easy pushover fight done with so I can save my energy for a REAL battle where I only have a 65, 75% chance or less of winning. These 85+ situations are what autoresolve was meant for.
EDIT: I tried this tactic myself:
I invaded heavily fortified (but NOT entrenched) enemy capital)
Allied Forces:
Allied Gold Value: 3
Enemy Forces:
- Hunters * 6
- Armours * 7
- Devastators * 2
- Troopers (EE) * 5
- Grenadiers (IB) * 7
Enemy Gold Value: 159
My odds of winning: Just 3 percent. That still seems a bit high for a gold difference of 156.
I lost of course, but I took out 1 Hunter and 1 Armour with me, costing the enemy 14 gold for just 3 of mine. That's worth it. I'll try it again and again, I think.
