Reading this is bizarre, because I played a lot of Rome II and enjoyed it. I experienced very few problems with it (except the technology tree is tiresome and just feels like paperwork to navigate… I want an auto mode for that).
Some people just play things and enjoy things and have no idea that there is controversy.
Death threats over a game? jeezuss.
> Death threats over a game?
Now, Doom fans are not like Disney fans. If Doom fans don't like what you've done, they burn your house down. © Mick Gordon @ GDC 2017
Maybe you didn't play Rome I? I also don't understand the death threats but I still remember playing Rome II on launch - after playing Rome I for years - and being absolutely baffled at how bad it was. Apart from the graphics nothing was better and a lot was worse. And I actively avoided playing siege battles, for fans of those it was even worse as explained in the article.
I'm sure you're right. I think I started playing it a couple of years after it came out.
Also, I found the battle simulations tiresome, so I stayed on the strategic side and auto-resolved the battles.
The one big bug which puzzled me is that there is a probability indicator before you auto-resolve, yet, no battle that it predicts you will win EVER is lost. So the probabilities are meaningless. I liked that bug, though. I don't want randomness.