Medieval 2 Campaign Map: Clunky?

[mythtrip]

Total War is a great series, but it has some frustrations. I have to be missing something. On the campaign map, how do you automove units? In other words, if I send a battle group or diplomat across the map, and I have to locate it and direct it every turn. Cant it move automatically? Plus the units are large, the resources invisible, the map crowded with useless tree/mountain eyecandy. Its hard to plan strategy, I am fighting the interface rather than playing.....am I missing something? A game with this much potential cant have overlooked this..

[Strattios]

Auto move: Select unit or agent, select destination. It will move using movement points. Will continue journey at end of each turn before ai.
You can change unit size before starting campaign in options.
Resources are given just by looking at the map or settlement details. There aren't to many that you really need to fret about.
The "eye candy" is called terrain. If you don't know what the terrain is, you cant properly plan for battles.

So in short, it sounds like you aren't really trying. Just play the game. It'll come to you.

[Sitalkes]

Also, after you load the game, press the spacebar to move faster on the map. Sometimes you want to limit your automatic moves as the longer your moves, the more likely you will be ambushed (that's another purpose of the eyecandy - the woods, you can ambush too!) or get involved in a battle with unfavourable odds. You want to be able to see where your enemy is before you attack him so you can pick the terrain for a battle - if you are upslope on the map then you will be upslope in the battle. If you want to see more of the map, hire some spies and diplomats and send them out - use the diplomat to buy maps and you will be able to see everything. If you want to cheat, you can use the often mentioned FOW (fog of War) toggle (just search for that). You can also download a copy of the map (see the guides or info threads). You only need to know where the resources are if you are using merchants, which are worth using (expensive to buy but no upkeep) but limited in numbers. Most of the resources are worthless (eg wood, coal) but you can find the valuable ones by buying the map using your diplomat or by reading one of the threads about resources. Putting a spy with an army increases the distance the army can see (both during a battle and on the map plus defends against assassins) or just move out your spies first before the armies.