I tend to lurk on these forums, but recently I've started to play RS2.6 and I must say I'm having a blast. Hats off to everyone in the team and the mod community at large for creating a really great mod!

What settings I play:
- 1-turn campaign since I prefer fewer enemy stacks.
- graphics set to high with dark bloom
- M/M since this is my first time through but will try H/H next
- historical army/tactics houserules

What I like:
- propraetors! I love this idea. I always enjoyed playing around with my governors and running a tight ship economically speaking. This really adds an extra layer to the game.
- long battles. I know some ppl don't like the longer battles but I think they are great. Now I can actually use my reserves to plug holes in the line and can fight cavalry engagements with the enemy to open approaches to the flanks. The enemy doesn't chain rout but I've noticed by timing your cavalry charges (and making sure the ponies aren't exhausted) you can rout the enemy. Probably first time in a RTW game where I have rested my troops mid-battle. Awesome!
- graphics - nuff said. It took a little while to get used to bloom but now I can't believe I ever played without it. Creates a great cinematic atmosphere. Awesome textures.
- economic game - having negative tax penalties to represent maintenance costs is a stroke of genius. Now I can run a efficient empire but I have the public order headroom to crank up the taxes in an emergency but risk depopulating my cities.
- building tech tree - tons of choices (though a bit confusing for new players)
- annex/client/civitas - another great idea that adds a nice layer of immersion to the game
- faction balance - nice choice of civilized/barbarian factions that I think strikes the right balance. EB I though had a bit too many barbarian factions for my tastes (its called EB for a reason I guess heh), and RTR 6 had too few. Pergamon!
- roman revolution - a really nice challenge, especially if you houserules it and don't "prepare" for it
- strategic map - travel distances are just right and the map looks great with excellent choke points

What I like less:
- shoreline pass between Massalia and Genoa - dunno this kinda irks me that you can get into italy this easy from the gaul
- building tech tree documentation - I love the building tech tree, but it would help to have a simple "RSII for dummies" guides since some of the building steps you need to take are not obvious. No joke it took me 20 turns to figure out how to make Allied Triarii in Capua! Of course that was probably b/c I was more focused on econ
- not enough historia - I know, I know I'm asking too much. But a bit more historia would be a great little touch.


All in all a great game!