disclaimer this is in no way objective don't expect it to be, also this is a first for me so set your expectations with that in mind.

Another thing before I go in discussing rome 2, my experience with the total wars is a long one (I played shogun total war when i was 7)
but I didn't start considering myself a fan till a year ago when i first played rome total war.

I don't know where to begin so i'll start off by comparing rome 2 to shogun and empire, in that rome 2 is alot like empire total war for me and this is where
my opinion differs from most, I love empire, it is more dear to me than mediviel 2(wich i played least of the total wars).Shogun was too rock paper sicozzers for me and i didn't really enjoy it till FOts came along, and changed the campaign. Rome 2 campaign felt like a smelting of empires undercooked region system with the fots campaign things, like multi-fuctional buildings and auto roads.

To commenting on the ai.
to sum it up hit and miss, sometimes it works and gives me a challenge other times does unexplainable things, but I liked rome 2 ai more than shogun 2'sm hands down i don't know why but that's how i feel. Also i quite like the dilplomacy it makes sence to me, unlike prievious titles.

ON the battles
I thought the battles were a bit undercooked but fine, until the game reached patch 3 and got some mods, than battles suddenly got amazing no serious complaigns there, other than a few minor gripes.

etc.
I think the agents are cool but a bit too useful and the ai relies on them too much.

overall I enjoy the game but It could be better and is consistenly getting there with every patch, and with mods rome 2 easly beats shogun 2 and mediviel 2,
in my mind.Anyway thanks for reading my thoughts on rome 2 comments are appreciated, and thank you for your time.