It is really striking looking at the series that
Empire: Total War really was the peak of Creative Assembly’s ambition: a global map, naval battles, a complex trade simulation, multiple forms of government, elections and yes – synchronized infantry drill (though not with composite units). Their games sense then have steadily reduced that scope of features, pruning down to a core that works well (you can see that core in particular working well in
TW:Warhammer and
Three Kingdoms), but lacks variety.
Creative Assembly needs to take risks again, so this is my suggestion: go back to
Empire. I’d love to see the series put the resources into tackling the more complex combat of the 1500s and 1600s (
Empire originally had a start-date of 1700, so this would be an expansion of scope), incorporating both composite infantry units (that is, the pike-and-shot system) that actually work as composite units with the ability to alter formations as necessary to respond to changing conditions and use synchronized firing drills. - Bret Devereaux,
Collection: Total War's Missing Infantry Type