I'm confused by spearheading and front lines. Why would I ever want to do this?

[RelVleDy]

So let me make sure I understand this: I can choose between individually selecting my men to ensure the terrain I'm attacking into matches my unit compositions, or I can just leave the entire assault in the not so capable hands of the AI?

What am I missing here? I suppose it's fine for automation when you know you clearly overwhelm your opponent, but if you're on equal terms with your opponent, what's wrong with the CKII approach of just ordering the guys myself?

 

[grandad1982]

Well you have many many many more units to deal with compared to ck2 so maybe you don't want to micro them all. Also on large parts of the map the terrain isn't that much of an issue. Your can plan small local attacks that are targeted at terrain types (mnt in mountains, tanks in the flat lands). You build up a bonus to you attacks.

Equally you can just micro the units if you enjoy that and many people do. I personally mix the two and have plans running but micro where it's needed or to exploit a situation, note this involves plan editing as well as unit control. In the early pre release dev diaries podcat even said that the aim was for the battle plans to be used in conjunction with player micro.

I do wish that it did more around assigning more suitable units to rough terrain though. I'm sure that would really help the ai be more competitive too.

 

[Celdur]

So let me make sure I understand this: I can choose between individually selecting my men to ensure the terrain I'm attacking into matches my unit compositions, or I can just leave the entire assault in the not so capable hands of the AI?

What am I missing here? I suppose it's fine for automation when you know you clearly overwhelm your opponent, but if you're on equal terms with your opponent, what's wrong with the CKII approach of just ordering the guys myself?

There is no pause button in multiplayer, and in SP, once it works right it'll increase immersion.