Honestly, the improved tactical battles are nice, but I'm more concerned about this:

What about quick battles.  In WOM, quick battles were pointless because the enemy sovereigns refused to cast magic.  With all these new abilities added, I think making sure quick battle works is very important, as I feel tactical battles ends up being a way to cheese the AI 10 times out of 10, and quite honestly, I don't think any company, even Stardock , can prevent that.

Hopefully the quick battle side of the equation, especially with all the new abilities, isn't neglected.  I think for me it may be more important then the tactical battles.

One nice touch would be an AOW-style quick animation as an option to go with the quick battles.