Agree with all of these.

I quite like combat as it is because it's reminiscent of MoM ; the only thing I'd like to see more polish on is how the AI uses spells in tactical / overland combat, which is natural because the game isn't finished yet. 

If people do want more sophisticated tactical combat rules, I'd like to suggest a checkbox for 'new-school tactical combat' or something similar. There are lots of games with complex tactical mechanics (like the HoMM series) and I've found that there's beauty in simplicity too - I'm actually an 'expert' in computer-related things (as the OP starts off by saying) and can identify, for example, when what appears to be a sophisticated AI is nothing more than a complex decision-logic tree. As a player it's more irritating to play against pseudo-complex AI because it feels like the game is pandering to my need for complexity and failing, due to hard-coded decisions which are just as predictable as a less ostentatious version.

I'm playing a game of .912 on Hard and the game world I'm in is not static or boring. I have been in a drawn-out battle with another Sov which started off as a bit of a cold war as we both churned out units, then eventually I was able to take one city, and his downfall had begun. Monsters did attack him and I both. 

Diplomacy; I've been able to forge alliances with other lords that are compatible with me. They persist and are useful, the treaties seem to work ok.

Just wanted to give a different perspective. I also believe that simplicity is key and if a product gets bogged-down in complexity, it never gets better, only worse.

Poor unit selection - those little cirlcular highlights and highlights with arrows, what do they mean exactly? When i click at the enemy now, who will charge him? Just my sovereign? Everyone? No one? I can't count the mistakes I made by poor selection of units. Who is selected should be immediately, visually clear. Sadly, it isn't.

Running away from battles - I understand there were some changes, first only attacker could (?), now no one seems to be able. What a pity - running away was such an important part of medieval warfare. Pursuit of scattered enemy forces was extremely important. The running rabble could regroup and fight another day - or be cut down by light cavalry (who was important for the task). Retreating noble could rally a city to his support and present an unpleasant, prolonged siege in enemy territory - or could catch an arrow between ribs. Fugitive prince could beg the emperor about the injustice - and could return with thousands of troops as a pretender to the throne.

Unclear quest information - "explore the butcherman lair" - that's what I get? Couldn't I even have a peek? No, I could not, supposedly. So off I march, and I encounter - two butchermen, as expected, who I dispatch easily, and Ulrich the Unknown Undead Upstart, who chops me to ribbons with his huge axe. Even the Monty Python knights could shout - RUN AWAYYYY, RUN AWAYYYY... but not me. RIP. I understand the auto-resurrection and the battle wound/scratches system was made to alleviate the pain, but I don't like it much. Combat should matter more, rewards should be greater, running away should be allowed. 

Battles are still bar-room brawls - sadly, nothing in the game resembles armies, formation or true epic clashes of forces. Only Total War games made it with reasonable success so far (bar the horrible AI). I know this won't change, but I cannot convince myself I am commanding an ancient and powerful empire - it's me, the awesome Elemental Lord, Helga with a huge hammer, and her 16 cloned cousins with pointy sticks, grouped by four. That's it, that's our military. If we don't build a pub this year, we may hope to double that.

Kama, I don't think you can get the combat in a game to resemble anything realistic, that will work wonders and really make you think its a real combat... Its a game! you shouldn't set your bar that high

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

What makes you an expert?

I think what would make the world feel more alive is to have an actively generated quest system.

Little things like rescue noble, etc, should pop up once in a while with a dialog.

I would love to see more of this. Heck, any of this in my games. Would certainly liven it up a bit, seeing bears, spiders, and such brawling around in the world. Talk about feeling threatened by the world! 

-- that, and the creatures would end up leveling quite a bit more making them more of a hassle. Which could be good. Or a Creature-faction trait could be added internally which reduces exp gained by attacking other creatures.

Thanks, that was a blast to read and i concur with many of your observations.

Especially the issues with the unintuitive user interface could become a major problem if they only get tackled half-hearted.

New players won't even notice all those wonderful gameplay additions if they constantly struggle with the interface.

And i'm not talking about "dumb console kiddies nowerdays, no attention span, willingness to immerse themselves etc.", for example if i hadn't some UI experience from other strategy titles and Vanillia Elemental, the interface here would seriously confuse/frustrate me.