You simply used the term "things that serve the military angle" to describe what I mean by "elements defining a period" (warring state period). However, there is no arguments put forth to explain why a feature should be included in or excluded from this so call "things that serve the military angle". I mean, yeah, you can make diplomacy and Russian Winter being non factors for a Napoleon game. If you ask CA, of course they accept a Napoleon TW without deep diplomacy mechanics. However, that is not up to my standard. To me, that did not justify the period. If we keep on allowing such a low standard, all we get is this shallow TW get pushed out years after years, and every historical period is simply a re-skin.
Who cares why Napoleon has to fight a coalition in the first place? Who cares Metternich saving Austria and balancing the power in Continental Europe by his diplomatic skills? I care. I don't want the TW franchise to keep the gameplay simple and let noobs over-run everything without second thought.
By your logic, you can argue an acceptable Medieval TW without crusade and Jihad mechanics; a Rome TW without family trees, a Shogun TW without Ninjas. We got to draw the line somewhere, right? I am trying to raise the bar by providing more info and factors to include in a TW game.
At the end of the day, I want achievements and blunders of the notable characters in the warring states era be felt through the gameplay. E.g.
1)A great number of tribes are assimilated into Chinese Culture, enriching the meaning of the word "Chinese" -
King Wuling of Zhao's "Wearing the Hu (styled) Attire and Shooting from Horseback (in battle)"(胡服騎射) propelling the Zhao into a super power.
2) China transitioned from decentralized feudal lords government into a centralized Central bureaucracy system. -
The leaders of Han, Zhao and Wei leading to The partitiion of Jin because of decentralized power.
3) diplomats can play as big of a role as generals to the survival of a state -
Yue Yi's plan to drive Kingdom Qi to destroy the Kingdom Sung, allowing him to lead a 5-kingdom allied force to crush Qi's army in the battle of Ji Xi (
濟西之戰) ,
Lord XiLing's "Stealing seal to save Zhao"(竊符救趙) and Battle of Henai(河內之戰) being the last man to lead the other states to halt Qin's unification of China.
My list can go on and on.... I wanna recreate these events, and face the challenge that these people faced. Their achievements should be praised, instead of being gloss-over and streamlined because they do not fit in the so call "military lens". That's what I call doing justice to a historical period. How about you?