[HJ]

Originally posted by Elmo:
Thanks for the help everyone.

Would you say the tactical battles use a rock-scissors-paper approach? IOW each type of unit generally can kill another type but in turn gets killed by something else. For example: swordsmen generally kill archers, archers kill cavalry, cavalry kill swordsmen.

What I'm fishing for is whether there is one unit that is powerful across the board or whether each has strengths and weaknesses. In AoW:SM flyers have been generally regarded as overpowered compared to most other units. Just wondering about D2, although I know the game hasn't been out that long.

HJ - Yes the MTW tactical engine in D2 would be awesome although I'm sure it won't be happening. Maybe in D3...

I would say that the situation is much more complicated than that. There isn't a clear-cut rock paper scissors approach, and it'd a good thing, IMHO. There are just too many options for it to be possible. Also, there are counters to everything, and many of them too, but they are also less than clear-cut. The game doesn't revolve around troop types as much as you would expect when you look at other games. Generally, the heavier the troop, the more effective it is. But then, heavy troops are expensive, and the relative amount of light troops that you can buy for the same cost may overwhelm the heavy troop. And the heavies are slow on the main map, making them vulnerable to manouver war. And then there are super-potent troops, such as supercombatant pretenders or big summons, but there are also counters to them. And there is magic, which can be used in myriad of ways. One powerful mage may defeat an entire army with luck, but one stray arrow might kill him, for example. And so on, the options for gameplay are vast.
In short, you cannot look at just the troop types, as in MTW, AoE, or AoM, because so many things act in synchrony, and things like magic and items add further layers of complexity to the gameplay. Some things might be stronger than the others, but eventually there isn't anything that cannot be countered, while at the same time there are many ways to approach on how to do it.