(Somehow, I missed this thread earlier. Might as well respond now.)
Regarding the comments about "Forge of Freedom," I get the sense that they might be based on the game as it was before the major patch released in late May, as well as the rather significant patch currently under public beta testing. The game has evolved greatly since its release, both in terms of the AI being strengthened and a large number of features being added at players' request (including PBEM replay), plus several UI improvements.
As for the issue of FOF emphasizing economic development (in an abstract way), that's one of the game options that can be toggled off. People who don't like this "Civ-like" (as it's been called) feature can minimize its importance in the game, which allows them to focus more on the military side. That said, anyone who wants a purely military simulation probably won't like the game, because it does bring in economic, political and diplomatic aspects of the conflict. (Though, again, these can be toggled off, for the most part.)
I realize that this post is rather self-promotional -- I'm one of the developers, after all -- but I get the sense that there are many people who played FOF when it came out last November/December but then moved on to other games, so that their impressions are based on the release version rather than the current incarnation.
Incidentally, we're soon likely to start work on an expansion pack for FOF, and one of the centerpieces of it is likely to be a map editor for tactical battles along with the inclusion of historical battlefields. The idea is that if a battle occurs in, say, the Fredericksburg area you might get to choose between Spotsylvania, the Wilderness, Chancellorsville, or Fredericksburg itself, or just go with a randomized map. If we do add this feature -- and I can make no promises just yet -- I'll let you all know in advance, since I have a hunch that some of you might enjoy being part of the project and producing some of these maps (or else critiquing them, which would likewise be a great help).
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