Pharaoh TW should not have shipped without naval battles
every naval engagement in pharaoh is a popup with a number on it. you click ok. thats the battle. in a game set during the bronze age collapse.
battle of the delta, 1175 bc, ramesses III vs the sea peoples. its carved on the walls at medinet habu. ships grappling and capsizing each other, archers on deck, AND shore based archers shooting into the fight from the bank. thats a combined arms coastal battle. someone drew you the map 3000 years ago. suppiluliuma II has hittite texts claiming three sea battles off cyprus. ugarit literally writes "my ships are all in lukka land" then seven enemy ships turn up and the city stops existing. the whole collapse is a naval story.
and bronze age naval would be the easiest version to build. no wind, no broadsides, no line of battle. its galleys closing distance, missiles, then boarding. its infantry combat on floating platforms. you already have that system.
so heres the part people will disagree with: "naval was janky so we cut it" is not a reason, thats just admitting you gave up. rome 2 and shogun 2 shipped it worse than this would need to be and people still played it.
am i wrong? does anyone actually prefer the autoresolve, or is this just cope because we know its never coming back