I'm doing a major overhaul for exactly those reasons. The system in game is a bit too much. Too restrictive - as you said, it makes your army feel less impressive.
The performance side was only one half of it. The larger problem was the loss of control and chaos in such large battles.
I'm really excited for the changes coming out in v062.
You're saying the group composition is annoying - well, I need a bit more feedback. Compared to the live version, the groups I'm working on will be more focused on a few select units, very rarely coming up to four different units in a single group. If you could create your own groups, how would they look? Mix of ranged/mellee in each, or keep them separate? Straight groups or more heterogenous?
I'm not opposed to implementing personal group design, but I want to see if I can do enough with adjusting randomness the result will be almost as good - and much less finicky and time-consuming.
