I've said this before, but not in this thread. I don't mind stacks of doom at all and I'm not all that excited at the prospect of battlefields in Civ - what do you mean like in the Total War series?
You see in the original Rome Total War game it took me about a month to finish a game, and that was playing it nearly every day for at least a few hours. If I were to play a game of civ for a few hours a day it would be over in a day or two. Then again, if battles were handle like in RTW who knows how long it would take.
Civ is the most strategic TBS game with the most depth (except perhaps for MOO3). If I want tactical battles I have so many other games I can play, hell, even Starcraft. I don't want tactical battles in Civ. It would take far too long and take up too much of the game. Think about RTW, how much time do you spend on the main map in a turn? 10 seconds? 30? Then think about how much time a typical battle takes... 5 minutes? More? 10? 15? You spend the VAST MAJORITY of game on the battlefield. That's great for RTW, I like that game, but when I play Civ I want to be managing my empire, not commanding troops on a battlefield map.
That's why I'm fine with combat being an abstraction in Civ. It's already tactical enough, imo, with you having to command each and every unit and the terrain playing a part in battle. It's one of the things I really hate about Civ 5. I mean, cripes, warfare is already the biggest part of the game, from Civ3 and 4, I don't want to spend even MORE time fighting wars in Civ.
Let's be honest, if you win a peaceful game, say a cultural victory, you can get a standard size map, normal speed game done in 3-4 hours, assuming no one attacks you. A space win in under 5 hours easily, even assuming a short defensive war or two. But if you're at war for most of the game, expect a 10-12 hour game.
So I'm just throwing my voice in here, in case any Firaxis people ever read this, not all players want more involved and complicated combat. I want the opposite. There are thousands of war games out there. I play or have played RTW, Starcraft, Warcraft, Star Wars Empire at War, Rise of Nations... the list goes on and on and on. There are so many great tactical war games if Firaxis wants to make one they can try, but Civ shouldn't be a tactical war game. It's really the only TBS game I play and I want to stop trying to be a tactical war game. Get it back to being about empire management please, which yes, involves dealing with war as ONE aspect of the game.