You did this again. You haven't played the game enough to level such an accusation. In EL, like ALL other 4X titles, combat is the easiest way to a win. But, it's not the only way.
Late response as I managed to mislay this thread - I looked it up again now as I played EL over the weekend.
My claim re EL's combat focus is based on some of the game's focal mechanics: one of its core selling points was its unit upgrade and equipment system, and almost all the upgrades are combat-focused. Additionally, Amplitude's established its hero characters as a trademark of the Endless games, and heroes are combat units (in fact I feel Endless Space handled specialising heroes as governors better than EL). The game even had an expansion that focused largely on obtaining unique 'Guardian' units.
I'm not claiming it's the only way to win, but by comparison with most 4x games, there is definitely an excessive design focus on the combat system - one the system appears not to justify in terms of the way it plays out. When I see a modular unit design system, I want one in which I have the freedom to use my designs to affect battle outcomes along the lines of Master of Orion.
You could very easily take another route and minimize your combat to defense only. You don't like the combat, but you think the 1UPT is just fine.
Endless Legend uses 1UPT to all intents and purposes - units move as armies on the campaign map for ease of pathing and navigation, but once in the combat view you have exactly the same mix of melee and ranged units that you have in Civ V, ranged units work exactly the same way, and screening ranged with melee while focusing down individual units is the best way to win just as in Civ V.
The only difference I've so far observed is that the battle maps are very restricted, and there are only two terrain rules (elevation = good, forests = good). In my current session I've recently unlocked 6-unit armies, and a 6-unit army, plus a hero, facing an equivalent force, leaves very little room for manoeuvre especially as most units (other than things like centaurs or hydras) have high movement rates. I played a battle against a horde of Necrophage drones; they flew into my line and then everyone on both sides was pinned where they were by adjacent units and map edges. And I've still yet to see a result that couldn't naturally emerge from Civ V's 1UPT implementation, or Civ IV's stacks - sometimes due to random variation in damage results a disfavoured army might win, but in general the favoured side will.
But seriously, I'm not sure what your point is any more. Civ:BERT and EL are very different games. I own both. I enjoy both. I wanted better AI in both, and Amplitude delivered with its latest free DLC. Firaxis.... hasn't.
They are very different games in many respects, save that playing EL again reminded me of the influence-buys-diplomatic-agreements-and-faction-buffs diplomacy system. Now, where have I seen that recently? Looks like RT's big innovation in diplomacy was "plagiarise the Endless Legend system".
