Boisdejustice, I really hate to say it, but you're right about so many aspects of this. The thing is, this new feature could actually have been a dramatic improvement, something that added a new strategic twist to the game, if they had only have forgotten about the revenue stream for a moment and given some thought to game development instead.
Let's start with the obvious. The bonuses packed into the higher level (=coiner) toys unbalance the game. In a few days, I've improved my defensive light infantry more than I did the first 3 months of playing. (And I'm not going on a positions binge or doing anything special) This is way out of balance. Imagine how much the coiners have already abused this. There are 2 ways of dealing with this imbalance. The first, and simplest, is to scale back the value of teh various items, especially at the top end. Coiners are going to hate this, so we can forget about it happening. The second, and I believe this is workable, is to make the general simply one unit that can be added to other units to improve their performance, like a kind of uber-champion. As it is now, the general participates in any and all battles. Why should it be able to be in 2 or 3 places at one time? What if archons had to decide which battle to send their generals to, knowing that the general would only affect the battle it was sent to, and not be available for others? That would add a twist of strategic choice to the game. It would also introduce the possibility of teh general being lost in combat. Well, you can always get a new general (should be free, or at most a cost wholly payable in resources, no drachma), but items lost are items lost (and maybe found by the victor? hmm, maybe...)
another small complaint, and yes this is small stuff, is that the general's name has taken the place of the name of the city. This may or not be intentional, but the message this sends is that all the work we've been doing to improve our cities for the past year(s) is insignificant compared to the cult of the great leader. I can't speak for others, but call mine General li useless, because this change is a slap in the face of long time players. Let's to the democratic thing, and restore the names of our cities, and maybe put a tiny banner under the general so we can all see his name too.
I don't know why we can't have a cut-out for our generals, and get to see the actual chosen items on display. I know some years ago I used to play a zombie game where this was possible. You'd start out with a cut-out of your character in his/her underwear, and see the changes as you'd add or remove items of clothing. Add a riot helmet, see a riot helmet. Change it for playboy bunny ears, see playboy bunny ears. Don't know why we can't do that here. (Not that I'm recommending stiletto heels, fishnet stockings and bunny ears for this game, just giving examples)
