Honestly, combat does its job. I like it better than the 4x games where you have to cut away to a tactical minigame for every fight, or rely on an autocalc that has generally much worse outcomes, if you can't be bothered.
The only strategy games I can think of with fun tactical combat are Dominions, where you set up tactics ahead of time and from there on don't have to bother unless you're specifically doing something important, and Lords of Magic, which is almost on par with dedicated tactical games (e.g. shadowrun, fire emblem) but also seasoned by good magic and kidnapping mechanics, and a healthy dose of nostalgia.
And if you don't have tactical control, then who cares, really? It's just a black box. As long as strong things are strong, it's fine.
That is a pretty niche bug, though.
That's a classic kind of Paradox bug. I think all their games have weird conditions under which loading something will go horribly wrong.
Its still very niche, tho. Why would you play a game with no sound at all?
More to the point, why would you have a computer without any kind of audio output device? Even if you rarely or never use your main box for audio purposes, so much shit comes with built in speakers, particularly TVs which are often the most cost-effective displays you can get.