. Instead they get sent ridiculous distances across entire continents for a battle or two.
I agree with most of what you're saying but, I think that alliances with neighbors are what cause armies to march all the way across the continent. For example, Barony of Makar marching all the way south across Atamara, or Oriolton attacking Giblot--everyone knows that the march is for two reasons:
1. get rid of "too much peace" messages
2. leadership is too cowardly/lazy/friendly to attack an enemy that can actually fight back--ie their neighbors.
Even in Darka, we can't attack Talerium, so we have to march halfway to Makar and around the stupid lake, just to comply with a stupid treaty arrangement to stay out of Talerium.
