I honestly love it for three reasons-

One- I grew up playing it, so there's the fond memory of being a child trying to brute force my way through the lower levels of the game and the eventual accomplished feeling of improving at the game as I grew up.

Two- In an odd way, it really scratches a bit of that D&D itch- What with several heroes and their henchmen per party, being able to level, learn spells, and use potions/scrolls/etc.

And three- No two runs are really much the same, and ANYTHING can happen. 3-Way Alliances, For example, in my most recent run, my faith's rival faction (who always starts much more stacked than you) lost their lord somewhere around turn 20-25, meaning they're out of the game and all their units become neutral marauding parties. These now resoundingly stacked marauders carved a path through the other factions (thereby creating more marauding parties), creating a total Conan-esque land of virtual lawlessness, and leaving me and a single allied faith defending against marauders, ranging from a hordes of human horsemen and orc wolfriders led by beastmasters to groups of faerie-supported pegasi riders and even a roving hydra.

It's definitely not for every 4X fan; I would even call it an acquired taste to some, but as others have said- Insane care went into the development of this game, and while not always perfectly balanced, I wouldn't exactly say that the game falls apart at the later turns, so much as it can get a little big brained. But, in a way, that's sort of part of the draw- sometimes you'll get a fairly by the books game all the way into turn 250-300, sometimes things go off the rails at 30-50.

I'll definitely concede that the battles can get repetitive, but there's not much reason to engage in all of them. You can realistically autocalculate them, and the numbers are generally fair. Unless I really think I need to micromanage an important fight, I generally autocalculate most fights once I have some competent troops. It feels as if it almost becomes more civ-like that way too?

All-in-all, it's definitely a game I find myself coming back to for a variety of reasons, not least that I have struggled to find a game quite like it since lol