The speed with which a 'reasonable' PC can load the tactical battle is also relevant here.  In the Total War series, my tactical battles would take minutes to load which much slowed gameplay.  While I enjoy the tactical battles very much, the slow load speed first caused me to go to autoresolve then to quit playing the game.

If the tactical battles loaded quickly, then the player could glance at the battle and decide whether to play it or autoresolve it since sometimes the tactical situation is surprisingly interesting.  I would prefer this to simply having a pre-battle odds estimate.

Regarding surrender, I believe it would be a reasonable option to have.  In fact, I would even suggest an involuntary auto surrender when the player is running the battle.  If I had eight crossbowmen facing eight dragons and certain death, it is not unreasonable for those eight men to say 'scr*w this, I have a family!* and surrender before they fry.  I guess this comes down to the player's preference for control versus realism.  I prefer the realism while others prefer to order their e-troops to certain death to slightly weaken the enemy.  Perhaps this ought to be an option the player can choose.

Was it the old WoM game where troops who ran from a battle might end up..

- Becoming bandits or

 - becoming mercenaries or

 - Rejoining your forces or

 - Going home (disbanding)?

I like your idea of a 'Quest to Punish Cowards' option.  Each time you successfully completed such a quest it might make your troops less likely to surrender or desert because they would become more afraid of you than of the eight dragons.  Good Idea!

Great post, and great ideas.

Having a text details window is interesting, but we're in the 21st century. Since you provide a graphical battle view, why don't you propvide a graphical battle replay? (Think Dominions)

You can auto resolve, and if the fight went badly, you look the details in a graphical window rather than in a hard-to-glance text details window.

This replayer could be really interesting not only for those who want to see why an automated battle went wrong, but also if you want to look back at the battle you just played (maybe you want to look that animation when you killed the enemy channeler again). Might even export it as a video so you can upload your best battles on youtube.

That would be pretty sweet, but I wouldn't want it to go as far as a 3d rendered replay of the entire fight. Just use a cloth map of the battlefield.

After all, historical battles are traditionally represented with a map of the terrain and colored arrows showing the movement of troops. That's a pretty iconic image, for me at least, and it would be easier to take in at a glance than watching the entire battle play out graphically.