Well it's been years and nothing has been done with it nor are there any plans to do anything with it according to what we are told. Things that aren't used get deleted, like the code for upgrading workshops, an abandoned feature, was deleted in a recent patch.
Just more things they haven't gotten around to deleting from the game yet
This is what I thought at first but I imagine it will just be removed eventually. I think the only thing it has been used for is making peace when you are a ruler and speak to another ruler you're at war with
I doubt they still have anywhere near 100 people working on the game, that would be extraordinary considering that no content has been added for nearly a year.
Because features are always implemented in a way that is almost good but ultimately frustrating and then feedback is mostly ignored. If they returned the ability to assign units to formations in the OOB system and remove the randomness there wouldn't be nearly as many complaints about it.
Explains why they have barely any effect on anything
Yeah this is pretty much how it goes every time. I've seen an AI army defend a besieged settlement once on the past couple of patches. A settlement was under siege, nearby a friendly army of a similar size to the besiegers was 'patrolling', I formed an army larger than both and waited close to the besieging army, only then did the friendly army come to the defence of the town. If that friendly army had attacked without my help and combined with the garrison it could have easily defeated the besiegers.
You mean defensive? Idk if the AI uses the war stances.
Exactly. I never see armies defend besieged settlements anymore and barely see armies team up to besiege towns. I can pretty much besiege with impunity because no AI armies will try to stop me, barely have battles against armies.