I felt that way too initially.
But over time and lots of reading I have found ways to get around the areas of interest you mentioned.
Bugger about Ashes of victory...
Okay in the forums is all you need to find out how to make it so much better.
Keep an eye on statements from Nanaki, Goblin Wizard, Trucidation. In no particular order.
Pathing issues are easily fixed, its the mapping....
I fixed it in 2/3 by moving around objects in calculated paths to reduce pathing conflicts.
Audio, I agree.
It could have been so much better....
But these days with so many people on our social media pages, it would be easy to get the script written down and have our friends work on voice scripts for the game to replace the already listed OGG audio.
Also look around as there are several voice mods for the game.
Using xp in sw3 I know you only need to dock your mothership at a station, no need to dock your fighters.
And you can xp up your pilots.
I will note here that SW3CW is not the same in Russian as I believe it is SW2CW.
Exception to this is the Mothership mod for SW3CW, where points for Bryna and KT can be done at maintenance stations.
Get the SW3CW mothership mod and give it a go. I use the latest beta and have not had problems with it.
Thank you Goblin Wizard.
This time around SW3CW I only went as far as New Jerusalem mission and then went free range and I am loving it.
it is an open ended/sandbox game. Kruger grind for $$$.
Not scared of using god mode and going to Zebos.
Go for it.
You will see what I mean when you get to the warehouse in Zebos.
SW3CW there is a mod for transports and capital ship patrols.
Nanaki did A great Job on it and I have yet to integrate it with Mothership mod. But all reports are is that it can be made work together well.
Thank you Nanaki.
Also there is a Liger Dreadnought that can be used in game.
Look around and I think it was Trucidation, I could be wrong.
Sorry, If I got it wrong.
Thank you for the Liger who ever made it.
I am curious to understand what bugs cannot be fixed?
Look around for IMDEditor....
Will allow you to add ships and modify ships in game.
I will use dawn of war as a comparison here.
Modding dawn of war for the last decade on and off.
every time I start a new section of modding for DOW it took me six months to get to grips with the different sections and get to understand its Speshulties.
Have a break from modding it and it doesn't all come back to you either.
Modding SW2/SW3CW about 2 weeks or less this time.
And already I can do a comparable amount that took 6 months in Dawn of War Series.
I am actually enjoying this compared to the challenge and troubles Dawn of War series gave me.
How much did you pay for the game if you dont mind me asking?
As I got it for relatively cheap in comparison to other games.
I dont mean to be confronting, I just hope some of the information and references here give you a better experience out of the game then what you feel you already experienced.
Since I dont know how to do a search of the forums, I haven't Linked relevant pages.
But be persistent.
I hope you try some of the fun that I have been able to get out of the games.
Nb. SW2 has a couple of mods, ModDB has a listing and Google god search will give you more.
I hope you enjoy the next time around at the game so much more as I am.
Be safe.