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I had to ask it of the more experienced war gamers here

This game, or Europa Universalis?

The tipping points are the manuals, the ease of learning to play, and the overall Ai and support.

Also, I like my games a bit grognardy in terms of combat, hexes, etc and I really do NOT want to have to worry about economics too much on my own (rather have AI handle it for NOW, not later but for now).

Now I know asking here is kind of dumb, but I do respect the opinions of the gamers here. I have NEVER liked Hearts of Iron (hated the combat) so I am not sure what I am looking to get into with Eu3 let alone this game, but Crown of Glory looks VERY complicated. Very, very complicated.

Europa Universalis combat is very similar to HOI combat if that answers your question.

Actually believe HOI combat has a lot more to it than EU. EU combat is more like big battalions win, HOI has all kinds of flanking, terrain factors, etc.

Myself I very much liked EU2, not EU3 (because they departed from the historical events that made EU2 so much fun for me), liked HOI II and plan to buy HOI 3 as well. I also liked Crusader Kings.

COG:EE is a really good game. If you havent played it (or Forge of Freedom Western Civ Studios American Civil War game that is very similar to COG you would probably like that as well) get it.

It would seem the combat is very detailed on Crown of Glory. I was wondering if there was a tutorial (I DO subscribe to the You Tube channel as well)

There's 2 forms of combat in gog:ee, detailed combat is complicated and quick combat is very simple.

So I just use detailed combat where I might lose because my army is smaller than the enemy. Otherwise I use quick combat.

I also liked Crusader Kings

Me too.

I like EU because I like the scope of it but as far as a grognard computer game, this game is much more that style.  With that said, there are multiple options to make the game easy or more complicated.  I for instance also don't like monkeying with economy so I almost always play with the 'simple' economy mode on.
If you have any experience with any kind of hexbased wargame, then you shouldn't have too much difficulty getting into the hexwar combat either.  But sometimes i don't even use it focusing on instant or quick combat (instant is just QC run by the AI so you just see the result).
I think there are some video tutorials included with the game if I remember right, haven't looked in awhile and am at work!

Yes there are a whole slew of video tutorials on YouTube.
 
While this game is tempting, so is EU3. I will admit that the EU3 tutorial goes in depth with the game but I am not sure if it is more of a political simulator than a combat simulator, and of course it deals with a huge range of time. Crown of Glory is bit more narrow
 
What do you say to some reviewers that claim CoG is a hodge podge game that lacks a real direction?

I would find that highly ironic from anyone who likes the EU series. As an owner of both games, CoG is much more focused. EU is more a political simulator while CoG is more a wargame so you're not really comparing apples to apples there.

I think the main answer to your question is that EU combat is like HOI but even less complicated, so if you dont like HOI I dont see you liking EU.