MG/WC: Thanks! We’ve added some features that we think go even farther towards modeling the military behavior of the era. Victory and retreat in detailed combat are now determined by a battle-wide Will-to-Fight, which is primarily affected by how many units remain in good order versus how many units have been broken. The value for both players is displayed at the top of the battle screen, along with a graph showing the player’s unit ratios, so the player always knows how close or how far he stands from victory or defeat. We’ve tweaked cascading morale loss in detailed combat, so that its effects are still quite real though not quite as far-reaching. And retreating units can also re-enter the strategic screen with Strategic Disorder, giving them a disadvantage in quick combat.

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ACG: Overall, how advanced can we expect the AI to be compared to the original CoG?

MG/WC: We still can’t give away any of our secrets, but we think the player will find the AI even more of a challenge than in the original release, with even more realistic and unexpectedly strong strategic and tactical behavior. The reaction of our beta-testers has been quite positive in this regard. We’ve included all of the AI improvements we made while working on Forge of Freedom, and taught the detailed combat AI dozens of new tactics.

ACG: What’s an element of the new game that you expect will knock the combat boots off fans of the original?

MG/WC: We’re really psyched about our naval combat engine. In terms of tactical detail, it will compare with the systems of much larger products than ours-we’ve got sail states, wind direction, tacking maneuvers, inertial effects, carronade fire, rigging damage, ammunition type, boarding actions the works. We have detailed and historically accurate ship models and realistic waves, as well as well as maritime sound effects. We’ve also taken the time to give each player’s ships their historical names, to the fullest extent we could.

ACG: For players unfamiliar with the original Crown of Glory, how accessible will they find this one to be?

MG/WC: We think they’ll find it even more accessible than the original. We’ve made the strategic map more realistic, with lots of terrain texture and deeper, bolder colors. We allow the player to play with a simplified economy. We’ve added tooltips to nearly everything that has functionality on the screen, whether it’s a button, a statistic, or a menu. We’ve given players the option of resolving battles instantaneously. We’ve provided some of the same advisory tools as we did in Forge of Freedom, including quick-reference city and unit lists, military overview maps, graphs of national statistics, and additional clarity to menus, reports, and advisor screens. We’re revised the manual, top-to-bottom, reorganizing whole chapters, rewriting entire sections and streamlining explanations, introducing the player to the basic game concepts as quickly and efficiently as possible. We’ll be providing a printed manual, as well as an in-game help that features the full text of the manual and illustrative screenshots. We’ve highlighted rules that we feel could use emphasis, and hope to be distributing a file of tips and strategic advice for players after release. We’ve moved a lot of the tables to a separate Appendix and reformatted the combat modifiers list for easy reference. Finally, we’ve also recorded a dozen tutorial films, giving the player a step-by-step introduction to playing the game. And, of course, we’ll be as active as ever in providing our players with support on our game forums, where you can always find us-another thing we’re noted for.

ACG: Will CoG:EE players have to alter their strategies compared to the original if they hope to achieve dominance?

MG/WC: You might have to learn a few new tricks, sure—even basic maneuverability on the strategic map has changed, with the addition of dozens of new provinces and a revamp of the terrain features. New rules like March Attrition and Strategic Disorder can make armies more vulnerable. Naval warfare will probably feel a bit different, as we have given each player fleets of historically accurate size and composition, and have given minor powers like Denmark and the Netherlands the large fleets they historically wielded in the earlier scenarios. If tactical success is an important element to your strategic goals, you’ll need to handle new combat rules like Cavalry Screens, army placement, group movement, standing orders, and reaction radii, not to mention the opportunities we give you to fight battles at the brigade level! And if you’re using the new naval combat system, you’ll find it’s a very different environment than detailed land combat-you’ll have to find your sea legs!

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