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Age of Sail II
The Specs
It's a wargame covering naval battles between 1775 and 1820,
with self-contained scenarios and two branching campaigns.
It's real time, but in battles between sailing ships real
time is probably plenty slow, which is why you can use time
compressions up to 32x. The game is being developed by Russian
newcomers Akella, who are also making Sea Dogs with the same
engine. A fully moveable 3D camera will give you a variety
of perspectives on the detailed ship models, which features
colored dots for your crew, animated canvas sails, and damage
effects.
The Speculation
Mark's Comments: The feature list for this
game is impressive: You can control sail configuration, speed,
course, ammo (pick between round, chain, and grape shot),
and weapon aiming. You also manage repair parties, grappling,
depth sounding, and can even send crew over to man a ship
you have just captured. Age of Sail II is real-time as well,
so the interface and controls really need to be sharp for
players to manage a fleet of ships. I think the real-time
management issues and the AI will be the reefs this game needs
to navigate through. Most real-time games present a challenge
to the player through efficient building that fields a superior
force rather than through superior tactics. Age of Sail II's
AI will have to out-admiral the player instead.
Tom's Comments: This will doubtless be the
year's best wargame about sailing ships. You guys at Talonsoft
can even put that on a sticker with my name under it and slap
it on the box. Crochety old wargamers like me will appreciate
it for its rarefied subject matter, but the rest of you might
dig on it as a version of Star Fleet Command without the Star
Trek.
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Publisher: Talonsoft
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Developer: Akella
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Genre: Real time historical wargame
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Release Date: Q1, 2001
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