With the new 3D engine, military units are rendered in groups to represent how many health points they have. The combat stats are simplified into a single power rating. "We don't want people to have to bust a calculator out to figure if they're going to win or not," Smith says. With the simplified stats, many units are differentiated by abilities, some of which can be chosen when a unit wins a battle. Maybe your phalanx will get a bonus vs. cavalry, it might heal faster, or it might be particularly good at capturing cities. "It brings in an RPG element," Smith says. "We want each unit to be more important, to be more interesting. Moving around hundreds and hundreds of units isn't fun. But a hundred cool units is fun."
[more at GameSpy]
[more at GameSpy]
