We get a first look at Napoleon's Campaign's II

Another year, another AGEOD game. With the announcement of Napoleon’s Campaigns II, that would mean three games in as many years. Depending on your view of things means that this could be a good or a bad thing, but the advantage of games like the ones AGEOD produces is that it requires little base work once the central engine is in place. As you may have guess, this latest game is about the Napoleonic Wars, a period of history that holds a special place in my heart thanks to that lovable rogue of rogues – Richard Sharpe (played by the legend that is, Sean Bean).
 

Present, Fire!

What’s interesting about this particular AGEOD game is that it actually uses the same engine that Crusader Kings II and Sengoku uses, and visually the game resembles a mixture of, say Victoria II and Pride of Nations. Well, maybe not THAT interesting, but a game’s engine defines how it plays, and internal Paradox titles don’t quite go to the same lengths as AGEOD games do, so perhaps Napoleon Round Two will be the most accessible game so far? It’s hard to tell at this point, as the build still looks quite early.

What is certain is that this will be a more military-focused game, a la Hearts of Iron. With only a ten year span in terms of gameplay (1805 – 1815), the focus is very much on the Napoleonic Wars themselves, with a simple goal of taking your chosen nation to glory by becoming the most powerful nation in Europe. Despite being a “warfare simulation” (their words), the is of course all of the supplementary games elements to go with a title like this: Diplomacy, Production Trade… a lot of management for you to sink your teeth into, but the majority of it will be in organising your fleets and armies.

Despite being focused on Napoleon, this isn’t a Euro-centric title either. While not totally global, AGEOD have said it will be ‘Semi-Global’. After all, there were other wars going on at the time as well, so they’ll be a North American theatre, as well as the Caribbean and India. Still, Paradox claim that this game will feature the largest and most detailed European map ever so we’re not sure how the detail of the game map is going to compare between continents.



Another rather unique feature of this game is the win conditions – as we mentioned earlier, there is an overall goal of becoming the most powerful nation, but there are also specific win conditions for each country. France, for example, as the win condition ‘Napoleonic Glory’, whereby you as the French player must make sure your (Napoleon’s) family are on the throne of at least two nations, replicating the history where Napoleon’s brother was King of Spain. Whilst no details have been given yet, other nations are supposed to have similar, specific conditions that they need to meet.

Not really much else to say at this point – Research apparently isn’t handled in the traditional sense, instead, Research ‘ideas’ get spread (sounds like CK2’s system to be honest). Combat, whilst auto-resolved, is also dependant on several factors. There are flanks, combat phases, and then the usual suspects such as morale, the stats of the leader, terrain, composition of forces etc… also come into play. Over 600 historical leaders are reported to be in Napoleon II, and it’s a matter of matching the right leader to the right army/situation, as each has his own unique stats and traits. There is also the Paradox staple of ‘events’ that help flavour and shape the game. Multiplayer is reported to be for up to 8 players.
 

Lots of tables and stats to look through, but this is fairly niche after all...

At the time of writing, the game was still in Alpha with a release planned later in the year. As with most Paradox strategy games, it’s hard to get a true appreciation as to what the game will be like without a proper build test out, or even just look at. Still, AGEOD fans have been looking to see the original Napoleon’s Campaign's game done properly, so not only will there be those guys but I also hope the Clausewitz engine will be a good influence on this particular AGEOD game. Napoleon’s Campaigns II is due for a release on PC sometime during Q4 2012.

Most Anticipated Feature: We’re interested in seeing how the whole Army management system works, whether it’s as in-depth as Heart of Iron’s was.