here are the details that that Philippe Thibaut released at our annual press conference at Historicon on Civil War II.
Philippe Thibaut
AGEOD is a company that was created in 2005 by two French veteran developers and game designers, Philippe Malacher and myself, Philippe Thibaut. Some of you may be heard my name already, as the creator of the grand strategy game Europa Universalis… but we have done quite a few games already, and are planning to do more
Our goal back then was, and still is, to create historically realistic games of operational or grand strategy, and we also wanted to do that on a specific game engine that would render at its best the feel and circumstances of warfare. Our first – and successful – attempt was with Birth of America, a game on the American Revolution.
So over the years, with the subsequent addition of more games to our line, we have also developed this engine to suit our needs: the Adaptive Game Engine, a.k.a. AGE.
One of our most successful games during our recent history was Ageod’s American Civil War, which was released back in 2007. I’ll tell you more about this game and its present heir in a few minutes.
In the last 8 years, we did our best to produce interesting and original games on various subjects, and we sold them to a core group of faithful clients that was slowly but continuously built up over the years. We are proud to say that most of our customers hold more than one of our titles, and regularly express their confidence in our potential and products. But they also express (sometimes loudly) their expectations and desire for more and newer.
This is where we came to the conclusion that we could not at the same time satisfy the clients and continue to grow by our own, as we were just too small and not multiple-headed to do what was required. It became increasingly obvious to look for partners to help sustain our development.
Everyone knows that finding a good and reliable partner is difficult. And even when you have found one, working along is not always that easy. So we took our time and were relatively cautious and patient in evaluating who we should merge with. Luckily for us, we had been working with Matrix and Slitherine since years, almost from the very start.
So we had some good and long-standing experience in mutual collaboration and respect, and it was evident for us that we had found a potentially suitable partner. With the Slitherine Group we could have access to secure funding and an even bigger community of strategy gamers, so allowing us to continue to grow and create bigger and better games.
Within the group, we all agreed that our core values were similar, and that the years of building the Ageod brand and reputation should be built upon, not swallowed into a larger one-named entity… Ageod thus continues to operate its current forums and sell its catalogue of games from an Ageod website, using the Group’s standard copy protection methods and e-commerce systems operated by Plimus. This will also enable Ageod customers to purchase a full boxed version of their favorite titles direct from the site, something which was not much possible for our smaller team before.
So why are we are today?
An innovative history strategy game company can find all sorts of subjects to dwell on and develop. But our experience shows that it is sometimes difficult to reach a large audience if the subject is itself too original or unique. We know how to make detailed and wonderful games, but we have to make sure they appeal to a large crowd.
At the same time, we had the feeling that our products looked sometimes overly elitist and complex, and this impression was probably due to some concepts and ergonomic designs that began to date a bit.
So we wanted to create our next game with those two aims in mind: a subject to please a large number of players, and a look and ease of play that would appeal to the greatest majority of gamers.
As I said a minute earlier, Ageod’s greatest success was its game on the American Civil War, released 6 years ago and still a good seller to date. It was voted Wargame of the year by two sites, and was also selected by Scholastic to be an important part of their History catalog. We felt that this great game could benefit from all the efforts and improvements our AGE engine has seen in the same period of time, and so we could offer a renewed and even better experience to our fans.
So with all of this in mind, we decided a year ago that our 2013 title would be Civil War II, and this is the game I am going to present you now.
Civil War II
Description
Civil War 2 is the definitive grand strategy game of the period. It is a turn based regional game with an emphasis on playability and historical accuracy. It is built on the renowned AGE game engine, with a modern and intuitive interface that makes it easy to learn yet hard to master.
This historical operational strategy game with a simultaneous turn-based engine (WEGO system) that places players at the head of the USA or CSA during the American Civil War (1861-1865).
The first video shows the main menu and displays some of the game options, then loads a scenario which ends on the map, centered over the Union capital.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1TwyM-eWvk
Map & Generals
A tour of the map which is split into regions, shows an assortment of terrain including navigable rivers, hostile environments such as wilderness, swamps and an explanation of their impact on the game. The map is huge, from New England to the Rockies and from Canada to the Caribbean (far-off regions, e.g. California or Europe, are represented by off map-boxes). A mini map located in the bottom corner helps players to jump to the right destination.
Each region is identified and displays terrain, ownership, loyalty, supplies, and infrastructure.
The game displays naval and land units easily. Tabs allow quick navigation between stacks located in the same area. Clicking on a unit displays a more detailed panel with extra information.
In particular, great care is given to the historical organization of troops; armies, corps and divisions (with their respective leaders) all clearly identified on the map. Flashing red highlights indicate the respective command structures and orders of battle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giwxZafeyKs
Main game functions are accessible via a single button click.
Recruiting Units; in the game is done by a single button click. Units are then dragged and dropped on the map (which shows in green or red whether or not it is possible to build there). Filters allow sorting units by type (infantry, cavalry, artillery, ships) or by theater, for quick decision making.
Regional Decisions is a new feature added to the game. Also accessible via a single button. It uses the same principle of drag and drop to map regions where they are permitted, again shown in green. It has certain similarities to a card game and adds an element of excitement and specific effects (quite a few are in the “Dirty Tricks Department”). This can be used to help improve your regions (e.g. telegraph line construction) and is an innovative and simple way to represent various events without special rules.
Last, the Ledger organizes information about the player’s nation and displays Historical Options which are easily accessed by a single click and which are implemented during the next turn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAfSOjJ1UGI
Foreign Powers & Original Scenarios
Extra features rarely seen in others games:
Foreign Entry; CW2 also permits playing as or against the British, French, or Mexican forces. The game map provides the opportunity for more diverse theaters of operations, from Canada to the West Indies and from Mexico to Europe). Orders of Battle for these foreign powers are well detailed.
Political Cost of Command; all of the key leaders are rated for seniority and political affiliation. Players can monitor their generals and decide when to give them Command or decide not to promote them; causing then them to become discontented, losing seniority and possibly having political implications. All affecting the final chances of victory. Bypassing the command hierarchy is possible, but costly in terms of national morale which is a key element in winning or losing the game.
Original scenarios; are planned already. For example Sibley’s New Mexico campaign in 1862, and more will follow, allowing original and diverse conflicts to take place across the breadth of the map, with conflicts in neighboring lands from Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean to operations and warfare in the Far West.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlmWXCTDpuk
Victory & Defeat – Simultaneous Movement - River Movements
Victory or defeat is achieved by reaching your victory morale or falling below your defeat threshold. Gaining morale is done by defeating the enemy and by capturing objectives located across the entire map.
CW2 is a simultaneous turn based game. Players issue their orders and the game will process them simultaneously offering greater realism and often surprises and also allows Multiplayer via our PBEM system.
An interesting feature is strategic movement along rivers. This key aspect of the American Civil War is closely depicted, with various types of river craft. Providing an opportunity for swift redeployment along navigable rivers and for transfer of supplies, however do not overlook enemy coastal defenses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnVCTZGf7gM
Conclusion
CW2 is the latest version of AGEOD’s famous and popular game engine. The American Civil War was originally released in 2007 and this new and hugely improved version brings a host of new features to the period. This combined with a greatly improved interface design and some great new gameplay features will attract both existing and new fans to the period.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-IIfaKb_JE
Below you can also have a look at some screenshots from the game
Portraits
Carribean Islands
Division break down
Don't mess with the British
Face off
Generals
Mighty Union Fleet
Producing Ships
You can visit also the official product page http://www.ageod.co.uk/products/500/details/Civil.War.II
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