Age of Sail 2 Preview

This new naval strategy comes from the creators of our favorite mighty pirate game Sea Dogs, the talented Russian developers, Akella. We were lucky enough to catch the Akella team while they were taking a breather from working on the game, and grill them on a couple of subjects that we though might interest our readers. Akella also reveals exclusive details on some of the changes they've made to the game interface. Of course, we've spiced up the interview with some exclusive screenshots as well.

Actiontrip: Arrr, that 1996 when the original Age of Sail got released was such a long time ago, and there were not too many naval sims around since; what novelties can we expect from AoS2?

Akella: Well, there are really plenty of them. Of course, we' re sticking to the general idea of the first game, but due to great changes in graphics, interface program mechanics etc. the hole gameplay had distinctly changed for the better. We'd rather said, that it became more dynamic and addictive. The game is powered by a fast and up-to-date program kernel named STORM, which makes the environment fully 3D. All the ship models are highly detailed; you can even see sailors at work on the deck. The whole new 3D look with full floating camera and styled interface is the most visibly noticeable changes. Also, a lot of different 3D coastal landscapes based on real maps and photos were added into the game, so now there is a great variety of scenarios (like fort assault or defending the port) inside the historical and custom campaigns. The weather conditions and daytime are now changeable and due to realistic physical model can impact tactics greatly (decrease the accuracy, for example). Another important feature is an extended multiplayer support for up to 32 player via LAN or over the internet using GameSpy servers. In fact, the list of new features in AoS2 is so great, that we can proudly say it to be a totally new game, not just a sequel.

AT: AoS2 is using the STORM engine, just like the Sea Dogs. From what I have seen, both ships and the water look somehow simpler. How much does AoS2 visually differ from Sea Dogs?

Akella: Yes, you are absolutely right, mentioning the visual difference. This can be easily explained by the genre difference of AoS2 and Sea Dogs. When Sea Dogs is more a pirate adventure role-playing game, the goal of AoS2 is be a tactical game played in real time, and a strategic game, consists of a series of linked tactical scenarios. It is for sure a historical simulation and not an arcade game. To satisfy the needs of the game we had to abandon some features, but developed the others, making the game run faster and lowering system requirements. For example, in Sea Dogs the maximum quantity of the ships in one battle is about 10, while AoS2 allows 60 ships to participate in one combat. We also pay much attention to optimization of the game for the best performance online. The physic model (navigation, wind direction and weather conditions impact) algorithms are much more complicated, than in Sea Dogs, so, again to win at the final performance we sharpened engine code of AoS2 for it's specific needs. But don't worry, we're not gonna make a kind of minimalism artworks, look at the screenshots, the game looks attractive, doesn't it?

AT: How much will the controls be different then in classical RTS, considering the fact that you have to pay attention to wind direction and speed, tides...? How difficult will it be to control the ships?

Akella: As we've told before, the AoS2 is more a real-time tactical simulation, than a RTS, and that circumstance obliged us to spend a lot of time making the interface and controls functional and easy to understand at the same time. We can say, than the majority of all the manipulations are still made by mouse, but we refused the traditional "point & click" control scheme so widely used in classical RTS. You see, in real navigation there never had been an ability to "point" the object and see the ship moving. In fact, the ship is always moving if it's not anchored or moored. You had to give the destination using the steering wheel and adjusting the speed by giving commands to the crew controlling the sails, and, of course, you had to be on alert with the wind and other weather changes. The same scheme we're going to realize in AoS2. No doubt, there'll be a lot of opportunities to configure controls and hotkeys with your own preferences.

But still, we don't think that it'll be difficult to control the ship as player can regulate the value of AI participation in keeping the formations (yes, there'll be different types of them) and planning strategy (there'll also be different types of strategies, that can be set for the group or for single ship).

AT: And when the fight turns from cannon bombardment to boarding enemy ship, will that additionally complicate the controls?

Akella: To tell the whole truth, boarding had never been a widely used strategy even by pirates. There're a lot of obstacles like tangling of the rigging when to big ships come too close (there's a special crew task in game to untangle tangled ships). Also, just imagine how long can last the man-to-man fight on a rate one ship (it's a kind of floating fortress) with more than 1200 people on board? With the certain amounts of food and water it could last for a week or so... That's why we advise to use boarding in the game only if you are absolutely sure in the success (that means, that your ship is of much higher rate than the enemy). To board the ship in the game you'll need to come close enough to grape it and if success transfer a certain amount of the marines to the enemy ship and wait for the result (the enemy ship should surrender if you win). You won't believe it, but all this is done in two or three mouse clicks. So, don't think it'll additionally complicate the controls.