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The stage is set, and the curtain rises upon the next act of the Great French War. Drums roll, bugles call, and banners are unfurled above the marching of tens of thousands of troops, wide-eyed recruits alongside battle-scarred veterans, sabers clattering alongside the bags of grapeshot, the wheels of hundreds of caissons rattling, as generals plan and diplomats plot, and as all of Europe reaches with their desperate hands for…THE CROWN OF GLORY.

A naval battle...

A land battle in winter...

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain...

Hi Erik -

Will there be a demo release of this game? Also can you give us the cost of the digital download or does that have to be announced still?

Thanks so much

..and the dream comes true ! too nice the screenshots !

The initial release will only be through our online store (and at Origins) for $39.99 Digital Download, $49.99 Boxed. We are working on a later retail release possibility, but no word on that yet. The initial release will be in English, but we plan to add French and German shortly after release. [8D]

Erik, will there be a printed manual in the boxed edition or the regular PDF printable deal with Kinkos?

As with all of our game on demand / digital download titles, we can't offer a printed manual at this time. The manual will be available as a searchable and printable E-Book. Between the game manual and the short tutorial manual, there's close to 200 pages of documentation. Boxed copies available on release will have full color DVD box and printed full color CD with serial number, shipped from either our warehouse in the US or the EU depending on which store you order from.

If a retail release becomes a reality down the line, we would hope to have a printed manual included there but I cannot promise a date or that it will happen for certain.

Regards,

- Erik

Thanks for the quick reply. 200 pages! Definately gonna visit Kinkos because that workload would strangle my little printer.[X(] I just love reading voluminous documentation; especially on this era. I have been waiting for this game from the time I got my first computer back in '92.[&o]

A manual excerpt describing some of the unit abilities that come into play particularly in detailed land battles:

Heavy Cavalry

(Requires Barracks development level 4)

In quick combat

„X +1 attack bonus compared to regular cavalry
„X +2 defense bonus compared to regular cavalry.

In detailed combat

„X do 20% more damage and take 33% fewer casualties while charging in comparison to regular cavalry
„X move 20% slower than regular cavalry

Light Cavalry

In quick combat

„X +1 defense bonus compared to regular cavalry;

In detailed combat

„X when charging regular or heavy cavalry, only do one half the damage of regular cavalry
„X move approximately 20% faster than regular cavalry
„X may continue to move after attacking (fire attack) if they have sufficient movement points to do so
„X have 50% chance to avoid charges by other non-light cavalry
„X see one hex farther through fog-of-war than most other units.

Cossack Cavalry

As above, each May Russia receives enough Cossack units (50% cavalry / 50% infantry) to bring its total Cossack units to a total equal to its Feudal Dues divided by 25 times the number of unoccupied ¡§Cossack Provinces¡¨ it owns.

Cossacks take only half normal foraging casualties.

In quick combat

„X -1 to attack with respect to regular cavalry.

In detailed combat

„X may avoid cavalry charges as light cavalry
„X move slightly faster than regular cavalry
„X receive 10% less damage than regular cavalry units when charging or firing

Lancers

(Requires Barracks level 7 and Courts level 4 to build.)

In quick combat

„X +1 defense bonus compared to regular cavalry
„X -3 penalty instead of -5 when attacking infantry in the defensive region; when raining, this drops to a 0 penalty.

In detailed combat

„X move as Light Cavalry
„X have 40% chance to break infantry squares when charging
„X do 12% more charge damage compared to regular cavalry

Very cool. Everything in this game seems to make sense-tieing feudel dues to Cossack recruitment etc.

What is the final verdict on naval battles? I can't seem to figure out from the screen above what is happening.

Naval battles are resolved through a version of the quick combat system, which you see in the screenshot above. You have various types of ships depending on how you've built and organized the fleets, you can call reinforcements from adjacent sea zones. You can get upgrades. One side gets the wind (and a big advantage). You deploy your fleet between the Volley / Line / Melee sections and let it rip. In the screenshot above, the French are getting their butts kicked by the British, which was not unusual (at sea) during this time period. [;)]

Ok, any screenshot requests? Post them here and I will get to them as soon as I can.

Is it still an optionm to use NATO icons? CAn se see a new screenshot with them?

Regards

Sure, one minute...

Here you go, two land battle shots, one without NATO symbols, the other with.

Please note that NATO symbols are for the detailed land battles rather than the main map. The main map of Europe has icons of men, ships and flags (which can quickly be learned and identified). These can also be modded.

And another battle with NATO symbols...

but we plan to add French and German shortly after release. [8D]

Ahhh darn...this is the consequence for not having a large colonial empire in the past....----> No italian release for Crown of Glory [:D]

Italian may well happen, but that would be well after the initial release and would depend on what our partners who would handle any European-localized release decide to do in terms of language support. Unfortunately, I have no definite information on that at this time.

Regards,

- Erik