Just glanced through the confirmed information up top and some things jumped out at me that seemed a bit off(or could be). Just wanted to know what everyone's thoughts on them are.
- Ability to repair minor damage to ships during battle 1
This is a bit vague I know, but smacks of RTS arcade style. I hope by minor, they really mean it. Like plugging up holes or bailing out water/putting out fires. Essentially not much more than what is modeled in ETW. I know the bigger ships had a staff of carpenters and whatnot for repairs at sea, but how much could they do during battle? And will there be "repair ships"? Will the loss of men affect your repair ability?
- Generals more important, now with a morale-boosting aura effect 1
- Napoleon has special "warcry" ability that boosts nearby allied troops morale 5
These both go together and I'm not sure how I feel about them. "Morale boosting aura effect". I hope that it's not something glowing on the battlefield or something similar, and I'm not sure that it is right anyways. Whatever happened to passive bonuses from morale/dread/command and being able to rally troops, is that not good enough?
Also the "warcry" ability just sounds weird. Did Napoleon ever ride to the front of his troops in a battle and let out a bloodcurdling war cry to improve morale? Just seems goofy and not necessary.
- Selection of generals from a list, each one with his own attributes 1
I suppose this means that if you play Britain the the grand campaign, for instance, that you would pick Wellington over some other British general, and he would lead your campaign? Do these Generals ever improve or get worse? Does Napoleon start out as brilliant and stay that way for the entire campaign? I'm guessing so.
All in all it sounds as if NTW will at once integrate several features "missing" from ETW, and also be a completely different style of game, more individual focus on a short campaign rather than the broad brushstrokes of ETW.
*shrug*
Probably wait until it hits the bargain bin.