Hello everybody!I have metproducer Johan Andersson at Los Angeles E3 and we had an interesting discussion about the upcomingAlthough he game is scheduled for January 2012, according to him, «*it could have been released today*». Yetdevelopers wisely decided to take some more time to polish the game and only release it once it's fully playable and enjoyable.The developers have also aimed at providing a clean user interface that only displays what is really necessary to the players. Everything can be customized, from the news you want to hear from, to the menus you want to temporarily hide. It's now much easier to interact with the interface (e.g. you can interact with characters from clicking on their picture in the family tree).The map is also the most gorgeoushas ever made. For it uses a new engine even more detailed, that allows you to play in terrain mode and still clearly see what province belongs to whom (since every country has its own border graphics). Shields are displayed in different size, according to the nature of said territory (duchy, county, kingdom, empire. NB: barons are simulated as part of duchies and cannot be played).The way battles work has been greatly enhanced over. You still have to defeat the enemy units in a province and besiege it afterwards to gain control over it. But battles are now divided up into three parts, namely skirmish, melee, which takes place until one side breaks, and pursue. Different units will be available for each culture, and will be mostly useful during one combat phase. Flanks will also play a role during the battles and attacking an enemy both from the front, and from both flanks, should provide a huge advantage. Combat progress is displayed on the map, thus you don't have to click to access the information.Once the enemy defeated, you still have to besiege the province to control it. Sieges will slowly eat down enemy morale until it hits to zero. But the more castles an enemy has, the longer taking them down will be. Once controlled, an enemy province will be hatched on the terrain map mode a la HOI3.Empires (the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire) have been added to the game, and will have the ability to propose to a king to become their vassal, although it is unlikely that it accepts. Pagan religions are now depicted more accurately and are divided into separate religions.Although not many details have been disclosed in that regard, Johan also mentioned the implementation of de jure and de facto map mode, which should let you know who controls a given area, both from a legal perspective and in practice.You will also have the opportunity to let guardians handle events concerning you child's education, and thus shape its personality.There will nonetheless be no historic events, as, being centered on characters instead of countries, the story can be much different from one game to another.Although ships can be raised in coastal provinces, there are no naval combats in the game. For ships serve the sole purpose of transporting troops overseas, especially to lead the crusades. Moreover, the amount of ships that a port can sustain is determined by its capacity.Finally, mongols hordes will periodically pop up, just as they did in. So be prepared for they could very well threaten your growing empire!As a conclusion,left me with the feeling of a game with great potential. Only this time, the release version should be much more polished than usual. Thus the few bugs I noticed while playing should be fixed by then. I therefore believe the extra development time is well worthy, even when that entails players will have to wait another 6 months to get their hands on the game.