IGNPC: What considerations have you had to make for modeling combat in this particular Age?

Ensemble: As you can see from the screenshots, the graphics of Age of Empires III have an amazing amount of detail, and we wanted to make sure combat met that high bar. We have musketeers who fire in volley formation. We have tall ships that punch holes in each other's sails. We have cannon shots that can literally throw infantry off the ground, and perhaps off a cliff, and down into the water. When buildings are destroyed, we model the physics of the falling pieces. This gives all the building destructions an unpredictable nature unlike the canned animations common to older RTS games. Don't be surprised if a collapsing tower squashes the villager working in the nearby fields.