Hola from Mexico. Although I’m doing some research and attending a conference down here this week, I never take a vacation from HOMMV. Other than being unable to play it.

Luckily, Ubi might have a present waiting for me when I return in the form of the 1.2 patch. Although many fine rebels died in leaking the patch notes from a secret underground German source, I will fearlessly link to the Celestial Heavens report on it. Of most interest to me are some nice UI improvements for combat and ¨two new maps¨ that will hopefully be large-scale asymmetrical mutli-player maps so we solo players can really get a feel for what the AI is (in?)capable of. What really made me happy though (is this really true??) was the option of a top-down camera! Yeah the graphics are real purdy, but when I really get into the game I much prefer the option to abstract the map and see the whole picture as I work out different strategies. I’ve long said that HOMMV should work like the map in Galactic Civilizations II which allows you to zoom from a close-up look at detailed 3D graphics all the way out to a conceptual 2D representation of the entire board. This is the perfect solution to keeping the game looking fresh while respecting the inherent value of its old 2D roots.