I read earlier in this thread speculation that CA is trying to appeal to the casual gamer to widen its audiance. Let me put it this way, There are people who like and play strategy games, and there are those that don't. Any attempt to make a strategy game appeal to people who don't usually play strategy games is delusional. You would have to change the game so much that it is no longer a strategy game. CA should consider the wants of their core audiance first. If they lose them, its all over.