Quote Originally Posted by Swoosh So
My best guess is a new engine perhaps with naval combat included, after all mike simpson the Studio Director of CA UK said WHEN we impliment naval combat not IF we impliment naval combat we want to get it right in an interview when rome came out.

Still its all guesswork, guess ill have to try to bite my tongue abit and just wait and find out.

We also know from these interviews that they said -

In what ways are new technologies such as multiple core processors and advanced graphics and physics cards going to effect the strategy title?

It's certainly going to be interesting to see how these new technologies impact on the games we play. Obviously in terms of graphics, PC Gaming has always been advancing rapidly so this is nothing new. DirectX 10 on Vista offers a major advance for us, removing some of the big limitations on the graphics engine and opening the door towards more detailed men and environments. The role that multiple core processors can play, in areas such as AI for example, is definitely intriguing. Ultimately they'll also make it possible for troops on the battlefield to behave much more realistically, although the technology will take time to mature. Physics on hardware presents some interesting opportunities - it will definitely make the explosions look better, but going beyond that and having it affect gameplay probably isn't going to happen until the cards become common.

Can you tell us five things we should look out for in strategy games of the near future?

Away from what we're creating here at Creative Assembly I think there are some general trends we'll see in the future for the strategy game. Inevitably we'll see the effects of improved graphics technology. The advent of multi-core processors will also allow strategy games to create deeper and more complex AI routines that will create a greater challenge for the player. Away from technology, I think we'll continue to see strategy games making more of online, not only with regards to getting gamers playing online but also in terms of making more content available via digital download. Finally I think we'll see more strategy developers attempt to blend their games with other genres - not only by combing real-time and turn-based strategy genres, but also other genres such as the FPS and third-person action.

So many things this news could be about from advanced ai to more realistic fighting of the men perhaps even some ingame moviecam, and if were really lucky a game designed to take full advantage of the possibilities of multiplayer ;)
Ah well at least i was on the right track :D