I know, I know – it’s hard to keep track! Eurogamer.de has had a chance to sit down with Eric ‘Giz’ Gewirtz, who apparently has been a very busy man with all these interviews of late. Anyway, here are a few interesting excerpts from the article (translated from German)

Eurogamer: In the first screenshows we saw hundreds of soldiers. Are these AI characters or are they able to be controlled by human players as well?

Eric ‘Giz’ Gewirtz: Just like in Battlefront, the human players will share the battlefield with NPCs, and they will engage in battle together. This was the only way we could portray these epic battles. In multiplayer up to 16 human players can join the battle, while the Solo-campaign supports up to 4 players in co-op, splitscreen or you can play on your own. But even in the last case you will have both allied and enemy AI-controlled soldiers on the battlefield.

This statement seems to contradict earlier interviews, which mentioned only eight players for the multiplayer mode.

Eurogamer: There are only a few games which have good and thought-through melee combat. What is your approach to this in Conquest?

Eric ‘Giz’ Gewirtz: This was one of our first concerns. We knew we couldn’t just make a LotR shooter. We need to really make melee combat as believable as possible. Conquest is one of the first games that offers both possibilities. That’s why we’re trying to make the sword vs sword encounter just as exiting as the sword vs bow encounters.

Eurogamer: You mentioned horses: What ways of transportation and movement are you planning to offer? What about flying?

Eric ‘Giz’ Gewirtz:  There were some initial problems. We knew we wanted to offer vehicles. On one hand, ofcourse, there’s the siege equipement – rams, catapults and balista. And on the other hand are the animals which we also used in the fiilms. The flying units, like the Eagles and Fellbeast, are only summoned. (In the game) you mark a target, and a flying unit will swoop in and attack it. Players will also be able to fight with or against the Oliphaunts (Mumakil). These encounters are very impressive, and when using them as a mount, they are very hard to control!

Eurogamer: What about the fortresses? How does such a siege work? Can you destroy the entire fortress or only certain areas?

Eric ‘Giz’ Gewirtz:  We will for example see the battle for Helms Deep. Sauron’s forces assailed the walls and managed to get inside the fortress. In Conquest, there are different ways to get inside the keep. You can try and storm the gate with the ram, or use Saruman’s bomb to blow the wall. This makes for a fantastic dynamic. The attacker must try and break trough the enemy’s defences, while the defender needs to be at the right place to face the enemies attacks.

The original interview (in German) can be found here. Or, try to read it using Google translate.

Further reading:

• MEC launches ‘Lord of the Rings: Conquest’ coverage!
• More ‘Conquest’ press coverage
• Lord of the Rings: Conquest