Well, hell, it appears that Brad's since decided to go on the record about MoM2, and Atari's bungling. That being the case: yes, that's exactly what I was referring to. And the game Stardock's currently working on is the fantasy-based strategy title that is effectively their answer to MoM.
I should mention that Brad also doesn't intend to allow players to choose how many "books" of an individual spell school they want to max in at the start of the game. The books, he says, will be found while playing. But he again admits this is up for grabs, and if players in the open betatest want something else, he'll give way.
A bit of trivia: when Brad's wife was in labor with their first kid, he was so engrossed playing a game in the waiting room that he never came in to take part in the birthing. Pure (if benevolent) geek, that man. I'm surprised his wife let him back in her bed.
