I have never owned or played any other age of sail game, so I'll have nothing to compare SoG to, but from what has been revealled, SoG looks like a very easy yet detailed, fast moving game. I owned the original Axis and Allies "Victory in the Pacific" board game as a teen, and the rulebook alone was a discouragemant let alone the time it took to first set up the game, then to play it through.