Thanks KingRoy, I finally got around to reading this dev diary and find myself increasingly drawn into RoL despite my strong preference for historical games.
One of the reasons the original Rise of Nations grabbed my attention was BHG's openness with their design process. That made following the progress of the game much more accessible and interesting.
As much as I still look forward to an eventual historically-themed RoN II, revelations about RoL's development encourage me that the experience and tools BHG will gain with their current project will make that future RoN II - if it materializes - all the better.