Europa Universalis IV: DLC Render Pictures Archive

[Grand Historian]

Even though the "style" is different, it is still relatively accurate.
The Daimyos that get the unique Samurai T1s were all fairly significant Clans from the Sengoku Jidai, so that is why they are special.

The rest, though they don't get Samurai, are still accurate by representing the Ashigaru, who were the peasant soldiers on the Japanese military.

Pretty positive on all of this, but @Grand Historian would be in a better position to answer

Ashigaru began to supplant the Samurai in nearly every Sengoku army - the Tier 1 model for all the non-unique clans also being a samurai, just of the kind that's not often shown in popular media (the average samurai in the sengoku period, in fact, preferred polearms to swords and usually couldn't afford a complete set of armor) - so it's a pretty accurate representation of the evolution of the armies. All the selections for the sprites were simply picked for the most important clans of the period that start off with land (hence why the Oda and Tokugawa don't have anything) - the only clans I'd say who should have gotten unique models were the Amago and Satake over the Hatakeyama and Shiba; the former becoming major regional powers as well (the Amago even came pretty close to marching into Kyoto) while the latter two really did nothing but have civil wars and loose land after the Onin War (with the one exception of the Noto-Hatakeyama, who flourished for a few decades under Yoshitsuna).

 

[Tarnholm]

I think it's more of a matter of prioritisation. There is a limited amount of models they can create for the cost they are willing to sell the DLC for. Thus they choose the tags they thought was most important for the period. In a perfect world all tags in the game would have custom models after all.

 

[Dakka]

In a perfect world all tags in the game would have custom models after all.

Goodness that would be amazing.

I really do wish the art team would pump out content packs regardless of a new Expansion or not. There are still quite a few nations to cover, and I know that plenty of people would appreciate more units.

 

[Grand Historian]

Goodness that would be amazing.

I really do wish the art team would pump out content packs regardless of a new Expansion or not. There are still quite a few nations to cover, and I know that plenty of people would appreciate more units.

I personally just wish the Byz models got reworked so they won't be using flying carpets in theoretical T5.

 

[17blue17]

Even though the "style" is different, it is still relatively accurate.
The Daimyos that get the unique Samurai T1s were all fairly significant Clans from the Sengoku Jidai, so that is why they are special.

The rest, though they don't get Samurai, are still accurate by representing the Ashigaru, who were the peasant soldiers on the Japanese military.

Pretty positive on all of this, but @Grand Historian would be in a better position to answer

Ok. It just looked strange.

Thank you.

 

[Dakka]

I personally just wish the Byz models got reworked so they won't be using flying carpets in theoretical T5.

Mods
Because if PDX won't do it, modders will

 

[Blobhemian]

I personally just wish the Byz models got reworked so they won't be using flying carpets in theoretical T5.

Am I the only one here who actually appreciates how Byz units look? When you play Byz, you mostly focus on restoring the empire, which means heavy expansion into Turkic and Arab Asia and Africa. I just can't imagine that 15th–18th century state would be capable or even willing to do culture conversion of such scale, forcing the ethnic majority to fully europeanise. It feels only logical that the ethnic composition would be reflected also in fashion. The models could use some retexturing though, the unit packs released during the launch are now visibly less detailed. The Mamluk cavalry is not even used unless you mod it back.

 

[Grand Historian]

Am I the only one here who actually appreciates how Byz units look? When you play Byz, you mostly focus on restoring the empire, which means heavy expansion into Turkic and Arab Asia and Africa.

And Balkans and Italy - and Italians had been the Empire's biggest allies in their final days.

I just can't imagine that 15th–18th century state would be capable or even willing to do culture conversion of such scale, forcing the ethnic majority to fully europeanise. It feels only logical that the ethnic composition would be reflected also in fashion.

By that logic the British Empire should've adopted Indian and African garbs.

 

[Moarice]

By that logic the British Empire should've adopted Indian and African garbs.

Well, it sort of did. In India only, and mostly with native troops, but still.

 

[Grand Historian]

Well, it sort of did. In India only, and mostly with native troops, but still.

Yes; with native troops. The Byzantines would have undoubtedly employed auxiliaries - including Armenians - but I don't see the Greek heartland of the Empire becoming Turkicisized the way it did historically if the Ottomans never conquered it or Constantinople for more than a few decades.

 

[Blobhemian]

By that logic the British Empire should've adopted Indian and African garbs.

The key difference here is that Anatolia, Levant and Egypt would become core parts of the country, not just its colonies. British possessions in India were based on indirect control through local rulers. The main focus was still trade, not the lands and its people. At the time when Britain began to expand into India, it didn't even have it's own standing army at home, so the idea of ethnic Indians dominating the British army in the early modern ages is rather amusing. If you look at the uniforms from the 18th century, they often reflected the ethnic bacground of their regiments, e. g. Hungarians, Cossacs or Scots had their own distinct styles, and those were still traditional Europeans in this sense. I doubt that an empire with already weak ties to the west would bother to force the use of western-style uniforms even in the 18th century somewhere in the middle east. You could argue that the Byzantines should be represented by the Greeks, who would probably not adopt fashion from the vanquished Ottomans, but I highly doubt they would either adopt western style if they regained enough self-esteem by defeating the Turks. But we are still talking about the Byzantine Empire, which simply had to be supranational, so you could also argue that in such state, the cultural majority can be representative as much as the capital area.

 

[Wagonlitz]

The key difference here is that Anatolia, Levant and Egypt would become core parts of the country, not just its colonies. British possessions in India were based on indirect control through local rulers. The main focus was still trade, not the lands and its people. At the time when Britain began to expand into India, it didn't even have it's own standing army at home, so the idea of ethnic Indians dominating the British army in the early modern ages is rather amusing. If you look at the uniforms from the 18th century, they often reflected the ethnic bacground of their regiments, e. g. Hungarians, Cossacs or Scots had their own distinct styles, and those were still traditional Europeans in this sense. I doubt that an empire with already weak ties to the west would bother to force the use of western-style uniforms even in the 18th century somewhere in the middle east. You could argue that the Byzantines should be represented by the Greeks, who would probably not adopt fashion from the vanquished Ottomans, but I highly doubt they would either adopt western style if they regained enough self-esteem by defeating the Turks. But we are still talking about the Byzantine Empire, which simply had to be supranational, so you could also argue that in such state, the cultural majority can be representative as much as the capital area.

You are aware that Anatolia used to be Greek pre the Turkish invasion? And that even in 1444 there still existed quite large Greek minorities along the coast of Anatolia? A Greek reconquest of Anatolia would in my opinion likely lead to Greek once again becoming the majority---at least at the coast.

 

[Blobhemian]

You are aware that Anatolia used to be Greek pre the Turkish invasion? And that even in 1444 there still existed quite large Greek minorities along the coast of Anatolia? A Greek reconquest of Anatolia would in my opinion likely lead to Greek once again becoming the majority---at least at the coast.

I'm actually quite well aware of the fact, they were the largest ethnic group there (I still don't know why Paradox had to remove that Greek culture). According to wiki, there were 4,5 million Greeks in 15th century. It's not a small number, but I'm afraid it would not be enough to become a considerable majority when expanding into the Balkans, Mashriq, Northern africa, Crimea and Caucasus. I'm trying to consider Byzantine Empire as Eastern Roman Empire, so I don't count Italy which mostly in the Western sphere.

 

[Wagonlitz]

I'm actually quite well aware of the fact, they were the largest ethnic group there (I still don't know why Paradox had to remove that Greek culture). According to wiki, there were 4,5 million Greeks in 15th century. It's not a small number, but I'm afraid it would not be enough to become a considerable majority when expanding into the Balkans, Mashriq, Northern africa, Crimea and Caucasus. I'm trying to consider Byzantine Empire as Eastern Roman Empire, so I don't count Italy which mostly in the Western sphere.

Would they really need to be the majority though? Anatolia being Greek should be enough of a base for Greeks to dominate once again. And the large cities around the empire should slowly turn Greek too.

 

[Grand Historian]

Actually, both of you are wrong; Timur had nearly destroyed the Greek population of Anatolia with his campaigns, and it didn't begin to recover until roughly a century or so into the Ottoman's rule. @Chamboozer can provide some direct sources on this.

That said, a theoretical Byzantium theoretically reconquering parts of Anatolia would have undoubtedly seen a resurgence of the Greek population along the coastline, and likely a drop in Turkish due to war and immigration away from the Empire.

 

[Reverend Belial]

Goodness that would be amazing.

I really do wish the art team would pump out content packs regardless of a new Expansion or not. There are still quite a few nations to cover, and I know that plenty of people would appreciate more units.

I know that I would buy all of them. I literally do not care what nations were covered in the packs, they would still be an auto-buy for me. I am totally incapable of playing nations without unique sprites (shared non-generics like what Manchu has counts), so the idea that the game will end with nations still using the generic models hurts me.

 

[Alyoshenka]

I know that I would buy all of them. I literally do not care what nations were covered in the packs, they would still be an auto-buy for me. I am totally incapable of playing nations without unique sprites (shared non-generics like what Manchu has counts), so the idea that the game will end with nations still using the generic models hurts me.

I agree. Malaya/Indonesia urgently needs some attention.

 

[Vityviktor]

I agree. Malaya/Indonesia urgently needs some attention.

Do you think any of the models we already have could fit well for a Malayan/Indonesian unit mod?

 

[Blobhemian]

Do you think any of the models we already have could fit well for a Malayan/Indonesian unit mod?

Buddhist UP, maybe some specific models from the Indian UP are most closely related, but that's far from ideal. You could probably pick four models that would somehow fit the region if you tried.

 

[Alyoshenka]

Buddhist UP, maybe some specific models from the Indian UP are most closely related, but that's far from ideal. You could probably pick four models that would somehow fit the region if you tried.

Yes, but even cities/ports/ships should use the Indian set, they're slightly closer to reality than the East Asian models, also used for Japan and China. For units, I suppose you can use Indian sets, but it's still far from ideal.

Edit: Balinese soldiers that could inspire Hindu Indonesian Content Packs:

More stuff from Civilization modders (looks quite decent):

Spoiler