Who is this new leader?

[Melo-Franco]

OK, the architecture is DEFINITELY the Sintra Palace in Portugal:



Image made from these pictures:

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

So yeah... Portugal it is.

Trivia: the Sintra Palace was built by king consort Ferdinand, husband of Maria II *hint hint*

Wow... Just... wow!

 

[Fabiano79]

Good job Nunor.

Its Sintra Palace 100%. And probably we will get Maria, The Mad, as Portugal`s leader. Im surprised by this choice, but could be fun...

 

[Imalich]

OK, the architecture is DEFINITELY the Sintra Palace in Portugal:



Image made from these pictures:

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

So yeah... Portugal it is.

Trivia: the Sintra Palace was built by king consort Ferdinand, husband of Maria II *hint hint*

Nailed it, good job!
(And now i see how far i was from getting it right heh)

 

[Gucumatz]

That does indeed look damning.

Welcome to Civ Ferdinand!

 

[Arkangelus]

Yup at this point I'm doubling down on Maria II of Portugal. Excellent detective work! Carrack and... anything specific to their role in Africa? There's an Exploration tree now also for their role in that.

 

[wilbeard]

OK, the architecture is DEFINITELY the Sintra Palace in Portugal:



Details from these pictures:

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

So yeah... Portugal it is.

Trivia: the Sintra Palace was built by king consort Ferdinand, husband of Maria II *hint hint*

Fantastic find! Much kudos to you.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Good job Nunor.

Its Sintra Palace 100%. And probably we will get Maria, The Mad, as Portugal`s leader. Im surprised by this choice, but could be fun...

Maria II, not Maria the Mad, if I'm following these conversations correctly.

I'd say good job and that you've made a very persuasive case.

 

[spicytimothy]

nunor's research is the most credible yet imo. Looks like Portugal is in.

 

[JSMCAG]

OK, the architecture is DEFINITELY the Sintra Palace in Portugal:

*snip*
*snip*

Details from these pictures:

Spoiler :

*snip*

Spoiler :

*snip*

So yeah... Portugal it is.

Trivia: the Sintra Palace was built by king consort Ferdinand, husband of Maria II *hint hint*

That is certainly similar, so I'm not ruling out that that is, indeed, Portugal - it's the shadow that completely throws me off, though...
Also, really weird that they'd use Palacio de Sintra's style overlooking water (sea? river?) - Possibly a reference to Torre de Belém, but...
Unless there are others like that around the coast (with much less color), then this is a weird mix-match - but maybe i'm just being too perfectionist! Washington does have his globe with perfect modern day look!

In anycase, it's a really strong connection here - but that damn shadow!!!

 

[PhilBowles]

Yuck!
Nothing personal, but the British Empire AND England would be to much for me. I can't really stand it. Blame Elizabeth, whose charming voice is exceedingly and abundantly mellifluous (sarcasm). "We are plEEEased to meet you."

As an Englishman, I find the terrible fake English accent as grating as I imagine Japanese people find Shogun 2 accents.

 

[Matthew.]

Maria the Mad was Dona Maria I, not Dona Maria II (The Good Mother). Not only that, she was know as "the Mad" in Brazil, but in Portugal she was known as "the Pious".
None of the images for Dona Maria I could fit that shadow and, on top of that, Firaxis hinted that the DYNASTY was the one who fell in madness, not one sole person of it. I'd say it's a low chance it's her...

Cheers. Don't know much about Portugal, but keep hearing about some Maria gal and along with the caption of "dynasty marked by madness" or whatever.

Thanks for clarifying though, good to know.

 

[wilbeard]

That is certainly similar, so I'm not ruling out that that is, indeed, Portugal - it's the shadow that completely throws me off, though...
Also, really weird that they'd use Palacio de Sintra's style overlooking water (sea? river?) - Possibly a reference to Torre de Belém, but...

In anycase, it's a really strong connection here - but that damn shadow!!!

Have we considered that the blue might be the sky, with the "sandy" colour at the top being clouds? Considering the palace is on a hilltop, this must be a possibility.

 

[Ricardo_]

Definitely this is indeed the very similar to Sintra Palace. If the leader is Maria II we'll have 2 brothers as civ leaders, Dom Pedro II of Brazil and Dona Maria II of Portugal, both children of Dom Pedro I of Brazil/King Dom Pedro IV of Portugal.

 

[Arkangelus]

The leader screens haven't been 100% accurate though - I seem to recall nitpicks with Gustavus Adolphus's study and Maria Theresa at Neuchwanstein being off too, not to mention the initial RAGE over the statues in the Siamese garden. A combination from two very striking Portuguese locations isn't too much poetic licence.

This has been an absolute blast to put together. Narrowing it down to probably Portugal or Moors, then unearthing the staff, picking out the Braganzas, finding a base for the shadow and then finally getting the location nailed down as Portugal. Funny though that after so much sleuthing its looking like the two secrets are going to be pick #1 and #2 for obviously missing civs!

 

[pedrosfm]

We've had two queens called Maria: Maria I (reigned 1777-1816) and Maria II (reigned 1834-1853). The first one was the mad queen, so fervently religious it blinded her and her son, the future King João VI, was already taking the reigns of the kingdom long before she died. She would be a terrible leader to represent us in the game.

Now Maria II is another story. She was known as the Educator, because of her emphasis on education and culture and was very a esteemed leader. Someone also mentioned that she was queen of Portugal after Brazil was an independent kingdom which makes perfect sense with that civ inclusion in the game now. Furthermore, the similarity in the pictures of the Palácio de Sintra and the screenshot the devs provided is a dead giveaway. There's no water near it though, so it could also be the Torre de Belém.

If it is Portugal, and it now seems to be, it's a good thing they chose Maria II as the leader. She was a great one and it makes sense with the inclusion of Brazil in the game.

Edit: However, she didn't start a dynasty marked by madness. Not even the Braganza dynasty was marked by it, just one queen doesn't count for an entire dynasty. The devs had better explain that properly.

 

[nunor]

Thank you

Although, truth be told, Martinus was the first to suggest the Sintra Palace, right in the first page of this thread! Spot on!

 

[Fabiano79]

If it is Maria II, so we will have for the fisrt time on civ history brothers as leaders. Dom Pedro II is her young brother.

 

[Gucumatz]

Also, the building in the bottom left of the poster appears to be a Feitoria

Portugal looks pretty much confirmed

 

[Buccaneer]

Some of you guys have very weird imaginations or just wishful thinking. Regardless of the leader chosen (a sceptor? give me a break, a lot of leaders throughout history had one), the background architecture/landscapes have been consistent for all civs. The style of column is very clearly Mediterranean/Iberian.

 

[Melo-Franco]

Maybe it's not water, rather the land seen from high above?