Since the Cog was, in fact, a development of the earlier knorr 'round ship' and first appears before 1000 CE, it makes a near-perfect 'automatic upgrade' from earlier ships.
And the graphic for the Treasure Fleet is pretty obviously taken from the 'Flota Galleons' that composed the Spanish Treasure Fleets between the Caribbean and Spain, the New World and Manila.
Note that both the "Galleon"/Treasure Fleet and Fleet Commander all have multiple foresails, whereas the Carrack has only a single foresail. At first glance, that appears to be an unmistakable way to tell them apart, unless an 'Eastern Variant' has a different configuration entirely.
1. As warship however i'm not sure if roundships like that were used as such, with castellations added temporarily. Note that a cog shows here already has axial rudder, while Knorrs (including Norman Nefs), and Cogs begun with quarter rudders (steering oars, either single steering at the starboard side or dual steerings.) and about as high as any galley, it later evolved.
but lemme guess, the reasons cogs were used was because early Medieval Kingdoms were too broke to afford a real navy, instead they've gotta hire merchant ships. They all know that at that time, galleys were better warships. but these were too expensive to build and maintain (and oarsmen were a drain in treasury, one galley needs about 30-50 oarsmen at minimum, and these oarsmen were preferably hired labors), in the end anything that can be use as warship is used.
As per old rules, they were best being archers ship, New rules, not sure but cogs (or roundships in general) are slower than galleys under sails... aren't they?
'Cog' is used as a name. while the introductory ingame standard (European) appearance is very clear. emblem, however, is not.
^ I can't recall if a cog has two masts and latin sails from the beginning. Historically by 400 AD, galleys were still a primary warships. mmm cog replaces galley and polyremes when aging up?
It might be Mediterranean variants used by Crusaders. But no one in the Mediterranean used these as warships.
As much as modding community does historical research when doing a unit mod. FXis is surely collecting history books of all kinds.
But Eurocentrism is still prevalent there. Mediterranean uses of Dromons (everyone) is ignored)
^ This is what emblem comes from. a cog with Latin sails. and built with Caravel plankings rather than clinkers.
^ The other orgins of emblems. Crusaders Nef of King Richard I 'The Lionheart'. also latin sails (possibly sails switched when this ship entered Mediterranean, the hull should be clinker builts so to conform with English Shipbuilding Traditions of the 12th-13th Century).
^ Spanish Cocha and Ming Chinese Roundship meeting each other. mm IMAO Cog should be Tier 2. while Dromon should be Beginning of Exploration Age ships. Cogs didn't shine as warships until the First Crusades in 12th-13th Century.
2. Mugshot of a spanish (Better name is Castillian) fleet .
^ Caravela or Carrack if you will. The rigging is clearly Carrack to me. Firaxis tends to mislabel Carracks with Caravels. i'm not sure what will
@raen says if these ships are Caravelas or Naus. to me it better be Carracks.
The design however came about the same time as 'trebuchet' but IRL this one came about 14th Century. mmmm I'm not sure when did cogs get second and third mast before becoming a full carrack
^ Unit name confirmed. "Carrack". and Ming Empire ditched their traditional designs (including those of Zheng He) and instead adopted Portuguese Naus. So far only Japanese did.
3. Did triangular foresails exists as early as 15th-16th Century?
