Found Portrait of Kaiser Wilhelm II in the Art/LeaderHeads folder

[DoodlesTheDragon]

For some reason it's called 'hitler_nomark'. What's the purpose of this? Was Wilhelm a planned leader for Germany? Or was he meant to replace Hitler for whatever reason?

Oh and if anyone knows, I was wondering how I can find all the potential flags you can get as each country. Figured they'd all be in a folder somewhere in the mod.

*Sidenote, it's a very cool portrait of the Kaiser. I don't think I've ever seen it before.

 

[Walter Hawkwood]

I had a plan to have a German-laws friendly patch that removed all swastikas from WW2 German units in RI and replaced Hitler with Wilhelm II as a leader (with the same traits, AI and all, no gameplay change). But I was informed that Germany revised the laws for using nazis in entertainment, so I never finished it. This is one of the remnants of said patch.

The flags are all in Art/Interface/Teamcolor (note when browsing that a square texture is applied to a 2:3 flag in-game).

 

[DoodlesTheDragon]

I took way too long to respond here, but I want to say that I think that's thoughtful of you that you attempted that.

If Wilhelm II was to be a leader in the game, what traits do you think he'd have? I'd think Imperialistic(Agressive Weltpolitik), Expansionist(Non-Aggressive Weltpolitik), or Seafarer(Love of the navy, Anglo-German Naval Buildup and Rivalry) would be fitting traits. A negative one? I'd probably choose Poor Commander.

Before the war, he asked Chief of the General Staff Moltke The Younger if they could avoid invading Belgium in the event of a general European War. Moltke, having already spent a great deal of effort on the current German plan couldn't be bothered, and said that was impossible, and Wilhelm didn't question him any further because he felt it best not to question men who had spent their lives studying the art of war*. Basically, he knew he wasn't a good military leader, and nothing that happened in his life proved the contrary. If there was a trait related to leaders who were... controversial speakers, that gave -1 Happiness per city("The things you say are outrageous!"), that would fit him best.

*This comes from the book "The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914" by Margaret MacMillan. I don't have the book with me nor do I remember the page number, but I could try to find it sometime if you're curious.

 

[Walter Hawkwood]

I guess, but Germany has three similarly-traited leaders already, and Imperialist leaders are oversupplied anyway. I would usually add a new leader if they showcase a different facet of the civ in question. Being too similar to leaders already in the mod is why many rather well-known leaders didn't make the cut - people like Ivan the Terrible for Russia, or Boudica for Celts, or actually Friedrich Barbarossa for Germany. Basically, if I wanted to add a new leader for Germany, I'd go in a direction yet unexplored by said civ - some fun ideas would be Ludwig II of Bavaria or John I of Saxony.

 

[DoodlesTheDragon]

That definitely all makes sense, although I would venture Wilhelm II, as discussed above, does fit the criteria you've specified for a new German leader.

Let's go with Expansionist, Seafarer, Poor Commander Wilhelm II as an example.

There are no other German leaders with even 1 of these traits.

Among other leaders in the game, the only similar ones are(with 1 divergent trait):
Genseric(Barbaric)
Moctezuma II(Administrator)
Christian IV(Industrious)
James IV(Humanist)

That being said, Bismarck is already there as someone from the Kaiserreich Era, and he has a trait which weakens his military(Schemer).

You've sparked my interest: What traits would you give Ludwig II and John I of Saxony?

 

[Walter Hawkwood]

Ludwig I would probably go with Agrarian/Creative/Excessive, with a strong dislike for war and strong preference for building cultural stuff. John I the Steadfast would get Spiritual/Protective/Anti-Clerical, with a strong tendency for turtle tactics. Both would invite a rather different gameplay style from the current leaders.

 

[DoodlesTheDragon]

Does Frederick II Hohenstaufen fit Ludwig I's cultural aims already? He's Humanist/Creative/Anti-Clerical, so he's got a cultural/Spam-Golden-Ages focus, and since his weakness is about happiness when he's already gonna be focusing strongly on culture anyways, he's not really hindered for it. I think. I'm very inexperienced with this game. (Edit: I think the "strong dislike for war" would be the main difference between the two)

As for John I, he seems like a good unique pick. Is the purpose of turtling to try and survive to a science victory?

 

[Walter Hawkwood]

Does Frederick II Hohenstaufen fit Ludwig I's cultural aims already? He's Humanist/Creative/Anti-Clerical, so he's got a cultural/Spam-Golden-Ages focus, and since his weakness is about happiness when he's already gonna be focusing strongly on culture anyways, he's not really hindered for it. I think. I'm very inexperienced with this game. (Edit: I think the "strong dislike for war" would be the main difference between the two)

Agrarian leaders are always in short supply. Ludwig would probably facilitate a more tall-play focused and builder-oriented playstyle.

As for John I, he seems like a good unique pick. Is the purpose of turtling to try and survive to a science victory?

Probably, or simply to grab land and outbuild your neighbours. Anyway, this was just to illustrate my thought process on adding new leaders. A leader is much more than just a portrait with traits - they have lots of AI variables thrown in to modify their behaviour when played by AI, so one should always think about new leaders both from player and AI viewpoints.

 

[Mr-Goriyaki]

I guess, but Germany has three similarly-traited leaders already, and Imperialist leaders are oversupplied anyway. I would usually add a new leader if they showcase a different facet of the civ in question. Being too similar to leaders already in the mod is why many rather well-known leaders didn't make the cut - people like Ivan the Terrible for Russia, or Boudica for Celts, or actually Friedrich Barbarossa for Germany. Basically, if I wanted to add a new leader for Germany, I'd go in a direction yet unexplored by said civ - some fun ideas would be Ludwig II of Bavaria or John I of Saxony.

Maybe should do a similar thing with China and South China, and India and Dravidian situation. By dividing it into North Germany (Prussia, Saxony, Hanseatic League) and South Germany (Bavaria, Austria, Switzerland).

 

[Walter Hawkwood]

Well, the Austrian civ is already in as derivative, but generally speaking, I feel this would be too much - Europe is already very granular compared to the rest of the world. Anyway, it's a moot point as I won't be adding any new leaders or civs anymore.