Humankind - British Empire Thread

[Catoninetales_Amplitude]

According to what I've been told, the primary reference for this quarter is the Writers' Building.

As far as the capitalization is concerned, this is not some central department, but a local office. The name is capitalized because as an Emblematic Quarter its name is a Gameplay Term, and those are always capitalized.

 

[FinalDoomsday]

Have we seen the British City Centre in any screenshots so far?

 

[Narcisse]

@Catoninetales_Amplitude thanks, always nice to know these references

Have we seen the British City Centre in any screenshots so far?

Not spotted nop. Houses of Parliament (and Big Ben) seems to be a wonder. Maybe they will go with a Buckingham Palace lookalike ? Whitehall Palace is maybe too old and no enough references or an Admiralty house lookalike ?

 

[FinalDoomsday]

Buckingham palace design is a bit too iconic for a town centre you could potentially have multiple after all. How about something like Manchester Town Hall?

its a neo-gothic victorian building something like that would be nice it would also be neat to acknowledge something about Britain that isnt in London.

 

[Uberfrog]

Buckingham palace design is a bit too iconic for a town centre you could potentially have multiple after all. How about something like Manchester Town Hall?

its a neo-gothic victorian building something like that would be nice it would also be neat to acknowledge something about Britain that isnt in London.

I agree! Manchester as a city centre design also fits very nicely with an Industrial-era Britain, as the city is one of the cradles of the Industrial Revolution.

 

[Krajzen]

Huh. Expansionist. It fits, of course! British Empire was an incredible achievement of expansionism and administration, a small island which controlled 1/4 of the world.

England has also never felt right in civ, always getting either naval bonuses or some unfocused mediocrity. Now this is going to be a proper imperial beast.

Although I am slightly missing the chance to make them the Builder or Scientist (you know, the industrial revolution)... Also, no idea who will be merchant then. France may be the Builder (Eiffel Tower, Le Corbusier etc), Russia expansionist.

 

[Siptah]

@Krajzen Siamese might be merchants because of true or Iranians might be merchants because of clichée.

 

[Elhoim]

Although I am slightly missing the chance to make them the Builder or Scientist (you know, the industrial revolution)...

Many times the legacy trait expands the role of the culture, so being an expansionist doesn't rule out being good in some other areas.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

I knew that sooner or later in some 4x Historical Game we'd get a Kompletely Kipling British Civ . . . Tommy Atkins the Redcoat, a Colonial administration for Rudyard to work in as a clerk, and a globally expansionist civ so he could have subjects from the Dane Women to the Raj to Mandalay to write about. Wonder if the civ will have a bonus for Poetry?

 

[dart_nimus]

I have a question about art.

Is the sun fading?

 

[CivLuvah]

I have a question about art.

Is the sun fading?

Good question. Is it rising or setting? It does look like dusk to me.

 

[FinalDoomsday]

I'm pretty sure its meant to be sunset.

Also looking at it again its a pretty similar set up to the English culture card with two people in an indoor scene but its so much better. Looking at them side by side its quite stark how much more detail the British card is all the background details and lighting. The English card looks unfinished in comparison.

 

[CivLuvah]

I'm pretty sure its meant to be sunset.

Also looking at it again its a pretty similar set up to the English culture card with two people in an indoor scene but its so much better. Looking at them side by side its quite stark how much more detail the British card is all the background details and lighting. The English card looks unfinished in comparison.

There might be more detail on the British card, but part of me feels its artwork is a bit washed. The English card looks smoother.

 

[FinalDoomsday]

I see what you mean perhaps they've been done by different artists? The British one looks a bit like watercolour maybe? (I dont know I'm not an artist in the slightest) Either way its really nice. The English card would look splendid as an event artwork.

 

[Meluhhan]

Expansionist British for the industrial era. Quite fitting considering that they held the largest empire in the world, what with the sun not setting on it and all. Although, this being the Industrial era and Britain being the 'cradle' of industrialisation, it would be great to see some bonuses related to that. Maybe their unique ability/ legacy trait deals with it.

The Colonial Office model seems to be based on early British colonial architecture in India; most noticeably Writers' Building and Governement House (now Raj Bhavan) in Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta, the then capital of British India) and the Asiatic Society Town Hall, Mumbai (erstwhile Bombay).

Spoiler Images of the said buildings. :

The artwork of the culture card looks very apt too. The swords, shield and the armour on the wall in the background again look very Indian to me. A clever reference to British imperialism and the penchant to fill up British museums and mansions with artifacts acquired from the colonies by all possible means.

Spoiler Pictures of some Indian weapons similar to the ones depicted in the culture card. :

In fact, I'm glad to see such subtle references to India considering that it was regarded as the 'Jewel in the Crown' of the British Empire. From cotton and dyes from Indian peasants who were forcefully made to cultivate them to feed the newly industrialised British textile factories, to shipped off indentured Indian labourers slaving on British plantations in the Carribbean to large numbers of unsung Indian troops fighting in both the World Wars and in many other ways, extraction of resources, wealth and manpower from India and other colonies has contributed immensely to the prosperity of the British Empire, something which is often ignored while talking about its history.

Also, am I imagining things or do the sword and shield in the artwork double up as an Easter egg about the eponymously titled latest Pokémon games which are incidentally set in a region based on Britain? Are there any Pokémon fans at Amplitude @Catoninetales_Amplitude ?

 

[FinalDoomsday]

Also, am I imagining things or are the swords and shield in the artwork also a reference to the eponymously titled latest Pokémon games which are incidentally set in a region based on Britain? Are there any Pokémon fans at Amplitude?

Haha maybe but I saw a very similar display of swords and a shield in a stately home in England that once belonged to a Viceroy of India. I can only assume its a refernce to the British elites interest in 'exotic' items taken from India and other parts of the 'Orient' and its quite an excellent way to portray expansionism and empire in a culture card.

 

[Meluhhan]

The English card looks unfinished in comparison.

Not to snipe at the efforts that the artists at Amplitude have surely put into that card, but I feel like there is nothing uniquely English about it. When one thinks of medieval England, it conjures up images of Arthurian legends, Anglo-Saxon epics, Viking and Norman invasions, tales of valiant knights and traditions of chivalry, beautiful Gothic cathedrals and towers and castles, wool and cloth trade, longbowmen, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard the Lionheart and the tales of Robin Hood, the Magna Carta, the wars with France and Scotland, the War of Roses. So many things to make the card feel distinctly English and yet it refers to none of these. Just two men talking to each other in a medieval set-up. It could pass off as a generic card for any European culture. Contrasting this with the other wonderfully drawn medieval cards and now especially the British card, this lack of detail stands out more egregiously.

 

[FinalDoomsday]

Well put there are many things they could have drawn from. I feel bad bringing it up, I could not draw something even remotely as good! But it is because all the other artworks for the cultures look so excellent it just sticks out in comparison.