Italy: The Two Leader Solution

[luigilime]

I think the Piazza unique district could provide both wealth and culture. The question is, should it replace the theater square or the commercial hub?

Since Italy should be more of a culture focused civ i think that it should replace the commercial hub so it has two districts per city that provides culture

 

[Metecury]

Renaissance Italy surely is famous for banking/trading and for the patronage of the arts and the many architectural beauties but what about a military twist to the civ? There have been plenty of "Italian wars" and plenty of innovations in miltiary affairs came out of Italy at the time, some ability based around mercenaries and medieval/renaissance war would make sense as well.

A unique fort improvement with ZOC and a weak one tile ranged attack (with the due limitations in positioning to avoid making it broken) would be a nice reference to the military revolution of the early modern period and the innovation of Italian forts. A unique unit based around mercenaries would not be bad either, perhaps the Italian fort could replace the encampment and reduce maintenance for units or make them cheaper to buy? Would work nicely as a combo with bonuses from a unique commercial district/building.

 

[luigilime]

Renaissance Italy surely is famous for banking/trading and for the patronage of the arts and the many architectural beauties but what about a military twist to the civ? There have been plenty of "Italian wars" and plenty of innovations in miltiary affairs came out of Italy at the time, some ability based around mercenaries and medieval/renaissance war would make sense as well.

A unique fort improvement with ZOC and a weak one tile ranged attack (with the due limitations in positioning to avoid making it broken) would be a nice reference to the military revolution of the early modern period and the innovation of Italian forts. A unique unit based around mercenaries would not be bad either, perhaps the Italian fort could replace the encampment and reduce maintenance for units or make them cheaper to buy? Would work nicely as a combo with bonuses from a unique commercial district/building.

Though it could definitely be very interesting, it wouldn't be that iconic anymore.
After WW2 the world thinks that Italy is one of the worst belligerent countries on the planet so a lot of people would doubt that this was a good idea.
Don't get me wrong I'd love an awesome warring Italy but it doesn't represent it anymore

 

[Metecury]

Though it could definitely be very interesting, it wouldn't be that iconic anymore.
After WW2 the world thinks that Italy is one of the worst belligerent countries on the planet so a lot of people would doubt that this was a good idea.
Don't get me wrong I'd love an awesome warring Italy but it doesn't represent it anymore

Today's Egypt is not exactly a wonder building nation either, though I concede that the vast majority only thinks about Italy in terms of its recent history I would argue that anyone who knows his history would be fine with an ability that reflects military innovations of the period. That said, perhaps it would be better as a leader ability rather than a civ ability, taking a warlike renaissance leader would justify it and keeping the civ ability about great people and money making would make the civ still recognizable to the majority.

Francesco Sforza could be a candidate ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_I_Sforza ) or even Cesare Borgia who surely fits the big personality theme and is already recognizable to many as he figured in assassin's creed.

 

[luigilime]

Remember that pope Alexander VI Borgia was a Spanish pope leading italy. It's like having Catherine de Médici leading France...oops! Then it's totally fine.