Hello everyone!
I've never been a friend of creating vast amounts of new leaderheads for the unmodded Civ, simply because it made the game rather more crowded than interesting. Now, RFC is different in that matter, because Rhye had the ingenious idea to let each civ's leaders change as the game processes. I've always found it very satisfying to negotiate with Qin Shi Huang, Ming Tai Zu and Mao Zedong in their respective eras during the game.
The problem is, RFC at the moment only relies on the Firaxis-made leaders already in the game. While we are still able to cover different periods roughly for certain civs (China and America are well covered, I think), most others lack appropriate leaders for some eras.
So what I propose is: let's give every civ a leader that's roughly appropriate for each of the game's eras (ancient, classical, medieval, renaissance, industrial, modern). So we get a more realistic feeling of real-world history (that RFC is trying to model more closely than vanilla BTS) and can even use the different leader personalities to simulate changes in some civs' behaviour over time (e.g. adding Meiji stops Japan from being isolationist the whole game). So no Renaissance leaders all over Europe in the 8th and 9th century, and also no Queen Isabella in the 20th
Where to get all those new leaders from? Well, we have very creative and talented fan artists in this forum who have produced many 3D leaders that are useful for us. I know Rhye said somewhere we wants the leaders to match Firaxis' high standard of quality, but after some research I've enough which are even that good. And after all, our new Alexander has already established a precedent
So which leaders should be added to the game?
I looked through the dedicated forum trying to find appropriate leaders, following those criteria:
- covers an era not already covered by a Firaxis leaderhead
- isn't easily distinguishable from Firaxis' leaders in quality
- stands most prominently for his/her civ's achievement or was reigning during its heights of power
- "legendary", i.e. not historically verified rulers are possible in early eras
- if the historical person depicted didn't really rule, but represented his/her civ's situation in that era in prominent way, he/she is allowed
- if in doubt, a female leader is chosen ... there are already enough men in history
Going by that, I've created the following list based (mostly) on leaderheads already very well done:
Egypt
Ancient Era: Ramesses II (by Firaxis). Represents the Egyptian Old Kingdom.
Classical Era: Cleopatra (either use Firaxis' Hatshepsut or use the one here). Represents Ptolemy Egypt.
No leaders necessary for later eras because Egypt is supposed to collapse until then.
China
Ancient Era: Yu the Great (found here). Legendary Emperor of the early Chinese people.
Classical Era: Qin Shi Huang (by Firaxis). First Emperor to unite China.
Medieval Era: Tang Taizong (by Firaxis, made for the Chinese release, found here). Represents the Tang dynasty who ruled during the European Early Middle Ages.
Renaissance Era: Ming Tai Zu (using Firaxis' Wang Kon). Representing the Ming dynasty, ruling 14th-17th century.
Industrial Era: Cixi (found here). Maybe a bad choice to represent the Manchu/Qing dynasty (1644-1912), since she was in fact only a powerful ex-concubine, but the only leader available for that period.
Modern Era: Mao Zedong (by Firaxis). Representing modern communist China.
Babylonia
Ancient Era: Sargon of Akkad (using Firaxis' Gilgamesh). I think Sargon fits better than the mythological Gilgamesh, since he conquered the first empire in history, on which the later Babylonian one was built upon.
Classical Era: Hammurabi (by Firaxis). The well-known Babylonian Empire at its heights.
No need for later eras.
India
Ancient/Classical Era: Ashoka (by Firaxis). First emperor to rule the whole Indian subcontinent.
Medieval/Renaissance Era: Akbar (found here). Representing the Mughal Empire in India (1526-1707).
Industrial/Modern Era: Gandhi (by Firaxis). Representing modern, democratic India.
Greece
Ancient Era: Pericles (by Firaxis). Represents classical city-state Greece.
Classical Era: Alexander (the one we already have). Represents Macedonian, imperialist Greece.
Industrial/Modern Era: George I (found here). A possibility for a respawned modern Greece.
Persia
Ancient Era: Kyros II (by Firaxis). Represents expansionist Achaemenid Persia.
Ancient Era: Dareios I (by Firaxis). Represents reformist Achemenid Persia (dividing those to is a bit of a stretch since they were direct successors in history).
Classical Era: Shapur I (using the Sennacherib of Assyria leaderhead found here). Representing Sassanid Persia (224-651).
Modern Era: Khomeini (found here). A possibility for a respawned modern Persia (Iran).
Carthage
Ancient Era: Dido (found here). Maybe too ahistorical (we could rename her Elishat for a little bit more accuracy), but could represent Carthage's early, Phoenician-oriented era.
Classical Era: Hannibal (by Firaxis). Well, we all know what he did
Rome
Ancient Era: Julius Cesar (by Firaxis). Not the best one to represent the Roman Republic, but someone has to
Classical Era: Augustus Cesar (by Firaxis). The Roman Empire.
Medieval Era: Justinian I (by Firaxis). Representing the Roman heritage carried on in Byzantium.
Japan
Ancient Era: Jimmu (found here). Legendary first emperor of Japan (around 7th century BC).
Classical Era: Jingu (found here). She's not that representive, but from classical Japan and very well done.
Medieval/Renaissance Era: Tokugawa (by Firaxis). The isolationist phase of ruling Daimyos. We could rename him Hideyoshi, who was more significant in my eyes.
Industrial Era: Meiji (found here). The founder of modern Japan, opened it to constitution and industrialization. Japan's expansionist phase.
Ethiopia
Acient/Classical/Medieval Era: Zara Yaqob (by Firaxis). Most famous Emperor of medieval Ethiopia.
Renaissance/Industrial/Modern Era: Menelik II (found here). Modernizer of Ethiopia during the late 19th century.
Maya
Ancient/Classical Era: Pacal II (by Firaxis).
Classical/Medieval Era: Lady Xoc (using Atotztli, who is found here).
Vikings
Early Medieval Era: Ragnar (by Firaxis). In parts also a legendary leader. Represents the traditional viking pirate era.
Medieval Era: Harald Hardrada (found here). Represents the age of Viking kingdoms.
Renaissance Era: Gustav Vasa (found here). Founder of Sweden, which I think is represented by the Vikings after the Middle Ages.
Arabia
Early Medieval Era: Abu Bakr (found here). The first caliph, representing the era of Arabian expansion.
Medieval Era: Saladin (by Firaxis). Representing the medieval Arabian world during the crusades, dominated by the Fatimid dynasty.
Modern Era: Ibn Saud (part of the PetroMod found here). A possibility for a respawned modern Arabia.
Khmer
Medieval Era: Suryavarman (by Firaxis). The early Khmer culture.
Industrial Era: Mongkut (found here). The most prominent King of Siam, which dominated Indochina in the 19th century.
Spain
Early Medieval Era: El Cid (found here). Not actually a Spanish ruler, but he represents the era of spanish-moorish conflict very well.
Late Medieval Era: Isabella (by Firaxis). Queen of united Spain.
Renaissance Era: Philipp II (found here). The Spanish colonial empire.
France
Early Medieval Era: Charlemagne (by Firaxis). The most powerful Frankish king.
Late Medieval Era: Joan of Arc (found here). Just like El Cid, she represents the Hundred Years War era, although she's never been an actual ruler.
Renaissance Era: Louis XIV (by Firaxis). The Kingdom of France at its heights.
Industrial Era: Napoleon (by Firaxis). The First French Republic at its heights.
Modern Era: De Gaulle (by Firaxis). The modern French Republic.
England
Early Medieval Era: Harold Godwinson (found here). Represents Anglo-Saxon England.
Late Medieval Era: Surprisingly the most difficult choice. Someone needs to be here to represent Norman medieval England, William the Conqueror or Richard the Lionheart seem to be the most prominent possibilities. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find appropriate leaderheads for them ...
Renaissance Era: Elizabeth I (by Firaxis). The Elizabethan golden age is self-explainatory.
Industrial Era: Victoria I (by Firaxis). The British colonial empire at its heights.
Modern Era: Churchill (by Firaxis). The modern United Kingdom.
Germany
Early Medieval Era: Otto I. (using Firaxis' Charlemagne). The early medieval Holy Roman Empire.
Late Medieval Era: Frederick Barbarossa (using the "King Arthur" found here). The late medieval Holy Roman Empire.
Renaissance Era: Karl V. (found here). The Holy Roman Empire under Habsburg rule.
Industrial Era: Frederick the Great (by Firaxis). The Kingdom of Prussia.
Modern Era: Bismarck (by Firaxis). The German Empire (second Reich).
Russia
Medieval Era: Alexander Nevskiy (found here). Most famous ruler of Novgorod, one of Russia's predecessors.
Renaissance Era: Peter I (by Firaxis). Tzarist Russia.
Industrial Era: Catherine (by Firaxis). A bit of a stretch that's already present in RFC, since Catherine was Peter's wife and ruled as his widow.
Modern Era: Stalin (by Firaxis). Communist Russia.
Netherlands
Late Medieval Era: Willem van Oranje (by Firaxis). First ruler of independent Netherlands.
Renaissance Era: Johan de Witt (found here). Represents the era of Netherlands' control over banking and trade.
Industrial/Modern Era: Wilhelmina (using the Maria Theresia found here). The Modern Netherlands.
Mali
Due to a lack of Malinese leaders, we still only have Mansa Musa.
Portugal
Medieval Era: Henrique the Navigator (found here). The continental oriented Kingdom of Portugal.
Renaissance Era: Joao II (by Firaxis). The Portuguese colonial empire.
Inca
Huayna Capac (by Firaxis).
Mongols
Medieval Era: Genghis Khan (by Firaxis). The Mongolian expansion.
Renaissance Era: Kublai Khan (by Firaxis). Mongolian assimilation of Chinese culture.
Aztecs
Montezuma (by Firaxis).
Turkey
Medieval Era: Mehmed II (by Firaxis). The Ottoman wars against Byzantium.
Renaissance Era: Suleiman I (by Firaxis). The Ottoman Empire at its heights.
Industrial/Modern Era: Kemal Ataturk (found here). The Turkish Republic.
America
Early Industrial Era: Washington (by Firaxis). The early USA of the Thirteen Colonies.
Late Industrial Era: Lincoln (by Firaxis). The USA during the Civil War.
Modern Era: Roosevelt (by Firaxis). The modern USA as a superpower.
I know the list is long, and some of my suggestions are arguable, but that's the sense of this thread. Discuss!
I've never been a friend of creating vast amounts of new leaderheads for the unmodded Civ, simply because it made the game rather more crowded than interesting. Now, RFC is different in that matter, because Rhye had the ingenious idea to let each civ's leaders change as the game processes. I've always found it very satisfying to negotiate with Qin Shi Huang, Ming Tai Zu and Mao Zedong in their respective eras during the game.
The problem is, RFC at the moment only relies on the Firaxis-made leaders already in the game. While we are still able to cover different periods roughly for certain civs (China and America are well covered, I think), most others lack appropriate leaders for some eras.
So what I propose is: let's give every civ a leader that's roughly appropriate for each of the game's eras (ancient, classical, medieval, renaissance, industrial, modern). So we get a more realistic feeling of real-world history (that RFC is trying to model more closely than vanilla BTS) and can even use the different leader personalities to simulate changes in some civs' behaviour over time (e.g. adding Meiji stops Japan from being isolationist the whole game). So no Renaissance leaders all over Europe in the 8th and 9th century, and also no Queen Isabella in the 20th
Where to get all those new leaders from? Well, we have very creative and talented fan artists in this forum who have produced many 3D leaders that are useful for us. I know Rhye said somewhere we wants the leaders to match Firaxis' high standard of quality, but after some research I've enough which are even that good. And after all, our new Alexander has already established a precedent
So which leaders should be added to the game?
I looked through the dedicated forum trying to find appropriate leaders, following those criteria:
- covers an era not already covered by a Firaxis leaderhead
- isn't easily distinguishable from Firaxis' leaders in quality
- stands most prominently for his/her civ's achievement or was reigning during its heights of power
- "legendary", i.e. not historically verified rulers are possible in early eras
- if the historical person depicted didn't really rule, but represented his/her civ's situation in that era in prominent way, he/she is allowed
- if in doubt, a female leader is chosen ... there are already enough men in history
Going by that, I've created the following list based (mostly) on leaderheads already very well done:
Egypt
Ancient Era: Ramesses II (by Firaxis). Represents the Egyptian Old Kingdom.
Classical Era: Cleopatra (either use Firaxis' Hatshepsut or use the one here). Represents Ptolemy Egypt.
No leaders necessary for later eras because Egypt is supposed to collapse until then.
China
Ancient Era: Yu the Great (found here). Legendary Emperor of the early Chinese people.
Classical Era: Qin Shi Huang (by Firaxis). First Emperor to unite China.
Medieval Era: Tang Taizong (by Firaxis, made for the Chinese release, found here). Represents the Tang dynasty who ruled during the European Early Middle Ages.
Renaissance Era: Ming Tai Zu (using Firaxis' Wang Kon). Representing the Ming dynasty, ruling 14th-17th century.
Industrial Era: Cixi (found here). Maybe a bad choice to represent the Manchu/Qing dynasty (1644-1912), since she was in fact only a powerful ex-concubine, but the only leader available for that period.
Modern Era: Mao Zedong (by Firaxis). Representing modern communist China.
Babylonia
Ancient Era: Sargon of Akkad (using Firaxis' Gilgamesh). I think Sargon fits better than the mythological Gilgamesh, since he conquered the first empire in history, on which the later Babylonian one was built upon.
Classical Era: Hammurabi (by Firaxis). The well-known Babylonian Empire at its heights.
No need for later eras.
India
Ancient/Classical Era: Ashoka (by Firaxis). First emperor to rule the whole Indian subcontinent.
Medieval/Renaissance Era: Akbar (found here). Representing the Mughal Empire in India (1526-1707).
Industrial/Modern Era: Gandhi (by Firaxis). Representing modern, democratic India.
Greece
Ancient Era: Pericles (by Firaxis). Represents classical city-state Greece.
Classical Era: Alexander (the one we already have). Represents Macedonian, imperialist Greece.
Industrial/Modern Era: George I (found here). A possibility for a respawned modern Greece.
Persia
Ancient Era: Kyros II (by Firaxis). Represents expansionist Achaemenid Persia.
Ancient Era: Dareios I (by Firaxis). Represents reformist Achemenid Persia (dividing those to is a bit of a stretch since they were direct successors in history).
Classical Era: Shapur I (using the Sennacherib of Assyria leaderhead found here). Representing Sassanid Persia (224-651).
Modern Era: Khomeini (found here). A possibility for a respawned modern Persia (Iran).
Carthage
Ancient Era: Dido (found here). Maybe too ahistorical (we could rename her Elishat for a little bit more accuracy), but could represent Carthage's early, Phoenician-oriented era.
Classical Era: Hannibal (by Firaxis). Well, we all know what he did
Rome
Ancient Era: Julius Cesar (by Firaxis). Not the best one to represent the Roman Republic, but someone has to
Classical Era: Augustus Cesar (by Firaxis). The Roman Empire.
Medieval Era: Justinian I (by Firaxis). Representing the Roman heritage carried on in Byzantium.
Japan
Ancient Era: Jimmu (found here). Legendary first emperor of Japan (around 7th century BC).
Classical Era: Jingu (found here). She's not that representive, but from classical Japan and very well done.
Medieval/Renaissance Era: Tokugawa (by Firaxis). The isolationist phase of ruling Daimyos. We could rename him Hideyoshi, who was more significant in my eyes.
Industrial Era: Meiji (found here). The founder of modern Japan, opened it to constitution and industrialization. Japan's expansionist phase.
Ethiopia
Acient/Classical/Medieval Era: Zara Yaqob (by Firaxis). Most famous Emperor of medieval Ethiopia.
Renaissance/Industrial/Modern Era: Menelik II (found here). Modernizer of Ethiopia during the late 19th century.
Maya
Ancient/Classical Era: Pacal II (by Firaxis).
Classical/Medieval Era: Lady Xoc (using Atotztli, who is found here).
Vikings
Early Medieval Era: Ragnar (by Firaxis). In parts also a legendary leader. Represents the traditional viking pirate era.
Medieval Era: Harald Hardrada (found here). Represents the age of Viking kingdoms.
Renaissance Era: Gustav Vasa (found here). Founder of Sweden, which I think is represented by the Vikings after the Middle Ages.
Arabia
Early Medieval Era: Abu Bakr (found here). The first caliph, representing the era of Arabian expansion.
Medieval Era: Saladin (by Firaxis). Representing the medieval Arabian world during the crusades, dominated by the Fatimid dynasty.
Modern Era: Ibn Saud (part of the PetroMod found here). A possibility for a respawned modern Arabia.
Khmer
Medieval Era: Suryavarman (by Firaxis). The early Khmer culture.
Industrial Era: Mongkut (found here). The most prominent King of Siam, which dominated Indochina in the 19th century.
Spain
Early Medieval Era: El Cid (found here). Not actually a Spanish ruler, but he represents the era of spanish-moorish conflict very well.
Late Medieval Era: Isabella (by Firaxis). Queen of united Spain.
Renaissance Era: Philipp II (found here). The Spanish colonial empire.
France
Early Medieval Era: Charlemagne (by Firaxis). The most powerful Frankish king.
Late Medieval Era: Joan of Arc (found here). Just like El Cid, she represents the Hundred Years War era, although she's never been an actual ruler.
Renaissance Era: Louis XIV (by Firaxis). The Kingdom of France at its heights.
Industrial Era: Napoleon (by Firaxis). The First French Republic at its heights.
Modern Era: De Gaulle (by Firaxis). The modern French Republic.
England
Early Medieval Era: Harold Godwinson (found here). Represents Anglo-Saxon England.
Late Medieval Era: Surprisingly the most difficult choice. Someone needs to be here to represent Norman medieval England, William the Conqueror or Richard the Lionheart seem to be the most prominent possibilities. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find appropriate leaderheads for them ...
Renaissance Era: Elizabeth I (by Firaxis). The Elizabethan golden age is self-explainatory.
Industrial Era: Victoria I (by Firaxis). The British colonial empire at its heights.
Modern Era: Churchill (by Firaxis). The modern United Kingdom.
Germany
Early Medieval Era: Otto I. (using Firaxis' Charlemagne). The early medieval Holy Roman Empire.
Late Medieval Era: Frederick Barbarossa (using the "King Arthur" found here). The late medieval Holy Roman Empire.
Renaissance Era: Karl V. (found here). The Holy Roman Empire under Habsburg rule.
Industrial Era: Frederick the Great (by Firaxis). The Kingdom of Prussia.
Modern Era: Bismarck (by Firaxis). The German Empire (second Reich).
Russia
Medieval Era: Alexander Nevskiy (found here). Most famous ruler of Novgorod, one of Russia's predecessors.
Renaissance Era: Peter I (by Firaxis). Tzarist Russia.
Industrial Era: Catherine (by Firaxis). A bit of a stretch that's already present in RFC, since Catherine was Peter's wife and ruled as his widow.
Modern Era: Stalin (by Firaxis). Communist Russia.
Netherlands
Late Medieval Era: Willem van Oranje (by Firaxis). First ruler of independent Netherlands.
Renaissance Era: Johan de Witt (found here). Represents the era of Netherlands' control over banking and trade.
Industrial/Modern Era: Wilhelmina (using the Maria Theresia found here). The Modern Netherlands.
Mali
Due to a lack of Malinese leaders, we still only have Mansa Musa.
Portugal
Medieval Era: Henrique the Navigator (found here). The continental oriented Kingdom of Portugal.
Renaissance Era: Joao II (by Firaxis). The Portuguese colonial empire.
Inca
Huayna Capac (by Firaxis).
Mongols
Medieval Era: Genghis Khan (by Firaxis). The Mongolian expansion.
Renaissance Era: Kublai Khan (by Firaxis). Mongolian assimilation of Chinese culture.
Aztecs
Montezuma (by Firaxis).
Turkey
Medieval Era: Mehmed II (by Firaxis). The Ottoman wars against Byzantium.
Renaissance Era: Suleiman I (by Firaxis). The Ottoman Empire at its heights.
Industrial/Modern Era: Kemal Ataturk (found here). The Turkish Republic.
America
Early Industrial Era: Washington (by Firaxis). The early USA of the Thirteen Colonies.
Late Industrial Era: Lincoln (by Firaxis). The USA during the Civil War.
Modern Era: Roosevelt (by Firaxis). The modern USA as a superpower.
I know the list is long, and some of my suggestions are arguable, but that's the sense of this thread. Discuss!
