Only 30 Civs in base game (+ Shawnee)

[moysturfurmer]

2. We also have reason to believe that every military unit will retain some red in it as an identifier that it is a military unit. Which might explain the red star.

Do we? I feel like I’ve seen a handful of units that don’t support this theory

 

[RedCourtJester]

Do we? I feel like I’ve seen a handful of units that don’t support this theory

At least all of these units have a hint of red, even in spots that we wouldn't expect to change with IP/civ colors like the Mediterranean guy or antiquity hoplite.

I'd be curious to see what exceptions, if any, do exist. I do know that it's quite subtle on the Shawnee UU:

 

[Wohlauf]

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At least all of these units have a hint of red, even in spots that we wouldn't expect to change with IP/civ colors like the Mediterranean guy or antiquity hoplite.

I'd be curious to see what exceptions, if any, do exist. I do know that it's quite subtle on the Shawnee UU:

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The first two examples can be explained by a leader with a red and blue color palette. Plenty of units can be seen with two tones, including orange and purple on Persian units in the recent Ashoka trailer.

As far as exceptions, you can find at least a dozen in the gameplay trailer alone. Adding red isn't necessary when military units easily identify themselves with thier icon and weapons.

 

[queenpea]

It isn't ridiculous, it's just indirect.
With the same logic you can justify Greece > Mongolia > Russia because of the Seleucid, Yavana and Bactria; as weel Han > Mongolia > Russia because of Manchuria. Again, probably Normandy > America will be a thing on launch, and that includes all the previous possible baggage (Rome and Greece, perhaps Goth latter), eventually in the future DLC's stuff like Kongo or Yoruba > America or Brazil will be historic valid options due demographics for example.

I think the ridiculousness is defined exactly by the extreme indirectness. I think we all want to be excited about the game and supportive of Firaxis. I'm going to buy the game anyway regardless of the condition it is in on launch. I'm completely in the bag. However, I don't feel the need to be unfailingly and unflinchingly positive about VII when there are valid criticisms to be made about the content we have been presented with so far.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

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At least all of these units have a hint of red, even in spots that we wouldn't expect to change with IP/civ colors like the Mediterranean guy or antiquity hoplite.

The problem of thinking of any shade of red as symbolic of some unit status is that it was also one of the most common colors for most of history and pre-history on ANYTHING: cloth, leather, structures, etc.

Madder was a neat-ubiquitous plant over most of Europe, and has produced a serviceable red dye for cloth since prehistoric times. Kermes produced a more expensive (and brighter) red later. Ochres and cinnabar produced various red shades for buildings (which is why the Perdido and other Mayan public buildings are, and were, Red - they used cinnabar, a readily-available volcanic product, to produce a red 'paint' for them).

So it would be virtually impossible to separate red used as a color simply because it was historically used - as in the tunics and helmet crests of the Roman and Spartan warriors, the red on the Spartan, Roman and other shields, the red trim on the 'Napoleonic' soldier in the Modern Age (Red was the universal color in Europe to distinguish Grenadiers from the 17th to the 19th century)

That makes it a really lousy distinction to use for anything else: you wind up with a combination of (historically) 'real' colors and artificial on 'unit' graphics, and artificially remove all reds from 'civilian' units.

And finally, why bother with a color distinction after using all that effort on distinctive Graphic images for units and individuals of all kinds, especially when you are also using color distinctions to show affiliation with specific Leaders? The same mechanic for two different purposes risks confusion, and given the Leader/Civ disconnects, confusion in the affiliation with the Leader and/or Civ is the last thing you want.

 

[RedCourtJester]

The first two examples can be explained by a leader with a red and blue color palette. Plenty of units can be seen with two tones, including orange and purple on Persian units in the recent Ashoka trailer.

As far as exceptions, you can find at least a dozen in the gameplay trailer alone. Adding red isn't necessary when military units easily identify themselves with thier icon and weapons.

Mediterranean guy does not have a leader with red and blue palette. It's an Independent Power unit, given the blue and white on the shield as opposed to blue and another color.

 

[moysturfurmer]

Mediterranean guy does not have a leader with red and blue palette. It's an Independent Power unit, given the blue and white on the shield as opposed to blue and another color.

Yeah I don’t think we’re able to say that conclusively man.

 

[RedCourtJester]

Yeah I don’t think we’re able to say that conclusively man.

IP military units have all featured primary "city-state" colors and white as their shield palettes. We may not be able to say conclusively, but it's quite likely that is just a "blue" IP.

 

[moysturfurmer]

The color schemes of the IPs from the PAX Aus preso ran the whole spectrum. There’s a Blue and White “military” swordsman, but then more earth tone and neutral ones. Reddish science ones and yellow science ones and white science ones. Yellow and red economy then blue and red economy. Etc. I personally would hesitate to call anything “likely,” given what we’ve seen.

 

[Archanist]

I have a feeling that the unit culture variation models are the ones that stand out the most, other models inside the same unit might have less colors, or even no player specific colors.

Even the two right most units in the Modern Age might suggest they might have a squad leader who has something that shows a leader color.