Pitch Your Civilization Icon Idea

Granted that the first one really does look a lot like Georgia, the leap from 2) and 4) to Georgia's is substantial, given that the colour palette is going to be very different as well.

5) looks like Russia's only because of colour. The eagle is in fact distinct, or at least as distinct as one can go when trying to portray eagles with such a small icon.

3) looks almost nothing like Mongolia's icon. Mongolia's icon is a red flame on a red-ish brown banner. The crescent and star and with this colour pattern do in fact look quite different. On top of that, this is just a stylistic choice, there are more portrayals of the ensign that capitalize on its differences:

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Wonderful work here, Basileus! I actually think most everything you suggested could be distinct enough to be the Byz emblem, except for the eagle, I think. The star over crescent would likely be the most distinct, but something like just the Beta symbol, or a shield / cross design including it could work too?

Also there's no historical basis for it but I think a chi rho over / with a crescent would make a lovely-looking icon too!

 

House Arryn has the perfect sigil for a unique icon.



Oh, wait...

 

I mean the Byzantines could always get a stylized version of the Hagia Sophia, though I prefer the star and crescent.
Wouldn't be the first time a Civ got a stylized religious building as their icon.

 

Civ really needs to go to a tri-color system for CiVs. Then again there will be fights about just who gets red, white, and blue.

 

The most egalitarian thing I think would be to not give anyone that combination, although the reality is that England, France, and Russia have more history to work with. America has only ever used three colors so it would probably get it, exceptionalist as that result would be.

It would open up design space a lot though and make civs feel even more distinct. I wonder if that could be achieved with mods in VI? It would likely eliminate the need for the jersey system altogether.

I mean, aesthetically it could be achieved very easily on the map. Make the background color the solid border line and background for city names. Make the two icon colors alternate on the dotted line and use one for icons, one for text. Boom.

Just to keep this on topic, we don't have a star icon yet. So I think Morocco is extremely likely as well (unless this Byzantine crescent star happens, I guess).

The Timurids are also an extremely easy and unique symbol, although personally I vastly prefer the Mughal lion for representing that culture (sorry Ethiopia).

People are really gunning for Vietnam. Does anyone have any proposals for icons that are not a dragon? I just don't see it happening when that's been China's thing for a while now.

 

As someone who'd really love to see Burma, I'd be all for that unique symbol!

Same here.

I forgot what the proof was, but I do recall that it was the Rise and Fall expansion that the Haida were considered for.

Definitely understandable to want different icons for them but, assuming they use a different-enough-looking dragon symbol, I'd be all for Vietnam having a dragon symbol too if only so China and Vietnam could have a scenario called Dance of the Dragons!

Of course I'd like to talk about a possible symbol for the Tlingit since there are a few options to choose. They could see them using the raven, killer whale, bear, etc. Based on their art, the possible colors could be red, blue, black, white, brown, and yellow.

I'd also like to mention that Benin's national animal is the leopard but I think a really cool option for them would be this Queen Idia mask!

 

I guess Vietnam could also get a star, and it would be significantly different enough from the Morocco star. If they were released in different expansions it would barely pass.

A Tlingit salmon seems more likely than anything. We don't have a fishy symbol yet!

Given that I think Idia is perhaps the most likely candidate for a Benin/Yoruba leader, I think it would be very weird to have her face as the icon. But I do admit it would be very distinctive and what more, very representative of the importance of masks in Yoruba culture. So if she isn't the leader, I would be more than okay with it.

 

You said color palette didn't matter.
And I was thinking more like this:

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That would make a great emblem! Either the bird or the face beneath it, actually.

Also, I got curious about the idea of the Byz emblem being the HS itself, so I made a very amateur mock-up inspired by Mali's icon and some of their earlier color schemes. Actually turned out a bit better than I expected- would probably be happy with a more professional version of this!

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The Cree still have a raven (?) head, and that was the point I was primarily making. The color doesn't help, though.

 

Not against the idea of the Hagia Sophia overall (even though I'm not necessarily supporting it either), but a) it seems you have kept the minarets which are an Ottoman addition and b) only the lower left colour palette I find fitting. Imperial red-gold, black-gold, blue-gold are the most fitting with purple-gold being a palatable choice.

 

The imperial red-purple color seems like an obvious choice for them.

 

Yes, the Haida are named in the files for Expansion 1.
It seems like they were eventually scrapped for having similarities to both the Cree and the Mapuche. The Cree for obvious being another First Nation and having a totem icon and the Chemamull might be too similar to totem poles.

 

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/r-f-almost-included-the-haida.629447/

Apparently it was just speculation by a modder, in fact based on this same observation that the Cree icon looks very ... Pacific. It was observed that the icon is based on actual Cree eagle masks, but the masks in question do look very similar to Pacific NW art. The Haida were in the code, though.

That said, eagle or raven, looking at the mask makes me question even more why the Cree got specifically that icon if the Haida would still be considered for the game. There are other Cree animals, but if you used anything other than a raven for the Haida it would feel wrong.

 

That's pretty fitting as well, can't deny how important salmon was to the Tlingit and all the PNW.

Yeah, I can see that having the leader's face being the icon as a bit weird. Perhaps a different mask could be used.

That's a shame if that's the case. Hopefully they could find a way to include at least one of the PNW tribes.

I've mentioned before that Botswana would be an interesting choice for a modern African civ. They'd certainly have one of the more unique icons with gears and zebras!

 

I get the overwhelming impression based on the supposed discovery that some of the Cree files themselves were named "Haida," that it was an either/or situation. Just one Canadian tribe planned.

I certainly think it would be weird to have two Canadian tribes and no US tribes in the game, so I do not see the Haida happening before the Navajo/Shoshone. But in the unlikely event they do make it in, I would hope the Cree get an icon change.

 

They must have been being extremely unimaginative, then. And I know that I, for one, would much rather have three New World civs than three European ones, even if it's weird that they group the two continents over here together, but none of the other ones.
Or, they could've at least done a second African civ, instead of three Europeans.

 

I think it’s reasonably certain that a bunch of the civs that have been included in this game are intended to satiate the various gamer markets. (Assuming most Canadians want to play as Canada, most Swedes want Sweden and so forth).

It seems with the DLC and XPs, we’re getting maybe 1/3 directed at gamer markets (Canada, Australia, Poland, Hungary, Netherlands, Sweden, Scotland, Korea), 1/3 classic or returning stuff (Mali, Mongolia, Persia, Khmer, Indonesia, Zulu, Inca), 1/3 otherwise new or tweaked stuff (Nubia, Macedon, Cree, Mapuche, Phoenicia, Georgia, Maori).

 

The expacks have struck me as having undergone heavy market research. Part of that is maintaining roughly the same geographic/ethnic/gender spread. So I wouldn't be too critical of Firaxis when they are just catering to a primarily western market. As well as leaving room for another expack or two with only so many African ideas that they could reasonably pursue. I want Swahili, but I wholly admit that there are a couple creative leaps necessary that the devs might not manage on their own.

Speaking of Swahili, I have no solid idea for what their icon could be. Googling "Swahili symbol" is useless, because of all the basic tools who posted "hakuna matata" tattoos to Tumblr and Pinterest. It's not even a real Swahili symbol, a total internet fiction.

Hence why I am definitely expecting the likes of Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Mexico, Vietnam at some point. Really, just looking at the current additions I'm surprised anyone thinks that the devs are running out of material when there is still half the world to pander to.

Also, Irish lyre hype.