Small Nitpicky Changes

[Louis XXIV]

This thread is for little details that could be tweaked to line up much better with history. It's not for broad changes (for example, if you disagree with the choice of Brazil, this is the wrong thread). These are supposed to be simpler changes. Although, in the end, they're not so serious that the game will be ruined if they still stay in. I hope the thread will stay relatively light-hearted given the relative unimportance of these things. Also, my thought is this thread should be ongoing as new screenshots are released so feel free to chime at any time.

My first suggestion, which has been suggested many times now is Switch Austria and Poland's colors. Since they both have eagles as symbols, Austria's symbol looks Polish and Poland's symbol looks Austrian. I know it could be confusing for those used to Austria as red and white, but there should hopefully be no greater obstacle.

The second one is a City State nitpick. Ur is a new city state, which is great, but I can't say I've ever really thought of them as Maritime. Cultural would make the most sense, but even religious could work (the Sumerian pantheon was the inspiration for the later Mesopotamian religion). I know they have to replace Rio with another maritime city-state, so here is my suggestion:

Make Sidon a Maritime City State. It's a Phoenician city so it has a proud naval tradition and would make lots of sense.
Add Hattusa as a Militaristic City State. Provided the Hittites aren't in the game, they would make a great choice as a City State.
Although keep Ur, I like Ur.

So those are my suggestions so far.

 

[Gucumatz]

Ur - One of the first City states in the world and one of the most important cities in the world for over a thousand years, glad to see it in.

Sofia is sort of meh for me... would rather have seen another Mesopotamian or Mesoamerican city state instead. I agree on a Sidon change though - It really ought to be a maritime city. Are you happy with Tyre as well by the way?

 

[Snoopaloop]

Not going to re-quote my post in the "improving underpowered units" thread, but a tl;dr for anyone would be.

Privateers should be able to attack opponent's ocean trade route ships without declaring war in this expansion. None of this tedious 50/50% enemy ship capturing.

 

[Louis XXIV]

I'm glad they changed Tyre. I've been complaining about that one since before the game came out. However, Sidon goes hand and hand with Tyre in having the same issue.

 

[cybrxkhan]

Hmm... thought I posted it, but anyhow - only nitpicky thing is to change the color of China, either red or yellow, instead of the current green. While someone has suggested the green is because of jade, I really think red or yellow is much more iconic for China than jade. If I remember yellow is the imperial color, while red is everywhere in Chinese culture.

Maybe they can switch it with one of the new civs...?

 

[JanghanHong]

Poland really should get Austria's colors and Austria should get Black and gold, they use the modern Austria's colors in G&K and it's anachronistic indeed.

 

[Option]

they use the modern Austria's colors in G&K and it's anachronistic indeed.

No. They actually use ORIGINAL Austria's colors. The only modern thing they're using in Austria's symbol is the eagle - that's the coat of arms of the Republic.

The modern Austrian flag is based on the original coat of arms (3 horizontal bars, red-white-red) of the Duchy of Austria, back when Austria was split from Bavaria in the 12th century, and the Babenburg dynasty was in control of Austria.
If you look at any coat of arms representing the Duchy of Austria or any of her following incarnations (save for some modern ones), you will notice that somewhere in there, you will find the 3 bars - red-white-red.

That includes the Hapsburg coat of arms, which you are asking for. While the Hapsburg dynasty was in control of Austria for the most part of its monarchic existence, it is not the sole one. To call that family's colors the Austrian ones, as they never represented Austria alone, and only represented all of Hapsburg's belongings - that would be the actual anachronism. Furthermore, if you look into the Hapsburg coat of arms representing all the coats of their belongings, you will - again - see the 3 bars, red-white-red, and in the last iterations, it usually was in the center.

With that said, even if they were to change Austria's colors to Hapsburg's colors, what would you give to Russia? They are currently carrying the gold/black combination.

Edits: Ordered some thoughts, it's almost 7 AM here, bleh.

Other edit, that actually is directed at OP:
I would have no issue with your suggestion. However, both Austria and Poland share the same colors. There's only so many 2-color-combos that can be differentiated from each other, and many of the civilizations represented don't really use the colors they've been assigned that much, if at all.
I don't see anyone asking for the wine-red/pink combo Spain uses to be turned gold/red like Persia's (with Persia getting something else), or the French iceblue/creamish-white combo being replaced with a proper royal blue/gold like Sweden's (and Sweden getting something else), etc., so why is it such a big issue when it comes to Austria/Poland?

Yet another edit: Mistook England's colors with Spain's, corrected.

 

[JFD]

First, don't call Ghandi President.
Second, call the Kremlin Saint Basil's Cathedral, as is exclusively depicted.

 

[Louis XXIV]

I think the wonder splash shows the Kremlin, no?

Option, I guess the reason this one gets pointed out is that it's not a situation where both would be good choices for particular colors (e.g., quite a few would make sense with red and gold). Instead, it's a situation where the combination of colors and symbol are actively confusing. The symbol of Poland is a red background with a white eagle, which is the Austrian symbol. Back in Gods and Kings it was fine because there was no Poland. However, once you add Poland, Austria looks like Poland.

 

[TheLohoped]

I think the wonder splash shows the Kremlin, no?

Indeed, it does:

Spoiler :

So Kremlin is actually in the game. No need to change the wonder.

 

[TimeWeaver]

This is an old complaint, but just for the record: Make Ethiopia's civ colour less similar to the Barbarians. People have bad monitor settings, small tablets and what not, and that colour set is not helpful.

 

[Option]

I think the wonder splash shows the Kremlin, no?

Option, I guess the reason this one gets pointed out is that it's not a situation where both would be good choices for particular colors (e.g., quite a few would make sense with red and gold). Instead, it's a situation where the combination of colors and symbol are actively confusing. The symbol of Poland is a red background with a white eagle, which is the Austrian symbol. Back in Gods and Kings it was fine because there was no Poland. However, once you add Poland, Austria looks like Poland.

See, I agree with you in that regard, and would prefer if they changed Austria's eagle symbol.
It's the symbol of the Republic, and not really representative of the country's history. Either make it the Hapsburg double-headed eagle, or better, just the plain old 3-bar coat. It might look boring, but it's been the symbol of Austria ever since it was formed, kinda like the Fleur-de-Lis or the 3 crowns are for France and Sweden.

That said, I disagree that the Austrian eagle makes it look like it's Poland. It's distinguishable by the fact Austrian's eagle is holding a sickle and a hammer, and the feathers look much different from Poland's coat.

 

[AriochIV]

Privateers should be able to attack opponent's ocean trade route ships without declaring war in this expansion. None of this tedious 50/50% enemy ship capturing.

That would suck, because it would make protecting trade ships nearly impossible; you'd have to wait until after the other guy already attacked your ship, and you'd have to take the diplomatic hit for declaring war. No thanks.

 

[Snoopaloop]

That would suck, because it would make protecting trade ships nearly impossible; you'd have to wait until after the other guy already attacked your ship, and you'd have to take the diplomatic hit for declaring war. No thanks.

It would make them difficult yes, impossible no. The need to protect ocean resources currently in this game is a joke. This mechanic I think would up the difficulty for it.

What are you talking about "waiting until a enemy ship (privateer, I am assuming you mean here) attacks my ship (trade ship specifically) to declare war"? Privateers (like civ 4) wouldn't show any civs colors, you would be free to attack them preemptively..no diplo hits for doing so.

Maybe a diplo hit if you are the civ caught using privateers.

 

[AriochIV]

What are you talking about "waiting until a enemy ship (privateer, I am assuming you mean here) attacks my ship (trade ship specifically) to declare war"? Privateers (like civ 4) wouldn't show any civs colors, you would be free to attack them preemptively..no diplo hits for doing so.

If Privateers show as neutral, then that would make sense. But there's currently nothing to suggest that they do.

 

[Snoopaloop]

If Privateers show as neutral, then that would make sense. But there's currently nothing to suggest that they do.

Correct, that is why I was sharing my opinion in the "nitpicky changes" thread. I think the current unit should better reflect its actual historic use. I also hate the 50/50% capture ship ability of privateers and want to see it replaced. You don't even need to produce ships from the late game on because of this..just keep stealing them.

 

[awesome]

Plus, it kind of weakens the already mediocre Ottoman ua. The East Indiaman can just replace the merchant ship or something.

 

[PhilBowles]

For me, the key thing is that all city-states should be city-states (yes, ideally of the right sort, but that's less important to my mind), or otherwise semi-autonomous cities (such as Geneva). It really added a lot in my view that we had additions like Cahokia, Vatican City, Florence and Zanzibar with Gods & Kings.

Though I might make an exception for Kuala Lumpur. For some reason I've grown quite attached to that CS...

Others:

Add a Southeast Asian graphic style for Siam (Iroquois get a graphic family to themselves, why not Siam? In any case this could also be applied to Indonesia if that's added).

Why does Ethiopia's settler have a camel?

Specific graphic styles for city-states, since these are named - either a graphic representing each city, or stick them within the most appropriate existing graphic family.

Redo the voice acting and dialogue for Ramesses and Montezuma so that they speak period-appropriate languages instead of Arabic and Spanish respectively. Redo Elizabeth's so that she sounds less like a caricature.

Do away with the woad and sword-juggling for Boudicca - she is not Mel Gibson, and overall she looks like a caricature of Red Sonja-type '80s barbarian flicks instead of a real character.

Remove the Huns' "found other people's cities" mechanic.

First, don't call Ghandi President.

I think that's been changed, either in G&K or the subsequent patch. I started a random game recently and was given Gandhi - he was no longer called President in the intro blurb.

This is an old complaint, but just for the record: Make Ethiopia's civ colour less similar to the Barbarians. People have bad monitor settings, small tablets and what not, and that colour set is not helpful.

Not sure this is the place for that particular complaint, since Ethiopia's colours are historically appropriate. I actually like their colours a lot; they could always change the barbarians' colours...

 

[Louis XXIV]

Correct, that is why I was sharing my opinion in the "nitpicky changes" thread. I think the current unit should better reflect its actual historic use.

Actually, historically, Privateers flew under the flag of the nation. They were private ships officially authorized to make war and seize property. They didn't fight secretly as Pirates. So the current ship actually better reflects historic use.

ETA: I think some people are losing track of this thread. After all, things like this:

Redo the voice acting and dialogue for Ramesses and Montezuma so that they speak period-appropriate languages instead of Arabic and Spanish respectively. Redo Elizabeth's so that she sounds less like a caricature.

Do away with the woad and sword-juggling for Boudicca - she is not Mel Gibson, and overall she looks like a caricature of Red Sonja-type '80s barbarian flicks instead of a real character.

are not small changes. Completely redesigning a leaderhead (which when they first started out took 10 weeks each to make) and tracking down new voice actors for Elizabeth and Montezuma are huge undertakings. You guys need to think smaller (like changing an XL File).

 

[Arachnofiend]

That would suck, because it would make protecting trade ships nearly impossible; you'd have to wait until after the other guy already attacked your ship, and you'd have to take the diplomatic hit for declaring war. No thanks.

It doesn't make sense to begin with. Privateers aren't really pirates, they're closer to naval mercenaries. They fly the flag of their patron nation. If Francis Drake launches an attack on your trade ships it's obviously an act of aggression by the English.