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EU4 Dev Diary - Domination Art and Unit Models

EU4 Dev Diary - 28 March 2023 - Domination Art and Unit Models

The last few months have been incredibly busy for the art team, and our artists have created a staggering amount of work, with around 600 brand new 2D assets including event pictures, government reforms, and missions to support the content that was added for Domination and the 1.35 patch.

Here’s some of our favourite examples:

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But it’s not only 2D, as always we present a new unit pack that will be part of the Domination expansion.

We found that pretty much every major power is already outfitted with at least one unit pack, so we had to look elsewhere. We settled on the French appanages and revolters in the West (sure to interact with great powers such as France and England) and various Asian minors in the East (to oppose the great powers of China and Japan).

As always we go through quite a lengthy research and concept process before we even open up the 3D software. There’s so much information out there and it’s important to really grab the essence of what makes a certain culture or era unique.

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France itself is pretty well-covered with unit packs, but fortunately the one thing that the French had in abundance was a broad range of different fashions and uniforms.

Veterans from the days of the pre-order bonus might already notice that some of these units cross-over with the Hundred Years War Unit Pack. If you have that DLC active, the Burgundy tag (for example) will continue to use the original Hundred Years War unit for Tier 1 before switching to the new Burgundian units for 2, 3, and 4. Other Burgundian-culture countries (such as Lorraine) will use all 4 tiers of the new Domination units regardless.

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The Walloon units are used by countries like Liège and Hainaut, as well as their Flemish cousins. Their Tier 1 is based heavily on artefacts from the Gravensteen Museum in Ghent, including the very distinctive helmet. As Wallonia was ruled by Spain for much of this era, we drew inspiration from units under Spanish control for the Tier 2 and Tier 3. Their third tier specifically is based on grenadiers of the Walloon Guards, a unit raised in Spanish service during the early 1700. Their final unit is based on Belgian flanquers of the Netherlands infantry, who fought with distinction in the Battle of Waterloo.

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The Burgundian units are used by countries in Eastern France, such as Burgundy, Lorraine, and a handful of other minors. We went with a closed sallet for the Tier 1 helmet to complement the heavy armour. The blackened steel cuirass and cocked hat of the Tier 2 is archetypical of cavalier officers in this era, and of course we had to use a ruff, which I think is criminally underused in EU4. The next tiers are based on elite grenadiers of the French army, complete with bearskin bonnets. Finally we have a unit based on the Old Guard, the most prestigious veterans of the Napoleonic Grande Armée.

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The Northern French units are used by countries like Orleans and Champagne (as well as Normandy and Brittany, if you don’t have the Rule Britannia DLC). This kettle helmet with a neck bevor was a good match, and we liked the hybrid brigandine with cuirass visually. Dragoon hats are severely underused in EU4, so we went with a soft cap to avoid rehashing the old tricorn once again.

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The southern French cultures use these units. The cloth orle on the helmet was adopted by crusaders to cool down hot armour in the Holy Land, and its usage was brought back to Europe, especially in warmer climates of the mediterranean. We enjoyed making more use of the dragoon aesthetic, even using the hussar jacket and impressive bearskin for the final tier.

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The Ainu are close neighbours of the Japanese daimyos, and the indigenous people of the northern Hokkaido island. Their impressive beards and bold patterned clothing makes them stand out, and as hardy outdoorsmen they are keen users of natural materials, with wooden quivers, straw hats, and even salmon leather shoes. However, in later eras they adopt some technical advantages from their Asian neighbours, such as lacquered jingasa helmets and Tanegashima muskets.

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The Filipino units are used by the many small countries that start in modern day Philippines. Of course in reality the Philippines was a highly diverse land, and so we chose different elements from across the archipelago. Hidden inside wooden sheaths, they have fearsome Visayan Binagon blades. The moro armour and salakot hat are also interesting historical elements that we included. The final tier is reminiscent of the Filipino soldiers in Spanish service towards the end of the EU4 era, and their straw hats are a nod to the iconic republican soldiers who fought for independence towards the end of the 19th century.

We were fortunate enough to have a Filipino colleague who helped us with these designs:
Hello! Ryan here, aka @ransomyu on the forums (don't bother looking, I'm just a lurker) and as Paradox' first (I think?) Filipino hire, I was delighted to be asked to consult on these Filipino units. My first Paradox game was CK2 but I fell in love with EU4 when I realized you could take one of the precolonial Philippine polities and essentially rewrite history by ensuring the islands were never colonized by European powers. Doing so with these newly designed units will make it a little bit more exciting!

As previously mentioned, the Philippine archipelago is a rich tapestry of different cultures, languages, and traditions. For example I have Kapampangan and Tagalog roots, but was essentially raised in (Imperial) Manila. So when I helped do the research on what units could represent the entirety of the Archipelago, I defaulted to suggesting what was most popular in the national imagination and mythology. So for example while Lapu-Lapu is Bisaya, he is the stand in for Filipino anticolonial aspirations, and features heavily in any media that aims to depict precolonial Philippines.

I hope that any Filipinos that play EU4 will be super pumped to try out the new DLC and join me in my quest to insert as much Filipino flavored content into Paradox games as humanly possible!

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The Bai culture revolters, such as the Kingdom of Dali, receive their own units too. Their Tier 1 is equipped with a Guandao polearm and they wear an intricate and highly-detailed leather armour. The later units have inspirations from both Tibetan and Chinese cultures, and white dress synonymous with Bai traditional clothing.

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The many cultures of south of China also receive their own unit pack to contrast with the Ming units. Their Tier 1 armor is early Ming dynasty Song-style armour, with curious interlocking scales. The armor was often adorned with intricate engravings and embellishments, making it both functional and aesthetically pleasing. The conical helmet used by Tier 3 is in fact also a form of armour.

And finally, behold the 1.35 loading screen: Mehmed II of the Ottomans, pictured as his bombards tear down the Theodosian Walls and his Janissaries storm Constantinople in 1453.

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That’s all from me, let us know what you think of everything! Next week we will show the achievements we have created for this update, see you!
 
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Wait, didn’t you replace multiple models already? Including in this pack with Burgundians? Seems a little strange to say “never”. I agree with giving every tag some love, but there is no harm in updating old content to have the quality match.
The new Burgundians don't replace the existing HYW unit. Think of it as a Lorraine unit pack that extends to the BUR tag if you don't have HYW.

This sort of thing we can do more of, for example instead of making a new Ottomans unit, we could make a Turkish culture unit that the Ottomans can fallback to if you don't have the original Ottoman unit pack enabled.
 
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I think the Ottoman flag and map colour should have been changed into something more reasonable by this update. They still use the flag of Germiyan Beylik since EU II and red or darker tones of green map colour would suit the Ottoman Empire better.
 
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Interesting choices for the first few sets. I suppose they were specifically chosen to give alternate models for players to swap in should they so desire. Francien Minor tier 2 and 4 in particular look much better than France's actual models. I guess it's a way to update it without having to take away the old models.
 
Respectfully, this seems a bit silly to me. Countries that have already gotten mechanical reworks (sometimes multiple reworks!) get new content all the time. So I don't see why refreshing some of the very earliest, very most outdated-looking unit tiers should be out of the question. Especially at the point where you're adding units for cultures as niche as the Ainu. There are 32 new models in this unit pack, for example. In the future, even if just eight of those were dedicated to refreshing outdated models, and the rest could be new, I think that would be excellent.

I only think this would apply to a relatively small set of early unit packs, too. At a certain point you'd weed out all the ones that still look pretty janky.
I understand the point made by the developers, but I would say that if they have some extra funds around the end of the development cycle, they could release a "final unit pack" of sorts, where they update existing models for the main powers at least (the 100 years war pack has some nice designs but they are marred by their 2015 graphics, same with the colonial and Spain/Portugal packs).
 
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Is this unit pack separate from the Domination expansion itself? I'd like to buy my friend all unit packs while I host the expansions, and I'm wondering if this, and any other unit packs, are locked behind the expansions.
 
The new Burgundians don't replace the existing HYW unit. Think of it as a Lorraine unit pack that extends to the BUR tag if you don't have HYW.

This sort of thing we can do more of, for example instead of making a new Ottomans unit, we could make a Turkish culture unit that the Ottomans can fallback to if you don't have the original Ottoman unit pack enabled.
You know, you guys are experimenting on allowing different country colors depending on who forms them- perhaps you could do the same with the units.

It's probably more comprehensive than you want to do, but I could imagine there being a screen that allows selective customization of your country- choosing which model you want your armies using- maybe selecting which model should take precedent in army stacks (say making sure you always display cav units first if you are a horde nation), as well as color, and potentially name. I know you wanted 'Christian Japan' as a formable, which everyone thinks is dumb, I think it's dumb too, but it could be an optional name that you could toggle on/off. Similarly you could have 'Republican France' or other government modifications of names.

Like I said probably more comprehensive than what you want to do, but if you're experimentig with how tags display themselves, it'd an option I think you should look at.
 
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SaintDaveUK,​


Could you please reply my queston regarding units for Muscovy/Russia? I asked in the dd concerning updated for Russia:

Could you please consider changing second-tier unit skin back to generic eastern-european (with Streltsy look) for Muscovy-Russia?

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The current one (intoduced with the Third Rome DLC, If I Remember correctly) is better off for the look in colonial regions (especially in Siberia), considering that Russia doesn't have any colonial skins like France and Spain.

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And the generic eastern-european look better be changed into the old polish skin. It's weird to see eastern-european mercenary armies to wield berdyches and russian-type muskets.

And also, Streltsy, as a special unit, should be of red colour, while main russian troops should retain green-colored uniforms.

At the very least, Streltsy special units should use this type of skin, mentioned earlier. Although if French Musketeers will use it's current tier-2 skin but have a different colour, why not make the same for tier-2 Muscovy-Russia?
 
Sadly we have very limited resources so we are never going to remake units for a country that already has some. We'd rather focus our efforts on bringing something brand new to the fans every time.
You mean like adding buffs to Prussia, Ottomans and Spain with more "mission reward." If someone told me after Lion of the North that would be the focus, I'd say they were drunk.
 
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These units will be included with Domination.
Would it be possible to have France use the Francien Minors T4 if it becomes a revolutionary empire? It's basically the exact Napoleonic uniform and it would be cool to have Shakos for Napoleon's troops
 
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I don't know if it's the appropriate place to suggest, but whatever.

1. I think that Western Anatolian coast should be of Greek culture as in 1444 Greeks were still dominant in there. There could be some events for Ottomans (with positive or negative impact) associated with this community.

2. Region of Cilicia was of Armenian culture at that time and some Cappadocian Greeks were still around in what is in game north-eastern Karaman. So both of these cultures can be represented with Cilician Armenia having cores on the region (releasable nation).

3. Canik and Sinop should be of Pontic culture with Trebizond having cores on those provinces.

4. Aramaic people were present in Southeastern Anatolia so maybe they can also be a culture (and of Nestorian religion?)

5. If Ottomans conquer Caffa, owner of Red Ruthenia region should get an event about arrival of Armenians, as they (Armenian refugees from Crimea) played significant part in the development of local cities (particularly Lviv and Stanisławów).

I know this update is centered around great powers but it also touches Anatolia. I think that missions and event reworks should be accompanied with refreshing of the map.
 
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I don't know if it's the appropriate place to suggest, but whatever.

1. I think that Western Anatolian coast should be of Greek culture as in 1444 Greeks were still dominant in there. There could be some events for Ottomans (with positive or negative impact) associated with this community.

2. Region of Cilicia was of Armenian culture at that time and some Cappadocian Greeks were still around in what is in game north-eastern Karaman. So both of these cultures can be represented with Cilician Armenia having cores on the region.

3. Canik and Sinop should be of Pontic culture with Trebizond having cores on those provinces.

4. Aramaic people were present in Southeastern Anatolia so maybe they can also be a culture (and of Nestorian religion?)

5. If Ottomans conquer Caffa, owner of Red Ruthenia region should get an event about arrival of Armenians, as they (Armenian refugees from Crimea) played significant part in the development of local cities (particularly Lviv and Stanisławów).

I know this update is centered around great powers but it also touches Anatolia. I think that missions and event reworks should be accompanied with refreshing of the map.
It would have been easier if you had said let's delete the Turks completely. After 1243, Turkish masses concentrated in western Anatolia. Do you think the Turkish masses who migrated to Anatolia are 3-5 thousand tents or something? Please open and read Ibn Batuta's trip to Anatolia, comments away from populism would be more impressive. Batuta wrote down what he saw while visiting the cities. He talked about the population structure, culture and civilizations and even beyliks.





 
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