Hello everyone. I would like talk about something I've noticed in the most recent expansions, and as a modder who works with missions on almost a daily basis, it has been bothering me for quite some time. I would also like to emphasize that this is not a typical "PDX bad" rant, but a genuine concern based on evidence. It might not be a game-breaking issue, but I still think it is worth sharing.
The mission trees were introduced in 1.25 & Rule Britannia, and while the early trees had a very limited pool of icons to choose from (Ottomans, Byzantium), which often led to their repetition, the subsequent expansions like Dharma, Golden Century, or Emperor added a huge number of new icons, signicifantly improving the look and immersion of mission trees. However, since Leviathan, both quantity and quality of mission tree icons has been on a steady decline.
Quantity
For comparison, Origins added approximately 27 mission tree icons in total, which are often shared across multiple mission trees. In Emperor, the Netherlands alone received 33 unique mission tree icons. It is also important to note than in Emperor, almost all countries received their own unique mission tree icons. Some might say that this is not a fair comparison since Origins were an immersion pack while Emperor was a full-blown expansion, so let's compare it with Leviathan, which was an expansion similar in size to Emperor. Leviathan added about 76 mission tree icons, while in Emperor, the combination of the Netherlands, Italy, and Florence gets us to the same number of 76 icons. Such a massive decrease in the number of mission tree icons for example leads to the re-using of older icons, which is in most cases fine, but on the other hands, some missions have an icon which is completely out of place:
Icon with European architecture used for a Red Sea port, Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower in Florence used for Axum, many icons from the generic tree etc. Such a missed opportunity for unique Ethiopian art.
Quality
Quality-wise, some icons from the most recent expansions have a visibly worse quality compared to some older stuff. For example, the icon on the right was added in 1.31 and looks completely blurred compared to a much older icon in which you can easily recognize the facial features of that person.
Another example. The first icon was added in 1.25, and the other two were added in 1.32. Ignoring the fact that the new icons are just copies of the older icon, they look significantly worse, and the old icon is way sharper and better looking.
The last and the funniest example. The "new" mission icon of Kongo, which is in fact just a flipped icon from the British mission tree.
I do not know what caused this decline in both quality and quantity, perhaps the art team is working on something more important or is needed elsewhere, but it would be amazing if the same amazing effort which is lately being put into the content of mission trees (hats off, 1.32 trees were a huge step up and 1.34 ones look even better) was also put into their visual side. That's all, thank you!
The mission trees were introduced in 1.25 & Rule Britannia, and while the early trees had a very limited pool of icons to choose from (Ottomans, Byzantium), which often led to their repetition, the subsequent expansions like Dharma, Golden Century, or Emperor added a huge number of new icons, signicifantly improving the look and immersion of mission trees. However, since Leviathan, both quantity and quality of mission tree icons has been on a steady decline.
Quantity
For comparison, Origins added approximately 27 mission tree icons in total, which are often shared across multiple mission trees. In Emperor, the Netherlands alone received 33 unique mission tree icons. It is also important to note than in Emperor, almost all countries received their own unique mission tree icons. Some might say that this is not a fair comparison since Origins were an immersion pack while Emperor was a full-blown expansion, so let's compare it with Leviathan, which was an expansion similar in size to Emperor. Leviathan added about 76 mission tree icons, while in Emperor, the combination of the Netherlands, Italy, and Florence gets us to the same number of 76 icons. Such a massive decrease in the number of mission tree icons for example leads to the re-using of older icons, which is in most cases fine, but on the other hands, some missions have an icon which is completely out of place:
Icon with European architecture used for a Red Sea port, Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower in Florence used for Axum, many icons from the generic tree etc. Such a missed opportunity for unique Ethiopian art.
Quality
Quality-wise, some icons from the most recent expansions have a visibly worse quality compared to some older stuff. For example, the icon on the right was added in 1.31 and looks completely blurred compared to a much older icon in which you can easily recognize the facial features of that person.
Another example. The first icon was added in 1.25, and the other two were added in 1.32. Ignoring the fact that the new icons are just copies of the older icon, they look significantly worse, and the old icon is way sharper and better looking.
The last and the funniest example. The "new" mission icon of Kongo, which is in fact just a flipped icon from the British mission tree.
I do not know what caused this decline in both quality and quantity, perhaps the art team is working on something more important or is needed elsewhere, but it would be amazing if the same amazing effort which is lately being put into the content of mission trees (hats off, 1.32 trees were a huge step up and 1.34 ones look even better) was also put into their visual side. That's all, thank you!
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