Dev Diary 6th of March 2018 - Unit Preview
Hi and welcome to this weeks Dev Diary, where we'll be taking a look at the units included in Rule Britannia. I'm @Carlberg, one of the 3D artists at Paradox and you may know me as the bringer of unit renders for previous content and immersion packs. Today we will be looking a bit closer at the new units and the different warriors and soldiers from history that they're based upon.
Ireland
Starting off on the area which has seen the most change in addition of new country tags we have all the Irish OPM's.
The main designs for the earlier tiers of the Irish units are based on the Galloglass and Kern soldier types from that age. The Galloglass were a class of warriors mercenaries descended from the Norse-Gaelic clans of Scotland. Large numbers of these clans moved to Ireland after being dispossessed in the wake of the wars of Scottish independence in the 13th-14th century.
The Kern were the more local Gaelic type of infantry found on Ireland but usually fought along the Galloglass to complement them as light infantry. For later tiers it's been a tricky road of finding any references since Great Britain essentially consolidated control over Ireland, and we couldn't have every single units based on British red coat uniforms. So we have tried making it it's own but still with influences of uniform design.
Upon unifying the Irish people (as an Irish nation) you can also form the Kingdom of Ireland, which now also comes with its own unit set for all tiers.
For the last tier some would probably be able to spot that we've used the piper uniform of the Irish Guard. While historically anachronistic it was a style we chose to use since it had a style of uniform fitting with the times, and also had similarities to the Scottish Highlander uniforms (which come further below).
Wales
For the first tier of the Welsh units we went with a more simple armored foot soldier, this to symbolize the rather new and precarious position the Welsh will be in since they start off as a nation absorbed by England. To be free they will either have to rebel, or be broken off by another power. The Tier 3 is inspired by the light skirmishing infantry Great Britain utilized during the the American War of Independence. Tier 4 on the other hand have a basis in the Marines utilized by the Royal navy with their distinct hat in contrast to the other infantry of the Era.
Scotland
Now this is probably the unit set we've had the most curiosity about here at the office, while still being the most obvious design choice. How could we ever make a Scottish unit pack and not have any Scottish Highlander uniforms? Even if it's a uniform of Great Britain (which Scotland is a part of), it's highly connected to Scottish soldiers of the era.
The earlier tier was a harder pick since there was little reference material we found that weren't related to English uniforms. The Tier 3 is based on a uniform used by the Highlander regiments during the Seven Years war. The final tier is a very late one as they came into use in the early 1800's. It was only in use by the Highlander regiments while the uniform of the lowlands were indistinguishable from the regular British uniform of the time.
Brittany
But Carlberg, why is Brittany here? They're not a part of Britain!
True. While Brittany isn't a part of Britain they share history. Both areas have a history of the Breton people. Brittany was also influenced by both England and France during the 100 years war and earlier still. It was also one of the nations in our Pre-Order pack along France and Britain, so we wanted to cover it or it'd risk being left without any related DLC to cover it. And we all want to avoid holes in our unit coverage dont we?
The unit set for Brittany is partially based on uniforms of the era, and the cultural clothing of the Bretons in Brittany. There was also a influence of French uniform design since historically they were integrated into their larger neighbor.
Rebel nations
As we know some people love to break away a hidden nation to either play as or use for nefarious things we have also covered the British tags that kan break free. Northumberland, Normandie and Cornwall, as well as Meath on Ireland.
Cornwall and Northumberland
These nations start off as part of England, and would only ever be seen if someone actively broke them free after a war. You may recognize them from CKII if you’ve played on the earlier start dates. These country tags never existed in this era, and have therefore used a lot of influence from England but with their own variation to distance them a bit.
Normandy
Normandy was a tricky area to design uniforms for, home of William the Conqueror that claimed the English throne four centuries earlier it's one of the contested areas in the 100 years war. So we had to ask ourselves how to best design this area that never really was independent. The uniforms here are a mix of English and French influence, leaning more towards English in the earlier tiers, but more French in the latter ones.
Meath
Meath is actually one of the Irish nations, but is included here since they start as a province already claimed by England.
And that concludes today lineup. I hope you’re as interested in Rule Britannia as I am. Additionally, Rule Britannia will also include 3 British themed songs. Rather than just tell you that they are awesome, we can give you a teaser of it:
Hi and welcome to this weeks Dev Diary, where we'll be taking a look at the units included in Rule Britannia. I'm @Carlberg, one of the 3D artists at Paradox and you may know me as the bringer of unit renders for previous content and immersion packs. Today we will be looking a bit closer at the new units and the different warriors and soldiers from history that they're based upon.
Ireland
Starting off on the area which has seen the most change in addition of new country tags we have all the Irish OPM's.
The main designs for the earlier tiers of the Irish units are based on the Galloglass and Kern soldier types from that age. The Galloglass were a class of warriors mercenaries descended from the Norse-Gaelic clans of Scotland. Large numbers of these clans moved to Ireland after being dispossessed in the wake of the wars of Scottish independence in the 13th-14th century.
The Kern were the more local Gaelic type of infantry found on Ireland but usually fought along the Galloglass to complement them as light infantry. For later tiers it's been a tricky road of finding any references since Great Britain essentially consolidated control over Ireland, and we couldn't have every single units based on British red coat uniforms. So we have tried making it it's own but still with influences of uniform design.
Upon unifying the Irish people (as an Irish nation) you can also form the Kingdom of Ireland, which now also comes with its own unit set for all tiers.
For the last tier some would probably be able to spot that we've used the piper uniform of the Irish Guard. While historically anachronistic it was a style we chose to use since it had a style of uniform fitting with the times, and also had similarities to the Scottish Highlander uniforms (which come further below).
Wales
For the first tier of the Welsh units we went with a more simple armored foot soldier, this to symbolize the rather new and precarious position the Welsh will be in since they start off as a nation absorbed by England. To be free they will either have to rebel, or be broken off by another power. The Tier 3 is inspired by the light skirmishing infantry Great Britain utilized during the the American War of Independence. Tier 4 on the other hand have a basis in the Marines utilized by the Royal navy with their distinct hat in contrast to the other infantry of the Era.
Scotland
Now this is probably the unit set we've had the most curiosity about here at the office, while still being the most obvious design choice. How could we ever make a Scottish unit pack and not have any Scottish Highlander uniforms? Even if it's a uniform of Great Britain (which Scotland is a part of), it's highly connected to Scottish soldiers of the era.
The earlier tier was a harder pick since there was little reference material we found that weren't related to English uniforms. The Tier 3 is based on a uniform used by the Highlander regiments during the Seven Years war. The final tier is a very late one as they came into use in the early 1800's. It was only in use by the Highlander regiments while the uniform of the lowlands were indistinguishable from the regular British uniform of the time.
Brittany
But Carlberg, why is Brittany here? They're not a part of Britain!
True. While Brittany isn't a part of Britain they share history. Both areas have a history of the Breton people. Brittany was also influenced by both England and France during the 100 years war and earlier still. It was also one of the nations in our Pre-Order pack along France and Britain, so we wanted to cover it or it'd risk being left without any related DLC to cover it. And we all want to avoid holes in our unit coverage dont we?
The unit set for Brittany is partially based on uniforms of the era, and the cultural clothing of the Bretons in Brittany. There was also a influence of French uniform design since historically they were integrated into their larger neighbor.
Rebel nations
As we know some people love to break away a hidden nation to either play as or use for nefarious things we have also covered the British tags that kan break free. Northumberland, Normandie and Cornwall, as well as Meath on Ireland.
Cornwall and Northumberland
These nations start off as part of England, and would only ever be seen if someone actively broke them free after a war. You may recognize them from CKII if you’ve played on the earlier start dates. These country tags never existed in this era, and have therefore used a lot of influence from England but with their own variation to distance them a bit.
Normandy
Normandy was a tricky area to design uniforms for, home of William the Conqueror that claimed the English throne four centuries earlier it's one of the contested areas in the 100 years war. So we had to ask ourselves how to best design this area that never really was independent. The uniforms here are a mix of English and French influence, leaning more towards English in the earlier tiers, but more French in the latter ones.
Meath
Meath is actually one of the Irish nations, but is included here since they start as a province already claimed by England.
And that concludes today lineup. I hope you’re as interested in Rule Britannia as I am. Additionally, Rule Britannia will also include 3 British themed songs. Rather than just tell you that they are awesome, we can give you a teaser of it:
And I think it is better to use recognizable, storied historical uniforms rather than made-up stuff.
