the re-sizeable undaunted soldier

[alvaro]

I have just been watching the video of the call to arms and something jumped in my mind when I saw all those armies in central europe.

I think it could be nice to have diferent sizes depending on the number of blokes in the army. say dunno, 3 or 5 different sizes. something you can recognize at a glance.

I don't know if I am asking for something madly complex but in my opinion, now that you have a squared tag by the ninot to quickly notice where your braves are, it would add a more straight forward information in the map.

just a nice-to-have, not that it would make a big difference, but still...

 

[Falkoner]

+1

 

[explorer21]

+2!!!!!!!

 

[alvaro]

being taken away by the immediate support, thanks folks!...
some token to show if a leader is with the army would be nice as well, and and and... (this looks more tedious to me to add once the 3d figure is already designed, but again I am not sure how that magic works)

I guess Paradox's wise men could give a thought about how can they use the soldier icon as a piece of information, this is the actual point of the thread.

 

[Ashantai]

The armies have numbers attached to them though so you can tell how many thousands are in them.

I think increasing the size of the sprites would not really be that useful, because if there's too little difference between them it'd be hard to tell where one size ends, and another begins.

 

[Fishman786]

To the tune of 'Universal Soldier'

He's the size of a letter, he's the size of a word, he fights with muskets and with spears;
He's tech-level 21, or only level 3, he'll be a soldier for 400 years;
He's a Catholic, a Hindu, an animist, a Shinto, a Buddhist and a Calvinist (but not a Jew);
And he knows he shouldn't kill, and he knows he never will;
Just waves his weapon in the air at me and you.

And he's fighting for Austria, he's fighting for France, he's fighting for the H-R-E;
And he's fighting for Navarre and he's fighting for Cour-land;
And he'll always live to fight another day.

And he's fighting for the Papacy, he's fighting for the Khan;
He says it'll raise our war-score;
He's the one who must decide: who's to live and who's to die;
But manpower's just a number, no-one really dies at all.

But without him, how would would the BBB have annexed Brittany;
Without him England couldn't take Lorraine;
He's the one who makes those silly noises whenever he goes to war;
and without him, EUIV can't go on.

He's the re-sizable soldier, and he really is to blame;
He marches on the spot no more;
He's ping-ponging here and there and back and forth, and brothers, can't you see?
This is not the way we put an end to war.

 

[unmerged(250188)]

I'd break the game by merging one million men together and having him sink Europe

 

[Vishaing]

If the Game increases the size of the sprites with the number of men in the army I will tear the engine apart if I have to to find the way to disable that feature. If they want to add a different graphical queue, like adding more soldiers or a flag that fills with color ala Total War, that's fine, but Increasing the size of the soldier sprite is a terrible idea. In some provinces it is already hard enough to select the province when an army is there, we don't need it to be worse.

 

[Straigthtsilver]

I really wouldn't enjoy this 'feature.' Having Europe covered by an alternating series of dwarves and giants would just look bizarre in comparison. Not to mention battles would result in one army stabbing shins, and the other firing into the space of air above their opponents head.

 

[alvaro]

If the Game increases the size of the sprites with the number of men in the army I will tear the engine apart if I have to to find the way to disable that feature. If they want to add a different graphical queue, like adding more soldiers or a flag that fills with color ala Total War, that's fine, but Increasing the size of the soldier sprite is a terrible idea. In some provinces it is already hard enough to select the province when an army is there, we don't need it to be worse.

I didn't mention it but what I had in mind is precisely to reduce the size because I feel also the look is disturbingly big as they are. I believe that the current size should be fine for the biggest type. also it's not that the size should be exactly in the same proportion, a 50K army shouldn't necessarily have to be double the size of an army 25K big...if this sentence makes sense at all.
just a taste of the size.

 

[solamyas]

Army unit management is a painfull experience at late stage of strategy games, tiny sprites rub salt into the wounds.

and also Clausewitz engine have already bugs about army sprite size in CK2 and MotE.

 

[Sethva]

I would keep the sprites as they are. Perhaps an alternative look with cubes increasing in height depending the size of the army. Then again, it's fun to have some surprises ingame.

I like the suggestion of Alvaro though. A token (star) if the army has a general or when the country's leader (crown) is in command of the army, would make a nice addition.