If the Khmer civilization gets added, what I do expect is that the Ballista Elephant gets moved to the Khmer and the Tughlaq Dynasty just uses the regular Springald instead. Now I am aware that there are multiple types of ballistae. I didn’t say there was just one. It’s just that the Khmer were the most known historical holders of ballistic weaponry on top of elephants. Also, as I just looked up, there is no historical evidence other than the Khmer Empire that used ballista elephants due to the unique innovation of engineering skills that the Khmer had in this use of elephants.
The AoE4 model looks that way because its a kitbashed Springald. They’ve altered some parts of the model by removing bits like the wheels, scaling down the spoke handles and added a “bow” at the front to make it look more like AoE2’s idea of a Ballista Elephant.
Note how they haven’t even been bothered to make it fit meaningfully. The rope just floats and this kitbashed Springald just sits on top of its back flat despite the shape of the Elephant.
What surprises me most about these variants is that though there is a decent amount of effort mechanically, a SINGULAR 3D modeller could make all of this into a much more viable product. But, instead, we get these completely bastardized attempts to reuse assets.
Even for the pieces that they try to be creative with, its clear that these people have little to no control or skill with 3D development. Contrast the “new” elephant whose texture, while being based off a real historical piece of elephant armour, has the characteristic trait of not properly utilizing BPR maps, and consistently messing up the metallic shine as though it were a simple specular map.
This is seen in almost every new variant unit that has metal. They just can’t get it right.
