If you were to choose 2 civs? (Possible European DLC)

Guys I’ve been reading several times some wants a more Middle Eastern looking design for the Ottomans: I had commented on that there showing how appropriate and accurate the current Ottoman design is and wonderfully avoided the awful, stereotypical and absolutely untrue depiction of AoE2.

To illustrate my words, here are, once more, real pictures of various Ottoman buildings , compared with Persian equivalents and the in-game representations:

Barracks
Ottomans


Persians
P B
In-game
image

Artillery Foundry
Ottomans


Persians
?
In-game

Mosque
Ottomans


Persians

In-game

Houses
Ottomans
image
Persians


In-game

Market
Ottomans


Persians

In-game
image

Palace (Town Center)
Ottomans
image
Persians


In-game
image

Capitol
Ottomans

Persians
?
In-game

Docks
Ottomans


Persians
?
In-game
image

Forts
Ottomans


Persians

In-game
image

Even settlers, contrary to critics I’ve seen, are actually loyal representations. Particularly the female, whereas the male has a straw hat typical from the Mediterranean regions, still worn today by local folks:

Ottomans




Persians


image

In-game
image

From these comparisons it can be concluded AoE3 did quite an incredible job at depicting accurately the Ottomans: notice the tiles emphasis in buildings for instance. Parallelly, the singular, sophisticated Persian architecture is quite different from the Byzantine-influenced Ottoman one: pay attention for example to the colourful tiles in Persians buildings, or to the typical long, thin hat for male citizens.

Assimilating Persian and Ottoman architectures is one of the errors I fear that could lead to sad misrepresentations. I particularly have in mind the horrendous design from the Wars of Liberty mod (the sorrowful grey buildings aspect) or the dreadful treatment the Turks endured in AoE2 (as if it was taken from the Arabian Nights tales).

Therefore, I prefer to stick with the current, perfectly acceptable Ottoman design, although shared with other Mediterranean civs, rather than having its coherent appearance twisted by unrelated Persian additions that are just too unique.

If seldom improvements must be done, then only the advanced Mosque (the basic model is perfect) might enjoy a makeover to correct that skinny aspect, perhaps the Capitol to reflect more particular Ottoman special buildings, maybe the male settler that could have his straw hat exchanged for a cap and small turban(see pictures above), or the houses that are very Mediterranean focused.

Therefore, to relieve the overused Mediterranean theme, then perhaps the solution lies rather in adjusting the Iberian nations of Spain and Portugal.

Wrong mate, the Ottomans heartland was Rumelia, a region covering much of the Balkans, encompassing northeastern Greece, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and the Marmara basin. Anatolia was less important and less rich, unlike the value it had for their predecessors, the Seljuks.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349537406_The_Ottoman_Empire_and_Europe

Best,

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