Agree with the point you raised mate but Hospitaller Malta didn’t fully meet the criteria of a sovereign state, as it was officially a vassal of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1530 to 1798
Although it did de facto was quite autonomous
Best,
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I hope MS will not stop supporting AoE3! It will be sad to leave the game like that without Poles and Danes in Europe, without Persia between Ottomans and Indians, without some other fan favorite civs like Korea and Brazil.
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Im normally for historical accuracy but in this case, they are more unique rather than being very similar. Total War works very differently as an example, this is more of a representation than a 1:1 historical authenticity.
Right, they were part of a general pyramid of power where they were technically under Sicily, which was under Aragon, which was then a constituent part of the Kingdom of Spain. I had actually found it strange how one of the preview screenshots showed Spanish soldiers assaulting a Maltese fort! The Knights in history were one of the strongest assets to Spain’s maritime policy on the Mediterranean Sea, especially in regards to protecting maritime trade against Barbary Pirates.
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I only would wish there would be an european map that do not have the Royal Houses, not even natives nor trade routes, just a green plain with most natural resources around, like some kind of open battlefield like culoden or something 
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I’ve seen a video showing off Historical Maps. They raise a problem:
In addition to wholly new models (and two Italian buildings), these maps have made use of existing campaign models for special scenario buildings, which include the same ones that has been turned into Maltese uniques.
This is the Maltese Commandery, using the model of the campaign building SPCFortCenter Command Post.
While this is the scenario building “Headquarters”, which is a shipment destination & militia site, and has scenario-specific techs to research. Yes, it’s the same model without change.
Worse still is the “Supply Cache”, a resource trickle building using the same model SPCXPAmmoStorehouse model as the Maltese Depot:
(The colorful tent is a “Command Post”, a Town Center that grants scenario-specific techs. Historical Maps also make frequent use of TPs for special functions.)
The Depot is such a uniquely destructive building that from a UX perspective, you want to condition players to develop a special reaction to it - either avoid or destroy on sight. The two are so different in function, they should not have the same model.
Like how the Maltese Hospital recolors the tent texture, ideally the Maltese uniques should have their textures recolored, both to make them more visually consistent with standard player buildings, and to differentiate them from special buildings, as we have seen above. That would be prudent game UX design.
(The Italian Wars map also has scenario buildings “Great Bank” and “Papal Embassy” using Lombard and Basilica models, both offering mercenaries and scenario-specific TEAM techs.)
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Realistically how often are you going to be playing these scenarios that this is an issue?
They are replayable scenarios. The map generated will be different each time. And I think I’ll play them quite a bit. But still, I don’t think reused models will be an issue for me.
Malta feels like a mod( and ive seen better incarnations of a matla civ), and the modern Italian flag has no place in AoE III. This DLC is pure disappointment.
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I wouldn’t say pure disappointment but there’s definitely some questionable stuff like this that dampens the excitement.
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Ok - a half baked disappointment that leaves a bad taste in your mouth but you still eat it because AoE III is your favourite dish.
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Of course, Brazil would arrive in August out there…
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Italy is a econnomic focused civ with no particularly strong mititary units (no royal guard inf or cav) but with special exclusive mercs.
And Malta is an infantry and defensive focused civ with foreign auxilaries to balance them out.
Exactly, Malta was already from the original game, but it was a campaign civ (which was itself a remix of Spanish and British)
AoE 3 lasts from 1421 (Chinese campaign) to 1876 (Chayton campaign)…but the aoe franchise always was very flexible with the chronology from the origins of the saga: AoE 1 lasting until the middle of the eighth century (740) for example with the end of the Yamato campaign (occurring 10 years after the Tariq campaign of AoE 2) and AoE 2 lasting until 1598 with Noryang, two years before the Tokugawa campaign in AoE 3 TAD…
Malta put it to set the dlc in the Mediterranean and the modern Italian flag technically dates from 1796 product of copying the French tricolor of the French Revolution (remember the campaigns of Napoleon in Italy flying the French tricolor)…
The Italian Flag Day named Tricolour Day was established by law n. 671 of 31 December 1996, which is held every year on 7 January. This celebration commemorates the first official adoption of the tricolour as a national flag by a sovereign Italian state, the Cispadane Republic, a Napoleonic sister republic of Revolutionary France, which took place in Reggio Emilia on 7 January 1797, on the basis of the events following the French Revolution (1789–1799) which, among its ideals, advocated the national self-determination. The Italian national colours appeared for the first time in Genoa on a tricolour cockade on 21 August 1789, anticipating by seven years the first green, white and red Italian military war flag, which was adopted by the Lombard Legion in Milan on 11 October 1796.
After 7 January 1797, popular support for the Italian flag grew steadily, until it became one of the most important symbols of the Italian unification, which culminated on 17 March 1861 with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, of which the tricolour became the national flag. Following its adoption, the tricolour became one of the most recognisable and defining features of united Italian statehood in the following two centuries of the history of Italy.
I love how people copy-paste atricles from wikipedia without context. The tricolor wasnt an italian thing until the Cispandine Republic which - COPIED the french tricolor, and it was a PROTECTORATE of France, a napoleonic state and you yourself said it - copied. Not an italian thing - can be turned into a revolutionary flag for some new revolution for the Italians. Let me return the favour and provide you with this information : " The Cisalpine Republic ( Repubblica Cisalpina ) was a sister republic of France in Northern that lasted from 1797 to 1802 which was the previous republic merged with the dutchy of Milan.
Having the italian tricolor - a revolutionary modern flag for the Italians is like having the French revolutionary flag for the French civ. Umm no.
Do you see the TRICOLOR here - because i cant notice it.
If the tricolor is to remain - the only reasonable flag that represents unified italians under the King Victor Emanuel II is the flag of the Kingdom Of Italy.
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Guess what people have been yelling “why Napoleon has fleur-de-lis” since 2005…
I have solidified my previous thought: giving the civs a flag is a bad move. They should not give any civ-specific icon like in old AOE2 and everyone will be happy.