Hello, here are my thoughts on the elite unit skins compared to the regular one. Overall I appreciate what has been done for that massive update for the current 55 UUs, but with one big golden elephant in the room.
For each unit I’ll indicate what I like and what I’d change on the model
- Infantry
- Berserker : Positive : I really like the bear skin, as it gives the unit its name (a bear skin was given to great warriors to show they are champions, that’s where the name comes from). Below that, he’s now wearing chainmail which was quite rare for vikings. The horned helmet isn’t historically accurate but as the original had one, I’ll let that slide. Negative : the golden shield rim. It would pass for a sturdy metal shield, but viking shields were disposable and expected to break during battle, making this an idiotic choice. I’d change the shield of the elite to having an iron rim while the regular one has a rawhide rim (currently in iron).
- Chakram Thrower : Positive much better clothes & turban indicating a higher status, and having some spare chakrams is on point. Negative : golden chakrams. Why are you throwing gold at the enemy ?
- Gbeto : overall I like it. The elite is more protected (still light but better than a dress) and has finer clothes, and the shaved head indicates dedicating more to being a warrior so leaning toward a professional soldier than some amateurish militia. Again some gold but I’ll let it slide, as Mali was famed for its gold at the time.
- Ghulam : that’s how you make an elite upgrade : more armour. I see some small touches on gold on the shield (notably on the boss) but as it’s a metal design it will be sturdy.
- Huskarl : Positive : it trades an iron musculata for a lamellar armour that now covers his shoulder + some padded neck guard, while the helmet follows the same pattern. The elite helmet looks more “barbarian” while the regular had a roman design, implying he ceased to be a roman auxiliary troop to take over. The colour of the armour is bronze and I like that colour. Negative : same as the berserk, gold rim on the wooden shield, both for the regular and the elite. Nope, even for a royal guard it’s a stupid idea.
- Jaguar : the elite one is glorious. But now I can’t unsee that Aztecs were furries so they totally deserved Cortez bringing divine justice down on them.
- Kamayuk : very good : finer clothes, fancier spear & helmet, and some basic armour to protect the heart.
- Karambit : is it still supposed to be trash swarm infantry ? with his new golden armour, he looks more like some royal guard than some angry villager. Having the armour in iron with maybe some bronze touches would fit it much better (you don’t need gold to put a bit of colour on the metal…).
- Liao Dao : Positive : more protective armour, and I like the helmet that looks designed to protect against the harsh weather of that part of Asia. Negative : once more you had to make his armour full golden… and it’s scale armour, if you really need to put some gold you only need doing that on a fraction of the scales.
- Obuch : very good : much better armoured (mail + lamellar on top) while retaining the hood, now lowered to show he’s wearing a helmet. We can still see his 2-colours breeches in the rear, while the front is protected by armour, overall an excellent touch. The hammer being golden is still done in a tasteful way, with some trimming over a darker metal shade.
- Samurai : welcome to the Sengoku era. Between the armour that indicates a gap in time (the regular one was from an earlier period) and the sashimono on the back, it now looks appropriate for the late-game when those annoying Nanban start selling some tanegashima. I may have put a fancier, more colourful katana hilt & sheath to reflect the advance in time.
- Sergeant : good except the shield rim & axe shaft. More armour, the new design on the shield indicates a change of the ruling dynasty which is fitting as Sicily had quite a turbulent history, and a bigger nastier axe with notably a pike at the rear for armour-piercing. Only negative, once more a golden shield rim (strangly not on the unit’s icon) and strangely the axe’s shaft is golden too (it should be wood with some iron reinforcements near the blade).
- Shotel Warrior : good. the main upgrade is now having a helmet & armour, without bling-bling.
- Teutonic Knight : good. winged helmets were only for commanders and are a terrible idea in melee, but they are so emblematic of the Teutonic Order that it had to get one. More subtle details, he now has gauntlets and a belt to actually warry the sheath, and a pelt on the shoulders to better protect against the cold baltic weather.
- Throwing axeman : a lot of nice touches. The main features is now wearing a chainmail, chainmail gloves and a new helmet that looks made from bronze or with bronze trimmings, as well as a cape (very useful in case of poor weather). The axe has a brighter steel colour indicating a better metal quality. I see a bit of gold but it’s used sparingly and tastefully. Strangely he loses his lower legs protections but having some is really not a priority for infantry, it mainly matters for cavalry.
- Urumi : the master & his apprentice more clothes including a turban, while the most striking feature is the urumi that now has several flails instead of 1. They existed and this greatly increases the potential damage output of such a weapon, also indicating a greater mastery as there is more room for mistake. That’s the sign of an elite warrior, he well deserved the bit of jewelry he’s wearing.
- White Feather Guard : Positive : much more complete armour. The more complex shield seems designed to fight in tight formations, it reminds me of some bronze age designs. Negative : too much gold, keeping the armour in iron/steel… it sounds like I’m repeating myself. Also, while the new weapon is more impressive, it looks like you’ve overdone it with the size of the blades, even knowing AOE2 has upscaled weapons for visibility it feels too much.
- Woad Warrior : good if the anachronism is ignored. The elite now is what I’d expect Caesar or Claudius to have faced in Britannia. I like seeing bronze and not gold on the helmet.
- Archers
- Chu Ko Nu : great armour. he now looks like a professional soldier while the regular looked like a regular inhabitant who grabbed his home defence kit.
- Composite Archer : subtle and nice. He now wears chainmail, and has the coat of arms of Armenia on his cape. The helmet has some subtle gold trim, so does the ends of the bow.
- Genoese Crossbowman : Positive : a great equipment upgrade, now wearing plate + mail, a more advanced helmet that can be closed if the enemy is raining some arrows down on him, and a bigger pavise that’s much better designed to be used as one. Negative : gold edge on the pavise, once more you didn’t need that.
- Fire Archer : Positive : more armour done in a subtle way, most notably on the arms. The bigger clothes gives him more presence, feeling more like a master. Negative : the golden statues at the end of the bow feel far too heavy, very impractical.
- Janissary : splendid ! now just give the regular janissary the look of the royal janissary.
- Longbowman : a proper armour upgrade with mail and a new helmet more fit for melee, the regular one had a wider helmet that better protects against projectiles but now the chainmail decreases the need of a wide one. The elite now also has a buckler
- Plumed Archer : good. the elite now has more armour while the regular has smaller feathers on his hat. An interesting detail is the colour of the arrow tip : grey for the regular, green for the elite. Is it using some rare stone for the arrow head, or is the arrow supposed to be poisoned ? In both cases I like it
- Rattan Archer : a logical evolution with extra armour pieces (notably on the shoulders) and now having boots instead of sandals.
- Melee cavalry
- Boyar : Positive : the cape & lamellar barding for the horse, as opposed to mail for the regular one. Negative : far too much gold used, which not only wasn’t necessary but also breaks the darker look of the regular.
- Cataphract : Positive : subtle upgrades to the armour & barding. Negative : gold on too many places, even on the blade of the sword and, once more, on the shield. You should have kept the amount of gold from the regular one, while downgrading the regular to have the golden parts in iron.
- Centurion : Positive : some upgrades in the equipment, notably the horse’s neck is now covered and the face plate is upgraded. The saddle carpet is also upgraded. Negative : I think it should use a tiny bit more gold, just to really be sure you’ll distinguish it from the regular one (sarcastic). There was so much else you could have upgraded such as reversing the colours on the shield or changing the armour which is just recoloured here (and still looks too much like what it was under Trajan).
- Coustillier : a rare case for which gold on armour is appropriate. Burgundy was filthy rich (burgundian wines + flemish cloth industry) and they had a very ornate style of armour to show off their wealth, so gold is appropriate for that one. And even then you still showed restraint on how much you put, only making trimmings on blackened armour instead of going all-in, hat off for that one. Bonus points for having a significant armour upgrade, still retaining the Cross of Burgundy on the tabard.
- Iron Pagoda : Positive : reinforced armour, going all-in on the design while the regular one seems constrained by resources, showing they became emperors of half of China. Negative : too much gold once more, and that big mask on the shield on the back makes it lose all practicality.
- Keshik : limited by the LOD. The original already had a lot of gold, which fits its special ability, and I’m glad you didn’t put extra gold on the elite and instead decided to increase the amount of player colour by laking the lamellar armour more ornate. The issue is with the level of details from the game, it feels blurry, especially on the horse’s barding. Removing some gold on the original may have been a better choice.
- Konnik. Positive : an improvement on armour, and the darker morningstar looks nasty. Adding a neck protection on the horse seems to be to protect against an accidental morningstar strike on the horse, a nice touch. The feather on top of the helmet is also good Negative : while did the horse’s neck protection need being golden ?
- Leitis : perfect. More advanced armour, the shield change to reflect the change of ruling dynasty + conversion of Lithuania, and no gold.
- Magyar Huszar : near perfect : more armour & barding, a fancier lance, change of the colour of feathers. Just why the golden shield rim ?
- Mameluke : great : more armour, richer clothes, a coloured carpet on the saddle
- Monaspa : positive : improved horse barding, a banner on the lance, the darker armour with gold trim. Negative : plating the lamellar horse barding with gold is unnecessary, only keep the details on the horse’s face plate and rider’s helmet.
- Shirvamsha Rider : overall nicely done. There is a tradeoff for gold, the shield goes from bronze to gold but it’s offset with the horse’s head protection going from gold to laquered in the player’s colour. The horse has a fancier kit, the rider gets some light armour, and has a fancier weapon. The black saddle as opposed to beige also suggests a stronger unit.
- Tarkan : doesn’t fit the Huns. Overall the elite tarkan seems fancier with some light lamellar armour and a fancier helmet, but it doesn’t fit the dreadful image associated with the Huns. As a “bonus”, it feels like the devs went out of their way to troll me for this one as the elite’s flame look golden instead of made of fire. I’d have gone for a darker colour scheme and maybe, combining the tarkan’s image with some 19th century imagery, given the elite a flaming morningstar to be extra dreadful (not historical as expected from 19th century imagery but the Huns have a reputation to uphold).
- Tiger Cavalry : Positive : the tiger pelts change from a orange Bengal Tiger to a white Siberian Tiger, a species reputed to be even fiercer. The elite is also more armoured, the lamellar barding on the horse is tighter. Negative : Aurum, semper maledictum aurum…
- War Elephant : good upgrade. The elephant’s face plate looks like bronze, and the carpet on the elephant now bears a zoroastrian symbol that’s very emblematic of pre-islamic Persia. The elephant’s tusks are now covered in bronze as well, making them extra useful as a weapon.
- Ranged cavalry
- Arambai : overall good. The improved harness and the wide helmet are the main indicator of the upgrade, the unit also wears golden or bronze pauldrons which aren’t too big.
- Ballista Elephant : good. Adding some armour on the elephant, brighter attachments, without anything excessive.
- Camel Archer : simple but effective. The main difference is wearing longer embroided clothes instead of plain ones. Don’t need more !
- Conquistador : positive : leans more toward a renaissance style with stripped sleeves and a feather on the helmet. Negative : why is the armour fully gold-plated ? You’re supposed to have lost the aztec gold at the bottom of the lake during La Noche Triste. Having some subtle trim on the armour would have been sufficient.
- Genitour : good upgrade. The rider now has a helmet & chainmail, giving him a darker look. Strangely he now rides a brighter horse.
- Kipchak : nicely done. The rider’s cossack haircut is now hidden by a steppe cap, he wears an extra layer of armour, and the horse has more barding, without anything excessive.
- Mangudai : a nice upgrade, with subtle touch such as a richer cape and more armour. Having a bit more gold indicates he got richer by plundering Persia and China, without being too much.
- Ratha : positive : the chariot is now sturdier and features the hindu wheel of reincarnation on it, while the horses have seen some improvements. I like the contrast on the shield between the black and the gold Negative : too much gold, limiting it to the shield & embroidery on the horses would have been enough.
- War Chariot : a weird upgrade for a weird unit. The roof looks like bronze (not gold but that much still feels bling-bling), but adding the spikes on it and the little flag make it look like a land turtle ship. If you’re going in that direction, I would have kept the roof in iron, as well as not giving gold to the horses’ improved armour.
- Siege & ships
- Hussite Chariot : nicely strenghtened. Side planks are now held by iron instead of wood, and the rounded design leaves more room inside. The wheels are also much thicker, and won’t be damaged easily. It feels like a properly designed upgrade over the quickly improvised regular one. I just would have wanted to see a hussite chalice banner or painting somewhere.
- Organ Gun : positive : the gunner has finer renaissance clothes, and the organ gun itself has now a double layer of guns, so twice the firepower (also twice the reloading time but let’s not spoil all the fun). Negative : why did you need to make the guns golden ? While bronze guns would have been perfectly viable.
- Caravel : I don’t like the sails, having their top in a solid player colour looks quite ugly. Some side ornements are also golden, true, Portugal got very rich with the indian ocean trade, but you could have made it in the player’s colour while keeping the sails as they were. I do appreciate the reinforced hull structure with a lining of iron.
- Longboat : positive : the shields are now properly painted and the tail is nice. While the original had a greenish interior, the elite now has a much healthier wood colour, indicating it’s made of superior wood Negative : gold on the head figure, tail and on the rim of some shields.
- Turtle Ship : positive : colouring the dragon head and no longer having that greenish colour on the roof (between the metal hexagons) indicates the ship has been made fully operational instead of hastily put out of mothball. The roof is only half-golden with a nice <<< pattern. Negative : did I mention there were other alternatives to gold, such as bronze or various iron tints ? Alternatively, having some hexagon laquered in the player colour would have been an easily recognisable option.
That’s all folks. Overall, while the equipment upgrades make sense for most units (I’d only change it for a few), too much gold was used and it should have been heavily restrained for all but the wealthiest civs (Mali or Burgundy to name a few). You do not need to put so much gold to indicate an elite unit when equipment upgrades can do the trick in a much more subtle and natural way, which is done very well for some units.
