by Pillager » Fri Jan 14, 2011 6:25 pm
Piranha,
I think that going with painted graphics was a good call.
I loved them MOO2 commanders too...Brainiac (the mound of eyes) was my personal favourite.
Actually, those castles are too historical/medieval for warlords IMO. There is nothing wrong with fantastical looking castles...but there are levels of fantasy and you need to decide what type of fantasy world this game is based in. Is it a low fantasy world (with only a bit of magic)...or a high fantasy world (where magic is everywhere, castles fly and wizards and gods unleash nuclear death)...or is it somewhere in between.
I think that making a few decisions about what kind of setting you want would help tie the theme together...
When? What time period does your fantasy setting (loosely) correlate to? What technology level is available? Having galleons is fine, but if you do...you should probably ditch the catapults and go with cannon, and perhaps some musket/arquebus armed troops. Go with a conquistador/musketeer/pirate themed fantasy world. Some fantasy settings have taken this course (warhammer being one)....although that is set slightly earlier than the age of sail.
Where? What culture(s) is your fantasy world based on? I see no problem in having several cultural influences. But, having every different culture represented in a single nation becomes ridiculous. If you want to take the civilization route, then have different units/graphics for the different colors. So, if my home is a Middle eastern palace, my heavy cav don't look like late medieval german knights.
Magic level? How prevalent is magic. If the magic level is low, then there really shouldn't be a nation of flying, lava dripping castles. If the magic level is very high, then ditch the low level troops...formations of spearmen mean nothing in a world where wizards are powerful enough to make entire cities fly. how do knights attack a flying city? They simple can't...never mind the lava.
Even a drab fantasy setting is pretty damn colorful, so I don't think you would be losing much by adding some logic and consistency.