Western Empire and Northern Empire Banner's

[Wilhelmus Van Laecken]

Here are the old faction banners:

Within the Gamescom footage, I noticed the change with the Western Empire wasn't Orange like it was in the faction banner reveal, and saw that it was purple and gold... Just different shades. I can't help but wonder why. Gameplay-wise, a faction banner of pretty much the same colours could be confusing, and the orange differentiated the Western from the others. They also give a reason as to why orange is used -- Because it invokes adventure.

Arenicos. Finally, we thought that orange, a colour which relates to adventure and risk-taking, would be the best choice for the militaristic Western Empire.

For comparison, here's the current Western and Northern banners.

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Just a curious change. Any thoughts?

 

[DAWUSS]

It might be due to their shared heritage of the old empire. That's my guess anyway.

 

[Silen]

It might be due to their shared heritage of the old empire. That's my guess anyway.

Yeah, I think so too. Probably just a way to keep the colors consistent with these factions' common origin.

 

[HUMMAN]

The orange one was not good i think in terms of color. Right now its better but i dont mind it too much.

 

[Gurkhal]

In one way it would have been good to see all the different Imperial factions as having clearly defined colors that stand out against each other. But I also realize that, as someone said above, that having a different color scheme entirely from the others might make that faction appear less legitimiate. Like they're saying that this Imperial faction isn't really part of the real empire, but a splinter group. And that would probably send the wrong message as they are all seeking to be the one, true and final Empire.

Still, organe and white was a nice color combination.

 

[ArnulfFloyd]

I will says as both Northern and Western Empire colours are that of Byzantine Empire in videogames, orange was out of place anyway

 

[Wilhelmus Van Laecken]

Still, orange and white was a nice color combination.

I think so too. Really helped differentiate between the Empires. I do like the royal purple of the current Western Empire, but Orange and White really stood out personally. 

 

[NPC99]

It might be due to their shared heritage of the old empire. That's my guess anyway.

Yeah, I think so too. Probably just a way to keep the colors consistent with these factions' common origin.

I agree - it makes the empire more visible on the campaign map:

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[bwc153]

I like the new change for the reasons pointed out above: common origins.  It helps visually point out that there's a war of succession without even seeing the faction names.

 

[bladeex]

I like the new change for the reasons pointed out above: common origins.  It helps visually point out that there's a war of succession without even seeing the faction names.

Totally agree.

 

[Oxtocoatl]

One thing they could have done is go Targaryen/Blackfyre and reverse the purple and gold colors for the different factions. That would make them more easy to differentiate while retaining the imperial color palette.

I think dropping the orange was a good call. Most likely we`ll get accustomed to the different shades of purple pretty quickly. I do fear that since cities and castles now have their own sigils on the campaign map instead of a factional one, many players will make split second recognition errors, which can be a problem if they mistake the enemy for a friend.

Then again, making such mistakes is very common during Civil Wars and was an issue in Roman times. Caesar solved this by giving his troops a watchword. Kinda like the "Flash" "Thunder!" exchange that was in use on D-Day.
Constantine allegedly solved this by having his troops paint the Chi Rho on their shields, but this may be later Christian propaganda.

That being said, I look forward to seeing how the Imperial NPC:s are written. I hope they reflect upon the sorry state of the torn empire in dialogue choices. It would have been awesome if some clans were split in their allegiances. Then we could have Western and Northern Comnos who would have to fight each other.