Flags, we need to talk

[Falconette]

Hello everyone! First of all, I would like to thank the developers once again for a wonderful game that is getting better before our eyes every day.

I understand that the game still has a long way to go and fix a lot of difficulties with the mechanics and the heart of the gameplay — designing ships and simulating naval battles.

However, I am one of those players who like to mess with history and visual aesthetics, and I must say that there is also a need for improvements along the way.

I would be happy to share specific considerations regarding the display of flags in the game in order to reveal more fully the idea that I reflected in the thread about the 6-month roadmap.

So, there are two problems with flags in the game: a large systemic and a small cosmetic one.

The big systemic problem is that the developers decided to give each main country two flags: the state (national) one and the naval ensign. This is a great decision and I support it. However, in the Navy, as a rule, a third flag is also used — the jack. But the national flag is usually carried not by military, but by merchant ships. In the game, we have a very strange system — a naval ensign at the stern (where it should be) and at the bow (there should be a jack, which is not found in the game at all), and on the masts — a national flag, which is not used in the navy of most countries. In addition, some countries have a jack instead of an ensign, the most striking example is democratic China, which in addition uses the flags of two different governments: as a national flag, it is the flag of "Five Races in One Union" (Beiyang government), and as a naval one — the jack (not ensign!) of the Nanjing government of the Kuomintang. The harsh irony here is that during the Second World War, these flags were used by direct opponents (the Japanese collaborators had "Five Races in One Union"). As a result, even the current system of "national flag + ensign" is being violated, instead of which Chinese republic has a jack.

My suggestion to solve this problem is to add jacks to the game and use the traditional naval flag system: a jack at the bow, an ensign at the stern and masts. If the flags match (a national, an ensign and a jack), you should not be afraid of this and it is better to make everything monotonous than to create artificial diversity by combining incongruous flags. For example, in Qing China, all three flags were the same — I think there's nothing wrong with that. National flags can still be carried by civilian transport vessels — which they are already doing in the game right now.

The second problem is very easy to solve and, frankly, I solve it myself, but I still wanted to write about it on the forum, because it's very difficult for me to edit the flags in the game every time with a new patch, essentially doing the same job over and over again. In short: there are a lot of wrong flags in the game, and, most interestingly, as a rule, the right flags are found in the game, just out of place!

From what I noticed:
Russia under the monarchy uses the flag of the 17th-century Tsar of Muscovy as its national flag. It could use the usual Russian tricolor (currently reserved for Russia under democracy), or at least the flag of 1914 (with a yellow canton).
Spain under the monarchy uses a strange hybrid of its traditional two-tone flag and the coat of arms of republican Spain. At the same time, the correct flag of the Spanish monarchy is in the game and is used as an ensign.
Italy under the monarchy has an ensign of the Republican modern navy. Yes, the ensign and the national flag of the Kingdom of Italy coincided, but there is no problem.
Austria-Hungary under the monarchy uses the flag of Austria (black and yellow), although the game starts in 1890, when the creation of the dual monarchy already took place. At the same time, the flag of Austria-Hungary (a red-white-green one) is in the game, only under a different file.

Another very delicate topic is the flag of Nazi Germany. I agree that it should be censored, while fans of full historical authenticity can modify the game and put a real flag themselves if they want. However, I still believe that the flags of Germany itself under Nazism and the ensign of the Kriegsmarine can and should be made closer to reality — it is enough to simply replace the swastika with an iron cross or a "beam cross", which was used by the Wehrmacht. The red-with-white-and-black combination of colors is a symbol of the Kriegsmarine, it would be wrong to abandon it in favor of a strange flag resembling a modified jack of the German Empire.

It is completely unclear why Canada uses a modern flag with a maple leaf, but minor flags are a separate big topic, and so far I am not ready to touch on it, in a nutshell — almost everything needs to be reworked there, but it could definitely wait.

I really like this game and I would be happy if it got even better using the right flags, naval ensigns and jacks. If respected developers need any help or advice on them, I would be happy to provide my services.

All the best! Thank you for your attention.