Unit Styles

See also: Building Styles

All the Ancient Caravan styles.

A remarkable feature of Rise of Nations is the great variety of different appearances a single unit can have, depending on the Nation it belongs to. Every nation forms part of a set that determines their appearance, reflecting the regional differences in physical appearance and equipment, as well as their changes through history. These cosmetic sets are called Unit Styles.

The vast majority of units have a look particular to their assigned style, and even units that are never upgraded, such as civilian units, become visually distinct as a player advances through the ages, usually when reaching the Gunpowder and again in the Industrial Age, in much the same fashion as Building Styles.

The Unit Style mostly affects the people (foot and mounted military units, civilians, support units and the crew of Artillery Weapons), but it can also determine the models used by other types of units (such as Naval and Aircraft units). Also, Unique Units always have their own distinctive appearance, regardless of the Unit Style used by a nation.

Rise of Nations originally had 4 Unit Styles. The Thrones and Patriots expansion added the East Indian and Iroquois styles, bringing the total to 6.

Unit Styles of all the Nations

Unit Style	Nations
European	Americans, British, Dutch, Egyptians, French, Germans, Greeks, Romans, Russians, Spanish, Turks
American	Aztecs, Inca, Maya
Arab	Bantu, Nubians
Asian	Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Mongols
East Indian	Indians, Persians
Iroquois	Iroquois, Lakota

Nation-Specific Models

In addition to all the styles above, some standard (non-unique) units have models exclusive to their nation.

Korean Style

Korean units belong to the Asian style, but have a few exclusive models:

• Scholars before the Industrial Age)
• Gunpowder Citizens
• Scouts and Explorers

Also, there actually is a fully-fledged Korean building style.

German/Axis Style

Although similarly not explicitly being a dedicated style, certain Modern Age units use a unique look for the Germans, Romans and Spanish, resembling German World War 2-era soldiers and vehicles. This list of units includes:

• Infantry
• Bazooka
• Heavy Machine Gun
• Tank
• Armored Scout Car
• Anti-Aircraft Battery
• Howitzer
• General

Models Shared Between Styles

In some cases, models can look exactly the same in some or all styles. For instance, all pre-industrial Caravan and Spy units in the European and American style look the same, while all post-industrial Caravans share the same model in all styles. Also, on maps with snow, every nation's Citizens and Scouts share models with winter clothing.