History Main / UnitsNotToScale

** In all ''Civilization'' games, it's taken as read that virtually all units are not really the soldiers or tanks or planes or whatever themselves but a representation of a large group of them. The three "Riflemen" or ''IV'' or twenty of ''V'' (or one of ''III'') are all taken to represent a division or a brigade of rifles, and ditto with the cavalry and tanks, and a single "Jet Fighter" is understood to be a squadron or wing of planes. The only real exception is probably the naval vessels, which probably are supposed to represent a single vessel (at least from the late Renaissance onward), so the vast difference in scale really is just a matter of being able to see the thing. In some of the games, this is even acknowledged with a statistic that expresses the size of the player's military in a fairly realistic fashion. It can be surreal to get told that your five or six units actually represent an army in the tens of thousands that could probably sack and burn all but the best-defended cities of the era, or that your city's population of 20 actually represents a MegaCity with millions of inhabitants.

* Averted in Franchise/{{Spellforce}}, since you can use a third person view of your avatar, units are to scale. The only drawback is that it makes buildings look a bit small when using it.

* Notably averted in ''American Conquest'', where barracks are indeed the size of a regiment, and you often need to zoom out to manage your fleet.

A type of visual abstraction in many VideoGames, BoardGames, and TabletopGames by which objects that are supposed to be vastly different from each other in size are represented as much larger or smaller than they really are, so that they take up a similar amount of space onscreen or a similar number of tiles on the map. This is common in the OverworldNotToScale of {{JRPG}}s, where your character seems to be about half the size of a city. ({{Western RPG}}s are less prone to this, and many later {{JRPG}}s have begun averting it.) Also, in many {{strategy game}}s, infantrymen are ridiculously large when compared to vehicles and buildings. The difference in scale is particularly noticeable when dealing with transports that can carry multiple infantry, and it's very rare that an aircraft carrier will be large enough to contain more than a handful of aircraft.

[[quoteright:267:[[VideoGame/{{Civilization}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/BattleshipMeetsPikeman.JPG]]]]
[[caption-width-right:267:[[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Attack of the 50 Foot Pikeman!]][[note]]or: Defence of the 3 Yard Dreadnought![[/note]]]]

[[quoteright:275:[[VideoGame/{{Civilization}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/BattleshipMeetsPikeman.JPG]]]]
[[caption-width-right:275:[[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Attack of the 50 Foot Pikeman!]][[note]]or: Defence of the 3 Yard Dreadnought![[/note]]]]

* ''VideoGame/StarWarsEmpireAtWar'' noticeably downscales the larger ships while upscaling the fighters. A squadron of about ten twelve-meter X-wings flying in loose formation takes up about the same space on the map as a 700-meter Acclimator. In this case, it's rather obviously for the reason of "if they were scale-accurate, you'd either have fighters the size of fly swarms or Star Destroyers that take up the entire screen." Additionally, break out the cinematic camera angles and you'll find that the "distant planets" you're fighting nearby are actually about the same size as the larger dreadnoughts, and their models appears to be within walking distance of the battle.

* Also notable in ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} 4'', where it is possible to zoom in on your cities to see the various buildings and wonders you've created there... and any garrisoned units, towering high above even the tallest of buildings. If you happen to build the Colossus of Rhodes, it's interesting to note that he's effectively a miniature next to the actual soldiers.
** Closer to aversion in Civilization 5, though. Units are still numerically smaller, with physically larger soldiers, than reality by a huge proportion, but it's a smaller huge proportion -- twenty pikemen who together take up one tile, instead of three pikemen who tower over cities.
** In all ''Civilization'' games, it's taken as read that virtually all units are not really the soldiers or tanks or planes or whatever themselves but a representation of a large group of them. The three "Riflemen" or ''IV'' or twenty of ''V'' (or one of ''III'') are all taken to represent a division or a brigade of rifles, and ditto with the cavalry and tanks, and a single "Jet Fighter" is understood to be a squadron or wing of planes. The only real exception is probably the naval vessels, which probably are supposed to represent a single vessel (at least from the late Renaissance onward), so the vast difference in scale really is just a matter of being able to see the thing.

* ''VideoGame/Freelancer'' presents a vast universe full of hundreds of planets, some of which probably only barely reach even a hundred metres across. The space stations are especially out of scale - a massive trade station might only have the same area as a large house, and the smaller stations would barely have enough internal volume for [[PlayerCharacter Trent]] to get out and stretch his legs.

Lately, this trope is getting discredited in video games; better graphics have indeed made it possible to zoom in enough to see otherwise tiny soldiers in good detail, while maintaining the ability to zoom out and see large vehicles and most of the battlefield - with soldiers either very small, or (depending on the game) so tiny they're shown as symbols. However, it will probably remain a case of TropesAreNotBad, since it can be a hassle to have to constantly zoom in and out in order to command efficiently. In practice, even strategy games that downplay this trope at least use it to the extent that you can still micromanage a battle from a single zoom setting. Board games and Tabletop games are further constrained by the fact that you can only make physical game pieces so small before they're inconvenient to manipulate, or the board so large before you can no longer play it on a tabletop. Just imagine how impractical playing ''TabletopGame/{{Risk}}'' would be if the board representing the world map was gigantic enough to match the scale of the soldier pieces, or if each of those pieces didn't [[ActuallyFourMooks represent a whole army]]!

A type of visual abstraction in many VideoGames, BoardGames, and TabletopGames by which objects that are supposed to be vastly different from each other in size are represented as much larger or smaller than they really are, so that they take up a similar amount of space onscreen or a similar number of tiles on the map. This is common in the OverworldNotToScale of {{JRPG}}s, where your character seems to be about half the size of a city. ({{Western RPG}}s are less prone to this, and many later {{JRPG}}s have begun averting it.) Also, in many StrategyGames, infantrymen are ridiculously large when compared to vehicles and buildings. The difference in scale is particularly noticeable when dealing with transports that can carry multiple infantry, and it's very rare that an aircraft carrier will be large enough to contain more than a handful of aircraft.

->-- '''David St. Hubbins''', ''Film/ThisIsSpinalTap''

* {{Egregious}} example from ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer: Red Alert,'' where infantry are about the same size the light tank or APC (which can, of course, hold five of said infantry). Some levels in the campaign actually take place inside buildings which, if infantry were the same size inside and out, it would be theoretically possible to build an entire base in the ''hallways'' of that building.

* ''VideoGame/BahamutLagoon'' makes no to maintain any kind of consistent scale-- a castle might take up six tiles of the map one chapter, and ''be'' the map the next. Not to mention the [[PartyInMyPocket strangely absent squad members]]....

* ''TachyonTheFringe'' also advertises its realistic scale. In the game, various sectors contain truly gigantic starbases (so massive that they often caused framerate problems), with the player's hangar being only a small opening when looking at the entire structure. It can take several minutes (even using afterburners) to fly around the thing. The same is true with cruisers and carriers, although to a much lesser extent. The problem with planet scale is solved by having the planets and moons as backgrounds.

Lately, this trope is getting discredited in video games; better graphics have indeed made it possible to zoom in enough to see otherwise tiny soldiers in good detail, while maintaining the ability to zoom out and see large vehicles and most of the battlefield - with soldiers either very small, or (depending on the game) so tiny they're shown as symbols. However, it will probably remain a case of TropesAreNotBad, since it can be a hassle to have to constantly zoom in and out in order to command efficiently. In practice, even strategy games that downplay this trope at least use it to the extent that you can still micromanage a battle from a single zoom setting. Board games and Tabletop games are further constrained by the fact that you can only make physical game pieces so small before they're inconvenient to manipulate, or the board so large before you can no longer play it on a tabletop. Just imagine how impractical playing ''BoardGame/{{Risk}}'' would be if the board representing the world map was gigantic enough to match the scale of the soldier pieces, or if each of those pieces didn't [[ActuallyFourMooks represent a whole army]]!

A type of visual abstraction in many VideoGames, BoardGames, and TabletopGames by which objects that are supposed to be vastly different in size are represented as much larger or smaller than they really are, so that they take up a similar amount of space onscreen or a similar number of tiles on the map. This is common in the OverworldNotToScale of {{JRPG}}s, where your character seems to be about half the size of a city. ({{Western RPG}}s are less prone to this, and many later {{JRPG}}s have begun averting it.) Also, in many StrategyGames, infantrymen are ridiculously large when compared to vehicles and buildings. The difference in scale is particularly noticeable when dealing with transports that can carry multiple infantry, and it's very rare that an aircraft carrier will be large enough to contain more than a handful of aircraft.

A type of visual abstraction in many VideoGames, BoardGames, and TableopGames by which objects that are supposed to be vastly different in size are represented as much larger or smaller than they really are, so that they take up a similar amount of space onscreen or a similar number of tiles on the map. This is common in the OverworldNotToScale of {{JRPG}}s, where your character seems to be about half the size of a city. ({{Western RPG}}s are less prone to this, and many later {{JRPG}}s have begun averting it.) Also, in many StrategyGames, infantrymen are ridiculously large when compared to vehicles and buildings. The difference in scale is particularly noticeable when dealing with transports that can carry multiple infantry, and it's very rare that an aircraft carrier will be large enough to contain more than a handful of aircraft.

The phenomenon in video games where objects, people or places appear to be totally different sizes than what they should be. This is common in the OverworldNotToScale of {{JRPG}}s, where your character seems to be about half the size of a city. ({{Western RPG}}s don't seem to fall under this, and many later {{JRPG}}s have begun averting it.) Also, in many RealTimeStrategy games, infantrymen are ridiculously large when compared to vehicles and buildings. The difference in scale is particularly noticeable when dealing with transports that can carry multiple infantry, and it's very rare that an aircraft carrier will be large enough to contain more than a handful of aircraft.

This is a case of {{acceptable|BreaksFromReality}} GameplayAndStorySegregation. Making everything the same size would require either extreme zooming out (which would make the object in question too hard to see) or zooming in (which would disallow an overall view of the thing in question).

Lately, this trope is getting discredited; better graphics have indeed made it possible to zoom in enough to see otherwise tiny soldiers in good detail, while maintaining the ability to zoom out and see large vehicles and most of the battlefield - with soldiers either very small, or (depending on the game) so tiny they're shown as symbols. Still, it will probably remain a case of TropesAreNotBad, since it can be a hassle to have to constantly zoom in and out in order to command efficiently.

See also VideoGameTime, which is improperly scaled time. Compare ClownCar and ClownCarBase, BiggerOnTheInside, SpaceCompression, ThrivingGhostTown, PerspectiveMagic, and LargeAndInCharge. BonsaiForest is a {{subtrope}}.

* The world of scale model building is one where issues of scale ''absolutely'' matter. Manufacturers are frequently called out on scale discrepancies within their kits and ranges by modellers who insist on something pretty close to perfection. It doesn't help that within the two principal modelling bands, there are anomolies which hang over from the days when different manufacturers had different ideas of what would be popular. 1:32 scale models are still there, for instance, even though the accepted standard in this range for practically all kit manufacturers and fans is 1:35. Clasic kit manufacturer Airfix, in the smaller scale band, still produces a hodgepodge of kits and figures in HO/00 (approximate 1:87 scale, designed to go with model railway layouts. The accepted industry yardstick here is less clearcut: it is tending now to 1:72, but many kits are still made in 1:76. Does it matter? well, yes. Take a model of the same subject in, say, 1:32 and stand it next to one in 1:35. There will be a visible scale difference. The same applies to 1:76 versus 1:72. And 1:87 is ''definitely'' smaller. Within each scale, however, there is generally consistency. [[note]]Talking to a clued-up modeller about, say, the Airfix model of the Crusader Tank and how its dimemsions are way out of scale even within itself, and you will get a far longer and more detailed answr than it might strictly need.[[/note]]

* ''Franchise/LEGO'' produces a number of licensed sets, the most famous of which is their Franchise/StarWars line. Small fighters like the X-wing or TIE Fighter are built roughly to the same scale to the pilot minifig as the movies, while larger ships are built to wildly different scales; the Millenium Falcon is slightly smaller than it should be, while the Star Destroyer and especially the [[MileLongShip Super Star Destroyer]] are built to ''much'' smaller scales. This is to maintain sanity, as a to-scale SSD would be the length of an Olympic swimming pool.