Best Civ/Leader pair:
Team FFH: Hannibal of Mali. Good starting techs (Mining/Wheel), Skirms/Mint are always useful, and Fin/Cha is strong, even if there's basically no synergy between any of his features. No weaknesses is enough to put him on top.
2nd best:
Sunrise: Genghis of Egypt. Similar story, although Obelisks aren't terribly useful without Phi, but War Chariots are MUCH better when double-moves are allowed. Although I'd rather have a leader that really helps push out those WCs if I was rushing someone. Anti-synergy of Agg and Mounted UU.
3rd:
I think I have to go with Nakor/Tatan/Serdoa's Darius of Rome draw. Fishing/Mining is a little weak, and Rome isn't great without Agg (i.e., a Praet Rush is a no go)...but I think that Agg Rome is a red herring.
The Good Tier:
You, although Wheel/Hunting is frustrating with this start. Again, Hatty's good, and Gers have their place (not to mention that you can easily switch into and out of Vassalage/Theo if you want 3-promo mounted units once Gers are up). Keshiks can ALWAYS move 4 units if you pull off a double-move, so there's room for some fun there if you want it.
Slowcheetah's Wang Kon of Inca. Fin + Inca, even w/o Exp and just Pro, is good enough.
Moogle's Peter of England. Compare with our old Sury of England. Sury's better, but not by a whole lot. If he was Peter of Egypt, then I'd be wary of a PBEM4V repeat: based on my opening in that game, I should've won PBEM4V, and not given Krill a chance to build up and blow us all away.
Catwalk's Shaka of the Aztec. Shaka's good, he'll make the Jags a little scarier, and Sacrifical Altars are interesting.
Meiz's Gandhi of the Khmer. He gets to USE his UU, while no else gets WEs (right? I think that's what the rules decided on), and Gandhi is top notch. Hunting/Mining is slow.
Decent:
Lewwyn's Boudica of Korea. Korea's a good civ, and Boudica's an OK leader...but they don't care much for one another's tricks. Hwa'cha are a UU that really don't care what promotions they have.
Pindicator's Lincoln of China. Agri/Mining is too powerful to ignore, and CKNs have some value, although Lincoln himself is a VERY tough leader to play. Maybe Cha helps a little with growing to size 6/7 to run lots of specs for early scientist/prophet?
Xenu's Mao of Native America. Nice synergy, but Exp/Pro is weak long-term, and Native America isn't a civ civ for the long haul, either.
Team Googly's Louis of Carthage (Cothons are rather weak on Pangaea/AW, although Louis himself is solid, and Numids are a sidegrade from Horse Archers, not an upgrade)
Plako's Mehmed of the Netherlands (too slow, Fishing/Mining, no UU/UB until late, and neither's that good on a Pangaea, and Exp/Org is mediocre)
Mack and Seven's Justinian of Germany. Hunting/Mining is weak, Germany is irrelevant, but Spi/Imp is reasonable.
Azza's Washington of the Vikings. Water civ on Pangaea, and Fishing/Hunting for probably the worst tech pair of the lot. But Washington's good.
Worst draw:
18. Team Nyan's FDR of Ethiopia. Ind/Org is almost as bad as it gets, especially in an 18p where there's lots of wonder competition (and 1 other Ind civ who's in much better shape) and Ethiopia doesn't bring that much to the table. +25% culture from your monument helps a little with culture wars, and Oromos will be OK later, but that's it. Oh, and Hunting/Mining to boot.
Team FFH: Hannibal of Mali. Good starting techs (Mining/Wheel), Skirms/Mint are always useful, and Fin/Cha is strong, even if there's basically no synergy between any of his features. No weaknesses is enough to put him on top.
2nd best:
Sunrise: Genghis of Egypt. Similar story, although Obelisks aren't terribly useful without Phi, but War Chariots are MUCH better when double-moves are allowed. Although I'd rather have a leader that really helps push out those WCs if I was rushing someone. Anti-synergy of Agg and Mounted UU.
3rd:
I think I have to go with Nakor/Tatan/Serdoa's Darius of Rome draw. Fishing/Mining is a little weak, and Rome isn't great without Agg (i.e., a Praet Rush is a no go)...but I think that Agg Rome is a red herring.
The Good Tier:
You, although Wheel/Hunting is frustrating with this start. Again, Hatty's good, and Gers have their place (not to mention that you can easily switch into and out of Vassalage/Theo if you want 3-promo mounted units once Gers are up). Keshiks can ALWAYS move 4 units if you pull off a double-move, so there's room for some fun there if you want it.
Slowcheetah's Wang Kon of Inca. Fin + Inca, even w/o Exp and just Pro, is good enough.
Moogle's Peter of England. Compare with our old Sury of England. Sury's better, but not by a whole lot. If he was Peter of Egypt, then I'd be wary of a PBEM4V repeat: based on my opening in that game, I should've won PBEM4V, and not given Krill a chance to build up and blow us all away.
Catwalk's Shaka of the Aztec. Shaka's good, he'll make the Jags a little scarier, and Sacrifical Altars are interesting.
Meiz's Gandhi of the Khmer. He gets to USE his UU, while no else gets WEs (right? I think that's what the rules decided on), and Gandhi is top notch. Hunting/Mining is slow.
Decent:
Lewwyn's Boudica of Korea. Korea's a good civ, and Boudica's an OK leader...but they don't care much for one another's tricks. Hwa'cha are a UU that really don't care what promotions they have.
Pindicator's Lincoln of China. Agri/Mining is too powerful to ignore, and CKNs have some value, although Lincoln himself is a VERY tough leader to play. Maybe Cha helps a little with growing to size 6/7 to run lots of specs for early scientist/prophet?
Xenu's Mao of Native America. Nice synergy, but Exp/Pro is weak long-term, and Native America isn't a civ civ for the long haul, either.
Team Googly's Louis of Carthage (Cothons are rather weak on Pangaea/AW, although Louis himself is solid, and Numids are a sidegrade from Horse Archers, not an upgrade)
Plako's Mehmed of the Netherlands (too slow, Fishing/Mining, no UU/UB until late, and neither's that good on a Pangaea, and Exp/Org is mediocre)
Mack and Seven's Justinian of Germany. Hunting/Mining is weak, Germany is irrelevant, but Spi/Imp is reasonable.
Azza's Washington of the Vikings. Water civ on Pangaea, and Fishing/Hunting for probably the worst tech pair of the lot. But Washington's good.
Worst draw:
18. Team Nyan's FDR of Ethiopia. Ind/Org is almost as bad as it gets, especially in an 18p where there's lots of wonder competition (and 1 other Ind civ who's in much better shape) and Ethiopia doesn't bring that much to the table. +25% culture from your monument helps a little with culture wars, and Oromos will be OK later, but that's it. Oh, and Hunting/Mining to boot.
