Leaderscreen Elimination Thread

Washington- 7
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 25
Maria Theresa- 22
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 20
Dido- 21
Boudicca- 22
Wu Zetian- 14
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 14
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander- 12
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal - 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 12
Darius I- 14
Casimir III- 16
Maria I- 21
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 16
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 24

Someone commented on Shaka earlier, and mentioned how Shaka's leaderscreen was an example of what feels like a real leader in a real place. I'll call this quality "integration" - and I'm a huge fan of this quality. The lack of integration (called earlier the "Windows XP background" for Oda, which had me laughing out loud) bothers me, and good integration makes for great leader screens.

To that end, I'll upvote Askia - which is in my Top 3 an a great example of well-integrated. It doesn't feel like he is standing in front of his background - it feels as though he inhabits this very distinct part of the world.

Likewise I'll downvote Greece's Alexander. Not all vanilla civ screens were bad (Askia is vanilla), but many were poor, France, Greece, India and Japan especially. Where is Greece? It just feels like no effort was put in here. I want the screen to evoke the leader's culture.

Washington- 7
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 25
Maria Theresa- 22
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 20
Dido- 21
Boudicca- 22
Wu Zetian- 14
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 14
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander- 12
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal - 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 12
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 16
Maria I- 21
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 16
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 25

-Just boring. Couple of gold stairs.... woo.

-They just did everything right with Shaka. The background is lively and the music is just awesome (the one thing I don't like about Shaka is his little avatar thing. Seriously, whoever made that has never had dark chocolate).

Washington- 7
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 25
Maria Theresa- 22
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 20
Dido- 21
Boudicca- 22-Somehow, I like her swinging her sword around
Wu Zetian- 14
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 14
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander- 12
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal - 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 9- Whats with the angle of the image?
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 16
Maria I- 21
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 16
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 25

^Boudicca is at 23 after your vote, jlim201

Washington- 7
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 25
Maria Theresa - 19 - I really hate that arrogant woman and her voice makes me want to slit her throat.
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 20
Dido- 21
Boudicca- 24 - Love her voice, looks and swinging that sword around makes me laugh.
Wu Zetian- 14
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 14
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander- 12
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal - 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman - 9-
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 16
Maria I- 21
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 16
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 25

Hopefully I didn't screw up the format. First time voting on this type of thing

Got me an account just cause I wanted to vote.

Washington (+1)- 8
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 25
Maria Theresa - 19
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 20
Dido- 21
Boudicca- 24
Wu Zetian (-3) - 11
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 14
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander- 12
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal- 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 9
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 16
Maria I- 21
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 16
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 25

Washington - going against the grain here: Washington's leaderscreen always struck me as particularly accurate. Not as colonial perhaps, but as Washington was a societal elite in addition to an American statesman, the setting strikes all the right tones. His animation/acting is lively and believable - not overly active, but expressedly reserved, as befitting a statesman (though they never show his infamously explosive temper).
The man looks visibly betrayed and hurt when you declare war on him, and the subsequent transition from betrayal to resolve is clearly conveyed.
His civ may be terrible, but his leaderscreen certainly is not.

Wu Zetian - counter to the above example is our esteemed empress. I downvote this not because the screen is bland (which it is), but simply -wrong-. Why is she standing? An emperor/empress does not deign to stand for anyone, including (and perhaps especially) foreign emissaries. Her people mandated her to be their god, and so she ought to be seated, behind a desk, and flanked by lights and courtiers, presented more like a statue of a bodhitsavva than a human being. Even in her icon, she appears seated.
Also, Wu speaks common modern Mandarin, which is terrible. Not only did the scholars and elites of old Chinese society speak Mandarin differently, reciting their thoughts in measured tones almost like poetry to each other, but the Emperor/Empress was given specific words (pronouns and the like) that only he/she was allowed to use, and were, in fact, mandated to use (my people were big on the Emperor being better-than-folk, back in the day). That she uses the common "wo" to refer to herself would have been highly inappropriate. Plus her diction is stilted, and not in a good way.
All in all, bland and inaccurate. Downvote.

...

I may or may not have also made an account just so I could rant about this somewhere.

Washington- 8
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 25
Maria Theresa - 19
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 20
Dido- 22
Boudicca- 24
Wu Zetian - 11
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 11
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander- 12
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal- 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 9
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 16
Maria I- 21
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 16
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 25

Dido +1: What stands out are the colours (I will now forever associate Carthage with blue and purple), but I love this character. Many find her voice annoying but I love it, especially speaking such a beautiful and exotic language. I'm not sure how rare Phoenician speakers are but the one they got seems to really give it her all, with lovely pronounciations in her DoW soundbyte. Her animations are lots of fun too, very melodramatic. Her face when you DoW her is pure shock. And when guarded/hostile, she looks at you like you're Aeneas late at home from the pub again.

Elizabeth -3: Fun to see Elizabeth rendered in 3D, but she has nothing interesting to say and hardly shows any personality. All of her lines are just stating the obvious: nice to meet you, we shall never surrender, you have won... these lines could have been anyone's if translated (except her infamous trade request of course). Take Washington for example; "I trust you are a friend to liberty" is unmistakably his and Catherine's lines are one drawn-out sex joke, but I really don't know why they made her lines are so dull. Furthermore, the background is okay, it fits her well, and both musical themes are masterpieces, but I wish the writing was more interesting. Video et taceo gone too far.

She would've been much funnier like this:

Yeah... Elizabeth's amazing music is about the only thing keeping me from voting her down quite yet.

Washington- 8
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 25
Maria Theresa - 19
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 21
Dido- 22
Boudicca- 24
Wu Zetian - 11
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 11
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander- 12
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal- 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 9
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 16
Maria I- 21
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 16
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 22

Theodora + 1: First of all it was amazing seeing the original portrait being brought into life. Theodora exudes a pompous regal vibe. She's overly friendly even when neutral, and fierce when she's not. Isabella and Dido are close contenders.

Shaka - 3: Although it accurately portrays the warmonger that Shaka is in-game, I find the musical score to be really irritating with the way "Shaka" is repeated every other line. That's just my opinion though. I'm sure others find him intimidating.

Ziad said:

Theodora + 1: First of all it was amazing seeing the original portrait being brought into life.

Click to expand...

Actually, the accuracy of her portrayal is debatable. Her head comes from the 6th century mosaic while the body and background are from a 19th century portrait - waaaay after her death.

With that being said...

Washington- 8
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 25
Maria Theresa - 19
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 22 - Phos Hilaron is a HUGE plus to the leaderscreen. Too bad the best part of the music starts at around 1min, and you almost never spend that much time talking to a leader.
Dido- 22
Boudicca- 24
Wu Zetian - 11
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 11
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander- 12
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal- 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 6 - IMO the concept is completely overshadowed by Ashurbanipal.
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 16
Maria I- 21
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 16
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 22

Washington- 8
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 26 Both fierce and scholarly, the background is great support for that too with the scroll cases topped by the bull sculptures.
Maria Theresa - 19
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 22
Dido- 22
Boudicca- 24
Wu Zetian - 11
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 11
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander- 12
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal- 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 6
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 13 Out of the new ones I think the dark castle background is the ugliest. Casimir is ok but doesn't save the background.
Maria I- 21
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 16
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 22

Washington- 9 - Please, you can't destroy Washington, his scene is excellent. He's very believable as a gentleman of that specific period. Maybe not the best scene but definitely not one to go this soon either.
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 26
Maria Theresa - 19
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 22
Dido- 22
Boudicca- 24
Wu Zetian - 11
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 11
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander- 12
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal- 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 6
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 10 Just terrible. I always think 'garden gnome' when poor Casimir shows up, apparently cast out from his own bland, darkened castle (what is a king doing there?!)
Maria I- 21
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 16
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 22

Washington- 9
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 26
Maria Theresa - 19
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 22
Dido- 22
Boudicca- 24
Wu Zetian - 11
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 11
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander- 12
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal- 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 6
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 7 - One more great aspect of playing as Poland is not having to look at this dire, dire leaderscreen.
Maria I- 22 - While I'm trying to spread my votes around, Maria's screen is gorgeous, allowing it to feel interesting while also showing the vast expanse of the Atlantic behind her. And she's writted so wonderfully crazy that it's always a treat to see her.
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 16
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 22

Washington- 9
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 26
Maria Theresa - 19
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 22
Dido- 22
Boudicca- 24
Wu Zetian - 11
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 11
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander- 12
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal- 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 7 Surprised this is low. It's actually one of my very favorites. I appreciate the architecture and the angle where he looks down on you, which is unique
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 4 - Continuing the trend of downvoting Casimir. Dig the style in terms of variety, but otherwise it's bland and boring and should be the next to go. Honestly though, I really like all the leaderscreens beyond nitpicking. You can see they tried
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 16
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 22

Washington- 9
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 26
Maria Theresa - 19
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 22
Dido- 22
Boudicca- 24
Wu Zetian - 11
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 11
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander (-3) = 9
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal- 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 6
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 7
Maria I- 22
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia (+1) = 17
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 22


Third straight day I'm sending my +1 to Askia. I actually prefer to play Morocco, and I love al-Mansur's leaderscreen, but I still think Askia's is amazing so I'm giving up a chance to shore up votes for Morocco in order to get behind Askia. The colour palette. So glorious.

Alexander, like Ghandi and Oda, has nothing about it that helps me to sense what their civilization looked like. Just tepid.

Washington- 9
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 26
Maria Theresa - 19
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 22
Dido- 22
Boudicca- 24
Wu Zetian -11-3=8 Decent but far from what could possibly be done with China. And I dislike the music.
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 11
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander-9
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal- 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 7+1=8 He's standing in the Dome of the Rock. Points. Suleiman's voice acting is great and so is music.
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 4
Maria I- 22
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 17
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 22

Washington- 9
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 26
Maria Theresa - 19
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 22
Dido- 22
Boudicca- 24
Wu Zetian -11-3=8 Decent but far from what could possibly be done with China. And I dislike the music.
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 11
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander-9
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal- 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 5- Whats with the angle? You can barely see where he is, you just see his clothes.
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 5- Dark leader screens are awesome.
Maria I- 22
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 17
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 22

Washington- 9
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 26
Maria Theresa - 19
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 22
Dido- 22
Boudicca- 24
Wu Zetian 8
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 11
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander-10 Voting up Alexander purely because of the amusing range of expression portrayed by Bucephalus. I feel he deserves to outlast the utter blandness of Wu and Casimir.
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal- 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 2 The weird viewing angle always throws me with Suleiman. I feel like I'm in a pit, or he's wearing high heels or stilts. They meant for him to tower imposingly, but he just sort of looms weirdly.
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 5
Maria I- 22
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 17
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 22

Washington- 9
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 26
Maria Theresa - 19
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 23 One of a few leaders that actually act and looks like a leader. Amazing background that has a sense. Music is unexpected but fit very good to the screen.
Dido- 22
Boudicca- 24
Wu Zetian 8
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 11
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander-10
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal- 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 2
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 5
Maria I- 22
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 18 <snip>
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 17
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 22

Moderator Action: Inappropriate comment removed.
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Washington- 9
Harun al-Rashid- 23
Ashurbanipal- 26
Maria Theresa - 19
Montezuma- 25
Pedro II- 18
Theodora- 23
Dido- 22
Boudicca- 25
Wu Zetian 8
Harald Bluetooth -23
William- 19
Ramesses II- 11
Elizabeth- 11
Haile Selassie- 21
Bismarck- 16
Alexander-10
Attila- 16
Pachacuti- 21
Gajah Mada- 21
Sejong- 21
Pacal- 14
Genghis Khan- 17
Ahmad al-Mansur- 15
Suleiman- 2
Darius I- 11
Casimir III- 2
Maria I- 22
Augustus Caesar- 18
Catherine- 11
Pocatello- 18
Ramkhamhaeng- 18
Askia- 17
Isabella- 21
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 22

Start with the bad, man does talking to Casimir bring me down. If the AI does such a wonderful job with his empire, why does he just always look so depressing

On to the good, there is no fault I can find whatsoever with Boudicca. For one, she looks really attractive imho. For another, she looks really cool swinging that sword around. Excellent background. Plus I'm pretty sure she occasionally demonstrates a patch of thick armpit hair, which is such a wonderfully unnecessary amusing feature, that I think I understand is historically accurate. Overall, I love her leaderscreen. If Casimir is a depressing, she's my anti-depressant. Seriously, I can't decide between her or Harald as my favorite.