Leaderscreen Elimination Thread

Viregel

, The Rt. Hon.
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As we have most of the other Elimination threads coming to an end, I thought that we might as well vote on our favourite leaderscreens as well. Below, I have a list of them, and also my vote. The list:

Washington
Harun al-Rashid
Ashurbanipal
Maria Theresa
Montezuma
Nebuchadnezzar II
Pedro II
Theodora
Dido
Boudicca
Wu Zetian
Harald Bluetooth
William
Ramesses II
Elizabeth
Haile Sellassie
Napoleon
Bismark
Alexander
Atilla
Pachacuti
Gandhi
Gajah Mada
Hiawatha
Oda Nobunaga
Sejong
Pacal
Genghis Khan
Ahmad al-Mansur
Suleiman
Darius I
Casimir III
Kamehameha
Maria I
Catherine
Pocatello
Ramkhamhaeng
Askia
Isabella
Gustavus Adolphus
Enrico Dandolo
Shaka

Final Rankings:

Top Four: (Interchangeable as they were so close)
1. Askia. (The Winner!)
2. Harald Blutooth.
3. Pacal.
4. Shaka.

5. Pachacuti. Reasons: Pacacuti.
6. Ashurbanipal. If he wasn't in the same place all the time...
7. Enrico Dandolo. Reasons: Too... Late at night?
8. Theodora. Reasons: People seem mixed on how she should be portrayed.
9. Gajah Mada. Reasons: Napoleon 2.0. (St. Helena isn't in Indonesia though...)
10. Dido. Reasons: Apparently, "She's not Hannibal!" is the reason.
11. William. Reasons: Second-Last of the Interior, and people think he's a clown. Well, they need to visit 16th- Century Europe at some point...
12. Maria I. Reasons: Slightly annoying at times.
13. Bouddica. Reasons: Accuracy problems in general. I mean, an English (close enough) woman in Scotland speaking Welsh?
14. Haile Selassie. Reasons: Indoors.
15. Maria Theresa. Reasons: Too snobby.
16. Harun al-Rashid. Reasons: Not lively enough.
17. Montezuma. Reasons: He's crazy.
18. Kamehameha. Reasons: The paradise isn't quite perfect.
19. Sejong. Reasons: Still a throne room, and apparently the voice acting sounds ridiculous.
20. Pocatello. Reasons: Too "tribal", apparently.
21. Ahmad al-Mansur. Reasons: Too far off-centre, desert isn't ideal setting.
22. Isabella. Reasons: Sounds too annoying.
23. Attila. Reasons: The Chuvash isn't that good. And someone wanted to kill Attila.
24. Genghis Khan. Reasons: Not enough pillage and slaughter.
25. Bismarck. Reasons: The music is boring, and he's pretty much in the same place the whole time.
26. Augustus Caesar. Reasons: Looks too dark, and Augustus isn't too interesting.
27. Gustavus Adolphus. Reasons: Isn't Gustavus Adolphus.
28. Catherine. Reasons: Too much white, and generally bland.
29. Washington. Reasons: Should be more 'Merican.
30. Ramkanhgaeng. Reasons: Walks around in circles too often.
31. Darius II. Reasons: The backdrop's not quite grand enough.
32. Elizabeth II. Reasons: "Would you like to make a trade agreement with England?" (not said, but valid enough)
33. Pedro II. Reasons: He needs to get out of his room more often.
34. Alexander. Reasons: General hatrid for this guy.
35. Ramses II. Reasons: Extreme overuse of sandy colours. (Or "colors", if you're American)
36. Wu Zetian. Reasons: Looks too much like she's in her bedroom, and not grand enough.
37. Casimir III. Reasons: Too dark for the majority's liking.
38. Suliman. Reasons: The angle's pretty strange.
39. Gandhi. Reasons: Could be far better.
40. Oda Nobunaga. Reasons: Too similar to the Windows XP background.
41. Napoleon. Reasons: Not good enough for an emperor, and too smoky.
42. Nebuchadnezzar II. Reasons: Pretty boring.
43. Hiawatha. Reasons: Too stereotypical, little to no Iroquois elements.

By the way, upvotes are +1 and downvotes are -3, and you can only vote once every 24 hours. My vote:

Washington- 20
Harun al-Rashid- 20
Ashurbanipal- 20
Maria Theresa- 20
Montezuma- 20
Nebuchadnezzar II-20
Pedro II-20
Theodora- 20
Dido- 20
Boudicca- 20
Wu Zetian- 20
Harald Bluetooth- 20
William- 20
Ramesses II- 20
Elizabeth- 20
Haile Sellassie- 20
Napoleon- 20
Bismark- 20
Alexander- 20
Atilla- 20
Pachacuti- 20
Gandhi- 20
Gajah Mada- 20
Hiawatha- 20
Oda Nobunaga- 20
Sejong- 20
Pacal- 20
Genghis Khan- 20
Ahmad al-Mansur- 20
Suleiman-20
Darius I- 20
Casimir III- 20
Kamehameha- 20
Maria I- 20
Catherine- 17 Just quite bland, with nothing much in it.
Pocatello- 21 All I can say is that it's just really nice. Nothing more to add here!
Ramkhamhaeng- 20
Askia- 20
Isabella-20
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 20
Shaka- 20

Should be nice to have a break from discussing actual gameplay as well! I'm interested to find out the community's favourite leaderscreen, as I can't decide on my personal favourite.
 
Washington- 20
Harun al-Rashid- 20
Ashurbanipal- 20
Maria Theresa- 20
Montezuma- 20
Nebuchadnezzar II-20
Pedro II-20
Theodora- 20
Dido- 20
Boudicca- 20
Wu Zetian- 20
Harald Bluetooth- 20
William- 20
Ramesses II- 20
Elizabeth- 20
Haile Sellassie- 20
Napoleon- 20
Bismarck- 20
Alexander- 20
Atilla- 20
Pachacuti- 20
Gandhi- 20
Gajah Mada- 20
Hiawatha- 17

Oda Nobunaga- 20
Sejong- 20
Pacal- 20
Genghis Khan- 20
Ahmad al-Mansur- 20
Suleiman-20
Darius I- 20
Casimir III- 20
Kamehameha- 20
Maria I- 20
Catherine- 17
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 20
Askia- 20
Isabella-20
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21

Shaka- 20

+1 to Enrico Dandolo. I mean, just look at it. Badass, the night Venice looks nearly perfect.

-3 to Hiawatha. Nothing but a boring forest.


There should definitely be a voice actor elimination thread. Someone should go and make one. I think that Enrico Dandolo, Bismarck and Maria I of Portugal in a VA competition would have fair chances of victory. Both sound brilliant and it's visible their VA's tried, unlike some others.
 
Washington- 20
Harun al-Rashid- 20
Ashurbanipal- 20
Maria Theresa- 20
Montezuma- 20
Nebuchadnezzar II-20
Pedro II-20
Theodora- 20
Dido- 20
Boudicca- 20
Wu Zetian- 20
Harald Bluetooth- 20
William- 20
Ramesses II- 20
Elizabeth- 20
Haile Sellassie- 20
Napoleon- 20
Bismark- 20
Alexander- 20
Atilla- 20
Pachacuti- 20
Gandhi- 20
Gajah Mada- 20
Hiawatha- 17
Oda Nobunaga- 20
Sejong- 20
Pacal- 21 I love the headdress and that we meet on top of a pyramid
Genghis Khan- 20
Ahmad al-Mansur- 20
Suleiman-20
Darius I- 20
Casimir III- 20
Kamehameha- 20
Maria I- 20
Catherine- 17
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 20
Askia- 17 We meet most other leaders in their private quarters or a stately room, we meet Askai in front of a burning city, in a darkened world, and he is holding a sword. Does not encourage diplomacy.
Isabella-20
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 20

I would also down vote Alexander, and Oda Nobunga for meeting me in a field. At least Ramkhamhaeng is in a garden.
 
Before I vote, a couple of question to clarify:

Does leaderscreen include the leader's design?
Does leaderscreen include the leader's voice?
Does leaderscreen include the leader/civ's main theme?

I was going to ask about personality as well, but I think that's less relevant and goes beyond the "leaderscreen" framework.
 
Before I vote, a couple of question to clarify:

Does leaderscreen include the leader's design?
Does leaderscreen include the leader's voice?
Does leaderscreen include the leader/civ's main theme?

I was going to ask about personality as well, but I think that's less relevant and goes beyond the "leaderscreen" framework.

I'd say it's just what you see on the screen. We may take other factors into account if the voting gets too hard, but I think that the themes are worthy of a separate thread.
 
interesting elimination thread, being an animator, I cant help but nitpick at some of the bad ones and love the cool ones, so here it goes:

Washington- 20
Harun al-Rashid- 20
Ashurbanipal- 20
Maria Theresa- 20
Montezuma- 20
Nebuchadnezzar II-20
Pedro II-20
Theodora- 20
Dido- 20
Boudicca- 20
Wu Zetian- 20
Harald Bluetooth- 20
William- 20
Ramesses II- 20
Elizabeth- 20
Haile Sellassie- 20
Napoleon- 20
Bismark- 20
Alexander- 20
Atilla- 20
Pachacuti- 20
Gandhi- 20
Gajah Mada- 20
Hiawatha- 17
Oda Nobunaga- 17
Sejong- 20
Pacal- 21
Genghis Khan- 20
Ahmad al-Mansur- 20
Suleiman-20
Darius I- 20
Casimir III- 20
Kamehameha- 20
Maria I- 20
Catherine- 17
Pocatello- 22
Ramkhamhaeng- 20
Askia- 17
Isabella-20
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 20

Pocatello's leaderscreen is just beutifuly done, the lighting, subtle animation, and the incredible background, and it suits the civ overall theme, its certainly one of my favorites, even more impressive considering they probably had to rush parts of it due to the Pueblo issue.

Oda's is just bland, if you are going for a naturalistic bg at least make it interesing, its bland to the point it made fun off as being the Win XP bg, Oda's animation is the wrong kind of subtle, its just stiff, and it doesnt really convey him being on campaign or anything (unlike say Nappy, Genghis, Alex and Harald), he is just standing there in the middle of nowhere. Japan surely offers much more visually they could have used.
 
I'd say it's just what you see on the screen. We may take other factors into account if the voting gets too hard, but I think that the themes are worthy of a separate thread.
Sound+visuals can actually make a difference in comparison with analyzing them separately. Catherine's screen by itself is meh, and the peace theme, if listened to separately, sounds just like a warmongering theme that doesn't even raise your spirits for a war. But once combined you can almost feel the Russian cold through the screen. The scene turns royal yet menacing, and reflects the leader's cunning personality in the game.

But that's just IMO, and for starters I`ll go for civs that are not affected by this dilemma.

Washington- 20
Harun al-Rashid- 20
Ashurbanipal- 20
Maria Theresa- 20
Montezuma- 20
Nebuchadnezzar II-17 - I never associated Babylon with dark tones and green pallette, so I still can't get used to it.
Pedro II-20
Theodora- 20
Dido- 20
Boudicca- 20
Wu Zetian- 20
Harald Bluetooth- 20
William- 20
Ramesses II- 20
Elizabeth- 20
Haile Sellassie- 20
Napoleon- 20
Bismark- 20
Alexander- 20
Atilla- 20
Pachacuti- 20
Gandhi- 20
Gajah Mada- 20
Hiawatha- 17
Oda Nobunaga- 17
Sejong- 20
Pacal- 21
Genghis Khan- 20
Ahmad al-Mansur- 20
Suleiman-20
Darius I- 20
Casimir III- 20
Kamehameha- 21 - Firaxis nailed it. Some may find the screen too peaceful or not "leader-ish" enough, but hey it's Polynesia!
Maria I- 20
Catherine- 17
Pocatello- 22
Ramkhamhaeng- 20
Askia- 17
Isabella-20
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 20
 
Washington- 20
Harun al-Rashid- 20
Ashurbanipal- 21 while I don't like this guy, they did a splendid job on the Palace he's within
Maria Theresa- 20
Montezuma- 20
Nebuchadnezzar II-14 Come on, Babylon was a beautiful city, why he is hiding underground?
Pedro II-20
Theodora- 20
Dido- 20
Boudicca- 20
Wu Zetian- 20
Harald Bluetooth- 20
William- 20
Ramesses II- 20
Elizabeth- 20
Haile Sellassie- 20
Napoleon- 20
Bismark- 20
Alexander- 20
Atilla- 20
Pachacuti- 20
Gandhi- 20
Gajah Mada- 20
Hiawatha- 17
Oda Nobunaga- 20
Sejong- 20
Pacal- 21
Genghis Khan- 20
Ahmad al-Mansur- 20
Suleiman-20
Darius I- 20
Casimir III- 20
Kamehameha- 20
Maria I- 20
Catherine- 17
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 20
Askia- 17
Isabella-20
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 20
Some other leader I would have voted for if I could:
Enrico Dandolo: Venice Is called the queen of the Adriatic, and with a good reason.
Maria 1
Theodora: Constantinople is nice.
Isabella
Atilla- while I do hate him with passion, due to him being a murdering psychopath (that only destroyed things),, his placement looks nice.
Dido
Pacachuti

Down votes:
Askia
Casimir
Genghis Khan: Not including the fact that this guy killed the same amount of people who were killed in WW II and managed to destroy an extremely developed agricultural system that held for a century.
Ahmad Al-Mansur
 
I'd say it's just what you see on the screen. We may take other factors into account if the voting gets too hard, but I think that the themes are worthy of a separate thread.

I think too that sound and visual go hand in hand, and should both be considered when judging a leaderscreen. Well those along with a whole bunch of things, like animation, modeling, voice acting, etc. Its all about inmmersion, if all those things work togehter its great, but if one of those is so terribly bad it break inmmersion it should be brought up to attention on voting.
 
Dostayer, your scores are off. Please adjust accordingly;)
I think too that sound and visual go hand in hand, and should both be considered when judging a leaderscreen. Well those along with a whole bunch of things, like animation, modeling, voice acting, etc. Its all about inmmersion, if all those things work togehter its great, but if one of those is so terribly bad it break inmmersion it should be brought up to attention on voting.
Completely agree.
 
Washington- 20
Harun al-Rashid- 20
Ashurbanipal- 21
Maria Theresa- 20
Montezuma- 20
Nebuchadnezzar II-14
Pedro II-20
Theodora- 20
Dido- 20
Boudicca- 20
Wu Zetian- 20
Harald Bluetooth- 20
William- 20
Ramesses II- 20
Elizabeth- 20
Haile Sellassie- 20
Napoleon- 20
Bismark- 20
Alexander- 20
Atilla- 20
Pachacuti- 20
Gandhi- 17
Gajah Mada- 20
Hiawatha- 17
Oda Nobunaga- 20
Sejong- 20
Pacal- 21
Genghis Khan- 20
Ahmad al-Mansur- 20
Suleiman-20
Darius I- 20
Casimir III- 20
Kamehameha- 20
Maria I- 21
Catherine- 17
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 20
Askia- 17
Isabella-20
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 20

PORTUGAL
Sure, it may not be the starry night sky that most CivFanatics like, and it may not be the big, grand leaderscreen that some other leaders have, but this leaderscreen is still one of the best. Everything in this leaderscreen just fits with everything else, from the colours, to the aesthetic, the music, the composition, the layers - everything just comes together so beautifully to create a delightfully charming leaderscreen which perfectly represents the Portugal Civ. It's not the shiniest Civ, nor is it the grandest, most overpowered, but all of it's elements just come together so smoothly, so seamlessly, and it creates a delightful Civ to play as. Truly, this is a leaderscreen which accurately represents the Civ it is attached to.

INDIA
I was struggling with which one to take points from. Gandhi and Oda were my main candidates. Gandhi and Oda both suffer from a boring, generic leaderscreen. Ow, Oda is standing in the middle of a hilly field... There are rocks? Rocks are good, right? But Gandhi Gandhi, man, I struggled to remember just what his leaderscreen was. He is just standing in front of a body of water. Seriously, THAT'S THE BEST THEY COULD THINK OF?! At the end of the day, Oda has a generic leaderscreen, but it is somewhat memorable. Gandhi's is generic, AND forgettable, and for that he is my choice.
 
I`ll take the liberty of refreshing the scoreboard to avoid confusion.

Washington- 20
Harun al-Rashid- 20
Ashurbanipal- 21
Maria Theresa- 20
Montezuma- 20
Nebuchadnezzar II-14
Pedro II-20
Theodora- 20
Dido- 20
Boudicca- 20
Wu Zetian- 20
Harald Bluetooth- 20
William- 20
Ramesses II- 20
Elizabeth- 20
Haile Sellassie- 20
Napoleon- 20
Bismark- 20
Alexander- 20
Atilla- 20
Pachacuti- 20
Gandhi- 17
Gajah Mada- 20
Hiawatha- 17
Oda Nobunaga- 17
Sejong- 20
Pacal- 21
Genghis Khan- 20
Ahmad al-Mansur- 20
Suleiman-20
Darius I- 20
Casimir III- 20
Kamehameha- 20
Maria I- 21
Catherine- 17
Pocatello- 22
Ramkhamhaeng- 20
Askia- 17
Isabella-20
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 20
 
Washington- 20
Harun al-Rashid- 20
Ashurbanipal- 21
Maria Theresa- 20
Montezuma- 20
Nebuchadnezzar II-14
Pedro II-20
Theodora- 20
Dido- 20
Boudicca- 20
Wu Zetian- 20
Harald Bluetooth- 20
William- 20
Ramesses II- 20
Elizabeth- 20
Haile Sellassie- 20
Napoleon- 20
Bismark- 20
Alexander- 20
Atilla- 20
Pachacuti- 20
Gandhi- 17
Gajah Mada- 20
Hiawatha- 17
Oda Nobunaga- 14 Very underwhelming, I think it is just plain bland.
Sejong- 20
Pacal- 21
Genghis Khan- 20
Ahmad al-Mansur- 20
Suleiman-20
Darius I- 20
Casimir III- 20
Kamehameha- 20
Maria I- 21
Catherine- 17
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 20
Askia- 18 Really awesome with the burning city in the background.
Isabella-20
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 20
 
Washington- 20
Harun al-Rashid- 20
Ashurbanipal- 21
Maria Theresa- 20
Montezuma- 20
Nebuchadnezzar II -14
Pedro II-20
Theodora- 20
Dido- 20
Boudicca- 20
Wu Zetian- 20
Harald Bluetooth- 20
William- 21
Ramesses II- 20
Elizabeth- 20
Haile Sellassie- 20
Napoleon- 20
Bismark- 20
Alexander- 20
Atilla- 20
Pachacuti- 20
Gandhi- 17
Gajah Mada- 20
Hiawatha- 14
Oda Nobunaga- 20
Sejong- 20
Pacal- 21
Genghis Khan- 20
Ahmad al-Mansur- 20
Suleiman-20
Darius I- 20
Casimir III- 20
Kamehameha- 20
Maria I- 21
Catherine- 17
Pocatello- 21
Ramkhamhaeng- 20
Askia- 17
Isabella-20
Gustavus Adolphus- 20
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 20

Bit of a toss-up between William and Shaka, but I love the ton of references to Dutch masters in William's. Hiawatha's is just kind of.. weird. His animations are stilty and he's standing in the middle of some random forest, for some reason?
 
Washington- 20
Harun al-Rashid- 20
Ashurbanipal- 21
Maria Theresa- 20
Montezuma- 20
Nebuchadnezzar II-14
Pedro II-20
Theodora- 20
Dido- 20
Boudicca- 21
Wu Zetian- 20
Harald Bluetooth- 20
William- 21
Ramesses II- 20
Elizabeth- 20
Haile Sellassie- 20
Napoleon- 20
Bismark- 20
Alexander- 20
Atilla- 20
Pachacuti- 20
Gandhi- 17
Gajah Mada- 20
Hiawatha- 14
Oda Nobunaga- 14
Sejong- 20
Pacal- 21
Genghis Khan- 20
Ahmad al-Mansur- 20
Suleiman-20
Darius I- 20
Casimir III- 20
Kamehameha- 20
Maria I- 21
Catherine- 17
Pocatello- 22
Ramkhamhaeng- 20
Askia- 18
Isabella-20
Gustavus Adolphus- 17
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 20

Oda's at 14, just correcting the score.

Also, seeing as a lot of the leaderscreens are arguably affected by music/vocals, you may take that into account while voting, but it is optional. It probably helps if you can't decide.
 
Oh wow, it's actually more messy than I expected.
After Sir Parker II`s vote Nobunaga has 14, and Pocatello has 22. Apparently ehecatzin's vote was lost as well.

Fixed my previous post accordingly, but Sir Parker will need to edit Oda's score as well. Sorry for not noticing in time :(

EDIT: thx Viregel for both fixing the score and adding music/vocals. Love this thread :)
 
Hiawatha's is just kind of.. weird. His animations are stilty and he's standing in the middle of some random forest, for some reason?

It's funny how so many of the Vanilla Civs are like that... They're just standing, or sitting (Usually on a horse) in the middle of some random forest or field for no discernible reason.
 
Washington- 20
Harun al-Rashid- 20
Ashurbanipal- 21
Maria Theresa- 20
Montezuma- 20
Nebuchadnezzar II-14
Pedro II-20
Theodora- 20
Dido- 20
Boudicca- 21 Dunno why I think it's hot for her to be wielding a sword in front of a castle
Wu Zetian- 20
Harald Bluetooth- 20
William- 20
Ramesses II- 20
Elizabeth- 20
Haile Sellassie- 20
Napoleon- 20
Bismark- 20
Alexander- 20
Atilla- 20
Pachacuti- 20
Gandhi- 17
Gajah Mada- 20
Hiawatha- 17
Oda Nobunaga- 14
Sejong- 20
Pacal- 21
Genghis Khan- 20
Ahmad al-Mansur- 20
Suleiman-20
Darius I- 20
Casimir III- 20
Kamehameha- 20
Maria I- 21
Catherine- 17
Pocatello- 22
Ramkhamhaeng- 20
Askia- 17
Isabella-20
Gustavus Adolphus- 17 Must be cold outside, with that fire in the back. At least show some snow
Enrico Dandolo- 21
Shaka- 20
 
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