I'm not sure if adding one civ from each cultural group really works in the interest of fairness. Consider the map below which shows the countries that are represented are as their current political entities or some earlier empire. And indeed, there are least two more civs on the European map that actually
overlap other civilizations already represented (Celts and HRE). If we're really concerned about fairness, what we ought to do is add more Pre-Columbian American civs and a lot more African civs.
I'm not particularly interested in fairness though, but I would like to see more of both. There's a reason why there's more European countries than just our Eurocentric bias. There's been a lot more groups that would fall under the category of a civilization as some kind of politically unified nation. Sure, the Celts don't really fall into this category, but whoever can't see the fun factor in playing as or against a bunch of long-haired, half-naked, screaming maniacs is a lost cause
I will not add any new Middle East/Mediterranean civs because I think they are, like Europe, already overrepresented.
What I am going to do though is get rid of the Native American civ and create two new civs... the Sioux and the Iroquois. The Dog Soldiers were Cheyenne and Totem Poles from the Pacific Northwest Indians, so both will be scrapped. The Sioux will get the Soldier's Lodge (which was not a physical structure but a military institution, but I can stretch it I think) and they will get a Horse Archer variant that I haven't named yet.
The Iroquois will get the Longhouse (of course) and a Brave that will replace Warriors and will be invisible in Forests.
And this isn't just about giving Native Americans a more just representation. It's also because both the Iroquois and Sioux were represented as their own civs in previous Civ games. And this mod is also about bringing back the sweetest aspects of Civ2 and Civ3.
I'd
like to add more African civs, but they were often
so politically decentralized that it's hard to find kingdoms that can be included. And those that did exist tend to be the least well-known at that. Hausa? Kanem? Bachwezi? Sure, they might have been important, but nobody's really ever heard of them... Ghana could work. Kongo could work. Zimbabwe is another one, but the Mutapa kingdom would probably better represent that, but Mutapa again just leaves people scratching their heads.
It's also a question of graphics too. There's a serious lack of African leaderheads, so it ties my hands a bit there.