America = 24
Arabia = 25
Australia = 6
Aztec = 24
Germany 19
Greece =14
India =16
Japan = 23
Kongo = Eliminated (1 - 3) - putting it out of misery. To me the representation has no huge glaring issues, but the amalgamation of smaller questionable choices make it feel awkward.
Poland = 9
Rome = 20
Russia = 13 (12+1) - too long, read below
Spain = 20
Alright, I'll push Russia out of 3-vote threshold and address the statements made against its representation. TLDR: Civ6 Russia makes more sense than you think.
1. They made Russia a religious civ, WTH?!
I beg to differ. First of all, faith generation does NOT equal religion-focused. Despite its bonuses, Russia does not benefit much from actually founding and expanding Religion. Arabia gets religion and can propel into Science victory. Spain gets religion and can start dominating and converting the world. Russia...not so much. More often you will spend that faith as your secondary currency for other victory conditions. And in a strange way, this matches the current dynamics of the Russian secular society. Yes, it can overwhelm with missionary spams, but that's mostly because of the UA - something I will criticize in my future vote.
Meanwhile, people seem more annoyed by the choice of Lavra. Please, point me at another civ in the current roster that actually has an established type of religious district IRL that has its own name. Chances are those civs already have their religious aspect well-represented by other bonuses. Lavras are a real thing and remarkable religious clusters in Russia - it's not a far-fetched choice. And finally - Russians are deceptively religious. There's a reason why adoption of Christianity by the Rus is considered a big thing in Russian history books. There's a reason why Moscow is sometimes considered "the Third Rome". There's a reason why Russia is now a center of Eastern Orthodoxy. Most Russians don't really show how much religion matters to them, but they will all be wearing cross necklaces under their shirts and installing small icons in their cars.
Source of all this nonsense above? Personal 20-year experience in Russia and seeing this weird dynamic between religion and secularism. Whether I'm biased or more familiar with the subject is up to you to determine.
2. But it doesn't make sense with Peter!
Now that leaders are a replaceable part of civs, this argument is moot. Just because Peter downplayed religion during his time doesn't mean it wasn't a thing for the rest of Russian history. Replace Peter with any non-Soviet leader and suddenly Lavras seem just fine, and it's not like Russia became atheist under him. People are fine with Barbarossa leading U-boats or Hojo spreading ani- I mean culture through electronics factories, but Peter with Lavras? "Nooooo", for some reason.
3. ...but science! But hammers! But comrades!
We've had enough of Hammer Russia in the past 5 iterations of this game. About time for a change, and Civ6 Russia is a decent attempt at that. I always admired the educational potential of this franchise and will always embrace it trying to represent diverse aspects of a civ with decent amount of accuracy.
