Create a good vanilla line-up for Civilization

[Krajzen]

Ignoring marketing and catering solely to my tastes, vanilla lineup which would satisfy me if repeated every time.

India - anybody except Gandhi
China - anybody except Mao (shudders), Huangdi or token female Wu Zetian.
Persia - please God no Achaemenids anymore, bonus points for Islamic era leader, name list and traits
Arabia - any good medieval caliph is fine
Egypt - anybody except Cleopatra, hell we have great alternate choices even for females
Greece - honestly I love Firaxis unexpected idea to put Alexander in separate 'Macedon' civ, because his personality was always warping Greece into hardcore military civ, so as weird as it sounds: anybody except Alexander. Also, preferred Athenian leaders because I utterly despise Sparta.
Rome - anybody other than Julius Caesar.
Germany - anybody provided he/she's supreme ruler of either HRE, Prussia or German Empire.
France - anybody other than Catherine di Medici, also I prefer somebody else from Napoleon for sake of diversity.
England - anybody other than Churchill, Victoria and Elizabeth. And on top of that I prefer parliamentary leader such as William Pitt, because any other civ can have a monarch but few can have cool prime minister.
Russia - anybody other than Stalin (shudders), Peter the Great or Catherine the Great. I love the latter lady but again, something fresh please.
Mongolia - should be in vanilla lineup. I will not say 'anybody but Genghis' because he's basically demigod, but I'd be fine with other khan once (and Genghis as inevitable DLC )
America - anybody other than Washington (and preferably also Lincoln)
Inca or anything Andean - yeah I think they should be in vanilla lineup every time, either them or any other Andean civ (but others have huge problem of lack of leaders).
Anything from Mexico - may change from game to game, just anything from here: it doesn't have to be Aztec, it may also be Maya, Olmec (again: leader problem) or... Mexico.
Anything from South East Asia
Anything from Subsaharan Africa
[wilcard slot]

And yes, for me vanilla lineup doesn't have to include Aztecs, Mesopotamia, Ottomans, Spain or most controversially Japan.

 

[awesome]

I like Krazjen's list, but I would wait for an expansion to put Mexico into the game. I've said it before, but I wouldn't be surprised if Maya is in the original line up for civ7 and Mexico is in one of the expansions, with Aztecs sitting the game out.

 

[Zaarin]

I would love to see this. Then maybe we could finally see Phoenicia if it doesn't get into a regular game.

Two years later, ask and you shall receive.

 

[The Kingmaker]

My thoughts. Trying to balance between what I personally might want, what people might expect, and what I think might be appropriate. So I’m splitting it with about 1/3 of each.

Vanilla (with 18 [21] civs):

America (Theodore Roosevelt) [I like him]
Arabia (Harun al-Rashid) [He’s a solid choice]
Babylon (Hammurabi) [Bring them back!]
Carthage/Phoenicia (Hannibal/Dido) [Perfect opportunity for a Civ with two different iterations]
China (Qin Shi Huang) [To start anyway...]
Egypt (Cleopatra) [She’s iconic.]
England (Henry VIII) [Need some bad alongside the good]
France (Joan of Arc) [She’s famous and I don’t have a problem with her.]
Germany (Barbarossa) [He was a long time coming.]
Greece (Pericles/Leonidas) [I like the Athens/Sparta split]
Inca (Pachacuti) [An acceptable choice]
India (Ashoka) [Gandhi can wait]
Japan (Minamoto Yoritomo) [A worthy Shogun]
Mali (Mansa Musa) [A solid Central African civ]
Maya (Siyaj K’ak’ [Fire is Born]) [Because the Maya deserve a scary warlord for once.]
Persia (Darius) [Can’t leave them out]
Rome (Julius Caesar) [Too iconic to leave out. DLC will amp them up.]
Russia (Ivan the Terrible) [Same logic as with England. The villains make the story.]

Pre-order Bonus: Mongolia (Genghis Khan) [Because who would want to miss out on him? Even for 90 days only.]
Deluxe Version (DLC 1 on Day 1): Conquest of the New World pack with scenario and Aztecs (Montezuma) and Spain (Isabella)

DLC Leader Pack ($15): Lincoln (America), Victoria (England), Catherine (Russia), Gandhi (India), Napoleon (France), Ramses (Egypt) [Play your favorites!]

XP1:

Brazil (Pedro I) [Not my favorite but they’re expected now]
Ethiopia (Yodit) [A warmongering Queen!]
Gaul (Vercingetorix) [Because Celts ought to be done right]
Iroquois (Jigonhsasee) [A female leader, never seen before]
Korea (Seondeok) [She was a good choice]
Khmer (Jayavarman) [SE Asia needs a rep.]
Norway (Hardrada) [Another good choice by Firaxis]
Zulu (Shaka) [A popular addition]
Plus Charlemagne (for France and Germany), Kublai Khan (for China and Mongolia) and Cicero or Marcus Aurelius for Rome.

Lots more DLC and XPs to come.

 

[Krajzen]

I like Krazjen's list, but I would wait for an expansion to put Mexico into the game. I've said it before, but I wouldn't be surprised if Maya is in the original line up for civ7 and Mexico is in one of the expansions, with Aztecs sitting the game out.

Well, who knows, civ6 vanilla had literally no indigenous American civilization, just America and Brazil (Aztec were sort or weird DLC at first)

 

[PhoenicianGold]

Gotta love how many lists in this thread have like two, three women in them.

I actually would release a base game with exactly the same civs as we got, except:

1. I would consider replacing Scythia with the Kazakhs, although that would mean one less female leader and Tomyris is fine by me. What I really want is a true PIE culture so Scythia kind of hits a reasonable balance between that and Kazakh nomads.

2. I would consider replacing Sumeria with Akkadia, although I still think given enough development and polishing that it would still end up as Sumeria led by Gilgamesh.

3. I would replace Victoria and Catherine de Medici with Eleanor. Keep further leaders on the two staples a mystery. Victoria would still be planned for later. But since I still don't see the point of CdM, that would leave room for a Charlemagne or Louis or Napoleon. Eleanor seems a bit complicated but she really isn't and only requires loyalty from later packs to understand. Victoria and the French leader could receive more complicated commerce and espionage abilities in later expansions.

4. Leave Ghandhi. I'd prefer Chandragupta and a Chola leader, but there's no dispute that staples like Ghandhi help sell the thing and he is probably the best leader for modern India.

What I wouldwould to do but can't

5. DLC civ is Mexico led by Benito, not Aztecs. Please players with a requested civ and leave them guessing on a staple classic like Aztecs. Then plan Montezuma as a second Mexico leader.

6. I like that we got Spain over Portugal, but to keep linguistic diversity with the Mexico DLC, I would then replace Spain with Portugal and cut Brazil. And I guess to fill the hole left in South America and no pre-colonial civ, the Inca would replace Brazil. Brazil replaces Inca in expack 2. Spain replaces Portugal in expack 3.

7. The base game is now mechanically less than ideal. Because now England and Portugal push up against each other mechanically and we don't have a missionary-style civ in Spain. We also have the somewhat complicated Inca in base game and no rainforest civ in Brazil. So Spain and Aztecs stay.

 

[Lord Lakely]

I've mentioned it before, i'm designing a Civ 7 Version and I found narrowing down the base game civs really difficult without snubbing a big name. But as far as I'm concerned these are imo deserving of being in the base game:

(Leaders I would consider are in brackets.)

1) British: Mercia (Æthelflæd) / England (Elizabeth, Henry VIII) / Britain (Walpole, Churchill)
2) French: France (Louis XIV, Napoleon) / Franks (Clovis, Charlemagne)
3) Germans: Germany (Bismarck, Adenauer) / Prussia (Frederick II) / HRE (Barbarossa, Maria Theresa)
4) Russians: Russia (Piotr, Ekatarina) / Kievan Rus (Yaroslav, Olga)
5) Romans: Rome (Augustus, Livia, Hadrian) / Byzantium (Theodora, Alexios, Anna Dalassene)
6) Greeks: Athens (Alcibiades, Perikles, Solon, Themosticles) / Sparta (Lysander, Leonidas) / Macedon (Alexandros)
7) Americans: United States (Jefferson, Jackson)
8) Egyptians: Egypt (Senusret III, Hatshepsut, Ramesses II, Cleopatra)
9) Indians: Maurya (Chandragupta, Ashoka) / Mughal (Akbar, Nur Jahan) / Republic of India (Mohandas Gandhi, Indira Gandhi)
10) Chinese: Qin (Qin Shi Huang) / Han (Liu Bang) / Tang (Tianzong, Wu Zetian) / Ming (Yongle) / Qing (Kanxi, Cixi)
11) Japanese: Yamato (Himiko) / Nippon (Meiji, Hirobumi)
12) Turks*: Seljuks (Alp Arslan) / Ottomans (Mehmet II) / Turks (Atatürk)
13) Steppe Nomads*: Mongolia (Mandukhai) / Scythians (Tomyris)
14) Mesoamericans: Mayans (Lady Six Sky) / Aztecs (Montezuma) / Incans (Tupaq Yupanqui)
15) Native Americans: Sioux (Sitting Bull) / Navajo (Manuelito) / Iroquois (Jigonsahse) / Cree(Poundmaker)
16) Mesopotamians: (Assyrians (Sammuramat, Ashurbanipal) / Babylonians (Hammurabi) / Sumerians (Gilgamesh, Sargon) )
17) Persians: (Achaemenids (Cyrus) / Sassanids (Khosrow I) / Parthians (Mithridates II) / Iran (Abbas I) )
18) Arabs*: (Arabia (Saladin) / Abbasids (Harun al-Rashid) / Mamluks (Shajar al-Durr) / Moroccans(Al-Mansur, Sayidda al-Hurrah)

The ones with a * aren't in my Civ 7 vision base game, but I made sure they had a worthy equivalent: Hittites replace the Turks, Parthians replace the Steppe Nomads (and fill a slot as the token Persian civ) and I have the Carthaginians fill in North Africa in absence of the Arabs. I didn't fit all of them in (I went with 19 Civs anyway, with 20 leaders), because I needed new Civs and because I also felt like Mongolia/Ottomans/Arabs can be delayed to a DLC/XPac if needed (though not further than the first xpac because seriously)

 

[Zaarin]

I don't remember if I already did this and I'm not going to check to see. Instead, I'll do it again anyway. The following list is something of a compromise between what I want and what I could reasonably expect from Firaxis. I'll assume a 20 civ base game with no alternate leaders (I really don't see the feature returning, honestly).

America - Calvin Coolidge
Arabia - Harun al-Rashid
Assyria - Tiglath-Pileser III
Benin - Idia
Burma - Bayinnaung
China - Wu Zetian
Egypt - Hatshepsut
England - Elizabeth I (I want Henry V very badly, but, I mean, Elizabeth )
France - Francis I
Germany - Charles V (I rather like a Holy Roman Emperor leading Germany)
Greece - Solon
India - Shah Jahan (Nuclear Gandhi joke is only 20+ years stale at this point...)
Japan - Fujiwara no Michinaga (Heian Japan would be something different...)
Maya - Lady Six Sky
Muisca - Nemequene
Parthia - Mithradates II
Powhatan - Powhatan
Rome - Severus Septimius
Russia - Catherine the Great
Tuareg - Tin Hinan

So we get most of the old standbys, a few curveballs, a new Iranian horselord civ that actually has a city list and leaders (*glares at Tomyris*), no Nuclear Gandhi, some old friends and some new faces, not a single post-colonial nation except the obligatory America, and a reasonably filled out map for the TSL players.

 

[awesome]

Well, who knows, civ6 vanilla had literally no indigenous American civilization, just America and Brazil (Aztec were sort or weird DLC at first)

Yeah, and I realize it's still early to be talking about civ7, but since the pre-order bonus for civ5 was Mesopotamian and the bonus for civ6 was Mesoamerican, we're probably going to get something like India for civ7's.

 

[Basileus Rhomaion]

18 vanilla civs:

1) America (Abraham Lincoln)
2) England (Victoria)
3) France (Louis XIV)
4) Germany (Otto von Bismarck)
5) Rome (Marcus Aurelius)
6) Greece (Epameinondas of Thebes)
7) Persia (Cyrus)
8) Korea (Sejong)
9) Maya (Pakal I)
10) India (Akbar)
11) China (Qin Shi Huang)
12) Japan (Meiji)
13) Russia (Ivan IV)
14) Assyria (Ashurbanipal)
15) Egypt (Hatshepsut)
16) Mongolia (Genghis Khan)
17) Zulu (Shaka)
18) Spain (Isabella of Castile)

Pre-order bonus civ: Arabia (Harun al-Rashid)


Based (roughly) on the DLC policy of Civ VI:

1st DLC: Byzantium (Alexios Komnenos) and Ottomans (Mehmet II) - Fall of Constantinople scenario

2nd DLC: Iroquois (Hiawatha) and Netherlands (William of Orange) - New world/Colonization scenario

3rd DLC: Inca (Pachacuti) and Aztecs (Montezuma) - Conquistador/El Dorado scenario

4th DLC: Carthage (Hannibal Barca) and Numidia (Massinissa) - Punic wars scenario

5th DLC: Ethiopia (Haile Selassie) and Italy (Lorenzo de Medici) - Scramble for Africa scenario

6th DLC: Hittites (Suppiluliuma I) and Mittani (Shaushtatar) - Bronze age collapse/Sea peoples scenario

 

[awesome]

Hittites (Suppiluliuma I)

I don't know, man, Puduhepa is almost too obvious, with being a female ruler, especially since she was actually a decent leader in a region with few female leaders

 

[Alexander's Hetaroi]

Have we moved on to designing Civ 7? If so here is how I would do it.

1. America (Lincoln)
2. China (Wu and Qin)
3. Egypt (Cleopatra and Rameses)
4. Rome Juliius Caesar and Hadrian)
5. Greece (Pericles and Alexander)
6. England (Elizabeth and Churchill)
7. France (Louis XIV and Napoleon)
8. Germany (Bismarck)
9. Russia (Catherine and Lenin)
10. India (Gandhi and Ashoka)
11. Japan (Tokugawa)
12. Maya (Lady Six Sky)
13. Persia (Cyrus)
14. Inca (Huyana Capac)
15. Arabia (Saladin)
16. Mali (Mansa Musa)
17. Khmer (Jayavarman VII)
18. Sumeria (Gilgamesh)

Pre Order Bonus: Iroquois (Denagawida)

1st DLC- Aztecs (Montezuma) and Spain (Isabella)
2nd DLC- Mongolia (Genghis Khan) and Korea (Sejong)
3rd DLC- Ottomans (Suleiman) and Byzantium (Justinian)
4th DLC- Assyria (Ashurbanipal) and Babylon (Hammurabi)
5th DLC- Italy (Lorenzo de Medici) and Ethiopia (Ezana)
6th DLC- The Netherlands (Williiam of Orange) and Zulu (Shaka)

 

[Basileus Rhomaion]

I don't know, man, Puduhepa is almost too obvious, with being a female ruler, especially since she was actually a decent leader in a region with few female leaders

My leader choices are made based purely on merit and my own preferences, not necessarily how Firaxis likes to pick leaders. I think it's quite obvious from my list that me and Firaxis do not see eye to eye on the majority of leaders they have already introduced.

 

[cosmicmangobear]

Going on the 18 Civs + 1 DLC model, I would have my roster look like this…

AMERICAS

America
Leader: Theodore Roosevelt
UU: F-16
UI: Movie Theatre

Navajo
Leader: Narbona
UU: Codetalker
UI: Hogan

Inca
Leader: Huayna Capac
UU: Chasqui
UI: Terrace

EUROPE

England
Leader: Elizabeth I
UU: Dreadnought
UI: Wharf

France
Leader: Louis XIV
UU: Cuirassier
UI: Salon

Germany
Leader: Otto I
UU: Paladin
UI: Alehouse

Spain
Leader: Philip II
UU: Conquistador
UI: Bullring

Russia
Leader: Catherine
UU: Cossack
UI: Train Station

AFRICA

Egypt
Leader: Hatshepsut
UU: Chariot Archer
UI: Mausoleum

Congo
Leader: Ana Nzinga
UU: Bowmen
UI: Boma

MEDITERRANEAN + MIDDLE EAST

Arabia
Leader: Umar
UU: Haras
UI: Madrasah

Greece
Leader: Alexander
UU: Sarissa
UI: Academy

Persia (Day 1 DLC)
Leader: Abbas I
UU: Hashshashin
UI: Qat

Rome
Leader: Hadrian
UU: Legion
UI: Bath

Sumeria
Leader: Kubaba
UU: Phalanx
UI: Ziggurat

ASIA

China
Leader: Kangxi
UU: Junk
UI: Teahouse

India
Leader: Akbar
UU: Sepoy
UI: Ashram

Japan
Leader: Tokugawa
UU: Samurai
UI: Ryokan

Vietnam
Leader: Le Loi
UU: War Elephant
UI: Water Puppet Theatre

Other DLCs

Byzantium/Turks (Fall of Constantinople)
Mongolia (Death of Temujin)
Denmark (Voyages of Leif Erikson)
Aztecs (Flower Wars)
Maori (The Fight For Aotearoa)

 

[Zaarin]

Kangxi

The Kangxi Emperor; his name was Xuanye. (Thank you for not choosing Qin Shi Huang; he absolutely does not need to be a staple. )

 

[pgm123]

The Kangxi Emperor; his name was Xuanye. (Thank you for not choosing Qin Shi Huang; he absolutely does not need to be a staple. )

Qin's a quasi-staple, but I really don't like this version. He's known first for reuniting China by military force, but gets no military bonuses. The game gives him ancient/classical wonder bonuses through a corvee labor mechanic (fine, I guess), but there's only one wonder he built in the game with the Great Wall not even being a wonder. He's also known for his ruthless legalist policies, but that's nowhere.

I used to complain that the Qin Dynasty only lasted 15 years, but the Han was in many ways a continuation of the Qin State and his legacy is lasting (down to the name foreigners call the country). The Julio-Claudian Dynasty didn't last more than 100 years. The Hellenic League with the Argead Dynasty lasted about as long as Qin's China. So, I'm willing to give them a pass on choosing Qin for that reason. But the design is so uninspired.

 

[Xandinho]

This is a good mental exercise

What I would like to have in Vanilla and the DLCs with their respective leaders:

Vanilla:

1. Greece (Pericles and Alexander)
2. Rome (Augustus Caesar and Trajano)
2. Egypt (Ramesses II and Hatchepsut)
3. China (Qin Shi Huang and Wu Zetian)
4. France (Louis XIV)
5. England (Elizabeth I)
6. India (Akbar)
7. Persia (Cyrus)
8. America (George Washington)
9. Russia (Catherine)
10. Germany (Otto von Bismarck)
11. Incas (Pachacuti)
12. Mayas (Pacal the great)
13. Japan (Hojo Tokimune)
14. Arabia (Harun al-Rashid)
15. Ethiopia (Menelik II)
16. Mongolia (Genghis Khan)
17. Babylon (Nabucodonosor II)
18. Khmer (Jayavarman VII)

DLCs:

DLC 1. Maori (pre-order. Hongi Hika) - with Nan Madol world wonder and Piopiotahi natural wonder
DLC 2. Spain (Isabella) and Aztecs (Montezuma) - with Huey teocalli world wonder
DLC 3. Mali (Mansa Musa) - with Great Mosque of Djenné world wonder
DLC 4. Brazil (Pedro II) - with Estádio do Maracanã world wonder and Pantanal natural wonder
DLC 5. Leaders package: Napoleon Bonaparte (France), Victoria (England) and Abraham Lincoln (America)
DLC 6. Viking Nation: Norway (Harald Hardrada) or Denmark (Harald Bluetooth) - with Lysefjord natural wonder
DLC 7. Iroquois (Hiawatha)
DLC 8. Package of ancient wonders: Statue of Zeus, Temple of Artemis, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Palace of Knossos and Abu Simbel
DLC 9. Indonesia (Gajah Mada) - with Borobudur world wonder and Krakatoa natural wonder
DLC 10. Sumer (Eannatum)
DLC 11. Ottomans (Suleiman)
DLC 12. Leaders package: Abbas I (Persia), Ashoka (India) and Hammurabi (Babylon)
DLC 13. Netherlands (Guilherme de Orange) and Portugal (Maria II) - with Torre de Belém and Oost-Indisch Huis world wonders

Maybe later I'll do what would be the ideal expansions for me

Now I've noticed that I've repeated number two twice, no matter , just think that my game base would have 19 civs instead of 18 . Either way, my vanilla would still be more or less that way.
Since my base game and DLCs ideas are ready, I'll do what I would like for expansions, assuming we have three.

Xp1
1. Korea (Sejong)
2. Kongo (Mvemba to Nzinga)
3. Navajo (Narbonne)
4. Argentina (Eva Perón)
5. Sweden (Gustavus Adolphus)
6. Morocco (Ahmad al-Mansur)
7. Siam (Ramkhamhaeng)
8. Phoenicia (Pygmalion)
9. Byzantines (Theodora)
10. Assyria (Ashurbanipal)
Alt leaders: Russia (Peter the Great) and Germany (Frederick Barbarossa)

Xp2
1. Austria (Maria Theresa)
2. Italy (Enrico Dandolo)
3. Muisca (Nemequene)
4. Hittites (Mursilis)
5. Ashanti (Yaa Asantewaa)
6. Gauls (Vercingetorix)
7. Canada (Wilfrid Laurier)
8. Nepal (Prithvi Narayan)
9. Poland (Casimir III)
10. Georgia (Tamar)
Alt leaders: Arabia (Saladin) and Spain (Philip II)

Xp3
1. Hungary (Matthias Corvinus)
2. Goths (Alaric I)
3. Vietnam (Trung Sisters)
4. Australia (John Curtin)
5. Romania (Vlad the Impaler)
6. Cree (Poundmaker)
7. Zulus (Shaka)
8. Mapuche (Lautaro)
9. Cítia (Tomyris)
10. Oman (Saif bin Sultan)
Alt leaders: Maya (Lady Six Sky) and Greece (Leonidas I)

For final DLCs:
1. Charlemagne (France or Germany) and Constantine the Great (Rome)
2. Kublai Khan (China or Mongolia) and Gandhi (India)
3. Eleanor of Aquitaine (France or England) and Oda Nobunaga (Japan)
4. Cleopatra (Egypt) and Hongwu (China)
5. William III (Netherlands or England) and Lorenzo de' Medici (Italy)

 

[Zaarin]

Qin's a quasi-staple, but I really don't like this version. He's known first for reuniting China by military force, but gets no military bonuses. The game gives him ancient/classical wonder bonuses through a corvee labor mechanic (fine, I guess), but there's only one wonder he built in the game with the Great Wall not even being a wonder. He's also known for his ruthless legalist policies, but that's nowhere.

I used to complain that the Qin Dynasty only lasted 15 years, but the Han was in many ways a continuation of the Qin State and his legacy is lasting (down to the name foreigners call the country). The Julio-Claudian Dynasty didn't last more than 100 years. The Hellenic League with the Argead Dynasty lasted about as long as Qin's China. So, I'm willing to give them a pass on choosing Qin for that reason. But the design is so uninspired.

My objection isn't that Qin's not important, because of course he is. My objection is that China has a metric ton of other great options; there's no need to continuously recycle Qin Shi Huang. I was rather disappointed by his selection after some of the more interesting leader choices Firaxis made like Teddy Roosevelt and Hojo Tokimune.

 

[SilentForza]

Kinda late to the party (was an on-and-off lurker) but seeing this thread gave me the will to become part of the community and try my hand on making my own vanilla civ line-up. I will aim for 20 civs, as I feel that it would make it the most complete culturally speaking, but I'm probably wrong, because, let's face it, I'm a beginner in this world.

EUROPE:
-England, under William Pitt the Younger (I'm not including Napoleon, so we might as well have a leader of his time, so I decided to choose him as an unique representant of England)
-France, under Cardinal Richelieu (The Red Eminence is a long-awaited inclusion, which would make for an interesting France, to say the least)
-Rome, under Commodus (I just find him interesting. Plus, a leader with a lion skin on him would make for a nice leaderscreen)
-Russia, under Olga of Kiev (I lack ladies, and Olga has the bonus of being an interesting leader for Russia. If not her, I wouldn't mind a returning Catherine)
-Germany, under Otto I (Again, a choice of consequence, as I wanted an unique leader for Germany/the Holy Roman Empire, and Otto I is interesting to me)

ASIA:
-China, under Hongwu (One of China's finest emperors, and it represents a dynasty that is weirdly remembered for its eunuchs and its pottery)
-India, under Jawaharlal Nehru (Even for one game, I'd like the leader not to be Gandhi, and if we keep modern India, let it be Nehru)
-Japan, under Toyotomi Hideyoshi (The second Great Unifier, and a man of big dreams. Would provide a bit of Nobunaga without being Nobunaga)
-Persia, under Khosrow I (I don't know much about persian history, but Khosrow sounds like a neat pick)
-Mongolia, under Ogedei Khan (Guess we need horse raiders, and if I want to skip Genghis, Ogedei sounds like an interesting choice, at the very least)

MIDDLE EAST:
-Arabia under Shajar Al-Durr (I REALLY lack women, and Shajar would be an interesting pick for Arabia, so... yeah)
-Egypt under Hapshepsut (A mighty pharaoh that isn't Mankiewicz's Cleopatra. Bonus points for me)
-Sumer, under Gudea (The Cradle of Civilization can pop up in there, and Gudea is a top choice that is a bit overlooked)

AFRICA:
-Ethiopia, under Menelik II (I have little knowledge about african history, so don't expect great things from me on that front)
-Benin under Idia (Because we always need a warlike african civ, and I don't want to pick the Zulus)
-Swahili, under Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi (A bit of an odd pick, but one I thought would be interesting enough for Civ standards)

NORTH AND LATIN AMERICA:
-United States, under Franklin Delano Roosevelt (I wanted to avoid Washington and the other Roosevelt, but I feel like the USA doesn't give much in terms of choice)
-Mayas, under Lady Six Sky (Mayas should be a staple, and it also has a reason for another female leader)
-Navajo, under Barboncito (A boring native choice, I admit, but the Navajo have a good placement and could be the first step of native representation)

SOUTH AMERICA:
-Incas, under Huayna Capac (Incas should be a mainstay, but if I can change the leader a bit, Huayna Capac sounds like a neat choice)

As for a DLC, I might go with the Maori, under Hongi Hika, for a bit of originality.

 

[Michaelf7777777]

As in my opinion, the ideal base game civilization line up depends on the civilizations which are included in the expansions which depends on the themes of the expansions, I have planned a base game and all DLC's and expansions in order to figure out the ideal base game line up. My current ideal line up for Civilization VII is therefore as follows:

Base Game
America: John F. Kennedy
China: Wu Zetian
Egypt: Hatshepsut
England: Elizabeth I
Ethiopia: Taytu Betul
France: Philip II
Germany: Otto von Bismarck
Greece: Themistocles
Hausa: Amina
Hittites: Suppiluliuma I
Inca: Huayna Capac
Maya: Lady Xoc
Mississippians: Tuskaloosa
Mongols: Mandukhai
Mughals: Nur Jahan
Persia: Kavadh I
Rome: Marcus Aurelius
Russia: Olga of Kiev
Spain: Isabella I of Castile
Vietnam: Trung Trac and Trung Nhi
Alternate Leader 1: Benjamin Franklin (America)
Alternate Leader 2: AEthelflaed (England)
Alternate Leader 3: Kublai Khan (China/Mongols)
Alternate Leader 4: Abbas the Great (Persia)

DLC’s
DLC1: Ancient Mesopotamia: Assyria (Shammuramat) and Babylon (Hammurabi)
DLC2: Indian Kingdoms: Maratha’s (Tarabai) and Maurya’s (Ashoka)
DLC3: Northern Wars: Russia Alternate Leader (Peter the Great) and Sweden (Charles X Gustav)
DLC4: Barbarians: Goths (Amalasuntha) and Huns (Attila)
DLC5: Asia: Khmer (Suryavarman II) and Korea (Myeongseong)
DLC6: Pacific: Hawaii (Ka’ahumanu) and Maori (Hongi Hika)

Expansion Pack 1 (Themes: Religion, Vassals and Hidden Units (I.e. Units controlled by Civilizations that look like Barbarians to other civilizations)
Akkad: Enheduanna
Apache: Geronimo
Arabia: Umar
Armenia: Tiridates III
Byzantines: Heraclius
Denmark: Margaret I
Iroquois: Jigonhsasee
Japan: Hojo Masako
Morocco: Sayyida al Hurra
Switzerland: John Calvin
Alternate Leader 1: Akbar (Mughals)
Alternate Leader 2: Charles V (Germany/Spain)

Expansion Pack 2 (Themes: Spies, Governors and Colonies)
Argentina: Eva Peron
Aztecs: Itzcoatl
Chola’s: Raja Raja Chola I
Indonesia: Keumalahayati
Matamba: Nzinga
Ottomans: Mehmed the Conqueror
Palmyra: Zenobia
Portugal: Afonso de Albuquerque
Taino: Anacaona
Zulu: Mkabayi kaJama
Alternate Leaders 1: Justinian and Theodora (Byzantines)
Alternate Leader 2: Cardinal Richelieu (France)

Expansion Pack 3 (Theme: Economic Victory)
Ashanti: Yaa Asantewaa
Haida: Koyah
Mali: Mansa Musa
Netherlands: Johan de Witt
Oman: Saif bin Sultan
Papal States: Innocent III
Phoenicia: Dido
Poland: Bona Sforza
Sabaeans: Queen of Sheba
Venice: Enrico Dandolo
Alternate Leader 1: Arsinoe II (Egypt/Greece)
Alternate Leader 2: Tokugawa Iemitsu (Japan)