Lord Lakely
Idea Fountain
The best solution is to make the Leader *evolve* through the ages. Legacy Points already do that, which is not the ideal solution but it is a solution and I'll take it.Changing leaders is very bad from an immersion standpoint IMO. The leader is the face of the civilization; you can't form a relationship with a faceless civilization--and a civilization whose "face" changes might as well be faceless. This was part of Humankind's (many, many) problems: the leaders weren't memorable or distinctive and changed their appearance when their civ changed, making it difficult to keep tabs of relationships (or form them in the first place beyond treaties and wars). I'd find this considerably more alienating than civ-swapping, which I found off-putting initially but have grown to tolerate as it opens the door for some interesting inclusions like the Mississippians who would be difficult or unlikely in the traditional Civ model.
(in an ideal game, all leader bonuses improve inherently per era, either via linear scaling or by having additional aspects added)