Leaderscreen Elimination Thread

[Biologist]

Actually, he seems to have put in the upvote, but not the downvote, so now Shaka has an extra point.

Ashurbanipal - 19
Theodora - 13 - I really like this screen. Sure, it makes Theodora seem lazy and unprofessional, but I enjoy everything else about the screen - the view of Constantinople, the music, and the Hagia Sophia in the background all come together to make an altogether pleasant screen.
Dido - 12
Harald Bluetooth - 20
William - 9 - I can appreciate this screen's nods to the Dutch masters, and I admittedly love the music - and who can forget those pants? But despite these, this screen just doesn't do much for me. It doesn't possess the same majesty for me as the other screens on the list, and so I must give it my downvote.
Pachacuti - 22
Gajah Mada - 16
Pacal - 21
Maria I - 5
Askia - 16
Enrico Dandolo - 20
Shaka - 10 - Corrected.

Um, actually, truenarnian upvoted Shaka in his post, which would have resulted in a score of 18 had truenarnian factored in the post prior to his. Shaka's score should be 11 right now.
Correcting the mish-mash of score errors and missed votes after the previous post:

Ashurbanipal - 19
Theodora - 13
Dido - 12
Harald Bluetooth - 20
William - 9
Pachacuti - 19 Corrected.
Gajah Mada - 16
Pacal - 21
Maria I - 7 Score was technically correct, but reddishrecue missed the previous vote and added the wrong number.
Askia - 13 Corrected. Askia seems to have magically gained some points....
Enrico Dandolo - 20
Shaka - 11 Corrected - See above.

 

[Josh123914]

Ashurbanipal - 19
Theodora - 13
Dido - 12
Harald Bluetooth - 20
William - 9
Pachacuti - 19
Gajah Mada - 16
Pacal - 21
Maria I - 7
Askia - 13
Enrico Dandolo - 20
Shaka - 11

Don't mind me, just correcting the voting :/

 

[Biologist]

reddishrecue, for future reference, all votes are +1/-3, not +2/-2.

 

[truenarnian]

Sorry all, I feel like somehow I accidentally screwed up all our totals.



Ashurbanipal - 19
Theodora - 13
Dido - 12
Harald Bluetooth - 20
William - 6
Pachacuti - 19
Gajah Mada - 16
Pacal - 21
Maria I - 7
Askia - 13
Enrico Dandolo - 20
Shaka - 12


I feel like Shaka and Askia both deserve to hang around a bit longer, but I give Askia a LOT of upvotes, and I feel like I should rest today. (The person who complained about Askia's city always burning - I don't understand that charge: all of the leaderscreens have the leader doing the same thing for 6000 years! hahaha Don't blame Askia!) Shaka's screen has everything right: leader animation, foreground (on of the best in the game), background, voice acting, color palette.

Downvote to William - I feel like the two weakest screens in this list right now are Theodora and William, but Theodora has the benefit of a beautiful background that elicits the setting, while William is just putzing around an office.

 

[NameUndisclosed]

Um, actually, truenarnian upvoted Shaka in his post, which would have resulted in a score of 18 had truenarnian factored in the post prior to his. Shaka's score should be 11 right now.

Oh, so he did. My apologies.

 

[seancolorado]

Ashurbanipal - 19
Theodora - 13
Dido - 12
Harald Bluetooth - 20
William - 3 Weakest screen left because it's just a small, boring room
Pachacuti - 19
Gajah Mada - 16
Pacal - 21
Maria I - 7
Askia - 14 Deserves a top 10 finish at the very least for utterly unique background
Enrico Dandolo - 20
Shaka - 12

 

[ehecatzin]

Pachacuti ... it seems like he got caught trying to copy pacal. Similar background as pacal.

If thats your reasoning then shouldnt you be downvoting Pacal as Pachacuti came out first?

Ashurbanipal - 19
Theodora - 13
Dido - 9
Harald Bluetooth - 20
William - 3
Pachacuti - 19
Gajah Mada - 17
Pacal - 21
Maria I - 7
Askia - 14
Shaka - 12

This vote was coming. Dido has a nice leaderscreen, however it has way to much cold colors, the scene could have used at least some highlits of color on Dido and better ligthing so that she doesnt blend to the background completely. I mean if you squint your eyes she almost looks like a statue in that garden, I'd rather see her go before Willem, but too many people seem to like this one.

Gajah. I dont think its fair to downvote him on the ground that "he has a foggy bg", first of all, this one actually has composition that leads the eye and interesting stuff (unlike Napoleon's) and second, the color scheme in the scene is very well done, the desaturation of the bg actually helps bring out Gajah, who I may add, has a very cool design and great animation, its not easy to animate weight, and Gajah's animations pulls it off very well.

 

[Talcove]

Ashurbanipal - 19
Theodora - 13
Dido - 9
Harald Bluetooth - 20
William - 3
Pachacuti - 19
Gajah Mada - 14
Pacal - 21
Maria I - 8
Askia - 14
Enrico Dandolo - 20 - Mysteriously disappeared after the last vote...
Shaka - 12

MARIA I
I'll keep on defending Maria up until the bitter end.

When I see Maria's, I see a multitude of great elements coming together to create a visually pleasing screen. The voice acting is charming, the composition is spot-on, the contrasts are eye-pleasing, the music fits the screen perfectly, the animations and monologue are nifty, and, best of all, all of this applies to all of her normal screen, war screen (That laugh at the end of her DoW, love it!), her victory, and her defeat. All of it just comes together so perfectly, and encapsulates the gameplay of the Civ so perfectly, that I cannot, in good conscience, vote for any other screen. It may not be the starry night sky that most CivFanatics drool over, but it is the best leaderscreen in the game.

GAJAH MADA
Some people may say that it's different form other random field leader, and it is, but only slightly. The only real separation it has from the other ones is that it has a building in the corner of the background, obscured by trees and fog. Other than that, it's just him standing shirtless in a foggy, gloomy field with some trees in the background. He's Napoleon without the horse.

Whether or not the field is supposed to grow rice really doesn't make a difference, it still looks like nothing more than an empty field. It truly is the last 'not good' leaderscreen left, and until it goes, I'll be painting it red in all of my posts.

 

[Lord Xavius]

To the bitter end it is.

Ashurbanipal - 19
Theodora - 13
Dido - 9
Harald Bluetooth - 20
William - 3
Pachacuti - 19
Gajah Mada - 15 (Impressive, beautiful, mystical, imposing, and worthy. Deserves to be in the Top 10 at least.)
Pacal - 21
Maria I - 5 (It's not that I really dislike it, I just think it's a tier or two lower than the very best, notably lacking the sheer visual amazement of some of my favorites. The anachronisms don't really help its case either, but I wouldn't downvote on those alone.)
Askia - 14
Enrico Dandolo - 20
Shaka - 12

 

[GoStu]

Ashurbanipal - 19
Theodora - 13
Dido - 9
Harald Bluetooth - 20
William - 3
Pachacuti - 19
Gajah Mada - 16
Pacal - 21
Maria I - 2
Askia - 14
Enrico Dandolo - 20
Shaka - 12

Upvote to Gajah Mada: I don't mind the outdoor setting. This is Indonesia, and he's not the type of ruler with a big fancy palace to spend his time in. In fact, I preferred most of the outdoor ones to indoor ones.

Downvote to Maria: No huge flaws left on any of these of course, but I've always felt like the background could afford to be a little better resolution. It's not as bad as Atilla's was, but it's still bothering me.

 

[seanflokstra7]

Ashurbanipal - 19
Theodora - 13
Dido - 9
Harald Bluetooth - 20
William - 3 + 1= 4: WHY WOULD YOU DOWNVOTE THIS. I mean, sure, the pants are ugly, but his leader screen is so good(but this may be the Dutchmen in me speaking)
Pachacuti - 19
Gajah Mada - 16
Pacal - 21
Maria I - 2 - 3= 0: She's out, thank god, now Talcove can finally say something else
Askia - 14
Enrico Dandolo - 20
Shaka - 12

 

[Talcove]

Maria I - 2 - 3= 0: She's out, thank god, now Talcove can finally say something else

Noooooo!!! Now I can only vote for the second best leaderscreen. It makes me feel dirty just thinking about it.
Well, at least Gajah will be feeling Maria's revenge soon enough. >

 

[Loucypher]

Ashurbanipal - 19
Theodora - 13
Dido - 9
Harald Bluetooth - 20
William - 5 I've given my arguments before. Just look at old Dutch paintings, then look at this, then consider your mind blown.
Pachacuti - 19
Gajah Mada - 16
Pacal - 18 Sorry Pacal, but I just don't think your screen is THAT good. I mean it's worthy of being where it is now, I'm just not sure if it's top 10 myself. It's getting harder to chose with every vote anyway.
Askia - 14
Enrico Dandolo - 20
Shaka - 12

 

[truenarnian]

I've given my arguments before. Just look at old Dutch paintings, then look at this, then consider your mind blown.

To be fair to you, I just did what you said. My reaction was "Hmm. Neat." Sorry, bud. That's it.

So my downvote goes to William. An indoor scene with no view of the environs of Netherlands. Good but not great animation and voicing.

Upvote to Shaka. I've realized in the last couple days that, though his scene appears less regal that my Western conception of regal should look like, his screen is very well designed and hits all the things I like about a screen. I hope I don't regret this vote, as other leaders at this point will also need my support, but today it's Shaka.


Ashurbanipal - 19
Theodora - 13
Dido - 9
Harald Bluetooth - 20
William - 2
Pachacuti - 19
Gajah Mada - 16
Pacal - 18
Askia - 14
Enrico Dandolo - 20
Shaka - 12

 

[Væringjar]

Ashurbanipal - 19
Theodora - 13
Dido - 9
Harald Bluetooth - 20
William - 0 He just looks like a clown.
Pachacuti - 19
Gajah Mada - 16
Pacal - 18
Askia - 15 He has very unique background. He deserve better rank.
Enrico Dandolo - 20
Shaka - 12

 

[seancolorado]

Since we're down to the top 10, here are images of all 10 leaders as a reminder:

Ashurbanipal

Spoiler :

Theodora

Spoiler :

Dido

Spoiler :

Harald Bluetooth

Spoiler :

Pachacuti

Spoiler :

Gajah Mada

Spoiler :

Pacal

Spoiler :

Askia

Spoiler :

Enrico Dandolo

Spoiler :

Shaka

Spoiler :

If you ask me I say we did a good job at cutting it down to the best of the best

 

[seancolorado]

Ashurbanipal - 16 Favor outdoor elements. Only one left without it
Theodora - 13
Dido - 9
Harald Bluetooth - 20
Pachacuti - 19
Gajah Mada - 17 Misty air adds to that mysterious excitement of stumbling into a new leader
Pacal - 18
Askia - 15
Enrico Dandolo - 20
Shaka - 12

 

[truenarnian]

I'm disappointed a few of my favorites didn't make it this far, but I have to say - looking at these ten screenshots, they are quite something to behold.

Thanks seancolorado for posting the pics. The voting will be tough and interesting.

I hope everyone will take a bit more time to articulate and argue for the remaining time left in this thread. I find the rationales interesting, and it gives me new appreciation for the screens.

 

[truenarnian]

Out of curiosity, what's peoples voting strategies?

Do you vote for your one or two favorites to keep them alive as long as possible? Or do you vote for the screens that are leading to make sure the one you dislike least ends up higher than the one you dislike most?

Example: I like Askia and Shaka a fair bit, but I'm wondering if I should start voting for Pacal so that he beats Ashurbanipal (since I'm not a fan of Ash).

 

[Teproc]

Ashurbanipal - 16
Theodora - 13
Dido - 9 - 3 = 6
Harald Bluetooth - 20
Pachacuti - 19
Gajah Mada - 17
Pacal - 18
Askia - 15
Enrico Dandolo - 20
Shaka - 12 + 1 = 13

I really like Dido's screen, but her animation is a little too... animated. Theatrical, as someone put it earlier. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is a little over the top and annoying after quite some time, and, well, there are only 10 leaders left !

Shaka. I don't get how this guy keeps getting downvoted. He is intimidating, the skeletons in the background are cool and the voice is awesome.