Played as the Dutch in Beta 2.
I like to play my first game with them for a number of reasons...
1) I like their UHV conditions
2) You can see how much of Europe has developed by that time
3) Unlike Austin Power's father, I like the Dutch
Before I start, I just want to point out to the Turk, the damn Arabs respawned in 1281, so you can take that part out of your repetition repetoire. They do respawn.
I started with the standard placement of Amsterdam, and had space to found Antwerp with my second settler. By the 3rd turn an independent Groningen had flipped to me.
Well done modders!
Germany was prospering, and the home of Protestantism. Austria had crushed Hungary and took her lands (finally). France was gone. Burgundy was confined to Marseille. Spain and Portugal had taken over the Iberian. The Norse and Swedes were doing fine, as were the Russians. No Poles or Kiev. Bulgaria was pretty large, Byzantium was tiny, but independent... Ottomans had a large empire in Anatolia and the Levant... then they collapsed! Venice was doing fine. Genoa had settled some islands.
I managed to take Calais (ind), Bremen (Norse), and Luxembourg (ind) before too long. I hit the Open Borders condition with ease... also the GM condition. However, I failed the colonies... despite all the "unbalanced" bonuses of being Protestant.
Good game! No obvious bugs. Can't wait to try out some other civs now.