@Fierabras, Benkyo, Metal Alloy Man
Me too! It's not so much about perfecting one's well known strategies but more about improvising and really discovering the world. In RFC, after all, you already what it all looks like. Where the Mediterranean is, that Australia is unsettled etc. In every RAND game, everything changed in every new game.
I think Rhye did what Civ should have been: fascinating, challenging till the end!