[GS] Which civ will you play first in GS?

Yeah, that's the main reason I figured I would play as Eleanor first even before she was revealed. I started with a new Civ straight away in R&F and regretted it - and GS is going to change up the existing game even more.

Only downside of playing as Eleanor is you don't get to look at her I guess

 

Yep, I've finally arrived at the same conclusion. My first vanilla game was as Catherine of France iirc, so now it will be Eleanor for France.

You can still pick her younger or older self for an opponent

 

Sweden. An interesting combination of science and culture and a great chance to explore the new diplomacy system. Also allows for an interesting combination of going tall first and wide to make full use of the open air museum (which conveniently boosts loyalty a little). An incentive to not neglect great engineers will help with respect to mid- to late-game wonders. I will probably go mostly peaceful, but come the Renaissance select a target to test how viable the Carolean is for the colonial game and to test to what extent diplomatic favour can be used to limit grievances. Crossing a sea much like Sweden crossed the Baltic Sea during the Thirty Years' War.

 

Yes, which is what I'll be doing! Should be a laugh...

 

You miss out on her full emotional range of interactions, but you can still see her by clicking your own icon next to all the other leaders

 

Welll yes, but as you say, you miss out on the animations.

 

Definitely!
I'm so tempted to include both versions of England into my first game: Eleanorian and Victorian, and see which one will do better in this brave new world, full of ambitious and overOP upstarts. Maybe I'll invite Catherine as well, to have a reference point for my new version of France

 

Exactly what I'll be doing. Especially because her achievement is culture-flipping a city from her alter ego.

 

Norway! I want to see if the pillaging changes are all they are made up to be and if they give enough of a boost to Norway that they don't need any other changes.

 

My worry is that Phoenicia will make more money than Mali (at least with certain maps) and without the production debuff. Either way Mali is still my first play. If I'm not very happy with them I may not play them too much after that. I may end up liking Phoenicia more in the end.

I plan on including both versions. I will be hand picking my opponents.

My setup:
Me: Mali
AI: Phoenicia, Maori, Sweden, Inca, Ottomans, Hungary, Eleanor France, Eleanor England, and Canada
Size: Standard continents. While I now have a computer that can do much much more (I'm on a huge ynamp Earth map right now), I don't want my games to be too long. I will be achievement hunting along with playing each civ.
Standard rainfall and temperature. Standard resources and sea level. Barbarians on. Though I may go with low sea level if it seems like too many AI opponents. Disaster level 2.

 

I was all set for Mali but the Inca is awefully cool. My plan is to create a Large fractal map with all random civs instead of cherry picking every new civ like most of the youtube guys have done. Possibly because it was a requirement to get the press build, not sure.

So it's either Mali or Inca tonight for me.

 

I turn all those off anyway. Kept trying to skip through them and ended up agreeing to or refusing demands even before they came on screen

 

I can't decide, so I'll go random. A D10 die will do, since there's both Eleanor/England and Eleanor/France.

 

Sweden for me. EleaFrance close second. My playstyle leans roleplaying, ephasize culture. Excited to try the diplomatic option.

I wonder what is wrong with me that I dont' have any desire to play Maori. Yet, as of the post they are leading the poll.

 

Changed my vote from Mali to Inca. Mali will definitely be my second game. In V, I was all about Venice so I can appreciate a good gold game. Although I might take them to a religious victory.

Inca looks to be well-rounded and versatile. Plus I like the idea of working mountains.

 

Yes! Mountains, give me chains and chains of Mountains way deep in a very secluded place while I learn more about GS with the Son of the Sun God. Yes, let me be for a long while and I will show you who is boss, with a cat, maybe a fat cat, but a cat nonetheless.

 

I guess I will randomly select one of the new leaders and keep doing that till I play all of them tonight.
Most likely will only play the first 50 to 100 turns of each new leader on Deity, Pangaea, All Standard Settings.
Of course I will have to try the Ottomans and their new Warmongering Governor.
Rome with Pingala is also a must.

 

My Kupe game is loading now.

 

I ended up going with Inca rather than Phoenicia. My first game I ended up with a very tiny mountain chain and the misfortune of Suleiman for a neighbor (or, as I'm now calling him, Sultan Satan ), but a reroll has given me a much better map--even if Eleanor is stealing some of my mountains.

 

Finished with Mali already. I'm not as fast as some of you guys. Playing a fast game of civ is like eating an ice cream cone in 2 seconds. But I did play on normal speed which is fast for me. But I won't go quicker than that.

I think I have Maori on my list above for #2, but after just doing a cultural victory I'm not in a hurry to do another one. Hungary it is.