As most of you are aware, expert level rated games tend to be dominated by Mayans. Or, to a lesser extent, Spain. One feature that would exceedingly cool would be a setting that would enable you to prohibit your opponent playing with certain civs, perhaps 1, 3 or 5. Of course, both players would have this feature and it would be an optional mix in just like the other settings. Now, this isn't just newbie whining about "over-powered civs" or "boring games." This would actually enable another level of strategy.

Suppose you wanted to play Mayans. You would then prohibit the civs that might be competitive against them: Turks, French, Koreans. But of course, your opponent might prohibit Mayans, which would mean you'd end up as a different civ anyway. Or if you wanted to play Nubians, but wanted to reduce the chance of your opponent getting a raiding civ. If you picked a civ and that one was prohibited by your opponent, then the computer would select you as random. So there would be some strategic choosing and picking right from the start. This might improve the chances that someone would be pick random econ or random offensive, because they are likely to still get something they'll be good at, but maybe not have the single most dominant civ.

This would make rated games have a bit more variety as you couldn't climb the ladder just by playing once civ.
posted by Tim at 7:27 AM