28. Dazedroyalty/Elizabeth/Khmer
Fin/Phi - Hunting/Mining - Ballistaphant/Baray
Elizabeth is a strong ruler is the hands of a capable player, but it pays truth to the adage of being in bed with two women who both demand full attention. FIN wants cottages eveywhere, and treats every tile as a river tile for purposes of cottaging past the first stage. PHI wants heavy food surplusses for that specialist economy, and many citizens need to be spending turns not working the cottages. We'll see how he pulls it off. The UU is amazing, the UB is niche and not that great at 100h.
29. MYKI/DuGaulle/Korea
CHM/IND - Agri/Mining - Hwatcha/Seowon
In the days of yore, this would have screamed Stonehenge rush, but the changes to CHM have changed that. I don't like charismatic much, and with industrious' changes this is actually an awful pairing in a 34 player IMO. Korea is good, China 2.0 with a UU that you'll use anyway (whether or not it has the bonus against melee) and the same goes for the UB, bumping up your tech rate a little more from Universities. Good civ, weak leader. Wants oxford badly.
19. Catwalk/Saladin/Mali
Pro/Spi - Mining/Wheel - Skirmisher/Mint
Cheap granaries, protective skirmishers and spiritual. This is a game that wants to REX and be left in peace. Will be impossible to crack in an early war unless Catwalk messes up badly and doesn't take archery for some reason. I do NOT want to start next to a protective Mali. Not with my gameplan.
9. Nakor/Darius/Maya
Fin/Org - Myst/Hunting - Holkan/Ball Court
Darius is, as always, a power leader. With holkans he can't be choked in the early game, and ball courts are a great Colosseum UB. Nakor needs to grab a big enough land lead and go vertical, hard, with his Ball courts and org courthouses. This is a strong leader, let's see if the player's able to handle it.
1. Krill + Novice/ Lincoln/Mongolia
Chm/Phi - Hunting/Wheel - Ger/Keshik
Yuck, my two least favourite traits. CHM gers will be scary, and krill does seem to have a propensity for the
Horse Archers Keshiks. This is one neighour you want to stay the hell away from, triple promo keshiks is downright terrifying.
17. The Black Sword/Gandhi/Native Americans
Phi/Spi - Fishing/Agri - Dogs/Totem Pole
Not a fan of native america, but Gandhi's a strong leader for a top end player. If TBS knows how to leverage both of his traits he'll be zooming along. If not he's got a blank leader for a mostly blank civ.
12. yuris125/Tokugawa/Dutch
Agg/Pro - Fishing/Agri - East Indiamen/Dykes
Toku's actually pretty good in RBmod, cheap granaries and cheap barracks means he's got two key buildings for a pittance in every city. After that if he makes it to steam power, the Dutch UB is a free Moai in every single river city, and the East Indiaman fucks shit up at Astro. Agg/Pro means if he's ever on the defensive past Gunpowder he'll be getting double promo units from drafts
33. Scooter/Shaka/Ottomen
Agg/Exp - Agri/Wheel - Hammam/Jannisarries
Agri wheel is solid, expanisve is still solid and aggressive can hold up the early expansion of EXP. Plus, the discount on Hammams is very nice indeed. Jannissaries are great for cracking Longbows or countering Knights, they'll mess everyone up if he gets to them first, especially given that he's Aggressive so these are C1 Jans. But to use them, he has to be in a tech lead already.
20. Bacchus/Churchill/Persia
Chm/Pro - Agri/Hunting - Immortal/Apothecary
Solid starting techs, decent traits, but I'm not a fan of CHM in this mod. Pro is good, apothecaries blow and the Immmortal is pretty good if used correctly. They're one hell of a bitch to dislodge if they're covering your copper supply, especially if it's on a hill.
16. Molach/Genghis Khan/Portugal
Agg/Imp - Fishing/Mining - Carrack/Feitoria
Wants a coastal start, but Agg/IMP is a very good combo on this setup. Lots of players in tight quarters means settling races for land, and aggressive barracks/city maintenace reduction to make sure you keep that land. Mid game they can grab a good advantage at sea, and with cheap Feitorias Molach can have a third trait for his coastal cities.
26. AutomatedTeller/Peter/Rome
Exp/Phi - Fishing/Mining - Praetorians/Forum
Synergy alert! If AT knows how to Phi, the forum is a great little boost to that, especially if he's expansive and they're cheaper than usual. EXP is a great trait, let's see if he can use it to start that snowball. The Praets, while nerfed, are still highly dangerous, and with a +50% vs cities he can rush someone and bash heads in if he so desires.
7. Boldly Going Nowhere/Pericles/Russia
Phi/Cre - Mining/Hunting - Cossack/Research Institute
I love Russia, and on a map with so many civs, Cossacks will be very relevant. The RI is a nice little boost to a building you already want, while the starting techs are good. Unfortunately, PHI means he'll be on his own for the first few dozen turns with Creative, so it will remain to be seen if he can hold up the early game.
5. BRickAstley + Mardoc/Wang Kon/Spain
Fin/PRO - Fishing/Myst - Conquistadore/Citadel
Wang Kon's actually pretty good in RBmod. The nerfed and buffed traits put together for some fun times in the early game and long term staying power. He's also financial spain, so if he starts on a lake maybe he'll go for religion? The UU's awesome, a later Immortal, but the UB's got too small of a window to make much of an impact, though it is discounted via his traits. Never mind, PRO doesn't get cheap castles.
22. Caledorn/Brennus/Sumer
Chm/Spi - Agri/Wheel - Vulture/Ziggy Zags
Well this is a hard couple of traits to do well with, but it's also great if you know how to SPI, and for warfare Chm can break the late game, if used correctly. Sumer's a good starting civ, and SPI's propensity to go down the religious tree for use of its civics is rewarded with a cheap courthouse at Priesthood. This could be a fun pairing if Caledorn's up to it.
3. plako/Charlemagne/Vikings
Chm/IMP - Fishing/Hunting - Zerk/Trading Post
Charlemagne's good in RBmod, faster GG's can be broken with the CHM trait for like a zillion promo units running around. IMP means good land grab, CHM means they can go vertical after grabbing that land. Unfortunately these Vikings aren't the roided-up Naval killing machines of PB13, they've been kneecapped pretty hard by Krill&co. Still, plako's a high calibre player, let's see what he can do with this pairing. Or he could re-roll.
Who knows? Oh this is half the fun already!
10. Cheater Hater/BismarkZulu
Exp/Ind - Agri/Hunting - Ikhanda/Impi
I love Zulu, and I love them even more in RBmod. If they were led by Shaka this could be an amazing pairing. But they aren't. Bismarck's good, but no synergy with his civ. Impis running around mean this is a fucking annoying neighbour to have in the early game, as retep could probably tell us
or maybe a choke. I'm leaning strongly towards launching a crippling choke against a neighbour in the first 30 turns, try to prevent metal hooking. Only people who can actually counter an Inca choke are Mayans or Mali. Everyone else needs to invest a lot of hammers into getting out of it. 
time
![[Image: Sx9rv2X.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/Sx9rv2X.jpg)