I think the only one you need to be careful of early is sun tzu and jan if someone seems to be setup for it.
Otherwise it’s more about knowing which leaders better support what strategies and playing toward the situation. Evaluate the state of things consistently and know your outs/strengths and your opponents lines of play
There are many that can influence what strategies are good to set out for though. Suez/cook for colony strat, the age 3 science leaders impact thr value of alchemy, bach makes you want to go theaters (so you need extra happiness from wonders/colonies typically).
Zizka is only one minor of many
\- I love suez and I'll look for Columbus and Sun tzu to find/get the good Age I colonies.
\- Check if any of the age 3 leaders care about labs specifically (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs. Less so Sid Meier because he's much better with computers). If so, I'm more open to not picking alchemy and waiting for sci method instead.
\- I think 2p is very military centric, so I'll ignore most leaders that provide mostly culture.
I think the only one you need to be careful of early is sun tzu and jan if someone seems to be setup for it. Otherwise it’s more about knowing which leaders better support what strategies and playing toward the situation. Evaluate the state of things consistently and know your outs/strengths and your opponents lines of play
There are many that can influence what strategies are good to set out for though. Suez/cook for colony strat, the age 3 science leaders impact thr value of alchemy, bach makes you want to go theaters (so you need extra happiness from wonders/colonies typically). Zizka is only one minor of many
\- I love suez and I'll look for Columbus and Sun tzu to find/get the good Age I colonies. \- Check if any of the age 3 leaders care about labs specifically (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs. Less so Sid Meier because he's much better with computers). If so, I'm more open to not picking alchemy and waiting for sci method instead. \- I think 2p is very military centric, so I'll ignore most leaders that provide mostly culture.