Worst and best leader

[Lancar]

Is Mustafa Orbay (speciality: Animal Prestige) literally the worst leader in the game?
After having played and won plenty of games on max diff, I find that every single time I get this guy as an election choice I always choose whoever else is on offer, regardless who it is, since this guy brings absolutely nothing worthwhile to the game when he appears.
I'd say the second worst is the marleyood guy (Tsvetan Iwanow, i think). At tier 3, his bonuses pretty much do not affect the game in any tangible way in the lategame.

Best is Henry Carneige. By far. He appears with the perfect abilities just when you need them in the midgame, and the mine cost reduction is just so good everything else pales in comparison. Honestly, he could probably use a nerf.

[Senstrae]

I agree that Henry Carnegie is extremely powerful and I pick him every time I see him. Cost reduction on mines is strong. You can save power by focusing on importing CO2, or produce extra resources with his exploration action.

Most leaders have a time and a place. For example I pick Mustafa Orbay if I've neglected importing life forms or need additional project proposals. Tsvetan Ivanov's Marrlywood Studio is a great addition to a support-oriented mega-city.

However, I almost never Beatrix Barbier because her buildings are an opportunity cost I cannot reasonably make in the early game. I'd rather take anyone with resource production over her.

[graphitepaddle]

Mustafa Orbay's 50% increase in prestige is quite valuable for the Green Path. That dynamic trait handed me victory over 2 months ago. Isabella Torres is another good leader to get when playing that scenario.

In general, I weigh the dynamic traits heavily when choosing a leader. There is a Dutch leader (forget his name), who brings to the table cheap dike building; if I see him & Henry Carnegie come up at the time, I'll have carefully consider each.

Senstrae's comment about helping resource production in the early game, always factors in. But you also have think about the long game. (i.e. Leader A's current trait's might be very helpful during the next 10 turn's, but leader B's dynamic trait could stave off defeat, 30 turns from now.)

[chic.aeon]

I have several that I am unhappy to see and many that I am thrilled to see. I am fine with Mustafa. Sometimes he is the ONLY "spreader" leader that I get and NO "gem ap" to get any plants or animals etc. I don't always use his 50 percent. Sometimes it isn't enough to really help but if you have some high value animals or plants making one of the more valuable can really save the game at the end. I guess my least favorite would be the guy with the police station. When I get two that I don't like together I just explore or take the points and hope for better the next time out.

[gussmed]

+50% prestige is powerful for any victory condition at high difficulty. You need the support from animals, both the immediate award and the income, to stay alive. It far outweighs any other source of support, and +50% to that is huge. The catch is that you need a high-value animal to make it worthwhile.

“Kill your darlings” is a terrible long-term benefit, though. It requires too many cards to trigger. The times I’ve taken him, the game was over before I discarded enough to trigger it.

I generally avoid Lena Kertesz. While sometimes I do have 800 support, it’s only late game, and the opportunity cost for waiting that long for a small benefit is large. I never use her Support ability either.

Honestly, a lot of the leader actions are inferior to exploration. I tend to weigh the passive abilities higher, because they don’t cost you an exploration action to use. A handful of the actions are powerful, but there’s a lot I never use.

An exception to that is your second leader. Having a good second ability (+5 power or +5 food) is a boon then because you’re often so short of power you can’t afford an exploration action.

[Rooks]

Is Lena Kertesz the "Culture" leader? If so, yeah, I never take her. When playing at max difficulty, getting 800 support is not something I can usually count on, so having some other leader that can provide some sort of bonus, is much more preferable.

Carnegie is definitely one of the strongest leaders. The only downside is that I know I'll be not exploring for many turns, so hopefully I have a lot of rovers and/or satellites going.

[gussmed]

Lena Kertesz: 4 water for 50 support, or free Art Gallery, which gives +3 support for any support location used by this city. If you have >800 support, you get +1 project choice and +1 project research. Hold 2 more projects.

There are times in the early game which you’re constantly in the red - 4 turns or less of support - and the support deficit is low enough that 50 is going to make a difference. It’s about 25 more than you can get from an explore action.

The art gallery is just crap. You really need 2-3 support locations to make it even remotely worthwhile, and it’s uncommon that you’ll take any.

The passive ability is a “win more” bonus. If you have 800 support, you’re probably not having any troubles at all, and the game is probably over soon. +1 project choice and +1 project pick isn’t bad, even if it doesn’t scale like most bonuses, but since you don’t get it until it doesn’t matter, it’s very much a dud passive ability.

[Jacques Dupont]

In the hardest difficulties (121 difficulty), Mustafa Orbay can be a lifesaver at turn 20, I'll explain: at this point of the game, you desperetly need a lot of Science resources, because there are very important building to build ASAP: Your first Bacteria Spreader, your first Technology, the Research Center and the Development Center (that allows you each turn to choose from 2 more projects and keep one more respectively). Choosing Mustafa at turn 20 solves you the problem on not being able to build the Research Center because you need to prioritize the Bacteria Spreader, as every exploration you do comes with the bonus of 2 more projects to choose. It's like having a Research Center for 10 turns, and that comes in a crucial part of the game. So he is very valuable. At turn 30 it certainly hasn't the same value, but it can be situationally good if you have a prestigious lifeform or if you haven't found the Lifeform Delivery space project and you need more lifeform options.

I don't think there is a "worst" or "best" leader, as everything depends on the context, but it is true that some can be universally stronger, like the already mentioned Henry Carneige. Another one that it's super solid is Antti Vanhanen: his in-depth survey ability that allows you to increase the size of a mine that hasn't a deposit yet is amazing on turn 1, specially if you can combine him with a starting bonus that allows you to expand rapidly. Increasing the size of the 2 close mines you get at the start is huge. In fact, it is one of the only abilities I activate other than exploration ones at the early game. On top of this, his passive gets you more titanium, arguably the most crucial resource of all.

[Bryaxis]

Mustafa can be good if you really go hard on building development centres and research centres. Then it can kind of snowball. Don't underestimate the value of being able to pick from 30+ cards each turn. If you have a different benefit that triggers every time you increase your number of research options, it can be quite substantial .

My favorite leaders are Jeong Hak-kun and Arthur Foster. Jeong's tech bonus is especially fun when playing Planet of Knowledge; you get to big from three sets of three cards each. Arthur is fantastic. Fun fact: On the turn he appears, you can demolish your tritium mines, appoint him, and then rebuild the mines with double the yield with his ability. Drilling for resources can help you build more things, sooner. Clearing 5 rocks for free is usually like 15 free energy.

I don't think I've ever chosen the Marlywood guy; he just looks so bad on paper.

[prophesied]

I literally flip a coin.
Hasn't failed me yet. :)

[Chai]

I think Orbay is excellent when combined with the 'Reverse Engineering' tech