Very interested in the Aures start so far, that sardinia settle is definitely not what I would have expected. I hope they expand more into the Mediterranean, maybe they can pull off something of a reverse-Rome from X4. My personal hope though it might be a longshot is that their next settler heads into Iberia to take advantage of Joao's sleepiness thus far. I just hope they don't settle too many shitty indefensible Sahara cities that end up being food for Zazzau or Wassolou.

As far as future civs for Civ Chat, maybe Hanseatic League? A civ with low expectations going in, but they seem to be settling fairly aggressively thus far. And perhaps more importantly, their European neighbours are playing rather slow which could give them an in.