Agree on Babylon, it feels a bit weird leaving Mesopotamia empty.

I think it would be possible to have a base game without Greece if they chose the right leader for Rome. A Rome lead by someone like Hadrian or Justinian might be just Greek enough to last until DLC.

I think some of the trouble with getting a good spread is that there are four modern European powers that are basically guaranteed for every single game. After checking off the other must-haves there aren’t that many slots left.