But generally sacrifices that anonymous axis via a reproduceable public ledger

Today I learned that wtf is a top-level domain. Apparently ICANN approved it against the wishes of the Saudi Arabian government [0].

[0] https://slate.com/technology/2012/08/icann-top-level-domain-...

For those like myself who have wanted this but for Civ1 (all 4 of us), someone on CivFanatics has made incredible progress, and the game is actually playable now: https://github.com/rajko-horvat/OpenCiv1

I can definitely vouch for the 2 or 4 narrative, those have always been my favorites of the 'Modernish' civ games, but my favorite will always be CivNet (Civ 1 with multiplayer). There is some real simplicity in Civ 1 that makes it much better suited to a multiplayer experience than the later entries. It is a real pain to get any non-hotseat multiplayer working nowawdays, but well-worth it.