Episode 20: The World Turns – S1

October 30, 2019

Cadellinman

296

Abstract

Time rolls forward, and civilizations are forever changed. New feuds and old friends- it’s the Civilization Battle Royale X.

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1: Intro

And welcome back to the CBRX! I’m your narrator this week, Cadellinman – you might remember me from the novel I wrote adapting the entirety of the mk2. Well, I’m still alive and kicking, and I’ll be keeping you company tonight as we delve deeper into the plight of this world. I’m going in blind, so we will see where we end up!

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2: Scotland Ghostball

Aw, poor Scotland. As a Manx fan I was not sorry to see them go, though a shame the Vikings gained such a foothold in Britain as a result. They will be remembered.

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3: Tile Accurate Map

The state of the board, as of the end of episode 19. A beautiful rendition by DerErlenkonig. Remember those borders folks, for they will soon change forever.

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4: Apache Empire and Vicinity, 2350 AD

Coiot: Cadellinman selected one map, so in the leftover space I am inserted my favorite OC this week from Ymi, whose map gives new perspective on some familiar territory.

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5: PR #1 of the Week

I’m writing this on Friday, and I’m just going to guess that Uruguay is number one. With their materiel and capabilities, they are literally terrifying. And they’re bordered by the Selk’nam, folks.

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6: Flames from the North

Right off the bat, we have bloodshed and flames- the city of Darwin has been set aflame by their newfound owners, the Maratha Confederacy. I honestly didn’t see that coming- and unless the Papua can quickly march that melee unit into play, I doubt those flames will be extinguished in time.

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7: Quickly, Escape to Madagascar

Things are looking dicey for Fihaonana, as its health is brought down to just a whisker of red, with a melee unit parked right outside. Elsewhere, Benin and the HRE make peace.

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08: Konstant War

It seems that peace treaty between the HRE and Benin was just to free up space for another war, as a fresh one immediately kicks into action. We have HRE and Palmyra both declaring on the Turks! I suspect Palmyra is going to be the one doing most of the fighting here, because they are the ones with the border- and quite the prize at stake. Konstantiniyye immediately takes damage from ranged units parked on the east side of the Bosphorus. If Palmyra can gain control, it will offer them a good foothold for the Black/ Aegean sea regions as well as Europe ahead.

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09: A Reprieve

Some good news for the Turks in the west, as Venice peaces out. That would have been tremendously difficult a position with fighting on both sides- now the Turks can focus on Palmyrene threats.

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10: Pax Sulu

Australia peaces out with the Sulu, preventing any further losses. It looks like Whyalla and Newcastle are clearly going to remain under Sulu domain for a very long time. /s

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11: Continuing Rhage

Rhages continues to hold, though for how long? It is in danger of being cut off from the Parthian core by the bulk of Gothic units swooping in from the west. Good unit composition going on as well, a mixture of ranged units and then a few melee to seal the deal. Parthia has made peace with the Kazakhs though, which should help somewhat.

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12: Fire Always Consuming

Napayarraq burns. A Yup’ik unit observes silently, watching as the city burns away to nothing.

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13: Three worlds

Darwin continues to burn without salvation, while the Murri have heavily militarised. In the Australian core however, vast plains of farmland extend into the distance, without strife or indeed military units. Should the Murri declare war, things could get bloody, quickly- though they may not have the staying power to hold on to any fresh gains.

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14: Icy Coasts

Green Lake is buffeted by naval bombardment, cannons flashing in the icy fields. It truly looks to be a grim situation up there for the Metis residents.

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15: TONGA TIME

It is indeed Tonga Time, as war breaks out between the significantly weakened Papua and the Tonga. There is a clear materiel advantage in this slide in favour of the Tonga, who have more than one ship in frame. If they play their turns right, Tonga could come away with a few of the Papua islands here.

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16: Madagascan Counter Attack

Is Madagascan the demonym of Madagascar? I’m going to operate on that assumption. They are clearly woefully unequipped to take Thula-27a unfortunately, and Zimbabwe have ample reinforcements to take it back even if it did flip. In other news, peace between the Golden Horde and the Moors! I’m glad we saw an end to that devastating conflict.

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17: Sweet Bordergore

Ah, weep for the space where the Amazon rainforest once was. Today it’s a mess of bordergore owing to some hilariously weird Kuikuro divisions. It’s the perimeter of your empire that counts, not land area, right? There’s some injured units over on the Uruguayan frontier, but no major movement.

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18: Poverty War!

Poverty Point have declared a suicidal war with the Apache and Aztec! (Dawkinzz’ note, other way around, they declared on PP). Though looking on this slide I honestly can’t see that many Apache units in striking distance currently. A few ranged items, but no melee units. It’ll be fine, right? I feel bad for Jaketown and its horrifying citadel pincer. If either player actually brings in melee units, it wouldn’t take much to beat that city down.

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19: Clingin’ on

Kindonga clings on, but only just. I’m not sure how long those walls are going to hold. We’re deep in the yellow, and no chance of reinforcement in play.

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20: Sulu’s Pantin’

The Taungoo continue whittling away at the northern flank of Sulu. Pantanaw drops, and it looks like they might have enough momentum behind them to swing on round to Kumalarang. I can’t see much in the way of Sulu reinforcements here, not after engaging Australia in the south so recently.

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21: Fihaonana Fails

… and probably will be held, as the Zimbabwean army coalesces on the far side. It’s a rough situation here for certain.

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22: Cut Knife Front

Looks to be minimal change on the Metis-Apache front. Both sides have decent unit composition and there is a bit of ranged bombardment going on. Things could change if the Apache are forced to shift away large portions of their army to deal with the Poverty Point menace, however.

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23: Order, Order.

Lime informs me that the notification in the corner indicates that Palmyra has adopted Order. I’m impressed the Cantonese have held their ground of late, I was convinced they were going to fall earlier, what with the Hong Kong situation.

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24: Vultures circle

A Tonga trireme eyes Elevala, but I suspect it is going to be New Zealand who takes it first. Alas, Perhaps Tonga Time has been postponed. Are those… Korean units? Venezualan and Madagascan scouts? Papua is rather unpopular, or possibly very popular indeed depending on which way you look at it.

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25: The Vologda Venture

Ah, AI is going to AI. The city of Vologda is in a dire situation with its defences chipped away to nothing- and yet there is nary a melee unit to be seen. It squats on the edge of the tundra, the walls vaguely resembling porcupines as day after day, crossbowmen come to attack the broken stumps of the fortifications, but nobody ever ventures inside.

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26: Still Hangin’

Kindonga still clings, a whisker of one culture stuck like a limpet to the side of Africa. It’s in some bizarre superposition between life and death. In other news, the Kazakhs make peace with the Qing.

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27: Vapin’ Vabukori

The Koreans take Vabukori, and immediately decide to raze it. It would have been tremendously difficult to hold long term in fairness, what with the considerable distance from their core.

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28: The Manx :(

Back to the action on the Manx front, and boy are we in a mess. A Viking horde descends from the north, and Castletown itself is dropped into the yellow. The invaders have reached Northern Ireland, and things are looking dire. Bonus; you can see Onchan up top, which is the area I used to live in. The real one, that is. Anyhow...

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29: The plight of Knossos

Palmyra and the Turks trade blows. I can’t quite see how things are faring in the Dardanelles, but down here in Knossos the Turks are being severely damaged by the Palmyrene navy. Crete looks to fall in time.

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30: Don’t mind if I do

The Iroquis waste no time in starting to settle out the far northern reaches of what was once Canada, with Tyendinaga joining the fold. There’s a new settler on the way too for that spot in the Ungava peninsula. I had to look the name of that one up, my knowledge of American geography is nowhere near as good as my European.

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31: TONGA TIME CANCELLED

Tonga units are shunted out by the rapidly expanding borders of the New Zealanders, who have grabbed Elevala and Boera. In the west, they continue to threaten further Papua holdings, though Poreporena has a few naval units there to support it.

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32: If I can’t have it, no-one can!

The Manx take Glasgow and immediately set it ablaze! It looks like Castletown’s health has started to recover, though the situation still looks extraordinarily bad. The Vikings have significant reinforcements available, and a small tech advantage here. Elsewhere, another pointless war ends as the Selk’nam and Metis peace out.

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33: So that’s how you conquer cities

Good lord, Vologda has finally fallen. After literal years of shooting the broken stone walls with crossbow bolts, somebody thinks to walk through the breach and claim it. To the north, the Sami are sporting a not-insignificant navy. Elsewhere, looking for an irrelevant war to start, the Turks spin a roulette wheel and settle on Nepal.

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34: Uh oh.

Where once there were none, now there are many. The Apache have sent a vast army that blankets the land down towards the last vestige of Poverty Point. Prime those F keys, y’all. Also, the Aztecs would like you to know that they helped. Gold star for you.

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35: Hangzhou Hangs in there

...as the Shikoku offensive is repulsed. Even if by some miracle they flipped it, I severely doubt they could hold the city. It looks like Shikoku had better pull back their units and try and peace out. Elsewhere, the Yup’ik and Kazakhs peace out with Korea.

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36: It all melts

Port Erin and Glasgow continue to burn, though minimal changes here on the Manx- Viking front. It’s a real shame, Port Erin has a lovely beach and a pretty decent ice cream shop. I fear for the Manx.

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37: Knocking on Nadym

The Nenets are also in trouble up here, with Kazakhstan sending musketmen up to knock on their walls. The two sides look evenly matched at first glance, but a lot of the Nenet units are ships, and potentially of limited use against a land assault, staged correctly. The Kazakhs of course have scope to reinforce here easily.

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38: Alive to Rhage another day

Rebellion blossoms in the Gothic homelands. I’m not sure what a rebellion against the Goths would look like, but I am going to assume they are all dressed in hippy-esque bright colours, tie-dye shirts and flip flops. Rhages hangs on as the Goths agree peace and pull back.

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39: One ship at a time, now.

Good lord, Kindonga is still holding out? A Uruguyan assault here would be much more effective if there was more than a single ship in play. Up to the North, those lya walls in benin always grab my attention. They’ve got a not inconsiderable army to boot, and could likely take their southern neighbour very easily if they wished.

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40: STRONK

Uruguay, if you had a core that looked this terrifying, why send a single ship to pester Kindonga? Alas, AI is going to AI, as it always does. It does look horrifying down here though, I’d be quaking if I were in the region.

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41: It must burn

The Manx reconquer Glasgow and immediately set it ablaze once again. Little movement other than that, Castletown still hovering on a little below half health. Both sides have thinned out a little, but it remains to be seen if one will take the day.

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42: The Battle of Tanobada

New Zealand continue to push down here against the Papua, but are meeting some more palpable resistance. Papua managed to flip Tanobada, but I could see it going back to the Kiwis before too long. Poreporena looks to be a tough nut to crack, and Kiwi reinforcements are starting to thin; it might be time to peace out.

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43: Amphibious assault

The Sulus are still in trouble as a large Taungoo landing force drops in behind Kumalarang. I can’t see many Sulu units in play, and there is a definite Taungoo naval superiority in this theatre. Sulu should try to peace out as soon as possible, or things will go from bad to worse. The Papua, I can see are actually doing some peace deals, though not with the Kiwis yet.

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44: Tonga Time...?

The Nazca declare war against both Tonga and the Kiwis! (Dawkinzz’ Note: Flip that, reverse it) They are separated by a significant body of water, but all players involved do have a navy to speak of, so we will have to see how this plays out. I would be careful about my far eastern holdings, were I New Zealand here.

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45: Venezuela Stronk

Venezuela looks tough and all in their current position, but my reaction is perhaps somewhat muted by knowing just how terrifying the Uruguayan situation is just to the south. Carpetting up is a good idea.

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46: Poverty Point 3: The Last Stand

Things are grim for Poverty Point folks, prime the F keys. Totally surrounded, with no melee units to see if the capital flips, it's all over. These may well be the last days.

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47: Ta ta, Tatana

Another view of the situation in the Papua area, and it looks like Tatana has fallen to New Zealand privateers. Poreporena is holding on and it's a little difficult to see what forces are in play up there, but it might hold for the time being. However, with New Zealand now striking as far west as Alice Springs, I fear for the long term viability of Papua. If New Zealand can hold these new territories, they could be useful springboards for future attacks on Australia or up into Asia Pacific. Elsewhere, a total of three wars are declared, though none of them are particularly relevant. The peace between the Nenets and the Kazakhs will be a welcome reprieve for Nenets fans.

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48

The Nenets open up another front with an irrelevant war against Canton. They seem to be holding for now on the Cantonese front, but unfortunately Salya’ harad has fallen to the encroaching Kazakhs, who are a considerably greater threat.

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49: Farewell

Time to pay respects folks, Poverty Point has fallen. In the end, the Apache were simply too numerous, and the defenders too sparse. They leave behind a legacy of a single trebuchet, which I suspect will fall shortly, and a horrifying mess of old citadels which were used to crunch their capital into oblivion.

F

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50: Eve of Battle

No movement yet, but the notifications inform me that the HRE has declared on Venice! We have a shot here of the theatre as it stands on the eve of battle, and the gorgeous bordergore which will soon be forever altered. Murano has a tight knot of defenders around it. I suspect much will hinge on how quickly Venice can bring those cannons in northern Italy to bear, and whether they can be used effectively.

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51: Troubles

The Manx and Vikings wrestle back and forth, and it looks like Glasgow has been completely wiped off the face of Britain by their squabbles. Kirk Patrick in Ireland is aflame, and honestly the two sides still have a comparable amount of units to field here. A lot of those Viking units in the North Sea look to be ships which will be of limited use unless they can swing around to strike at Castletown.

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52: Kumalaboomerang

Things continue to look grim for the Sulu. Kumalarang has fallen to the Taungoo, and been flipped back- but there are still a good number of Taungoo naval units which can swan on down to take it again. The Taungoo have clear naval supremacy in this conflict, and in a theatre where almost every city is coastal, this is absolutely critical.

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53: Spin the Wheel of Diplomatic Relations

The Seljuqs denounce, declare war and declare friendship with a seemingly random collection of civilizations. Unfortunately the Maratha are on the “war” list, and if that navy on their doorstep is anything to judge by, the Seljuqs may soon lose their toe hold in the Indian ocean. On the notifications list it looks like Zimbabwe have declared on the Moors; while their cores are distant Zimbabwe do have a few islands up in west Africa, so that could become relevant.

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54: Takin’ Kindo

Kindonga has flipped- but not to Uruguay? It looks like a snipe from Beta Israel! Kudos to them, looks like the Uruguayan privateer died and made room for a well-timed nautical attack. For now, Uruguay is prevented from gaining a landing point on the African mainland. Beta Israel is lucky their competitors didn’t bring more force to bear here. Fare thee well, Kindonga; it was a brilliant defence but time conquers all.

I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief as New Zealand and India end their bloody feud, but the peace between Shikoku and the Qing is a tad more relevant. Squinting at the minimap I believe they settled for the status quo.

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55: Lets go to Borneo

Kumalarang is back under Taungoo control, and many of the other cities they’ve taken have healed up. Their forces are looking a tad thin, but then again so are those of the Sulu, with southern Borneo open.

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56: Alice Falls

Alice Springs falls! With that New Zealand gain another foothold on the Australian continent. At least, they would have a foothold if they didn’t immediately decide to raze it... ah well. Tanobada looks to disappear this round as well, and Poreporena looks close to falling.

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57: Zimbabwe and the Moors?

Fighting around what I believe is Cape Verde in the real world- now home to Ziwa and Mapela. Over on the notification list I can see peace has been declared between the Vikings and Prussians. This could have an impact on the Manx, should that free up a chunk of Viking troops on the continent.

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58: Nautical bombardment

As predicted, the Seljuqs are swiftly attacked by the navy of the Maratha- and with ample room for the Maratha to reinforce and surround the city, I don’t see it holding. A grim moment for the Seljuqs, but they brought it on themselves.

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59: Three foes

The western coast of South America. We can see the far side of that Uruguayan carpet here, but more important is a notification in the bar- Is that war between the Nazca and the Selk’nam? Looks like it to me folks! The two do not share a land border currently, but both possess some up to date navies outside their respective cities. For the Nazca, their capital is exposed here as well. Even if the Selk’nam were only able to flip it, it could do significant damage to their opponent. This also gives us a chance to look at the one and only front in the Nazca-New Zealand war (perhaps just the NZ war?) It looks like the Nazca have totally failed to engage with the Kiwi colony in any meaningful way, just some injured ships hanging out there.

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60: The cafe is only so-so

No, not Laxey :( God damnit, I liked the mountain tram rides you can get from there. It seems the Vikings are blasting it from the harbour, and if they can take it it looks to remain in their control with an extreme melee unit shortage for the Manx here. An end to Manx Greenland.

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61: The Very Best

Montevideo in Uruguay claims to be the world’s greatest city of the era! I wouldn’t be surprised; there are few more secure places in this world one could live than in Uruguay.

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62: Jebediah Kermanshah

Kermanshah has been knocked out by its northern neighbour. Judging by the unit composition around the city, I’d say it’s likely to stay that way. To the best of my knowledge, I believe that brings the Seljuqs down to only a single city?

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63: I’ll have that, thanks

The Moors knock a city off of one of the top tier civs, by taking Ziwa out from under the Cape Verde colony. Things look dire for Mapela as well, should the Moors intend to press the advantage here. The city is significantly isolated from the Zimbabwean core, and reinforcements need to arrive about now if Zimbabwe want to hang on to it.

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64: Peace in the East

Peace on the Eastern front for Zimbabwe, as Madagascar agrees to a treaty with them. Squinting at the minimap, I believe Fihaonana was returned in the peace deal, though it could have been a last minute Madagascan snipe before the agreement. Either way, they are lucky to hold on to it, I had chalked it up to a loss too soon. Maintaining a toe hold on the African coast up against the bulk of Zimbabwe is no small feat.

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65: Our list of allies grows thin

War between the Maratha and Nazca! Good lord, and there was actually some bloodshed. A poor caravel, who happened to be too close. Nazca fans, I’d be a little concerned about the slowly mounting list of wars, it might be becoming a trend.

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66: Cahuachi me if you can (good lord that was bad)

The Selk’nam reach the harbour of Cahuachi, and waste no time in attacking the shore. It’ll take significantly more than that to bring it down however, and the Nazca have a ton of units which could easily reinforce it. The Uruguayan city of San Jose de Mayo is acting as a roadblock for any land invasion here. I don’t see any permanent city changes coming from this war, but I’ve been wrong before. Bonus; Papua new Guinea and the Manx end their devastating war, and a new one kicks up between the Nenets and Muscovy.

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67: Beware the armoured bears

Another war folks, this time the Holy Roman Empire and the Sami. I didn’t think there would be much contact here, but it turns out that the HRE have a colony on Svalbard, and already Sami ships are chillin’ in the harbour with their eyes on it. The HRE have no ability to reinforce here even if they wanted to, with a Viking logjam in the way- so if the Sami commit, it’s theirs.

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68: Sulu trouble

The Taungoo look to have squeaked down the side of the Sulu border and taken Bhamo and Geelong, though the Sulu look to be part way through flipping those gains back. It says grim things about the Sulu position if their capital is now a city they only recently claimed from Australia, and that the Taungoo can strike them basically anywhere. Their seas are all but devoid of naval units, and every remaining city is on the coast. It doesn’t look good.

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69: The last days of Mapela

The Moors all but surround Mapela, and none of those hastily requested Zimbabwean reinforcements are going to be there to reclaim it. Perhaps the message was waylaid by the war, but either way this will be the end of Zimbabwe’s presence in the region for now.

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70: Pappy’s in trouble

Papua are in a similar position to the Sulu, though not quite so bad. They look to have some reinforcements off in the west of their empire at least. Their capital is under siege by a rapidly thinning New Zealand fleet- the danger here is a damaging flip rather than a permanent loss, I feel. Alice Springs has been returned to the fold, so it’s not all bad news. If I were New Zealand I would be peacing out here to reinforce and carpet up.

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71: Far to the north

The Evenks look to have a relatively decent defensive force in the far north of the world. A quick glance at the mod informs me that the hut structures are Shevenchedeks, which provide food, faith and production if on tundra or snow.

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72: It’s probably nicer than Hull

In a significant insult to Manxman and Viking alike, the HRE settles a city in Britain! If it can stay there for a prolonged period of time, it's possible that this will end up like San Jose de Mayo, acting as a wall in future conflicts. Castletown looks to be almost back to full health, though the danger is far from gone. The Manx need to produce units, stat. Fun fact, IRL Colby is a Manx village with less than 300 inhabitants.

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73: Oh.

Scooching the camera over a little bit, we can see that war has broken out between the Vikings and the HRE. Perhaps they were angry about Wurzburg? Disregard all comments about it being a roadblock for future Manx-Viking hostilities, this one is likely to be curb stomped by the Viking army just outside it. Thinking back to earlier images I believe the Viking navy extends up out of frame in significant numbers, so provided they commit they could potentially do some serious damage.

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74: Mapela falls

And just like that, Zimbabwe are booted out of Mapela. They’re unlikely to reclaim it in any short time frame. Also, war between Tonga and the Seljuqs! Time for a far flung Tonga colony?

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75: Back in the Bosphorus

Knossos flips to the Palmyrene, and the defences of Konstantiniyye have been weakened. It looks like Knossos will sit in Palmyrene control for now. The Turks are in trouble if this war continues; while their defences are strong, the Palmyrene have the numbers and production advantage here, and the potential to grind them out of existence through sheer attrition if needed.

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76: Dear...

The vikings instantly surround that little ol’ city, and already have it to half health. It’s not sticking around much longer I think, at least not under HRE control. Elsewhere the navies have formed firing lines and smashed into one another. The Vikings have not yet brought their fleet from the far north down into this conflict, so the sides are not too imbalanced right now. Also, is that a lonely Minoan refugee unit I spot?

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77: At least it wasn’t a nuke

Adelaide is aflame! New Zealand are really not pulling any punches this part. It looks like it will be destroyed as well, as I see no melee unit close enough to retake it and stop them. A grim day for Canberra.

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78: The Taungoo horde

Taungoo reinforcements arrive, and Kumalarang is increasingly well defended. Should the Taungoo wish to continue, they will be able to wipe the Sulu off the face of the map with the units in this scene. A bit of in-settling going on here too, with Mo’ne appearing since we were last in the neighbourhood.

That rounds out this episode of CBRX, folks. I have been your narrator, Cadellinman – and what a pleasure it was. Until next time!