Part 101: Getting Schooled w/ Ed Beach

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Hello everyone, this is /u/LunarNeedle once more with narration for Part 101! We had an amazing narration on behalf of the team, so I thought I‘d follow it up with narration from... well, that‘s for later. For now, I‘m to introduce the OC, chosen from the sub favorite AlbinosRideDinos details why the small Vietnam underneath the assimilated Tibetan motivational coach tries to discuss a peace treaty. Results were less than favorable...

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Ah, the Boer‘s. Enjoying their new found gains and not worrying about the carnival goers at all in their country, nope, not, never. Why would they do that? The Boer machine might have to adapt rapidly for when the Carnival is over, and the chaos is all too close.

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DerErlenkonig, rating a solid 7/10 in difficult to say name provides us an even more solid 10/10 map, having opted to delay the release the confirm a few things that happened in the PR slides. He‘s the reason we have an amazing GIF that goes through the entirety of the event in the Battle Royale. Seriously, check it out.

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Spherical_Melon, has an opposite problem. He has the easiest name to say and the most information but his map looks utterly chaotic. Not helping things is the amount of bordergore around bombed out shells. It seems that unification under one banner would be the only way to get Greece and the Middle East back to normality... Actually that would result in more husks which result in more bordergore. This truly has gone off the deepend, hasn‘t it?

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A vintage map was the headlining act on the centennial part, so it makes sense to post a more modern rendition here done by Monkey_Chumbles. I think the infection is spreading far faster than this graphic entails and might require an immediate amputation of Open Borders to fix the solution. Alas, the fix to people being happy is happening, so maybe the agitated neighbours will ask for more for the legendary Open Borders agreement. Maybe they‘ll ask for Citrus and 4GPT?! Alas, this is my tenure cut short, as I‘ll past it to someone with a bit more stopping power. He whom made the two best expansions in Civ history, he who made this game as amazing as it is. Ed Beach.

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Hello to the Civ Battle Royale Community! I was happy to jump in and accept this invitation to narrate this episode of CBR because I’ve really appreciated how epic this Civ V AI battle has become. As many of you know I started Civ V as our AI lead and along with getting our AI code in place for that title, I had to evaluate its performance on a daily basis. So what was our tool to accomplish that? You guessed it: AI autoplay games! Over the three years I was in that AI lead role I watched hundreds and hundreds of AI games and reviewed the results both in the game world and through our extensive AI logs. It was my life for a long time. So with AI autoplays being the original genesis of the Civ Battle Royale idea, I feel a definite kinship. Though I do admit I never imagined that we’d ever end up with something so absolutely epic in scope and detail. So take this guest narration as my way to pay back the CBR community for their efforts to turn these games into something amazing.

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However we’ve been pretty busy at Firaxis working on the successor to Civ V, so although I watched the first 10 or 20 episodes of CBR very carefully, I must confess to being out of the loop for most of the recent action. So don’t expect any true expert commentary here. Instead we’ll have a combination of gawking at the world that has been created and then I’ll patch in some of the notes that the CBR team forwarded on my way. Note that we are starting on Turn 154 this time and we’ll proceed for 19 turns up to Turn 173. Here we can see the precursor to our Civ VI Australian civ trying to hang on to their foothold on the Asian mainland. They are down to just the single city of Vigan.

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In Civ V we represented Brazil as being good at overseas military endeavors with their WWII era Pracinha unique units. But conquering remote islands in the Indian Ocean? Impressive indeed!

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The Kimberleys as indigenous Australians are a great idea for a civ. Nice to see them still hanging in there alongside their European colonial brethren. But every one of their cities has damage on it. How long will they hold out?

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A Brazilian XCOM unit drops onto Sumatra to challenge the Kimberleys there. Or does it know something about aliens that we don’t? Does Firaxis need to start working on an XCOM in Sumatra DLC?

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Sibir is a great civ too. Just look at what a cold, uninviting presence they are on the map. I’m cold just looking at this screenshot! I have to wonder what the Brazilian’s think of this part of the world.

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This world is NOT going smoke-free. Nicotine hits are just required in this stressful an environment. Coiot‘s Note: Korean carrier salesman around the Aleutian Islands try to entice the locals, but the Blackfoot people are wise to their crooked ways.

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Our updated look at the Kimberley naval task force. The experts from CBR tell me there is no way they will make any inroads against the Australians, but I still am excited to know there is digeridoo music rising up over the waters here in the southern Indian Ocean.

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Somehow the Blackfoot Confederacy has a foothold in the southern Philippines. Another cool modded civ, but wrong place for them to be a power. Though they do have a Giant Death Robot near Panuranga. Perhaps I underestimate them?

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Ah the Middle East. A confusing jumble of powers in play here … that looks about right!

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The very early struggle between the Americans and Canadians for control of Eastern North America was one of the things I remember from the early days of CBR. Pretty amusing to now see the Inuits in firm control now instead.

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A look at the other Australian outpost on Asia proper. Doesn’t look like this one will hold out much longer.

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Indigenous powers go to peace. Perhaps an alliance against colonial powers is in their future?

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A look at the business pages from the local Kimberley newspaper.

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The best look at the sea of Brazilian units gobbling up space in Asia. No one ever told Pedro not to start a land war in Asia!

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Now it is the Australians in Cebu under attack, this time from a Vietnamese force.

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The unsung heroes of this episode show the power of the digeridoo and take the northernmost Brazilian Indian Ocean outpost.

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And then the other one falls. As a huge fan of Midnight Oil, I can think of so many appropriate songs to listen to right now.

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This is the exact kind of issue I’d look for reviewing autoplays. Why the carrier spam? Time to dive back into the code and make an adjustment… Coiot‘s Note: More of those insufferable carrier salesman. Crowfoot better put up a massive 'No Solicitors' sign off the coast of California

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This is a bit better look at the Middle East. Some interesting powers holding on here: is that both Armenia and Sri Lanka? As well as the ever present Brazilians.

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The battle for Antarctic research stations. Anyone heard anything about one of those appearing in a Civ game soon?

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It looks like the Kimberleys appreciate the power of South Pole stations.

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Brazil reasserts its claim in the Indian Ocean. No wonder the cities in this game don’t have very high populations.

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Cebu falls to the Vietnamese.

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Coiot‘s Note: No comment from Ed here but Ingolfur is throwing some shade at Pedro. Best watch out my friend, those carriers won‘t fool anyone. The Brazilian cybersubs on the deep ocean frontier will easily do away with all them on screen.

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And Brazilian paratroopers retake the Indian Ocean isles. Coiot‘s Note: Kruger however still does not join the fight, and decides to continue to watch from his Statue of Zeus in Colombo. Not much of a prize if he is not putting its massive city taking boon to use.

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The Boers join the fray in Oceania. A forward base perhaps? Reon‘s Note: Ambon once again given to the Boers in back-to-back peace deals.

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Another look at East Asia. Now all sorts of powers are making a play here.

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A look from deep inside the Brazilian Military Industrial Complex.

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The Boers convince me that they like Antarctic research too. I would think a city down here would be nice and safe, but I’m less sure of that after seeing this shot.

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If a tile in South African isn’t under the Boers’ thumb, well then a Brazilian unit might be there. Ulundi hits 40 population! Coiot‘s Note: Civs definitely want to keep their luxuries since being given them again in the reboot. Can‘t blame them either, I‘d take all the incense I could take in a world filling up with sweaty, sexy Brazilians.

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Our first good look at the Indian subcontinent. And who is going to take on Brazil’s might? Well Sri Lanka of course!

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I missed a strange power the last time we looked at the Middle East. Why it’s the Finns of course! It looks like they have exported Organic Infantry to the region – unlike it modern times where their best exports are usually NHL goalies.

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OK, this is a dramatic picture. The Sri Lanka declaration on Brazil has been met by a wave of incoming XCOM troopers. This could be ugly for those Sri Lankan fans. And I do like their tea better than Brazil nuts, so you know who I’m rooting for.

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Go Sri Lanka! Who says their dreams of off-shore island vacation homes can’t come true?

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The Vietnamese continue to make strong gains at the Aussie’s expense. They even push across to the northern Philippines!

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A closer look at Caloocan.

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The heart of the Swedish Empire, home of the Viking biotroopers.

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We haven’t heard from the Buccaneers this installment, but Henry Morgan now denounces Pedro. Is that a good idea? Doubtful, though the pirates seem to have some GDRs along the Spanish Main. Quite the upgrade from the Spanish Galleons of olden times. Coiot‘s Note: There are 90 Brazilian aircraft in this slide alone.

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And once again we’re in the South China Sea. The Aussies regain the northern Philippines. At last some good news reaches New South Wales.

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The quest for Sri Lankan vacation homes continues… Coiot‘s Note: Sri Lanka is fighting the good fight against Pedro, showing the rest of the world that a military 10000 times your size is nothing to fear.

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… while new Sri Lankan forces press out of their Arabian peninsula base of Negombo.

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Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a mouthful of a city name. But finally back in the hands of the native settlers who can pronounce that!

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Korea is the first civ we announced for Rise & Fall and the one I’ve been testing out in recent Civ VI games. They are very good in the upcoming expansion and now show a bit of might here in this conflict as well!

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Somehow a Hawaiian tropical paradise remains in the central Pacific. The Polynesians were great for Civ V, but it’s not looking like this Battle Royale is giving them much room to shine.

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Quite the embarked Brazilian army here in the South Pacific, mingling with an Inuit southern navy.

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Henry Morgan decides it is smart pirate strategy to denounce ALL your powerful neighbors.

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But maybe that’s not a bad strategy if Crowfoot attacks the Inuit at the same time?

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Paul Kruger first came into Civ with our Scramble for Africa scenario but maybe folks will remember his best for his role in this Battle Royale. Here he starts a new war and is eyeing the Indian subcontinent.

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But Brazil seems to have gotten to India first.

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Maybe Sri Lanka suffers, sandwiched between Brazil in the north and these Boers coming north from Colombo?

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And now Parkes’ Australians push back and reconquer Cebu with a lot of Blackfoot forces looking on.

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A rare look at the Caspian region. Finns and Sibirs, experts both in the northern realms, are fighting it out for this less northern clime. Coiot‘s Note: Hrazdan is the new Exclavian capital.

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Another denouncement!

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Time to officially make peace with the Finns before Korea considers this idea of the Inuit lands. Coiot‘s Note: While Sejong is awake, he seems to have noticed he forgot to sign the peace treaty with Kekkonen many years back.

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There is a bit of a border between Sibir and Vietnam … just enough evidently. Coiot‘s Note: Sibir has learned the lessons of fighting a few hundred years of war with the Finnish exclaves getting in the way.

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More wars breaking out. I’m still learning some of these symbols but it looks like the Blackfeet squatting in Vietnamese lands have gotten a lot more dangerous. Coiot‘s Note: Now for something that Vietnam cannot remove, which are these unwelcome Blackfoot units that have just let go of their 'peacekeeping' duties. The surprise DoW means these units have indeed not been kicked out and now terrorize the Vietnamese countryside.

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Very, very dangerous. All of a sudden Vietnam has been stripped of three cities!

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A last look at central India for the episode…

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And the Vietnamese and Australians, both losers this time around, smartly realize that they have bigger enemies.

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Yikes, the price of peace with Australia was mighty steep!

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But not so steep that the opportunistic Vietnamese don’t look toward the crumbling empire of the Sri Lankans.

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Sharp-eyed observers needed for this one, so I’ll let the CBR notes tell the story: “As eagle eyed observers have noticed on the mini-map, the Trungs still came away with Cebu and Caloocan in the peace deal. The Trungs may have given out the most ludicrous amount of cities last album, but still show that their diplomatic skills have not all but vanished overnight. Unfortunately for them, these are all just new juicy targets for the Blackfoot. Hoi An turns blue, and a few more cities are likely to follow.”

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And our final game screen showing the Finns threatening to take Wuppertal.

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Data screens. I’m going to let the CBR team who knows this game so well narrate these. Coiot: Oh, that would be me. Well then: Crop yields don‘t reveal much, but again we must note how Korea really should be doing more with its resources.

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Coiot: The bottom half shows the large disparity between the remaining competitors. Even so, the Kimberley and Sri Lanka fought well on emptier stomachs.

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Coiot: Oh that juicy production. Crowfoot best keep his expectations in check, his production won‘t be able to keep up with a freed up Vietnam.

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Coiot: Armenia showing us once again that Hawaii is indeed not in last place.

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Coiot: An overall minor impact to the game now, but there are still several civs catching up on their social policies.

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Coiot: Lowly Hawaii is still last in one thing it seems. Not that culture is of high importance in their cozy hideout.

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Coiot: The military graph reveals that even Brazil‘s incredible climb has decelerated, and many of the other leaders also go down. The Blackfoot are the only ones showing considerable upward progress.

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Coiot: Global relations have really broken down of late. Look at this mess! A far cry from the lull around Part 86. Maybe someone from the sub will break this down neatly for observers back home. I of course already know a few things or two, but it‘s fun watching everyone speculate. Ed: That’s it for installment 101. Thanks again to the Civ Battle Royale community for letting me jump in here and be a small part of their fascinating world.

Part 101: Getting Schooled w/ Ed Beach – mk2

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