Part 22: Strike of the Wobbegong

1

Hello there ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Redditors of all ages, this is your host /u/KirbyATK48. Firstly, I want to thank TPang for graciously allowing me to narrate this part of the Battle Royale. I narrate with a mostly factual emphasis, though I use some wording to make it a bit more than X did Y. I will use some stories, but mostly in relatively unimportant things that don‘t actually pertain to the game in any way. Shameless plug here: If you haven‘t checked out /r/civAIgames, I highly recommend it. You will find plenty of AI games narrated by a whole community of people there, just waiting to be read. Alright, shameless plug over, onwards to the Battle!

2

Firstly, here is an amazing map by /u/SylonL (with added cities from /u/LacsiraxAriscal) that shows how the world looks as of right now, turn 256!

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Onwards to the show! If you didn‘t see in the background of last part, Norway has declared war on both the Nazis and the Jews (yes, they actually did declare war on 2 civilizations at the same time; they are Snoreway no longer). The war with Israel isn‘t super important, but the one with Germany is! My guess is the Norwegians want Hamburg (again). Luckily, this time they are equipped with caravels! Also if you didn‘t notice from last part, Canterbury is officially Irish! This leaves England with only 3 cities, and a small 1 tile passage through the English Channel.

4

Australian privateers, caravels, and galleasses continue their assault of mainland Japan, but with their current force‘s size, I doubt they will be able to hold onto any of these cities. The lack of land units (yes, I understand there is a longswordsman chilling near Nagoya) is alarming, due to Japan actually having room to take back any cities with land units.

5

Here lie the remains of the once great Sioux empire. You know, at one point they were ranked 5th in the Power Rankings, but now they are banished to a useless island in the north. Note: Texas musketmen could do some damage, considering I see a total of 1 Mexican, 0 Blackfoot, 0 American, and 5 Canadian musketmen here...that‘s it. (Unless I counted wrong, /u/Admiral_Cloudberg, you‘re my fact checker this part so point out anything I mess up)

6

The Buccaneers retain Uxmal for now, as William Kidd, a famous Scottish privateer decides it‘s his turn to lead the pirates. Also note the outrageous amount of Hawai‘ians...everywhere... They couldn‘t do much to the Inca (what with the awesome army and all), but could shred through the Mayans if they so pleased. Irrelevant Story about Sad Argentinian Pikeman: We sat, huddled in our shack...if you could even call it that. There were eleven of us, all huddled around the shack, all staring at the middle of the shack. My good buddy Javier Mascherano sat next to me, smoking an old wooden pipe. Sergio Romero, a gambler sat across from me, giving me dirty looks now and again. And then there was Ángel Di María, one of the younger soldiers. He held himself. We were weak. We were alone. We were trapped, in the middle of an Amazon war. The Brazilians and Incans charged past. We ducked, pretending like it would help. The nearby town of Fortaleza was a strong Brazilian outpost in this war. We saw many a soldier march by with crossbow in hand. We saw many battalions come back, tattered and weak. We just wanted to be home. But we couldn‘t leave, surrounded by the war. So we stayed. Starved. Wished we were dead. And the worst part was... In the middle of the tent... Lay the body of my squad leader, my role model, mi padre.

7

The Chilean Backdoor Squad boasts caravels now (as much of the world does), but also boasts a powerful land carpet of composite bowmen (which yes, technically, are fairly obsolete). They could do some serious damage to the barren Argentinian lands if they so chose to do so.

08

A golden age has dawned upon us, Babylonian brethren, as the world continues plummeting into chaos, we remain safely idle in our endeavors. Our people have started watching Avatar: The Last Airbender and endless John Cena videos, allowing a new golden era of ideas and beautiful, beautiful content. In the words of the great Monty Python, ”And there was much rejoicing” Senshi‘s note (It‘s a long story): That was actually our glorious bountiful Golden Age _ending._ I guess TPangs somehow found out about Em. Yeesh. Well, I guess it does explain why we don‘t get to see what a certain Spy uncovered in this slide... (Also I spotted 6 Canadian Musketmen in slide 5)

09

Remember that Kimberley settler we saw earlier? Like last part earlier? The one that went to settle a useless snow city in the middle of nowhere? Well they did it. And what a city at that, Wulungarra sounds like a lovely place to live! Note: The tracker has been upgraded to a rifleman unit! The Kimberley rifleman is actually a pretty scary development. If they were to invade Australia with land units, they should in theory have the tech advantage.

10

And across the ocean, the Hawai‘ian crossbowmen look far less majestic than the Kimberley rifleman. Note: Hawai‘i are playing dirty, sending a composite bowman to every island they can find, so that they and only they can settle the precious one-tile islands.

11

No, don‘t worry, I didn‘t miss it last slide, just wanted to point it out here. The Vietnamese and Filipinos make peace! I mean, not like it matters considering the Champa got the prized possession of Manila, but whatever. You do you Trung Sisters.

12

Here it is. The (supposed) last Filipino unit, a sad composite bowman. They seek refuge in the great (lol yeah right) Indonesian empire, specifically in Borneo. They find it... For now.

13

Meanwhile, in the ever-oddly shaped Finnish empire, the Huns have ben repelled (mostly). San Bartolo is basically in secure Finnish bear claws and Joensuu has yet to see an actually powerful Hunnic assault. The whole horse archer vs cannon thing probably isn‘t working out well Attila... Irrelevant Story of Lonely Norwegian (I think) Scout: There I was. Trekking through eastern lands. Beyond Sweden. Yes, even beyond Finland. I know, hard to imagine a world past the superpower of Finland. I had marched for many days through unknown territory. My assistant mapped our progress, up through the snowy wastelands. Some place called the USSR (at least that‘s what the people in Stalingrad said). We trekked east even past the USSR, reaching oddly more Finnish cities. Hard to imagine they don‘t control everything. But then... Then... We met those who I couldn‘t even fathom before. Brutes. Monsters of men. Men who raped, pillaged, and razed cities as they pleased. These were not civil men, like us classy Norwegians. But I trekked onwards, not wanting to stop with these... These... Huns. But then I reached a great mountain. I climbed a nearby hill, hoping to find a way around. But instead I found war. Finnish war. War with other large brutes I didn‘t yet know. Then it hit me. These Hunnic brutes really were evil. Why else would the Finns and other brutes try to conquer them? Fire lay everywhere. Bodies, blood, frozen pikes. Odd to see really... Fire in such a frozen wasteland...

14

While Finland did indeed just capture the Polish city of Poznan, the Polish counterattack is still there. Finland will have to keep sending troops through the Soviet citadels to keep Poznan Finnish. Also the Finnish to indeed have quite a range of troops, as trebuchets and cannons push onwards together into Polish lands. Finnish troops also decide to commit to a mass exodus through the Soviet territories towards their eastern colonies. The Huns better watch out. Note: Apparently onwards isn‘t a word, even though I use it all the time. Whoops.

15

Hitler and Napoleon start trading?!?! I mean, I can get the whole ”let‘s make peace so we can focus on other wars” thing, but now they are being bros? Nope. Don‘t like it one bit. Also of note is the complete lack of Norwegian ships attacking Hamburg. Cologne I can understand due to that one obnoxious tile of France in the middle of the ocean, but Hamburg should be easy pickings. However, Norway‘s Scandinavian neighbors, Sweden seem to know what‘s up as they continue to land troops in northern Germany.

16

In one of the greatest and craziest wars yet, Australia attacks Yakutia! Now I know what you are all thinking young padawans. ”But Master Kirby, they don‘t even share any borders. This war is useless!” Oh great point young padawan, however, remember the whole Australian superpower thing? The whole Pacific gang-bang on the Philippines? Yeah that? Well this war is there merely to send a message to the, oh I don‘t know, 57 CIVILIZATIONS BELOW AUSTRALIA IN THE POWER RANKINGS. Yakutia is the enemy. Loud and clear from the Australians.

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Now we look to the current 2nd place in the Power Rankings, the Inuit, whose Ice Sheet Fleet has grown exponentially recently, and now includes all 3 “modern” ships, the caravel, frigate, and privateer.

18

Meanwhile, back in Europe, Hitler makes peace with England, probably to deal with the other 3 neighboring civilizations at war with them.

19

Sibir continues to charge through the Ural Mountains, to little success. Sibir is way more tech-savy than their Hunnic counterparts, so it‘s only a matter of time before they rush into Cakihon and Viroconium. Oh look, I found a letter from one Hamilcar Barca, a new general of Sibir. WARNING: ALL CARTHAGE SUPPORTERS ARE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO SKIP THIS PART Dear Hannibal, My son. Oh how I wish I could be in arms next to you. Fighting side by side against those Ayyubid pigs. Oh how I wish I could slaughter our enemies and take everything that is rightfully ours. Oh how I didn‘t wish you didn‘t know what you were doing. Hannibal, my son. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors, but I must leave. By the time you read this, I will be halfway through Sparta. Your ignorance of technology will be your downfall. And ultimately I can‘t bear to watch my greatest son be slain by some technologically advanced other great of this world. I have fled to Sibir, a strong civilization who knows what the crap they are doing. Hopefully, by the time our borders meet, only we shall remain. I offer you the best of luck in your conquests. Your father, Hamilcar Barca P.S. You suck. Get over it.

20

Yakutia adopts autocracy as well, joining the ideology train of “not going against the endless tourism of Australia”. But FAR more importantly...

21

The Inuit attack! The number 2 and 3 civilization in this game (at least according to my Power Rankings of Power Rankings (gotta love these shameless plugs)) are now at war! AND they share borders! The Inuit made the smart move, going with the initial attack, otherwise the Yakutians would have it way too easy. However, their fleet is a bit of a ways off, and they probably should‘ve waited a turn or two before attacking. There is also only a 1-tile choke point to get into the Sea of Okhotsk (where all of the Yakutian boats are), not allowing a powerful Inuit navy to attack the coastal cities of Ytyk-Kyuyol, Churapcha, and Isit. The Yakutians on the other hand, have a strong navy nearby and could easily do some damage to the Inuit colonies.

22

The Maori are up to muskets, as they continue to expand their tech and population. The Maori are a great underdog this game, starting on a relatively small island, with almost no room to expand. However, their population is giving them a huge tech boost, that could help them...you know, if they weren‘t bordered by 2 of the Top 10 most powerful civilizations on the entire globe. In my experience with AI games, the island civilization never wins though. So good luck Maori fans!

23

Ah the Champa. One of my personal favorites (truthfully, mainly due to their gorgeous colors). However, they are literally an entire era behind the top contenders of the world. They need to step up their tech game if they want any chance at making it to the end. Note: Filipino composite bowman is still there. Phew. Note Note: Something I don‘t think a lot of people have thought about is the possibility that a lot of civilizations simply won‘t be eliminated. Byzantium for example, may last a really long time due to one simply fact. They have no capital to take. This game is about capitals, and so long as a civilization gets all of those, it doesn‘t matter if the rest are fully eliminated. Many civilizations will indeed be left with 1 or 2 useless cities (look at Sioux or Byzantium as examples))

24

Poland continues attacking Poznan, so dearly wanting it back. However, they are also still dealing with Hitler (alongside the Swedes), and so far are doing so rather unsuccessfully. I gotta say, for being at war with basically everyone, Hitler is doing fanfreakingtastic. Note: Ayyubid prophet in Sparta, near Corinth. Why it isn‘t converting people instead of wandering around the world, I have no idea.

25

Just wanted to check in on our favorite basically-city-state, China. Oh and the fairly useless Tibet...and fairly boring Mongolia...and fairly timid Yakutia...you get the idea. This area of the world is boring as watching C-SPAN (sorry to any American politicians I may have just offended.) I mean, look at Mongolia‘s army! They could wipe through all of China in a matter of turns (even if Mulan taught me that China wins in the end). However, they choose to do...nothing. The Keshik carpet is real! Just use it!

26

The Ayyubids are getting royally squashed. Like hardcore. Squashed like a grape, that just let out a little wine (no apologies for that one) from all of its pain. Note: The Kongo capture of Dire Dawa. This actually happened in the background of the statistics at the end of Part 21, but no slide actually showed it until now. The Kongo leaf-people continue their assault on Zabid, while the Ayyubids do everything they can to stop everyone everywhere attacking then all the time.

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And here is the Boer UU, the Commando! They are faster gatling guns that can move after attacking, and cost less to make. However, they are just a tad weaker in combat to compensate. These guys will give the Zulu Impi a run for their money. Note: If I was the Boers, I would‘ve dropped a citadel so fast to steal Kilimanjaro.

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However, unlike the Boers who only have a few of their UU, the Mali have spammed the crap out of theirs, the Sofa. (no, not a couch you imbeciles) The Sofa starts with the Medic promotion, and may move after attacking. They are also stronger while defending, however, like the Boer Commando, they do lose a bit of strength when attacking. Mali, if they really wanted to could wipe the floor with Morocco. They simply have to expand in all directions, while the Moroccans have to protect a few colonies.

29

The Buccaneers finally start landing more and more land troops in South America, to hold off the endless Brazillians at their border. Note: Poznan also falls to Poland! This is not captured anywhere else in a screenshot, so I shall simply mention it and leave it at that.

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If I may, dear Sparta fans, I would like to evaluate the current condition of Sparta. Now let me set this straight first and foremost: I love Sparta, I think they are an awesome civilization and can‘t wait for them to be released. Now with that said, here in the Battle Royale, I think they have always been a tad overrated. Let me explain. They have done very very well in the Power Rankings, because they were expanding rapidly, conquering much of Italy, Anatolia, and a few islands here and there. This makes logical sense. He who kills is he who wins in this game. However, even with their conquests, they still lacked what every other strong empire has and that is simply land. Their cities are too close together for insane population like the Maori or Australia have. When they expand, they have to expand literally everywhere around them because they have no natural boundaries to protect them. They have several weak civilizations around them, yes. This definitely helps their case, but they can‘t fight all at once. Take Ravenna, Rome, and Antium as perfect examples. They got attacked by all, and converted Italy into a mass of city-states. I admire their tenacity, but I never believed they were as powerful as people made them out to be. Disagree with me, go ahead. Like I said, I love Sparta, think they have great potential as a strong European/Mediterranean power, just not on a global scale. That is all.

31

The Australians decide one crappy Antarctic city isn‘t enough, and establish the city of Shepparton as well. Also a Chilean settler decides to join the party.

32

Nottingham falls back to England! Man these Longbowmen are ridiculously OP here in crowded Europe. England, while seeming like they are on their last legs of life, are being surprisingly adept at attacking and taking back old cities of theirs.

33

The Vietnamese finally reach the Industrial Era, only a step behind the others. They have a large army still attacking China, but are otherwise unprotected. The Trung Sisters are doing swell overall, but I think some more army wouldn‘t hurt. Note: Poznan has fallen back to the Finnish (check the minimap, it doesn‘t get mentioned elsewhere, just noticed it there)

34

Australians continue to hammer away at Tokyo and Osaka, as Wakayama falls. They won‘t hold it for long, but they are indeed hurting Japan very badly.

35

The Zulus have so many Impis. So many. They need to Impi rush Boksburg and possibly even Johannesburg if they want any chance of staying in this game. If not, I‘m afraid they shall suffer the same fate as they did in the Battle Royale Mk I.

36

The Texans and Sioux make peace. Not super relevant anymore, but still, glad to see Sitting Bull is getting cut SOME slack. Irrelevant Story about Irish Scout in Blackfoot Lands: He wanders among us. A strange man. He is not from here. He does not know the land. He does not know the wars. He does not know the ways. He is not Texan nor Canadian. No, we have seen both. Red hair coats his gigantic form. We do not dare interfere with him. For he could wrestle any one of us with ease. He sits and writes with paper often. Unaware he is being tracked. Unaware he is in our lands. Unaware he is trespassing on holy ground. Nonetheless, we shall continue to follow him. See where his adventure leads. See if he finds what he is looking for.

37

Ah the Sea of Weak Civilizations. Burma, Sri Lanka, Champa, and sadly, the Mughals. Yes, all 4 of these civilizations have slipped behind their Afghan and Vietnamese neighbors. These civilizations still use triremes and pikemen for Pete‘s sake. I predict none of them winning. Straight up. Note: I actually do support the Mughals, since Day 1 of Mk I. Sad to see them get rekt here pretty badly. In AI games I‘ve run by myself, they actually did pretty well. (Burma got rekt pretty hard though) Note Note: The Burmese Great General has no name! That means that all of the Great Generals with names have been spawned somewhere in this world and all Great Generals from here on out will have no name.

38

The English caravel strikes again, first taking Nottingham, now taking back Orleans from the French. England should not be actually winning these wars. Get your crap together Napoleon. Also of note: Portugal/Norway are currently attacking the recently reunited city of Cologne while Swedes slowly march on Hamburg (as always)

39

The Arabs continue attempting their sad assault on the Ayyubids. After taking Bethlehem, they really can‘t get to any other city easily. So instead, they embark their amazing camel archers to be destroyed instantly by the nearby Ayyubid cities. Genius. Note: That...is a lot of Israeli prophets. Now I see why Judaism is so popular.

40

In case you thought I was just ignoring it, here we see that the Ethiopian/Ayyubid war has officially ended. The Ethiopian army should‘ve been easily able to smash up against the weak Ayyubid cities, but instead Haile Selassie (leader of Ethiopia) decided to peace out. Classic AI. Also note Mali attacking Armenia for no reason. Oh and Carthage totally attacking Bilbais.

41

Mali, while looking super competent and cool, only now reaches the Renaissance Era...

42

Carthage decides to attack Israel while Norway joins Mali in attacking the Armenians. Neither war matters of course, just interesting to note these wars. Also if you would look to the top of the screen, you will note that Uxmal is once again Mayan! Gotta love Pacal‘s complete lack of weakness in the endless Buccaneer assault. The Mayans are outmanned, outgunned, and outeverythinged but they are fighting and holding on strong still.

43

Meanwhile Armenia and Japan both make peace with Hitler, because he is a seemingly nice guy who just wants to spread his love for Judaism with the world (good luck figuring that one out a thousand years from now historians). The Australians meanwhile have so far failed to take the cities, instead just constantly bombarding Tokyo. Osaka is surrounded by Japanese now, meaning they should be able to keep that, but Mejii’s capital is definitely in danger.

44

As the Mayans celebrate their recapture of Uxmal with plenty of party and human sacrifice, the great leader Pacal declares war against the Israeli scumbags. How dare they spread their religion a world away! “Catholicism is the one to rule all religions in the Americas!” he shouts with vigor. (Note: Am not Catholic)

45

Te Rauparaha, whose ballad never actually ends, reaches the Industrial Era. And look at that navy. Right now, I wouldn‘t doubt if they had a larger navy than Australia. A nice sneak attack into Sydney sounds lovely, but knowing Te, he probably won‘t budge.

46

The Ayyubids make mass peace with Arabia, Israel, and Kongo, leaving only the nearby Carthage as actually important enemies. Carthage meanwhile treks their elephants across the Sahara into Bilbais as always. Afghanistan and the Inuit also declare war on Israel (useless) while Persia and Mongolia make peace with Hitler. (Man why is everyone making peace with Hitler, and not the other way around?) Irrelevant Story of Desert Elephant: “Baraag!” (Apparently that‘s how you make elephant noises in English. Thanks Google!)

47

The Yakutians do the first damage of the war as they attack Igloolik with a caravel and knight. The Inuit shouldn‘t have attacked while their navy/army was so far away. We may be seeing some Yakut gains here. Also note another war against Israel, this time from the Blackfoot.

48

Australia also attacks Israel as the Hawai‘ians found the city of Mulilani Mauka where the composite bowman used to be (now a crossbowman so it seems) These Hawai‘ian islands would be ripe for the picking, if only Australia attacked. Note: Is it Hawai‘i or Hawaii? I always spell it Hawai‘i, but I‘ve seen it both ways.

49

Australian ships bring Tokyo to near destruction, as another wave of naval ships come closer to the battlefield.

50

There is more anti-Israeli hate as the Nazis and Chile both attack! Once again, neither are relevant, but it is never good to be on a world hate train. Germany is slowly losing their brand new conquest of Cologne to the Portuguese Nau and Norwegian galleasses. However, like I‘ve said before, you really do have to give credit to Germany. They had possibly one of the worst starting locations in the game, being squished from every side by other civilizations, then attacked at all times. They are holding off the Polish/Swedish advances fairly easily, so one much admire them for that.

51

Also if you didn‘t notice last slide, the Mayans make peace with the Buccaneers! However, instead of giving up Uxmal like you would expect, they give up the city of Tikal, a land-locked city that the Buccaneers had little to no chance of actually getting in the war. This leaves the Mayans with only 2 cities, completely cut off from each other.

52

Bask in the greatness that is the Icelandic navy. I won‘t lie, I was skeptical of Iceland joining this game, and as they are an island civilization, I don‘t see them doing much. However, that fleet is freaking massive and I hope they tear through Canada at least once this game. If they attacked right now, they could easily take Medicine Hat, Sherbrooke, and Oshawa. Also note the Icelandic city in Greenland chilling with 1 population. Sorry to anyone who lives there, but that does not look fun.

53

Morocco and the Boers make peace with Sparta, though neither was doing much to Sparta anyways.

54

Japan retakes Wakayama from the Australians, and has managed to plop a privateer right in front of Tokyo. But alas, Japan‘s days are numbered, as Australian boats just never stop appearing. Period.

55

Chinese knights attack Hoa Lu once again, while a massive Vietnamese force rises from the South. I‘m still amazed China is still around, what with Vietnam, Mongolia, and Korea as neighbors. They really should have been eliminated by now.

56

Nzinga leads the Kongo to a new era, believing them to be in a boom of technology. She doesn‘t actually know that most of the world is already at this point in time in said era, and some are even further advanced. Also Stalin attacks Israel as well. Note: Why no World Congress again? Since they reached Industrial, there should be one...right?

57

North America has been awfully quiet since the eradication of the Sioux (pronounced Sue for those of you like me who have been calling them Sigh-Uh-X forever). North America has some of the most powerful civilizations in the world currently, especially the Inuit, Texas, and Canada who are all current Top 10 in Power Rankings as of Part 21.

58

Brazilian crossbowmen continue to do nothing outside Machu in the never-ending South American war. There is a reason we all ignore you South America. This is why. Indonesia also joins in the Israel gang-bang while Ireland finally reaches the Renaissance.

59

In a more important turn of events, England makes peace with France, giving up York in the deal! Say what you will about France‘s incompetence in taking York, they technically did in the end anyways. This leaves England with 2 English cities and Hastings down in Iberia. Norwegians continue to bombard Cologne, but with the closest caravel near Trondheim, Cologne could remain German for quite some time.

60

Sejong builds the Louvre, giving him a small culture boost as well as some great work slots. Obviously this is irrelevant in the grand scheme of a domination-only game, but it is interesting to note that tiny Korea is up to Archaeology, and managed to grab a wonder from under the rest of the world‘s noses. Hawaii also attacks Israel! So much hate on the Israelites! (To be fair, I count 5 Israeli scouts in Korea/Mongolia currently, so maybe that‘s why people hate them. No one likes a global NSA) Also if you didn‘t notice, Tokyo is down to red, with hardly any chance of staying Japanese for much longer.

61

Yakut ships attack the northern cities of the northern empire. However, a lone valiant Inuit Privateer stands in their way. Overall, this war is a pretty even stalemate across the board, as Yakut and Inuit boats kill each other for a few tiles of advancement.

62

Why Australia has yet to take Tokyo and Wakayama (again) beats me. The most powerful civilization in the world can‘t even take a few Japanese cities. Also personally, I‘d be super worried about the nearby Korean navy which looks fairly terrifying...only a little bit.

63

Wow, the Kimberley sure love their useless one-tile snow city don‘t they? They are now sending food via cargo ship to the island of Wulungarra, as well as a lone fishing boat across the Atlantic...

64

Vietnam and Japan finally make peace. Vietnam sits peacefully (minus China) in Eastern Asia, controlling one of the largest land areas in all of Asia. The only reason I could see them agreeing to peace is the fact that they share 1 border tile total. Not a whole ton they can do while Australia is in their way.

65

Why Sibir hasn‘t wiped through the eastern Hunnic cities, I have no idea at all. That amount of Siberian Tatars should‘ve done some massive damage by now. Unless I‘m missing something. Maybe that‘s it. Meanwhile the Finnish have successfully repelled the Hunnic assault, and are now marching an admittedly outdated force through the USSR to attack the Hunnic capital of Attila‘s Court! Note: The Irrelevant Norwegian Scout is gone. Sad times.

66

Finnish armies approach the Polish capital of Warsaw. It‘s cannons vs trebuchets, knights vs pikemen, and musketmen vs composite bowmen. This tech gap is unreal. Poland held such promise going into this game what with the earlier “Poland stronk” movements of previous AI games. They simply aren‘t living up to it.

67

The Ayyubids make peace with another civilization, this time the Armenians (which you can see in the top right corner trekking through Israel). Carthage is still at war with the Ayyubids however, and Saladin (leader of Ayyubids) is doing a great job keeping the war elephants at bay. Note: War elephants are actually one of my favorite things about history. Like how freaking cool would it be to be walking through the downtown of a city, charging through on a giant war elephant? FREAKING AWESOME!, that‘s what it would be.

68

Once again, we check in on our Filipino friend as he makes peace with the Ayyubids as well. Not sure who is still at war with them, hopefully not anyone too important. Like I explained in a comment elsewhere, most likely no one new will attack the composite bowman. Same reason no civilization will attack the Babylonian submarine. Quite frankly, it‘s because they have nothing important to take. I‘ve watched dozens of AI games and never once seen a civilization attack another with no cities (unless they are already at war, and simply never make peace)

69

Hey remember the awesome Mughals? Well their reasoning for attacking Vietnam is now seen here! The city of Senggezangbo, which is completely separated from the rest of Vietnam is looking mighty fine. Akbar wants it for himself. This would be the 2nd originally Tibetan city they would take if they actually do get around to it. However, also note how easily they could take Balkh from Afghanistan. They might lose Agra in the process, but some of the Afghani cities actually look pretty undefended.

70

Just thought I‘d remind you all of the glorious Mongolian empire, full of keshiks and outdated composite bowmen. Genghis Khan (Leader of Mongolia) could easily wipe some near cities off the map right now. Alright, let‘s play a game. Count the scouts. I count 10. Can anyone beat that?

71

Ireland continues with their assault on England. Admittedly, they should be faring way better than this. This is just sad. England should be gone. I would like to note the current population of London as well, which actually increased 1 total throughout this part. If you would now shift your gaze to the north, that pesky English caravel is now attacking Galway. How it got past the Irish navy beats me, but they did...so #getrektmalachy I shall leave you this part with this, now onwards to the stats!

72

The Maori continue to maintain their lead in population, and actually, the entire Top 6 keep their spots from last time! Everyone up here is expected, except the Maori and Hawai‘i of course. Some real world comparisons for you: BR Civilization = Real World Country The Maori = Colombia Australia = Spain Sibir = Algeria Vietnam = Morocco

73

And here are the dregs of the world, interestingly, a lot of red-colored civilizations. Fun fact: The Sioux are officially 0.0987% of the Maori‘s population. More comparisons: Japan = Switzerland Germany = Paraguay Huns = Denmark Maya = Jamaica Sioux = Faroe Islands

74

The Top 4 all remain the same from last time, while the Boers pass Iceland for the 5th largest military. Once again, we see some top civilizations up here, though I won‘t lie, the Icelandic fleet still surprises me.

75

These civilizations could easily be walked through (Oh wait, 3 of them already have! HA!) One you would never expect to see this low on military are the Huns. Usually they shred. I guess not in this game!

76

Here is something we didn‘t get to see last part, the total Land Area! And holy crap some of these are surprising. The Buccaneers, Maori, and Iceland are in the Top 12? That‘s crazy-talk. The rest are expected, but I honestly didn‘t realize they had so much land.

77

The usual suspects are down here in the bottom of the land area holders. None of these civilizations stand a ton of chance, but hey, you never know!

78

Korea pulls ahead from the Yakuts in technology while most of the world is close behind. Even this small 5 tech gap between 1st and 11th though is pretty crazy. That could make the difference real quickly.

79

This shocks me every part, how low some civilizations are on technology. While Carthage, Arabia, and Mali are some of the mid-tier competitors in this game, they are so freakishly behind in technology, that they either have to somehow miraculously catch up or watch as they waste away. I mean, the Mayans are a whopping 15 techs behind the Koreans! That‘s crazy!

80

The Australians still have the most cities, while the rest of the Top 13 are pretty normal to see up here.

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Meanwhile, 5 or less cities warrants being in the bottom picture. Most of these, again, are fairly useless civilizations that will ultimately get smooshed by the bigger civilizations.

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It‘s official! Catholicism has officially reached more cities than Judaism! While Judaism still has more followers, the Mexican monopoly on the Americas is too dang huge, and will ultimately become one of the largest religions in the world.

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And here is the religion map. It‘s odd not being able to actually see what the Pacific islands are (due to being 1-tile islands), but watching the spread of Catholicism to South America, Judaism to Europe, and Buddhism to Australia has been interesting to see throughout this game. With that, I am signing out for now. Please let me know if I missed anything (58 civilizations is a lot to fact check, but I tried my 100% absolute best), or let me know what you thought of my narration. I am always looking for things to change in my narration considering I actually narrate other games as well. Thanks to TPang for the opportunity to narrate this giant AI game, and thanks to you all for reading it. - /u/KirbyATK48

Part 22: Strike of the Wobbegong – mk2

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