Part 62: A World on the Brink of War

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Gather ‘round folks, for Part 62 of the Civ Battle Royale! I’m your narrator, /u/patkellyrh of Power Rankings infamy. This is an emergency rush narration, so please be forgiving of any errors – just kidding, I know y’all will skewer me in the comments. Big props as always to TPang for the huge amount of work that it takes to put this together – 103.2 hours in just the past two weeks. And credit to /u/Cadellinman for this awesome cover art.

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Our map is poised for big changes this part. Vietnam and Australia are facing off in the Green Screen of Death War, and Sweden and Finland (with a little help from their friends) are finally doing something about Europe’s bordergore. Credit to /u/LacsiraxAriscal and /u/Malssistra for this gorgeous map.

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In a close and contentious shift, the Boers have been bounced out of the top spot in the Power Rankings for the first time since Part 47. They really brought this on themselves though, they could have long since plowed through Africa if they were just more aggressive, and I suspect that they could take the #1 spot back if they invade someone this part.

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Darius, Kekkonen, and Gustavus square off against Stalin, a moustache, and a hidden flask of vodka. Art by /u/Jru24

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The scene is set for an epic showdown around Moscow. IRL Russia has tremendous strategic depth that has allowed her to win major wars throughout history, but here, Stalin is backed into a narrow strip of land. Finland has a definite tech edge in this shot, nearly limitless reserves, and some more advanced units lurking to the north.

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Zooming out, we get a better view of how badly outnumbered the Soviets are. Kiev is already down to zero health, and Finnish units are knocking on the gates of Minsk. It does look like Stalin is taking a crack at Poznan, but even if he can flip it somehow, he’ll never hold it.

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Minsk also goes down to zero health, and the offensive around Poznan has evaporated. Stalin’s UA, Warsaw Pact, is that “Enemy units may take extra damage inside your borders”, plus some city-state boosts that won’t help him here. That extra damage probably won’t be decisive, but it may make the USSR a slightly tougher nut to crack than they appear at first glance.

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The first flashpoint between Australia and Vietnam is in the East Indies, comfortably away from both of their cores. All of the cities along the border have taken massive damage, and while the Vietnamese around My So’n are outnumbered, they look like they’re dug in for a real fight.

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The always reliable Ishtar tells us that Henry Morgan is plotting against Mexico. Our favorite pirate is a bit overdue to conquer someone, but this would be a tough approach for him. The Mexican border is mountainous and heavily defended, and Morgan’s access through the Gulf of Mexico is only one tile wide. He can move his fleet into the Pacific via Nassau, but conquering Benito would extend his land border with the Inuit, which he may not be ready for just yet.

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Henry Morgan is so in love with the sea, he demanded that his admirals carpet the Caribbean with aircraft carriers, so that he could get around without his pegleg ever touching dry land. The good news is that if that single plane in Georgetown ever has technical problems, it’ll have plenty of places to land. Note the swarm of workers in the east, presumably headed to Mali and Marrrocco to clean up from the invasion.

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My So’n is down to zero health, and a digger is ready to make the capture, inspired by PM Julia Gillard coming to the front. To the far north, we can see that Manila is also at zero health. Losing both of those would be problematic for the Trung Sisters; holding at least some of the first island chain here gives them a strong defensive buffer, and keeps the Wobbegong Armada out of the South China Sea, allowing Vietnam relatively free movement to the front. I count 52 Australian air units in this shot, as compared to 39 Vietnamese. Slight advantage there for the Australians, but probably not a decisive one.

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Finally, a slide of the war that everyone really cares about: Hawaii’s bold struggle for survival. Korea and Sibir both declared war on Kamehameha last part, but don’t seem to be making any aggressive moves in his direction yet. Korea is busy eyeing the Green Screen of Death War, where they could likely tip the balance either way. Vietnam is outnumbered on this front, but has a good chance at flipping Iloilo. To the south, Australian destroyers could take Cebu and Caloocan next turn.

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To the north, we can see that My So’n has fallen. All of the fighting up there has woken Jandamarra up from a long nap. He remembers how much fun a war can be, and DoW’s Japan. He doesn’t have much of a navy left, and would need to move pretty much all of it up north to have a shot, but it’s not impossible.

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Brazil joins in on the DoW against Japan, which gives us an excuse to take a look at their core. This is a pretty classic case of cities being so densely settled that they hurt each other, but this is still an impressive showing, and they vastly outnumber their neighbor to the north. Bucc power armor infantry is probably worth at least two paratroopers in a fight, but even at those odds, they’d be overrun quickly.

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My So’n looks like it’ll remain in Australian hands for at least another turn. East of Manila, Legash and Zamboanga have lost a ton of population since the last time we saw them – can’t tell from here if they were flipped, or if they got nuked and have since been reinforced with more units. The World Congress votes to ban silver, and Yukon Cornelius totally loses his shit.

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The World Congress also decides to leave the embargo against Finland in place. As retribution, paratruupers roll through Minsk, capturing both the city and the world’s largest contiguous citadel carpet. This also closes off Sweden’s border with the Soviets, precluding any gains for them in this war unless they can sneak some paratroopers in.

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A lone paratrooper is all that remains of Stalin’s attempt to snipe Yerevan. We can also see that Leonidas is spending more time on leg day than on reinforcing any of his new territory. The Middle East would be a cakewalk for Ethiopia right now, and even Persia could pick up a city or two.

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Japan readies for war! Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and even Tibet join what’s now a five-way war for a single city. Despite these overwhelming odds, Emperor Meiji is defiant. His fleet sets sail for…oh, right, sails…good luck mate.

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North and east of Japan, overflowing embarked unit carpets meet in the freezing waters of the Pacific, but are completely unable to damage each other. A handful of naval units on either side could have a field day up here, but instead it’s the world’s largest game of bumper cars.

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It looks like losing My So’n has gotten the Vietnamese to take this war seriously. They’re filling the South China Sea with both land and naval units, and they’ve brought an atomic bomb and drone fighters along for the fun.

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Australian subs arrive just in time to disrupt the Iloilo offensive, but they won’t be able to take Cebu or Caloocan. Further south, Zamboanga falls to Vietnam, but an advanced destroyer is poised to take it back. The Trungs are going nuts with the carriers here, and have loaded units on to almost all of them. Are you taking notes, Morgan?

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TIRIDATES WILL NOT BE TRIFLED WITH. Moscow has fallen to Finland, but somehow that’s less important right now than an Armenian paratrooper managing to snipe Kiev.

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Picking up two new cities has barely thinned out Finland’s carpet, and while they haven’t fully upgraded yet, there’s a wide selection of future eras units mixed in now. Only seven air units in this shot though, Helsinki directly borders Swedish territory thanks to an especially aggressive citadel, and Sibir is looming to the east. Still a precarious position for Kekkonen.

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Apparently the Trungs aren’t content with just one massive war, now they want to open a western front too. Gordium immediately falls to the red, but Susa could fall to the Persian navy. With the narrow mountain pass and Mongolian peacekeepers in the mix, Vietnam may have just as much trouble getting into Gordium as Afghanistan did for centuries.

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This is big folks! After carefully weighing the merits of intervening on either side of the Green Screen of Death War, Sejong of Korea casts his very advanced army against…Mongolia! Sejong establishes himself as the eternal defender of Japan. Actually, it’s kind of brilliant – his more powerful neighbors are distracted, and if he can get around the Boer peacekeepers, Mongolia has a really solid core that would help Korea bulk up. Genghis is finally rolling around in modern armor, but he’s still badly out-teched here.

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Australindia and former Sri Lanka is getting pounded by the Vietnamese Air Force. I don’t know if this fall out is from a new nuking, or if its left over from when Sri Lanka got lit up like the Fourth of July, but either way, the Trung Sisters could actually make some gains out here where Parkes can’t easily rush reinforcements.

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A Soviet AA gun forces its way back into Kiev. It was glorious while it lasted, but Armenia probably won’t get another shot at this.

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Former French lands are almost exclusively occupied by Finnish and Australian overflow. If they ever go to war with Finland, Sweden will be attacked from two sides. Iceland has already annexed most of these cities, and is sporting quite a few advanced units, but their land carpet is pretty threadbare.

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More Vietnamese peacekeepers float around the Pacific looking for something to ram their transports into. Unfortunately, they found that in the shape of an advanced destroyer and some subs. This will be an absolute slaughter.

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Remember Chile? Once upon a time, it felt like a coinflip if they would dominate South America or if Brazil would. Still, despite some losses along the way, they have a pretty solid core carved out of this narrow bit of land, and at 40 pop, Copiapo might be the largest city in the world.

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The Wobbegong Armada is made up of literally hundreds of ships, most paired with embarked land units, patiently waiting their turn to be fed into the Vietnamese meatgrinder.

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Gordium is ready to flip, and with it, the one unit that makes up the Persian Air Force. Susa is still damaged, but I like their odds of surviving the Great General blockade.

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Mongolian cities are badly damaged, but their army is on the offensive around Shanghai and Beijing, and more or less holds the passes around Guangzhou, with some help from the Finns and Boers. Korea can’t make full use of its XCOMs until tiles actually open up in Mongolian lands.

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Brazil has joined the Yakutian peacekeeper club, and while the Snoryaks have declared war on Afghanistan, it’s not likely they can reach any of Hotak’s cities. Their land army is still awfully sparse too, they really never rebuilt after the meatgrinder wars with the Inuit and Sibir.

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Iceland becomes the sixth civ to DoW Japan. Maybe Osaka can become a giant timeshare, where each power involved in the war gets the city for two months each year. To the east, the Wobbegong Armada has found more exposed Vietnamese bumper-boats.

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Zamboanga, Manila and Caloocan are all in Australian hands. Is Parkes finally punching through?

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Whangarei has flipped, and there might be enough Vietnamese paratroopers here to hold on to it. Ambon and My So’n look ready to flip too, but can the Trungs push land units across the sea quickly enough to make up for their losses?

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The offensive around Australindia has fizzled out. This was probably Vietnam’s best chance at taking cities they could hold longterm.

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Kiev falls again, but this time to Finland. With only a settler and a great musician left to carry on, the Soviet Union is eliminated in 28th. They held on longer than we expected them to, probably longer than they deserved to, and just long enough to be humiliated by Armenia.

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The Snoryaks awaken! Yakutia jumps on to the Japanese dogpile, but is actually in a position to do something. Trigger Darkhan has very few troops or ships in position, but has already knocked Osaka to 0 HP, and it will only take a few advanced destroyers and arsenal ships to turn that wooden Japanese fleet into kindling.

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Vietnam takes Gordium and looks like they’ll hold it. This puts them just two tiles away from Persepolis, but the approach is packed with Mongol troops. Susa is down to 3 pop, from 9 last time we saw it, suggesting it’s flipped back and forth.

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The Buccs are founding new cities like Ciudad de Carmen, but they aren’t doing anything to reinforce Marrrocco. Where could all of their troops be? Maybe invading Chile!

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Henry Morgan teams up with Australia and Ethiopia in a war that has the potential to finish off Chile. Chile starts by capturing Tiwanaku, but it’ll be tough for them to hold it, a lesson they’ve probably learned from spending the whole game fighting over this stretch of coastline.

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The Wobbegong Armada begins to slide east toward Chile. Australia has more than enough troops to spare without hurting their war effort against Vietnam. The staging area at Tulum should come in handy here.

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Yakutia continues to bomb Osaka, but hasn’t made any moves to get other units into the fight.

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Chile will struggle in this war, but they’ve mostly carpeted, and their tech is passable if not particularly impressive. It’s pretty late in the game to be rolling around in tanks, but the rocket artillery will do a lot to slow down invaders and soften up any captured cities that need to be flipped back.

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Vietnam has taken back Caloocan and Manila, and the island is now bristling with artillery. Their reserves can’t be too far off screen, but for now, Australia doesn’t have the troops on hand to take these back.

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The Trungs also take back My So’n, hold on to Whangarei, and are in position to flip Ambon and maybe even Mataram. Even so, on this front there’s no shortage of diggers waiting to come ashore and keep the bloodbath going.

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Beijing and Shanghai are taking a beating and could actually fall to the Mongols. The Korean air force is pounding cities like Otrar, but the Korean army can’t force their way through.

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Vietnam holds on to both Gordium and Susa, while bringing Persepolis down to a sliver of health. All they need is an opening for their paratroopers; if Persepolis falls, there’s a good chance the rest of Persia will follow.

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Sparta declares war on Persia just as the Trungs are cracking their defenses! Tonight, they dine in hell! Their army is getting awfully small though. We’ve seen throughout this part that there are barely any units in the land they just conquered from Carthage or Armenia, and there’s really not that much of it here in their core either.

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The Korean-Mongolian front remains static, but that doesn’t mean units aren’t dying by the dozen between slides. The problem for Korea is that for every Mongol unit they kill, a Boer peacekeeper takes its place.

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The Persian Navy rallies long enough to sneak a privateer in and flip Susa. Persepolis is still in the red though, and there’s finally an open tile next to it…

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Persepolis falls! Susa also flips back, and there are already 7 or 8 Vietnamese paratroopers surrounding Persepolis to lock it down. To the west, Sparta hasn’t really brought troops to this fight, and Gaza and Artashat are getting pounded, but it’s unlikely Darius can spare the troops for an actual offensive.

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Vietnam further solidifies their hold on My So’n and Whangarei, while carpet bombing cities as far east as Port Macquarie. For the first time, holes in the Aussie carpet are starting to show – they still have the advantage in numbers, but it’s noticeably less dramatic. To compensate, Parkes has sent at least three nuclear missiles to the front.

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Lhasa may look peaceful, but don’t forget that these bloodthirsty monks are at war with Japan right now. And ominously, we’re ending on turn 666…

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No big surprises here, but note how Australia is three times the size of Vietnam. Chile has gotten a bump since last part, so they must have held on to Tiwanaku.

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Compared to last part, Australia has lost about 40,000 troops, and Vietnam has lost about 191,000. Actual casualties are much higher than that of course, but it does mean that Vietnam’s production isn’t quite keeping up – not too surprising considering they fought two major wars and also lost huge numbers of defenseless embarked units.

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Finland picked up three techs this part, moving from 9th place to 7th, but not quite catching up to their rivals Sweden. Australia picks up a small, one tech lead over Vietnam.

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The Inuit eke out a one city lead over Australia, probably thanks to Vietnam.

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This isn’t adjusted for city penalties, so Australia and the Inuit are actually further behind on the science front than some of their competitors.

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Australia is definitely outpacing Vietnam on production, but not by an insurmountable margin. As bloody as this war has been, both are probably drawing on reserves still, with newly produced units still slowly making their way to the front.

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Judaism and Buddhism have both outlasted their founders, and it looks like Akatt-u and Shinto could do the same.

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Vietnam now occupies cities that follow Judasim, Akkat-U, Buddhism, and Shinto. Do any other powers equal or top that?

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Props to /u/Spherical_Melon for this excellent art. Thanks everyone for tuning in! If you don’t already, be sure to check out /r/civbattleroyale for discussions, analysis, original content, and sick rap battles.

Part 62: A World on the Brink of War – mk2

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