Episode 1: Come Together – Y1

EW (ExplosiveWatermelon): Hello friends!

Coiot: Hello and happy holidays everyone! We welcome you to a short experiment that has consumed the last seven days for me to get ready from inception to completion in time for a Christmas release: CBRY Season 1 Episode 1.

Credits for this album go to JFD, Tophat, and EW for providing some debugging and code cleanup, Limaeus for all the work spent in our new S2 utilities and optimizations, and Lunar for providing city state code he made all the way back in 2017 intended for the original Mk2 rebuild and Mk3.

This game was run without DLL on a new M1 Macbook Pro. For anyone wondering, it runs AI games exceptionally well. In fact, not once did the fan even need to be turned on while recording this game, and it’s hardly warm to the touch. Apple sponsorship soon™.  

EW: Here we have our actual brand-new sponsorship deal. Big Carrier! From sea to shining sea, they’ll pave the way to any civs’ victory! Right on!

EW: The modders over at /r/CivModdingCentral have been developing mods for the Christmas season! Who can forget about your favorite christmas characters, like Maximilian I of Mexico, or Louis de Buade de Frontenac? I would, if I hadn’t made one of them.

Coiot: Now onto the game. CBRY, as previously, is experiential runs using CBRX mods within the smaller confines of the Endgame map to provide more immediate action. So that we can have the focus be on the gameplay mods instead of the civs themselves, I’d like to bring back the Mk2 roster since we are all quite familiar with them.

As a reminder, the major gameplay mods for CBRX S2 are JFD’s Rise to Power, a variety of small utility mods developed by Limaeus and EW, Iska’s Holy Wars and Reformations, and LastSword’s Notification Logger. On top of this, for this setup, we’ll be adding in City States Evolved, which allows for city states to expand and develop their own trade routes.

EW: Here we’ve got a bunch of Mark 2 lads and lasses in their True Start Locations, back for another round. Yes, we’ve gotten the gang back together for Christmas! Although, here in Europe it feels like something’s missing. Eh? I’m not supposed to mention Hit-

Lore enthusiasts will remember these emerald isles as the birthplace of one of the great nations of Mark 2. Also Ireland and England. Iceland is however relegated to City-State status, whereas England is relegated to No-State status. France and Norway are also just chillin’ in the City-State club, leaving only Ireland as the true Civilization on this slide.

EW: Down south a bit, we have Portugal in Lisbon. I expect nothing from these guys, and even then I might be disappointed. Hey, at least we’ve got Poland, and with a less crowded Central Europe, perhaps they’ll do something.

Morocco, Sparta, Carthage, and Rome join the City-State Squad.

EW: The Ashanti, a vibrant people with little more to do other than enjoy life’s pleasures, have suddenly found themselves in Diplomatic Danganronpa. The Civ Battle Royale will not spare the weak, so let’s hope they can pick up the slack they had in Mark 2.

The Zulus, on the other hand, do not slack. They are led by Conquest himself, Shaka Zulu. Will the other horsemen soon join them, however? Ulundi has a lot of space, and the Zulus expansion bias is among the highest in Vanilla Civ 5.

Ethiopia and Kongo are City-States now. I don’t have too much to say on them, so I’ll talk about how I like the inclusion of City-States. Civs with City-State uniques can be really fun, and ultimately if someone like Teddy Roosevelt didn’t have City-State uniques, I would love to see them in CBRX. However, the case on my end is that I like being able to see Uniques in action. That’s a modders perspective, so I don’t know if it rings true for everyone- I doubt even other modders would agree.

EW: Here in Western Siberia, We’ve got a good squad. Finland, Poland, and Armenia are our major Civilizations, while the Soviets and Sibir are our minors. I also didn’t notice, but apparently there’s ruins in the maps.

While I’m taking this time, I might as well have you take note that we’re running Rise to Power (RtP) for this game. It has some cute flavor elements, as well as some minor and some major gameplay changes. If there’s anything that feels new, it’s most likely an RtP thing.

EW: Jerusalem’s there.

Cairo is the capital of the great Ayyubid empire. I’ll be honest, I don’t really like their colors. However, these guys are a CBR classic. From the party pope, to… well that was basically it. But the party pope is top tier.

Coiot: And building Dvin.

EW: Timur is a cool leader, so I’m happy the Timurids are back as a major. I’m personally a flavor guy when it comes to AI games, what can I say? Mark 2 had some really good parts. I was especially a fan of How to Fight Wars Good. Did you know that it was written by a film director? Sorry, I’ve gone off track. Where was I?

EW: Here we have Burma, a rather peaceful civ, next to a bunch of City-States. For now, let’s look at the personality of each City-State here:I personally like Sri Lanka, but they didn’t do much in Mark 2. They’ve got a voice DoM, a cool leader, and survived pretty far.

Indonesia had one of the biggest downfalls in CBR history. It was iconic how a civ could REVERSE snowball. What would that be called? Crashing and burning, I guess.

The Philippines.

Yes, all civs are very unique and lovely.

EW: In the plains of Samarqand lives the Timurid horde.

Down south, the Mughals, the land of no lords.

Tibet and the Mongols, city-states true;

China’s back in, what else can you do?

EW: The Snoryaks are perhaps one of the biggest fan favorites, and they’re finally back!... as a City-State. Also, they’re technically called Nation-States now, but let’s be real, if I was a competent narrator you guys wouldn’t have read my divorce fanfiction between Seddon and Gambu Ganuurru back in CBRX.

Chairman Mao is here as a major. I could easily make some Chinese communist regime jokes, but I’m afraid we’ll lose our potential sponsorship with Apple.

Tokugawa’s gone;

Meiji took the throne again.

Something seasonal.

The heart and Seoul of Korea is back as a City-State. Honolulu is there as well.

EW: Are those really the Kimberley’s colors? I could’ve sworn they were different. Colonialist Legacies dominates indigenous Australia, which is a bit of a shame because we don’t get much modder diversity in this region. Especially since Australia proper is dominated by Senshidenshi.

Speaking of Australia Proper; Sydney. Luckily, the Maori are back to nuke them off the face of the planet. Good luck, Te Rauparaha. You’re gonna need it to get out of Mordor.

EW: The Blackfeet are actually decently close to where I live, so I like seeing these fellows back as a Civilization. Sure, we don’t get Sioux 2 or Back Inuit-to-Winuit. To that, Canada says Sorry!

A notable change from Mark 2 is that there’s horses in the Americas now. Perhaps that’ll lead to more conflicts and development in this region?

EW: Real shit; I read the entirety of One Piece during a depression, so expect nothing else when I narrate a Buccs slide. They’re back, baby.

Texas is also back, and with horses in America this time, they’ll do better. Their leader is Sam Houston, yet they start in Austin. I know that Austin was the capital the majority of the time, but Sam Houston himself wanted to make Houston the capital because it had his name. In any case, I lived in both Houston and Austin, and I can say Houston is better. Austin thrives on their ‘quirky’ persona, a game they’re losing to Denver. Houston, on the other hand, is a pretty honest city. What you see is what you get, depending on where you are. TL;DR I would actually nuke Austin off the face of the Earth because I am a horrible human being.

Speaking of Cities I don’t like, Washington. I can’t say why I don’t like it without making a political statement though, and I don’t think Coiot wants to do that much subreddit moderating on Christmas.

The Maya are here, too. Remember they were in Mark 2? Hopefully they can rise to prominence here.

EW: Honestly, for a region that’s fairly populated with Civilizations, South America sure seems empty. I’m sure it’s for the best- it’ll give Buccs more room to expand. More importantly, there’s a bunch of jungle, so I think it’s great that they kept all the important cities on the coast.

The Inca deserve to be a major, tbh. They’re a strong Firaxis civ, but generally underperformed in Mark 2. I think they can pick up the pace here.

Chile is back, which I think is another great choice. It was either that or Argentina, and tbh I don’t think Argentina is as good as Chile. As a mod, at least. I’ve never been to any country. What can I say? Well, I can say that Chile will need to pick up a lot of land to break out in South America.

Argentina and Brazil are City-States.

Coiot: I tried Argentina, but they were boring. Chile has city state bonuses, too.

EW: China’s quick to expand, settling Shanghai on turn 4 right next to their passive City-State neighbor. Meiji’s already off to a rough start, having no real good expansion opportunities, but they’ll get some good bonuses from Mt. Fuji, at least.

Mao sends his senior advisor to greet the Japanese. Unfortunately, despite my distant relatives’ assumptions, Chinese and Japanese are different languages. It’s a rough start to developing peaceful negotiations, so perhaps a non-peaceful alternative will work?

Coiot: Buccs also amongst the first to expand and settle into South America. Game bodes well for them when they settle in this direction, although a quick canal city would have been nice. We’ll be coming for that Bogota soon enough!

Coiot: I want to make note of the unit damage. Despite the Blackfoot just adopting God of War as their pantheon bonus, the Blackfoot and the Sioux are not at war. The Blackfoot UA reads “All units that begin their turns on Bison in Blackfoot lands receive attrition damage.” but it seems this is true for all Bison tiles for some reason. Something to keep an eye out.

EW: The Mughals stand as the only civilization in this region to found a second City. What’s worse for their competitors is they took a pretty good region with a few resources and a lot of food. This could give them an early developmental advantage that could push them forward through their opponents. Timur, meanwhile, plays a game of chess with Tiridates, planning to pass the time before they find a nice place to plant their belongings.

EW: Is poo.

Anyways, now that that’s out of the way, we can worship the great return of the Kekkonen. May his enemies face their Kekkoning!

Also, there’s a city in Idaho called Moscow, but it’s pronounced differently. I like to imagine Putin spends his summers there. It’s pretty nice.

EW: Herat and Gyumri are settled in decent locations. They’ve got water, at least. What else can you ask for in this region? Well, Desert Folklore, for one.

I notice I haven’t talked much about Tibet. Oh no!

Coiot: Tibet will stay happy, small and secluded in those mountains.

EW: Japan quickly gets a pantheon, and you’ve guessed it- it’s the generic one all civs go for first. But hey, maybe it’ll be the start of something great? Like our first Religion! Who knows?

Coiot: Texas moves up the Mississippi and lays claim to a large portion of fertile land. The Blackfoot in turn scout down the California coast for perhaps future settling spots.

EW: This is a pretty good spot early on for Texas. Instead of settling south or west, Texas has claimed a big portion of the US core. The Blackfeet, on the other hand, choose a pretty poor spot where they are open to a future forward settled by the Lone Star state. It remains to be seen whether Houston will, once again, cheat to win a competition.

EW: Tiwanaku is settled deep within the heart of the Amazon. It’ll be great for future turtling, as well as wonderful for the overall science of the Inca. This is a great city.

Chile’s city, however, has a deep flaw. Mainly that it doesn’t exist yet. They better fix that.

Coiot: Timurids adopt Desert Folklore and are sure to gain enough desert tiles nearby to found one of the first religions in the game. Elsewhere I’d like to point out the Yakut settler in the upper-right.

EW: The Zulus are, as of now, a peaceful people. They shave their pet elephant’s tusks in Umgungundlovu, and they shit in golden toilets in Ulundi. Surely, life is good. However, Shaka has other plans.

He calls forth his Scouts, and gives them a quest.

“I will send you off for 400 days and 400 nights. You are not to return without an interesting story.”

Even one of the greatest generals in history can’t withstand boredom. It’s hard only having City-States as neighbors.

EW: Chile leads in production, which would be great if O’Higgins actually had 2 cities. Timur is the real winner here, in second with 2 cities and Desert Folklore as his pantheon.

I’d say things are coming up Tamerlane.

Also, Armenia is up there as well. Mao Zedong barely makes it. The rest only have 1 city.

Coiot: Tygyn Darkhan settles Druzhina, becoming the first city state to gain nation state status. This city will be the first of many in the empty tundra.

EW: I’ll take this time to talk about something I found out. I was doing research for a civ I’m working on, and I found out the Russian census actually puts a lot of native Siberian communities as being Yakut, and I can’t tell if it’s because they intermarried or if information is just hard to get. To any world leaders listening: do your censuses better so I can know how to do city lists better for Native Cultures.

EW: Tiridates III has declared the first war of the game against Israel! It remains to be seen what impact this will have on the world.

Probably not much, considering the army is poorly coalesced.

EW: Here’s a run-down of this region:

The Mughals realize talking can be a religious belief. Technically there’s a bit more to Oral Tradition than that, but I’ll be honest: it’s really only good right now because they’ve got a lot of sugar. The culture will be helpful, but there’s still a long way to climb before a religion.

Peter Falk is elected mayor of a city that is no longer Sri Lanka’s capital. He has retired from solving crime, and is now starring in a TV show about his government. The show is still called Columbo.

Coiot: Poland is late in the settling party as they march their settler out finally whilst Portugal already has a third city location scouted out. Poland has plenty of space to expand into but needs to catch up as all of their neighbors have safely expanded.

EW: Warsaw sounds like a weapon from Doom. It’s one of the most bad-ass capital names for a bad-ass culture. I actually speak Polish,and unfortunately it’s just a translation of Warszawa, which doesn’t sound as gruesome. However, the word for Man, mężczyzna, is definitely an abomination. That’s too many consonants.

EW:

In the Northern part of Texas in the town of San Antone

Lies a man inside a hovel sitting there all alooooooone~!

You may look in vain for people and you will find none,

For the population of the city sits at a meager one.

Sorry, I’m a Marty Robbins fan. More importantly, Texas pushes their way further into the US prairie. Isn’t that lovely?

EW: Well, Israel’s dead. It took a while, but it happened. My poor friends from Jerusalem must be a bit disappointed, however their city still stands… as a monument to their failure. Do not press F to pay respects. They’ve failed.Coiot: Not even a scout remains…

Coiot: The Buccs establish the first Government in the game, a Pirate Republic. Usually the first civ to build the Ancient Era wonder Sargon’s Palace is the first civ to get a quick government, but due to the island civs receiving more initial techs they rush forward to research Code of Laws in the Classical Era to begin government formation.

Coiot: Here we can see the new World Civilizations screen for an overview of the civs. We can see our caption now sporting the title Lawspeaker upon being the founder of the new republic. We can also see that due to the Cycle of Power influence of the Oligarchy, the Oligarch faction is the dominant group of this rowdy bunch.  

EW: I really like the idea of electing a Khan in the Timurid tribe. Except, they always vote for the same guy. It’s kind of like normal elections, except they’re honest about it.

EW: The Blackfoot have founded a religion! I believe this is our first one. This will probably dominate the Americas, much like Catholicism did in Mark 2. Personally, I like any religion with a deity known as “Thunderbird,” that shit sounds hype.

Coiot: Whilst on-screen I’m pointing out Finland’s acquisition of Dance of the Aurora as their pantheon bonus (a nice grab), the most important thing to note on screen is the activation of Armenia’s UA. Wakan Tanka magically arrives in Yerevan, spreading the worship of holy Bison in a land where no inhabitants even know of how they may look like.

EW: Those vision quests sure are long-distance.

Coiot: Siberia fills up as Sibir, Mongolia, and Yakutia have now started to fill in their respective spheres of the map. A novel solution to the empty Siberia problem, but we'll see how this experiment plays out later in the game.

EW: Mongolia may not have invaded Japan, but its culture sure did. The Japanese are now wearing laminar armor and riding on horseback. The Shogun is dead- long live Meiji Khan.

Consul Te Rauparaha, has won his recent election. However, the Maori are a warrior culture, so elections are different. Instead, it’s a boxing match between two leaders. Te has never lost yet- his right hook is a literal killer. His challenger was left a bloody pulp as the new Consul was declared Lord of the Ring.

EW: The scouts have returned from their voyage. It has been far too long since they’ve seen their wives, husbands, and gender non-binary partners. Before they can reunite, they must deliver the news to Shaka.

“My lord, we’ve heard of a man who ruled the ancient worlds! He conquered from the two rivers in the North, right near where Israel used to be! His name was Sargon, and he was a leader most truly divine. However, there’s one leader who stands above them- yourself. If anything, you’re twice the man of Sargon! You should proclaim yourself THREE TIMES as divine a ruler as Sargon!”

Shaka laughed. “It is done. You may return to your families.”

Coiot: The Zulu build the aforementioned wonder Sargon’s Palace and instantly get to establish their chosen form of government—a Monarchy. All hail King Shaka, forward-settler of the Kongo!  

Coiot: The Blackfoot and Chile form an early alliance.  Perhaps a long-term agreement to split the Americas? A far off dream for now. But Chile has now secured all of Patagonia as Argentina chooses to settle along the upper coast instead. The Inca spread far into the Amazon, hoping to maybe cut off future Chilean expansions in the north. Elsewhere, Japan founds Shinto.

EW: The Irish plant a settler firmly on European soil! They’ve also founded a decent Pantheon.

Poland has caught up to the City game, founding Lodz and Krakow. Norway has settled their second city, and Finland looks to expand soon.

Portugal, however, is hesitating with their expansion. Hopefully they can pick up the pace.

EW: Timur stands as one of the more active civs in this region, this episode. Not only has he been relatively expansionist, he’s founded a religion- Sunni- in his capital of Samarqand! I’m excited to see him perform in war. If this keeps up, the world may be painted Black and Red!

EW: Sam Houston has taken up gardening. A bit too actively, actually. He’s somehow managed to develop rice terraces despite Texas being composed of mostly flat land. I’m honestly impressed.

Also, Dallas exists. Just ignore that.

Coiot: Pachacuti gains the epithet “the Conqueror” despite not having done any conquest that we’re aware of, unless you count the wilds of the Amazon jungle. An optimistic self-fulfilling prophecy for all of South America perhaps.  

Coiot: Poor Tibet already on the crosshairs of a civilization. Akbar eyes the mountains of Songtsen Gampo, but despite Lhasa having poor tile yields and a tiny army, they already have spearmen thanks to civs being in the Classical Era and the mountains will provide ample defense. Elsewhere, the Blackfoot finish constructing Stonehenge.  

EW: Meiji and my boy Te like to feed their people. The Pirates follow shortly behind, as do the Inca and Armenia.

Coiot: Woah! The early alliance between Chile and the Blackfoot brings all of the Americas into war. It seems Chile is the aggressor, but they pull in the Blackfoot into direct conflict with Texas. The Inca sense an opportunity and respond by going after the poorly defended city of Tortuga. Composite Bowmen against Warriors… ouch. Get it together Captain!

EW: I have no idea what the Kimberley were thinking. They have one city on a river. That’s +1 Happiness. You wasted your pantheon choice for this? There’s like, 3 more rivers in Australia you can possibly settle. What are you planning?

Coiot: Ireland looks to protect their continental beachhead with an alliance with Portugal. Seems to be a mutually benefiting deal as Maria can also sidestep France for some of that southern coast sun.  

Coiot: Things are not looking good...

Coiot: As expected nothing comes of the Tibetan-Mughal tensions along the Himalayas. Akbar was still able to get several units in-and-around Lhasa though. But despite that, they did not cause much of a ruckus.

Coiot: I promise lads usually it goes much better for the Buccs in South America while I was testing this setup, but this is looking like a defeat.

EW: Carthage and Morocco aren’t really in danger, yet. I think Carthage will lose Utique soon, but I don’t know if they’ll lose their titular city quite yet. The Ayyubids are trying, though!

Coiot: Buccs get the first big Oof of the game. Pachacuti basks in his Conqueror title and goes for more as he negotiates the turnover of Nassau in the peace deal. A mighty blow for the Buccs so early in the game. The city is unceremoniously set to the torch in his honor.

EW: Portugal is carving a mean slice of Europe, and with more settlers to go. I wonder if we’ll see them colonize a bit of Africa?

Coiot: The Blackfoot and Texas shkrimesh but the war forced onto them seems to amount to just an XP exchange for some units. Canada looks on and concentrates on teching up with some Composite Bowmen. Below we see that Pachacuti has overcome his bloodlust and stopped the razing of Nassau.  

EW: Hey, that slide’s the name of my mod! You know- the one that lets the AI stop razing cities if they can reasonably afford to do so!

Coiot: Kekkonen thinks vertically and settles in a rather odd pattern. Finland is safe from the left and right with a shield of city states, but Tampere looks exposed to Polish aggression. Poland might have been slow to expand, but they already have plenty of horse units on call.  

EW: Saladin “The Fonz” Fonzarelli gives out a long “Ayyyyyyyyyyyubid” after capturing Utique. Let the party rock!

Portugal also founded a pantheon. It’s not the most useful, but it’ll help their defense.

Coiot: Japan was the other slow expander but has been awarded so far with a good early start. Safe in their home islands, Meiji completes the Great Lighthouse to aid in future naval domination. Elsewhere, Canada declares war on America.

EW: Saladin shows a little modesty by only proclaiming himself Prince. Hey, other people proclaimed themselves “God-King” in the past. Still, Te and Timur are the fairest, as they incorporate some system of representation for the public. It just so happens they can never be removed from power, for one reason or another.

Meanwhile, Carthage looks to fall. Color me a bitch for guessing wrong.

Canada plans to recreate the razing of the White House.

Coiot: The Kimberley joins in on the republic trend and establishes one of their own. Australia has yet to settle another city, so the Jandamarra remains uncontested.

Coiot: While the Texas-Blackfoot war should come to nothing, Argentina has made a grave mistake. They have allied themselves with Texas, which immediately will bring down Chilean troops onto their borders.  

EW: China is friends with Mongolia! This gives us a chance to look at their sprawling empire. It seems this won’t be a repeat of Mark 2 days.

EW: Poland also has a pantheon, which allows us to get a good look at Europe. Poland’s looking lovely, as are Portugal and Ireland. I wonder what the Finns are up to...

Coiot: Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and Templo Mayor in the same turn! Kekkonen is on to something here. We’ll check the notification export later to see in which cities they were built in.

Coiot: Armenia completes the Terracotta Army, and by the looks of it they had quite a diverse unit composition to make good use of its bonus. I’d be defending Cairo with more troops if I was Prince Saladin.

EW: The Colossus has been built in Burma! This allows us to review the region again. Burma itself actually has a decent army composition, but the Mughals are no laughing stock. Anyone who wants to win here will have to make some strong diplomatic moves. Perhaps the City-States will be the deciding factor in this region?

EW: Iceland has settled Greenland. I don’t think there’s much of a joke that could be made here. We don’t really get to look at these guys too much due to their isolated position, but later on I’m sure they’ll be useful… eventually...

Coiot: You might be reading the highlighted notification on-screen and be a bit confused, so let me explain. During the processing of the turn, Chile captured Buenos Aires, but then made peace with Texas and gave the city over to them in the peace deal. Sam Houston then immediately liberates the city. “No harm no foul,” Houston tells Eva Perón as all is well and is much obliged for her food supplies after joining the war effort.

EW: Carthage has fallen! That was fast. They weren’t doing too bad, but the Ayyubids were doing much better. I don’t give out Fs to deaths that happen within the first episode, but you can at least give these guys credit that they weren’t the first City-State to die.

Ashanti has their UU. Portuguese colonialism has begun in Africa.

Coiot: Nice distribution of early game wonders so far. New big tech leader, but I have a feeling Te Rauparaha will be adding several more wonders from his safe position.

EW: It’s high noon in Canada, as the Texan army takes 10 paces towards Kingston. Yup, that city’s gonna fall.

Coiot: Ireland bravely picks a fight with Poland to hopefully claim Central Europe. Unfortunately for Malachy II, Maria seems to have withdrawn their alliance before the conflict started. There is a large enough Irish expeditionary force to do some damage, but both sides seem well matched to stalemate along the Rhine.

Coiot: The Kimberley find an ally in Indonesia, but they really should have been dedicating more time on the mainland. So much for being uncontested, Australia settles in on old ways and has expanded to claim a sizable part of the island.  

EW: Japan sends a naval squadron over to take Manila. Just like old times! Finland also built a wonder, but tbh I don’t have that one memorized. It looks like Cheomseongdae, but I can’t tell.

Coiot: Sri Lanka agrees to hunt down any Carthagian exiles they might find as the Ayyubids have already finished with any resistance in North Africa. The Ayyubids also found Arianism. It’s starting to get crowded in the religious space in this region.  

EW: Hey, I’m glad I’m not the only one who remembers that show.

EW: China has built the Parthenon, giving them a free Great Work. That’s it. I imagine it’s a painting of Mouse Dong himself.

Chile also has completed a wonder. If I recall, most of the new wonders are actually pretty good, so this could be a great boon.

Coiot: The Mughals found Nestorianism. We can see Wakan Tanka is spreading in the upper-left corner, though this new religion should spread easily in South Asia since there appears to be no other pantheon around.

EW: The Ayyubids go to war with the Ashanti, however I don’t think the timing is that great for them. The Ashanti have their UU, and Utique has piss-poor defenses. The Drumroll warrior, if I recall, is weaker but spawns with additional copies. With a name Bonham, Taylor, and Starr could love, who’s to say they won’t be drumrolling over their enemies?

Coiot: Canada gives up trying to capture what should have been a quick smash-and-grab in Washington and instead focus all attention on the grave threat on hand. Texas is more than prepared to paint Kingston in their colors, and Pearson rightly should be worried.

EW: TBH I didn’t know there was a war here. I think Coiot covered that. However, there’s no longer a war here. Nothing seemingly changed. The real winner is Finland, since that seems to have distracted his two biggest competitors for land. I expect Finland will be able to do great things once those City-States fall.

Coiot: The Ayyubids might be the aggressor, but it is the Ashanti that claim first blood. Konongo might be in siege but Utique flips to the Ashanti. No liberation as the Ashanti definitely needs to get more cities. Elsewhere, the Buccs declare on America, hoping to make a comeback while North America is distracted.

EW: So, Portugal establishes a Monarchy. They’ve also got an island base in Goa, and are developing a healthy navy. My main thoughts about Portugal are that they won’t end up winning, but we’ll have fun seeing them back in inaction.

Coiot: The Zulu are all but blocked off from expanding northwards as the city states form a wall from coast to coast. Even so, this should be a safe and cozy powerbase from which the Zulu can build up and explode with Impis from.

EW: Burma has actually built a nice state for itself. They’ve got a decent army, a decent amount of cities, and look to be expanding towards Indonesia. The Mughals will have to play catch up if they want to avoid the wrath of the Peacock.

Coiot: Burma declares war on the Mughals, but unfortunately the declaration comes before they found Theravada in Rangoon. This sequence seems to have not triggered a Holy War from taking place, despite this conflict being between two religion founders. But in the conflict itself, Burma is sporting several of its unique units already on the front lines. The Kyundaw Conscript (Swordsman) gains +3 Combat Strength and heals +2 HP while inside or adjacent to cities, as well as an increase of +4 Combat Strength and +3 HP adjacent to enemy cities. These lads are going to hit hard!

EW: Konongo falls, but the Ashanti look to keep Utique. I can’t really say if it’s a fair trade, but it looks like they’re both losers to me. Instead, I’m going to be spending this slide talking about Morocco.

Morocco is one of the more interesting City-States, I feel. It provides a barrier against European invasion, but also serves as a vital port. It can be a decent ally or a decent vassal, but however you control it, you can be sure that it will play a big role in getting a foot onto Africa.

Coiot: Canada holds the line and reinforces Kingston as the Captain Morgan brings up the first pirate crews onto New York. The Texan army sure looks strong, though.

Coiot: The Roman settler seemed to have been close to founding the second Roman city quite close to the location they did in Mk2. But their escort has run off north and the current city borders in the area don’t leave much room for anybody.

EW: I don’t think they can actually settle up there. Maybe they’re going for Greenland?

Coiot: The Maori people seemed to have been fed up with the oligarchy in Aotearoa and briefly the republic was in anarchy. Alas, they have failed to overturn the system and the oligarchs remain. The Maori have a comfortable four cities so far, and have good tech. Should be set to contest the Pacific soon.  

Coiot: Catholicism is founded in Dublin, with Poland and Portugal with pantheons that may shortly follow. Seems to be looking tight in the religious space here. Casmir meanwhile does not need to anticipate conflict as he brings the fight to Kekeonnon. Irish triremes block the naval route northwards but a long land front opens up as Finnish and Polish troops clash.

EW: That’s an ecumenical matter.

Coiot: The Ayyubids fortify Konongo but this action might come with Qart Hadasht traded away. The Ashanti doing the best they can with the poor hand they been dealt, but may come away from this war with net positive cities.

EW: If they take Carthage, that still won’t save them in the long run. The Ayyubids are losing, yes, but the Ashanti don’t have the long-term military capabilities to save this run. Nobody’s won this war.  

Coiot: Philippines reach Papua as Burma settles the Malacca strait. Navigating through these islands without open borders seems like it will be a nightmare for explorers. Kimberley cargo ships on the other hand seem to be having no problem.

Coiot: A parting shot of the East Asian civs. Korea has finally settled its second city in the tight gap between China and Yakutia. Unlike in Mk2, Mao seems to have learned about expanding southwards and hugs his core tightly. Several spaces to expand to, and only city states as neighbors for now.

Coiot: We end this album with the info slides. First up, the juicy stuff. We see here again the World Civilizations screen to see the general setup for each civ. Still several civs that have not researched Code of Laws to grant them a government, but we have some like Regent Maria in at the head of the Portuguese Kingdom with her cadre of Nobles. Another is the Peasant Timurid Principality led by Prince Timur.  

Coiot: Warlord Meiji leads the nomadic Japanese Horde. His group is dominated by the Sedentary faction which looks like the horde may not be so nomadic for long as they settle down into the cities of Kyoto and Osaka.  

Coiot: Lawspeaker Mao Zedong at the head of the People’s Republic of China. Wait what? I came here for batshit wild governments to roleplay with!

Coiot: Going to include the Diplomacy screens to see if I missed screenshotting any wonders, social policy progression, and see who is allied with whom. Chile in particular seem to have recently renewed their friendship with the Blackfoot. They have the Statue of Zues so hopefully they put it to good use again soon.

Coiot: Canada is at war with Texas but has at least secured their backside from attack by allying with Iceland. Not that Iceland is an immediate threat or expansion option at the moment.

EW: They would be a threat if they were an actual civ >:(

Coiot: Ireland seems to have been focusing on the diplomatic side of the competition and has secured a number of friends. The Isles are quite a stronghold for now, so making friends with the continent is a good strategy.  

Coiot: Finland leads the race in wonders with three relatively decent acquisitions. They are at war with Poland but should come out of the conflict ok.  

Coiot: Timur has Petra and Desert Folklore. Get ready for the r/civ circlejerk posts! Or is that too much 2017 nostalgia for the day?

EW: /r/civ should honestly ban those posts. I get it, you did the funny meme thing. How about some original content, for once?

Coiot: The Ashanti seem to be rather behind on social policy gains. Three points into Honor but most others have at least completed an entire branch by now.

Coiot: Maria seems to have still been friends with Ireland, but not enough of a friendship to do battle against Poland. She has eyes on the Mediterreanen it seems and is not interested in the colder climates occupied by Poland or Ireland.

Coiot: In the Demographics screen we find that the Inca lead in several categories. No doubt unquestioned expansion and a quick one-two against the Buccs put them in a very favorable position. We’ll see how they fare against Chile later in the game.

Coiot: In the Religion Overview map we see the spread of religions is still quite clustered around the middle of Eurasia. But there are still a few slots left so hopefully more of the map gets colored in.

EW: I like these religions. The most interesting I think is Wakan Tanka and Nestorianism, but I’m pretty sure the latter is just a fallback because the Mughals had their base religion taken. Personally, I wish religion was more influential in these games, but it’s still good to see the map painted with them.

Coiot: CBRX with the new religion mods should spice things up. CBRY has Holy Wars, but could not make use of the DLL dependent mods that made things more diverse.

Coiot: The Beliefs screen shows some of the bonuses so far. Nothing too impressive, though the Blackfoot seems to have a nice mix.

Coiot: Nestorianism seems to be doubling down on Science based bonuses.

EW: Frankly, there’s little here I would consider game changing. Catholicism has Fertility Rites, which can be pretty good. Lutheranism grants a bonus to the Nation-States, which is fun. However, the case is that religion needs some larger dynamic to really be influential in an AI game, as much as I hate to say it. Still, religious civs can be some of my favorites- Priamurye, one of my designs, is one of my favorites that I’ve done. Anyways, this is the last slide, so I suspect I’ll have to say some final words before Coiot puts me back in his dungeon.

Alas! It has been a very merry Christmas, indeed! Though I am left with no conclusion, I am still satisfied. Coiot has put together a wonderful little game, and I hope you enjoyed this.

Coiot: That is all for this time. I’ll also be providing the notification exports in a separate post. If you liked the start of the game let us know in the post thread. We can either continue this game or start anew with a different roster. If we continue, I expect us to do a little more worldbuilding and develop some community roleplay as we show something like 15-20 turns at a time every week. So please do provide feedback, and have a safe holiday season!