Episode 2: Shuffleboard – RG1

Welcome back to Season 2’ Redemption Game. We witnessed some quick rumping of the Ptolemies last game and several slow expansions. Things begin to heat up now that the map is getting filled up.

Like in C2, we’ll begin by looking at the Governments first so you know what state the competitors are in throughout the episode. A few changes around as V.O.C. changes to a Tribal Confederacy as each of their islands seek some form of autonomy, and the Ptolemeis rally around Dictator Cleopatra while holding the Suez line.

Japan decides to become a Nomadic Horde while the other green island civ Jamaica forms a Republic.

Anangu joins the Government list by forming a Republic. A reserved start for them considering they have plenty of tiles to exploit.

King Kublai Khan the Brave continues to have his capital in perpetual siege. Khanbaliq is in the black, but luckily for Yuan, Manchu continues the no melee strat.

The Teutons settle Helsberg in the Balkans as Perm’s invasion continues in full swing. The Teuton defense looks well provisioned, but Perm shows no signs of slowing down.

Bhutan’s Vajrayana is spreading throughout Asia, but despite investing fully in Religion, the faith still does constitute a majority of the population in their capital Thimphu.

New Netherlands wants to punish the Olmec settlement of Papaloapan for only having a catapult for defense. The Olemcs have two triemes at the ready to help flip the city back in case of capture while their land forces are blocked by the Chinook expediationary force.

The Tuareg advance towards Alexandria is blocked by Viet and Yuan scouts. A nice respite considering the fire power awaiting on the other side.  

Somalia settles Beletweeyne to further solidify their horizontal stripe of Africa. Namibia must not be too pleased to have been boxed in, but they have at least a large contigneint of scouts above the stripe to keep exploring.

New Netherlands entlists Subutai just as peace is declared with the Olmecs. Papaloapn might have taken some damage, but the sight of siege weaponry to the low tech New Netherlands must have really impressed.

The other Dutch civ seems more adventreours with the snowy settlement of Palembang far from their tropical starting location. V.O.C. has scouted much of the Arctic by now, so no surprise if more cities start to plop down if Chinook keeps being distracted.

Yuan remains on the tightrope. Manchu have a spearman nearby, but the unit is damaged and surely the first priority target amongst the defenders.

Chinook have yet to retract their army from down below which leaves T.A.T. free to invade. The Rocky Mountains are the only barriers between Four Bears and free cities.

Peru-Bolivia’s nice start now looks well eclipsed by Gran Colombia’s continued settling and bulking up. Peru-Bolivia joins the Republic train with the cylinder’s latest Government, but they really need more settlements to hope to compete.  

The Tuareg build Petra, and all of Civ Reddit rejoices. The settling of Zinder is making for a mighty fine looking empire.

Wales builds the Great Wall in Caerdydd to make Britian an impentereable fortress. Although, judging by the military composition, the Welsh might think the best defense is a good offense.

Robert Guiscard is the latest GG enlisted to crack open the Yuan capital. Yuan has built up a collection of archers to continue the arrow stand-off well into the future.

Perm calls it quits at the worst time as Wales tries once more to take on the Teutons. A one-front war is easy enough of a challenge, so Wales seems unlikely to do much more than the previous attempt.

New Netherlands builds the Hanging Gardens. Considering some of their neighboring competitors have well populated settlements, this Wonder looks to be the solution to keeping up. Elsewhere, the Olmecs settle Tzapotl to continue their coastal-only theme.  

Namibia knows they will fall behind if they do not press now, so a renewed war declaration is of no surprise. Somailia has to stretch their reserves thin across their many settlements, so a concentrated Namibian strike could snatch a city or two.

Thebai is looking vulnerable now that the Tuareg horde is unleashed. Curiously enough, it is the Namibian navy that reaches the city ports first before any Tuareg unit reaches the city gates.

The Chinook defenders have rallied back to tehir posts just in time to fend off an ill-coordinated T.A.T. offensive. If you look closely, you can see the Chinook workboat UU’s ranged attack being put to good use.

Well Namibia are the aggressors in this war, but they are the ones on the backfoot. Gibeon takes damage and most of the Namibian army looks to have been taken back by the range of the Somali Composite Bowmen.

That was short! Wales second thinks their offensive. Looks best to wait for Perms or better tech before proceeding.

Israel Putnam joins Somalia’s sizable GG squad pushing into Namibia. While the focus is on Gibeon, Jacob Morenga orders a backdoor squad to take on Galdogob.

Yuan rally around a single Horseman which proves to have melted away all the ranged attackers. It is rare, but the heroics of a single unit may have just saved the Yuan empire. A new epic poem in the waiting.  

V.O.C. builds the Oracle in the still lovely and peaceful island empire. Both V.O.C. and Anangu remain sleepy while they could be quickly expanding.

Perm hopes to take advantage of the lack of Manchu melee units by having sent a decent number of triemes all the way from Europe. Unfortunately for them, the Bering Strait is closed as the Manchu and V.O.C. impose a blockade that they’ll have to bribe their way through.  

Khanbaliq begins to recover as the hero Horseman still keeps the entirety of the Manchu army at bay. Sadly for Kublai Khan, Tanaka Kukuai has heard of the Permians strategy and decides to give it a shot through a naval invasion of their own.

No cities have changed hands, but the fighting between Somalia and Nambiia looks intense. Somailia forms a line of Composite Bowmen that rain down pain but while it may be reducing Namibia’s numbers, it does not look like Gibeon will be won. Elsewhere on the map, Yuan and Manchu finally make peace, which is of great respite for Yuan. All on the back of a single Horseman, what a legend!

Tin Hinan has almost twice as much military as Andrés de Santa Cruz in second place. Interesting to note is that, Namibia is in the third, while Somalia which are not even in the Top 8, despite their tech advantage and numbers. In fact, it looks pretty lcose between many civs, that is mostly thanks to the effects of Unit Limits which is constraining military size to infrstrcuture which can support sizable battle strength .

V.O.C. are not content with blocking Perm’s navy from entering their waters and proceed to lock them all within the strait.

T.A.T. and Chinook make peace. T.A.T. lose a considerable number of units for their trouble and suddenly it is the Olmecs which looks scary and imposing strength.

Well this is awkward. Andrés de Santa Cruz looks to have defected his own empire and joined Gran Colombia for an attempt at his former home… Surely all part of some grand ploy against Simon Bolivar, surely.

Thutmosis I joins the belingered Nambian defenders. Gibeon continues to be in the red and the Nambian troops are riddled with arrows.

Free to focus elsewhere, Yuan takes the fight to Japan. Osaka looks like a juicy target, and Yuan has the composition to make quick work. Manchu look to have recovered form and have several Swordsmen ready this time.  

Perm has their Swordsmen UU the Novgorodian Durzhina ready for deployment. This unit’s base strength is weaker but it gains combat strength within friendly territory and within a short distance of their capital. Not exactly the vanguard needed for an invasion but Perm appears to have several of them.

Chinook form a Tribal Confederacy in the wake of their war with T.A.T. Close by, we see that New Netherlands decides to go a war against the Olmecs another go.

Unlike last time, the Olmecs are well defended, and actually appear to have the upperhand. New Netherland cities are in great defensive positions, so it looks unlikely that the clashes will come anywhere close to them.

Vietnam builds the Shwedagon Paya, which grants them a big Science boost. Appears to be what Vietnam needs to make any breakthroughs in the future against their neighbors.

On the notifications, we learn that Vietnam joins the Republic gang, but the real action is on-screen. Cleopatra’s defenses are nearly wiped out, and the horde is knocking. Perm uses the distraction to send a group of missionaries down south.

Michel Ney leads a Perm expediotnary force across Eurasia to reach Yuan. Usually civs make useless war declarations that are aggressions more in spite or spirit, but Perm really seems to want a slice of Yuan.

Here we go again, Wales declares once more on the Teutons. Not much has changed on this border, with Wales having marginally better battlestrength on the frontlines, but not an impressive amount.

Simon Bolívar must have found out Andrés de Santa Cruz’s plot, cause the war goes nowhere. Peru-Bolivia definitly looks behind now, though. Scouts making the first line of defense never looks good.

The city of Barbara converts to Vajrayana. Bhutan is really going wide, and perhaps Jigme Singye Wangchuck believes he is playing a very different game than the others. Another missionary is also enroute to spread the Dharma to Africa.

Namibia appears to have renewed vigor in thai war, as an big advance is made on Galdogob, wth many Horsemen on the vanguard. The tables have turned, and the Somali Composite Bowmen look very vulnerable.

Bhutan joins the cool batch and forms a Monarchy as their Government. Most of their troops, along with Vietnam’s, look susicisouly close to Yuan’s border.

The Teutons predictably hold firm against the Welsh. A GM shows signs that the constant war economy has proven to be good for them.

Vietnam’s troops are not merely passing by, as war is delcared against the very soft looking Yuan underbelly. All of the attention has previously been on the Manchu front, so this is quite bad for Kublai Khan.

The Olmecs also go for a Monarchy as their Government. Their war with New Netherlands continues, but this is a clear stalemate good for only XP farming.

Somali, which never committed against the Ptolemies, make peace. The Tuareg advance was cleared with a good sortie of Spearmen which shows Cleopatra has still not quite given up.

Yuan is fighting on all sides now. The Permians arrive in the West, Vietnam to the South, Japan in the East, and now the Manchu renew their feud in the North. Yuan is indeed the Middle Kingdom, for better or worse.

Well actually scratch that. After making such a long and gruely journey across the Taklamakan Desert, they are greeted at the gates of Kaiping with an emissary that sends word of Saint Stephen’s end of hsotilies. A disappointment, to say the least, but cause of celebration for Yuan.

Please excuse the black smudge on the upper-right—I received a text message and did not notice until later it got included in the screenshot. The other black spots on-screen are all of the Teuton scouts flooding into Bhutan. If we did not know any better, it looks more like a pilgramage.

The Tuareg looks mighty impressive. Here is most of their domain, including the new city of Arut. It’s still far too early in the game to say, and much of the map is open, but the Tuareg look to be the favorite moving forward for the win.

Since no one wants to settle southern India, Said Barre makes himself at home. The settlement of Caabudwaaq is far away and indefensible, but it is green pastures for an empire that is squeezed back in the African continent.

Aztec generals seem to be in vogue. Ahuitzotl enlists under the Manchu, and looks to be the GG that finally takes Khanbaliq. A Horseman is at the ready, and plenty of ranged units to dwindle the city down.

On the other side of the conflict, we see that Yuan is buzy giving patronage to the GW Shahrnush Parsipur to write the great epic of the past Yuan Horseman instead of actually building any for the new fight.

In a fresh twist, Somalia manages to find a melee unit and pushes them to the front jsut in time to take Gibeon. A big blow for Namibia, which must have thought the tide had turned in their favor.

Somalia als has more good news to celebrate, with the settling of Boorma in Mesopotamia. Already Permian missionaries are there to join the festivities and spread their faith to the new arrivals.

Both sides have had enough, and peace is made. Namibia started this war as their best chance to break out, but lost Gibeon instead. Their military strength looks to have more fuel in the tank to keep going, but Jacob Morenga has thrown in the towel.

Wales keeps the pressure on the Teutons. The objective now seems to be more of keeping the Teutons in check and contained rather than taking their cities. The city of Aberffraw is built safely and uncontested, which might be the script for future settlements for Wales in Europe.

After building the Hanging Gardens, New Netherlands shots up in growth. Several of the island civs with natural food advantage make up the top spots, but we also see that the South American pair of civs are bulking up well.

A quick look at the faith numbers around the cylinder. Quiet Jamaica actually has the most followers as they spread uncontested in high population South America. Elsewhere, Perm also takes advantage of few rivals as it spreads densely in Europe and the Near East.

A look at the religious beliefs. Vajrayana has a Production edge, as well as nice defensive bonuses for cities following their faith.

Shinto also with a strong Production focus, though two of the beliefs require SHinto to be spread far and wide to provide their yields, which is not the present reality.Rastafarianism with a more spread out set of bonuses. Interesting to note is their choice of Religious Artisans, which provide big yields to the underused Guilds when they can be built.

Muism is well set for a good military advantage over their Yuan neighbors with Just War if they keep spreading to their cities. Ramadan might not be good early on, but they could be a Culture juggernaut with that and Arboreal Communion. Lutheranism looks built for spreading far and fast, which is not what Namibia seems to be doing with it so far. Televangelism might not be getting yields from Broadcast Towers for some time, but the spread bonus begins right away.

Eastern Orthodoxy took the Stupas from Vajrayana, and have quite a collection of Faith yielding bonuses. What Perm will do with so much Faith remains to be seen, but maybe we’ll see Missionary and Inquisitor spam later on.Calvinism has a well-rounded set of beliefs. Bit of a grab bag, but seeing Mandatory Tribute, knowing their capital also has the Hanging Gardens, then I can now see why the city is so huge and New Netherlands leading in total Food.

Forgot to include the map the previous time, but here is the current religious spread. Most impressive to note is Vajrayana, which is present as far as Africa from their base in India. Best not to confuse them with SHinto, which is almost the same red hue as them, and has made landfall in North America.  

Finally, we have the Demographic screen to see a quick look and who is most ahead. At no surprise, it is the Tuareg coming in first in multiple categories. Shoutout to Japan for being so densely packed and Wales leading the way in literacy. That is all for now. Hope you enjoy the show. Let me know in the comments if this pace is good or if you would prefer slightly less or more slides per album. I’m recording this slowly in my spare time, so I can adjust freely based on your feedback.