Power Rankings: Episode 37 – S1

Lacs: The unpalatable legends that swirled around the Selk'nam and their dreaded homelands had kept them safe for centuries, but ultimately they weren't enough to put off fellow South Americans the Nazca and fellow Pacific wayfarers New Zealand from sailing through the mists to claim the rocky tundras for themselves. That said, neither of them were going to put the final blow in. I mean... that's a curse just waiting to happen, isn't it? No one wants to get eaten by Cthulhu on the way home. Unfortunately for Xo'on Uhan-Té and the survivors of the Newzca invasions, such mythologies had not made it as far north as the Nestorian Moors, whose own religion was perfectly terrifying on its own merits. I imagine it was as much a surprise to them when the token force they sent down met with very little resistance, netting Abd ar-Rahman an unlikely colony.

The truth is, outside the enduring mysteries that surrounded this elusive people, there was never anything very scary about the Selk'nam. Their last shot at relevance was all the way back in the Medieval Era, when they passed up a perfect opportunity to rob Uruguay of Paysandú. Since then, most serious discussion about the civ centred on the viability of their ultimately disappointing Jesus-walking melee units, or their early wars with the Nazca, which only ever netted them the one city of Ocongalla. Of all the perennial runts, though, it's not difficult to conjure fond memories of the Selk'nam. They were a civ that many viewers, myself included, knew nothing about prior to CBRX, and a civ that quickly became one of the game's most iconic and beloved players. One last cheer for the Selk'nam! Hip hip........ h̷͆̔ö̸́͛o̷̿̄r̷̛̀ā̷͘ÿ̵́͊!̵̒̿

Gragg: Good Riddance

Cloudberg: Beta Israel was a civ that could have done so much more than it did. They didn't start out with particularly towering expectations, and their mountainous starting location suggested they might do little more than turtle until the late game. (Which, sadly, is what they did.) But there was a brief period, after the discovery of their extreme production boost caused by the synergy between their UA, their religion, and their UB, when we thought they might just defy expectations. That productive capacity was enormous; at one point, it propelled them to number two in production cylinder-wide, an event which corresponded with their all-time high power ranking of 18th. But the burst of production quickly faded, and Beta Israel remained a second or third tier civ for the rest of the game before being bodied by Zimbabwe, battered by Nubia and Palmyra, and then finally eliminated (by Zimbabwe again). As the last civ to die before Endgame, I can only assume that Gudit the warrior queen is a little bit disappointed.

Msurdej: Well first on our list, in last place, we have Nepal: a civ that did basically nothing after the first ten parts but lose.  Now in the Endgame, they're last in nearly every bonus. I say Nearly, because they're actually getting more GPT than Madagascar. But make no mistake, Nepal is looking to be a safe bet for an early elimination. If India, Taungoo, or Qin don't eliminate them early though, expect Nepal to sit up in the mountains for a good, long time.

Cloudberg: The Evenks are going to be in a tough situation in Endgame from the very first turn. Their starting bonus is the lowest of any civ that isn't a rump, and they now start next to Shikoku, which despite losing its capital is still something of a stats powerhouse. The Khamugs also start just a few tiles away, and while Jamukha's starting bonuses aren't as good as Shikoku's, they're still a lot better than Bombogor's, and his AI is much more aggressive and expansive. All things considered, if you want to bet on what civ will go out first, picking the Evenks wouldn't be a terrible move.

Lonely: Pros for Canton entering Endgame: Well, they’re here. The goal Canton’s worked towards ever since the Qin blew them out in a war they declared has finally been accomplished, and Ching Shih has a bid at redemption. They’ve finally gotten themselves back in a position to where a win is physically possible, and, hey, at least now there’s a chance at prevailing. They did well early in the regular season, after all. Sky’s the limit. Canton forever.

Cons for Canton entering Endgame: “Aaron’s adjusted Voronoi map says you shouldn’t exist” is never a good thing to be told in a game where land is at a premium and whoever has the most cities is doing the best, but for Canton, that might just be the best news they’ve gotten heading into round two. Their neighbors are among the best in the game, the map is too small for them to do much of anything, their bonuses are nonexistent — Canton’s got a whole suite of indicators that point directly to them failing horribly in Endgame. Only Nepal and the Evenks have it worse, and if either of those civs are relevant three parts in it’ll be a bloody miracle.

The verdict: Canton’s screwed, y’all.

Msurdej: With most of The Northern Pacific the same as last time, the Yup'ik are in a precarious position. With a more powerful Haida to the south east, and a no longer island bound Shikoku to the west, the Yup'ik are in trouble. With less impactful bonuses than their neighbors, and the start on an island, Apaanugpak is going to have their work cut out for them getting a similar Empire to the one they had before Endgame.

Techno: New Zealand? More like New Selk'nam. After conquering the Southern Cone and being exiled to it by Australia's forces, Seddon is stuck at the end of an unforgiving continent. With poor starting bonuses, it's hard to see the Kiwis pulling off a remarkable comeback barring a complete failure of Uruguay to settle its lands. That being said, the 'Guay was merciful towards the Selk'nam last time - perhaps they'll spare Seddon this time around.:

Gragg: Amidst all the wild stuff that happened in the last 300 turns it’s easy to miss that Parthia lost s of their 13 cities. Their starting bonuses are solidly meh. The silver lining is they have a little bit of room from the nearest powers in Palmyra and Kazakhs. That space will rapidly disappear on this smaller map. Their only chance is rapid and aggressive expansion towards Nepal and India.

Techno: Madagascar is one of the smallest civilizations to never witness an invasion of their home turf. Their home island was far too tough for Zimbabwe to touch, preoccupied as they were with Benin's wildly successful invasion. But in Endgame, their home island is much smaller. While a lack of Beta Israel means that Madagascar could establish a greater mainland presence than they did during the main campaign, we don't have high hopes that Madagascar will be anything more than a backwater island nation until Zimbabwe decides to annex them.

Shaggy: In one of the most volatile rankings, one of the most historically controversial civs makes a whopping zero change in their rank. Europe is going to be an absolute bloodbath in Endgame; there were not as many European civs that got killed off as I and some other PRs expected. I see a few scenarios for Prussia (in no particular order):

1. Annihilation - If the Goths and Sami start encroaching on Prussian lands, I think Prussia will have their work cut out for themselves. Getting coalitioned by their powerful neighbors would make Prussia’s fate dependent on how much they can establish their production capabilities, but more than likely they will get destroyed if that happens

2. Dominance - Prussia does not have Muscovy, Czechia, or the Turks in their way on the smaller map, so they will be able take control of more of the European continent and expand into Eurasia much more easily. If they can establish themselves as a southern parallel to how Sami expanded in S1, I think Prussia will be able to effectively consume or crowd out their neighbors and become a European powerhouse.

3. Irrelevance - A Prussia that doesn’t settle is a Prussia that, at best, can stick around for a while. It requires Europe to be relatively sleepy, but if the Goths look eastward more than west and Sami can’t muster the forces to overwhelm Prussia while Prussia sits on a few cities waiting for something to happen, then they will be relegated to irrelevance and Europe will be boring again unless Venice, the Vikings, or the Moors can sweep through.

Lacsirax: The chances of Mann's death in the Megapart were high. The Moors could have finally found retribution for their aborted war from years before, but more likely we saw the Vikings sweeping through the Manx Isles once and for all. Neither happened, and the Manx gain a significant boost in the rankings as consolation. After all, they're no longer under immediate threat, and their biggest living foe, the Vikings, are thought to have a much harder start this time next to a statistically dominant Sámi. That said, it's still hard to see where the Manx go - we saw how successful their American ventures were last time, and that's before the Iroquois were the Iroquois. Mainland Europe meanwhile seems a Moorish slam dunk, thus likely relegating the Manx to their usual abodes: the British Isles and a touch of Greenland. But it proved them right through CBRX, and with naval rivals Venice and Vikings more likely to get stamped out early this time, they could find themselves safely quarantined from the action to the south.

Aaron: India gain 1 rank thanks to Parthia's massive drop. This part was fairly quiet, the only thing that happened was India settling a city near the ruins of Salalah (which was burnt down by Madagascar). Going into Endgame, India will have to watch out for Maratha and Palmyra, who are both getting much better starting bonuses, but are also next to Nepal: the weakest player who is getting only a single gold as a bonus - an easy target. Anyway, if I were playing as India, here's what I would do: I would use my 3 free starting techs to get mining, bronze working and iron working. This means that my free starting units are 4 swordsmen instead of 4 warriors.  I settle southwest and buy a few tiles with my starting gold to cut off Maratha from the Indus valley. Meanwhile I use my starting great person to build a great improvement on the iron next to my capital - this connects it and means my swordsmen are operational. I then use these 4 swordsmen to take out Nepal before they can research walls, at around turn 10. Now with Nepal out of the way I have safe mountain borders with all my neighbours except Maratha - they are the main problem I have to deal with. I assign the 4 swordsmen to guarding my southern border as I try to cut off as much land as possible from Maratha - it doesn't matter how many bonuses they have - if they don't get land to settle, they will fall behind eventually.

Lacsirax: Haida bled yet more cities to a bruised Shikoku last episode, and enter Endgame in the worst possible scenario: next to two civs that managed to endure the final CBRX part completely intact. There was once a time when Koyah could've gone toe to toe with both Geronimo and Riel, but his only punching bag in Endgame will be the Yup'ik, and that's only if they turn up before someone else has pummelled the bag straight off the ropes already. That said, they're in the best possible place to pile on the pain: with their very handy naval UU available from the start, and the Yup'ik capital relegated to a one tile island, they could reasonably have a two-capital empire before anyone else on the cylinder. How much does that mean in the long run? Well, a double core is always handy for further expansion, and for the opportunity to do so you'd do well to watch two civs very closely - first, the Iroquois, who could reasonably demolish either the Métis or Apache fairly early on, giving Haida the scraps to munch on. And then there's Shikoku - if their Siberian start doesn't go to plan, Haida should have a fair bit of free space in Asia to work with.

Cloudberg: Nubia is a civ I really didn't expect to get this far. Back in episode 8, they fell to 49th place after being reduced to three cities in a series of brutal wars. And yet, somehow, they bounced back, ever so slowly. By picking up stray cities here and there, and putting a lot of effort into not dying, they grew back into a small but respectable empire that cruised through to Endgame without too much adversity. That said, they won't be in a great situation going forward. Egypt has never been an easy starting location, and every one of their neighbors will have a bigger starting bonus than them. Palmyra will be a big threat early on; later, so will Benin, or even the Moors. They might even have to watch out for Venice, if things start going Enrico's way. So, long story short, Nubia is very much an underdog. And they aren't the sort of underdog that has some kind of edge chance that allows you to root for them—to be perfectly honest, Nubia is screwed.

Shaggy: With the Endgame reset, Nazca falls 4 spots in the rankings. They have a bit of a rough position as Uruguay will not have Kuikuro in their way to settle the Amazon early. Additionally, if I’m looking at the map correctly then New Zealand does not have as isolated of a starting position as Selk’nam did in the beginning of season 1. Granted, Nazca still definitely has a shot. If they can get a couple of cities down quickly to avoid getting crowded out of the continent, they should be able to take advantage of the smaller map size. Personally, I like their prospects of moving northward if they can settle quickly.

Aaron: Venice, who started the game ranked 57th, have survived for its entire duration, and have only ever lost one city: Kirk Micheal, that wasn't even connected to their core (and they got it back too, several times). They ended on an amazing 4 capitals thanks to a sneaky snipe of Kauwes at the last moment, putting them in joint 2nd place of the technically-winning rankings. To what do they owe this tremendous success? Well really it's their diplomacy. Did you know that there have only ever been 3 civs that have ever declared war against Venice? Czechia from turn 61 to 67; then the Moors (with Prussian encouragement) from turn 74 to 96. That is it. No more wars against Venice since then, not even long-ranged irrelevant wars. The fact that Venice managed this while choosing order, and while declaring opportunistic wars of their own (including a kill on Czechia), makes this diplomacy feat even more impressive. And it is this diplomacy feat that has kept them in the game; if civs were going to attack them, then you bet the Moors (who seem to only ever attacked as part of a coalition) would be one of them, which would probably have led to an erumpening. Going into Endgame, Venice will be in pretty much the same situation as before: trying to avoid getting murdered by the Moors (who start with some of the best bonuses in the game, approximating twice Venice's start). There aren't really any big opportunities that open up apart from hoping that one of their neighbours forgets to settle or fucks up in some other major way, and thus their rank stays the same.

Gragg: The Khamug Khanate will be one of the civs to watch during episode 1. The Shikoku capital being moved next door puts them in a precarious position. Shikoku has better stats across the board, but Khamugs starting bonuses aren’t bad either. If they best the Shikoku and Evenks they have a wonderful starting position. More likely they’ll be runted from the get go.

Gragg: The Sami/Viking rivalry was never settled, and it will be even harder for the Vikings in Endgame. The Sami have a great early game and bonuses comparable to the Vikings. There were several episodes where the Vikings were making ‘human-like’ decisions with declarations or war and timings. That competency, when you get down to it, was essentially lucky dice rolls (sorry to ruin the immersion). They have a chance to come out on top in Scandinavia in Endgame, but I’m not betting on it.

Techno: Compared to before Endgame, the Apache have seen their rank rise considerably. This is no feat of starting bonuses - the Apache's poor stats at the end of part 37 have translated into weak bonuses for Endgame. My personal stats sheet has their bonuses as the 21st-strongest. But what the Apache lack in bonuses, they make up for in land. With no Aztecs, no Poverty Point, and a weakened Haida, there are few competitors in the race for western North America. While the Apache AI in the early parts failed to settle this land fully, the Apache are still known to be an expansionist AI and may fill this vacant land to their heart's content. That being said, the Metis and Iroquois pose major threats to the Apache, and with both gaining powerful starting bonuses, the Apache will have to act quick if they want Endgame to be anything but the end for them.

Lonely: If this part wasn’t already set to be full of gigantic power rankings swings, we might be making more of Maratha’s falling to the cellar of the high tiers, rubbing shoulders with the likes of the Apache and the Vikings. Then again, they might not stand out anyways despite that. Maratha have been kind of unmemorable like that ever since Taungoo seized control of the south pacific clay that was rightfully theirs with one mighty gulp. Hell, fun/depressing fact for you all: the only actual powers in Asia that Maratha can claim to be objectively better than are the Khamugs… who are also in the category of former respectable civs that fell from grace via war. Being in the same echelon as nations that were on fire just a month or so ago is almost Maratha’s trademark, at this point. But it’s hard to fault the rankers for their harsh assessment of what may be the clearest case of a stagnation-induced rankings crash coming into Endgame, not when Maratha has succeeded in killing none of their neighbors. Even Palmyra, who hadn’t fought a real hype-inducing war in years before they politely took a few cities from Parthia then waltzed back home to the Middle East, had, at the very least, bothered to clear out some elbow room early on. Maratha didn’t, and now their leaving India and Nepal crippled but alive is coming back to bite them in a big way. In an already crowded Asia, Maratha’s leaving two such utterly mediocre nations in place to claim clay in their stead is nothing but a punched ticket to the status the Evenks “enjoyed” for so long. In other words: Maratha’s going to be a nice, fine, well-run nation nonetheless built out of tissue paper and utterly dwarfed by all their neighbors worth noting. If you want a nation that stands to be utterly forgettable in Endgame, look no further.

Msurdej: Remember Palmyra? That Purple civ in the Middle East? No, no, the other one. The one that was stro- no, not that one either. The one closest to Europe. Yes, that one.  Well, due to the near total lack of action in the Middle East, Palmyra is basically in the same spot as they were at the start of CBRX, albeit with a bit more land. They should have an easy time going after Parthia, or breaking into Europe and Africa. But will Zenobia be able to break out of the desert, or will Palmyra's time in the Endgame be the same as the regular season?

Gragg: What a spectacular performance by Africa’s best turtle to round out the main season! In a mere 30 parts they gained 8 cities in a stage of the game defined by stalemates. That’s 8 cities from the regional leader too! These new gains give Benin an operable start. Zimbabwe will still be the clear favorite to win Africa but we’ve seen Benin beat those odds before.

Shaggy: For me, Shikoku is the definition of potential. They have the most advantageous start in their region and they have an early meal sitting in front of them in the form of the Evenks. Their bonuses should let them steamroll at least one of their early neighbors. Shikoku also has the added benefit of not starting on an island this time around. Frankly, that’s huge. With more potential to expand early, we might see an even more dominant Shikoku than S1. That being said, they also have the potential to get screwed early. I see similarities in the region to China at the beginning of S1. Could we see a Xia-esque elimination from the Asian trio? Maybe. Do I have a clue which civ it would be? Not concretely, but there’s always the chance it’s Shikoku. Their tech advantage against their neighbors is gone, but I think their drop in the ranks this part is more a result of other civs massively benefitting from the reset than the reset being an overt detriment to Shikoku.

Gragg: While they are by no means the regional favorite, the second half of the season couldn’t have gone much better for Venezuela. They’ll be starting with no Aztecs or Haiti to pester them this time, and a weakened Nazca and Apache. Unfortunately they are nearby the 3 biggest powers, Iroquois, Uruguay, and Australia. Maybe a fresh start will give them an opportunity to catch up with these  juggernauts.

Msurdej: With the world's second largest army at the end, Louis Riel will have an early advantage at the start of the game. But unlike frontrunner Australia, Riel will have actual targets! Both the Apache and the Haida are weaker than them, which could lead to some early gains.  And he'll need those gains going up against the Iroquois, who are a clear favorite in North America. If Riel can quickly get an elimination off, he might have a shot of taking on Hiawatha.

Cloudberg: The Goths abruptly rise into the top 10 for the first time since episode 7, riding on a wave of high expectations thanks to their expected starting bonuses and relatively weak neighbors. With the Turks, Muscovy, and Golden Horde gone, their expansion room is significantly increased, and their nearest neighbor is Prussia, which has much lower bonuses. Alaric will need to watch out for the Kazakhs and the Sami, but he won't run into conflict with them immediately, and if he does, it's entirely believable that he could come out on top. With his large starting army and a strong propensity to build more, a Gothic zerg rush in the first 50 turns could send them rising even higher into the top 10.

Shaggy: If I’m writing about one civ in the Eurasian Triangle of Terror (trademark pending), then I might as well do a second while I’m at it. Sami gets dropped 3 places going into Endgame and I think it’s a bit deserved. They got as high as they did by being Yakutian (frosty, fat, and slow moving) with glimmers of military might (shoutouts to Muscovy). That being said, should Sami be able to utilize their early population and city advantage, I see them as the civ to beat in northern Europe. Hopefully they won’t break the car.

Techno: Taungoo's in a tricky position in Endgame. A lot of their success came from conquering territory to their southeast, which bolstered their city count to one of the highest in the game and enabled their sheer might. But they also neglected to conquer in any other direction. Consequently, they have a number of neighbors to their north and west. While all these neighbors have weak bonuses, Endgame's setup means that even these weak nations could accumulate territory beyond their initial bounds. Taungoo therefore must act to mitigate this threat if they want to be as relevant as they were before Endgame, something other nations in the top tier don't have to worry about.

Cloudberg: Qin glide into Endgame in a solid seventh place, certainly far higher than anyone would have expected just a few episodes ago. With five capitals held, including Shikoku's, they have more capitals than any other civ (second place is a tie between Palmyra, Venice, and Australia at 4). Their path won't be totally easy: Shikoku and Taungoo will still make for formidable neighbors. But Qin has a decent amount of room to expand, a hefty starting bonus, and a weak Canton that will be ripe for early conquest. All things considered, the big navy blue blob is definitely going to be a civ to watch as we go full steam ahead into Endgame.

Lonely: In the words of the immortal CJ, “Ah shit, here we go again.” Not too long ago, we had the Kazakhs number one coming into the CBRX, citing their immense amount of space as a key reason for their positioning. Now, once again, the Kazakhs come into a new phase of the game with more land than they know what to do with, and see a perhaps undeserved rise up the rankings as a result. Of course, the fact that they had to see a noticeable jump just to claim sixth should be proof that our prior prediction wasn’t prophecy — despite flashes of superpower ability, they never could fully actualize their potential, and before long they were hovering around tenth like a lethargic moth around a dim light. One can’t help but predict a similar fate for the Kazakhs this go round, especially now that they aren’t the only big fish in this pond. The Goths have, through a combination of luck and occasional competence, managed to remove nearly all of their neighbors, and stand to serve as the Kazakhs’ western neighbor for quite some time. The Khamugs, should they prevail from the Siberian triangle, could easily reclaim their former glory to the Kazakhs’ east. And, of course, the Sami yet lurk in the north, ready to play for a victory condition which doesn’t exist. The Kazakhs have everything they need to become a powerhouse, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they claimed poll position just a few parts from now. But it can’t help but feel like we’ve seen this story before.

Lacsirax: Zimbabwe have proven one of the most volatile civs of the top tier, some weeks jousting for #1 and some weeks barely clinging onto the top 5. This is one of the latter weeks, and for obvious reason: in last week's superpart Benin pulled off a shock invasion, taking a good chunk of the former Ndongo Empire as well as a few outer-core cities. But that's all dust in the wind now, as the map is redrawn and the stats reset - and moving into Endgame, I don't know how much Zimbabwe's chances of victory were actually impacted by the Benin blitzkrieg. Their stats are still superlative in Africa, and they still have plenty of room to expand - though Africa looks to have been shrunk a fair bit more than other nearby regions of the world. Immediate rivals Benin will have a much cushier start than last time, though, while Madagascar may be encouraged to make more of a mainland gambit with their home island not supporting as many cities.  But their biggest enemy, in Endgame as in the game so far, will be themselves. We've seen Zimbabwe toughen up and then sit tight in more than a few AI games, and so far CBRX Mutota has lived up to its reputation.

Msurdej: Just outside the top 3 we have the Moops- er Moors. With much of Western Europe, Northern Africa, and potentially even the British Isles within their grasp, the Moors have a lot of room to expand.  And with some starting stats, its likely they will use their headstart to get back to where they were pre-Endgame. The big question though, is what might happen afterwards? If the Moors are passive as they were in the last few parts, it will give countries like Venice, Benin or the Manx a chance to fight back. But no matter what, expect to see a lot Moor of Abd-ar Rahman III in Endgame.

LRS: Aheh. Well. That sure is a lot of space you’ve got there, Hawke. Turns out, when you depopulate the entirety of your goddamn continent, you end up with a hell of a lot of land. Who knew? Of course, that’s not the sole reason Australia finds themselves in third place and a lock to reach the final ten, but it’s a pretty good one. Civs that basically don’t have to fight wars for the first, oh, hundred and fifty or so turns tend to turn out well. Then again, civs that don’t have to fight wars for that long generally aren’t that good at it when they do start going on the warpath, which is probably why the Aussies aren’t sitting pretty in first right now, but there’s reasons to believe that this iteration of Australia can finally make a significant contingent of the sub somewhat proud. Oceania, for one. Throughout every Royale we’ve done, we’ve never really had a civ that was basically alone on a continent. The closest we’ve gotten was Mark One’s Australia, which, you know, shredded Indonesia and looked like the apex predator in the game when the game crashed. Hawke’s Australia, simply put, is in unprecedented territory. We don’t really know how they’re going to play, if they’re going to go out and seize the world by the collar or if they’re going to turtle in peace for thousands of years. All we know is that, with that amount of land, there’s a good chance that the question of whether their AI shows up or not won’t matter.

Aaron: Uruguay FINALLY woke up and started conquering its home continent. Wew. I guess the murder of their best friend Selk'nam'chan was enough to get them to spring into action and get revenge on  the two civs most responsible: New Zealand and Nazca. This has been a long time coming; Uruguay conquering its two neighbours has been predicted week after week ever since the Kuikuro died, and now it's finally happened. They haven't actually eliminated either civ because of the protective barrier of the Andes (which is also filled with peacekeepers) but they have taken every single Kiwi and Nazcan city to the east of the mountain range (except Kauwes, which was taken by fellow Order of Order member Venice). Their once small opening into the pacific has also grown a lot larger as they have conquered outwards in both directions. Oh what's this? Endgame is happening and Uruguay is going to lose all its conquests? And all its excellent wonders too and all their crazy bonuses and now other civs like the Iroquois have a chance to grab them instead...? That most certainly is a shame  But all their effort will not go to waste. Uruguay starts Endgame with some of the best set of bonuses, and what's more, thanks to their late conquering spree, both New Zealand and the Nazca will start with very poor bonuses and will struggle. The continent is wide open to be Uruguay's once more! And the rest of South America doesn't have the protective barrier of the Kuikuro to protect them anymore... The only nearby civ that survived without too much damage is Venezuela, who will therefore probably be the main rival to Uruguay in Endgame.

Aaron: In the last part before Endgame, the Iroquois did one thing, which was to take back the Florida and Carribean cities that Uruguay took from them a while ago. Uruguay was distracted back home crushing New Selk'land and the Nazca so the Iroquois just took the opportunity to pad out their already gigantic stats. Though this conquest doesn't change anything - they were already going to enter Endgame with maximum bonuses in nearly all categories, and indeed they have, while it has done very minimal damage to Uruguay. Thus, the Iroquois start Endgame in 1st place thanks to their maxed out starting bonuses. However, that's not to say they will keep their position; this time round the Iroquois will not have access to their cheat codes that propelled them to success last round (or at least they shouldn't in theory). Other top civs have less starting bonuses but most of them have even weaker neighbours so they could easily catch up to the Iroquois by defeating those neighbours faster than the Iroquois can beat theirs. Who are these strong neighbours the Iroquois have that they might struggle in defeating? You already know the answer, it's the Metis, who were huge in the main game and thus start Endgame with large bonuses nearly equal to the Iroquois'. With Haida and the Apache only getting minor bonuses, the Metis will probably end up as the main rival to the Iroquois in competition for the continent. And knowing the civs, this competition will most likely take the form of a settler race of who can grab the most land fast. So watch those settlers go!: