Civ Battle Royale April 26, 2020
PowerRankers
Gragg
Get your F’s out for the Nazca. They had the misfortune of being on the same continent as Uruguay and Kuikuro. Between those two the Nazca never really had a chance to expand and snowball. They never got off the ground in Endgame. As their last act of defiance they died to Venezuela instead of Uruguay. That leaves the Nazca killcount at 1 and Uruguay’s 0.
Bloody Altima
India continues to not die. Now, this is dominantly because Palmyra continues to not commit to the execution, with a grand total of one badly injured Prawn Knight in range of Hyderabad’s Deep last we saw despite the fact that Zenobia clearly has open borders with Maratha and plenty of space to work with, but at the same time one can’t help but respect the fact that it’s a mountainous walled city on a hill with Comp Bow defenders, so even with four pop it’s got respectable survival numbers. Still, gods willing, the next part could easily be India’s last.
Lacsirax Ariscal
Endgame has not been kind to Venice. Why should it have been? They’ve perennially underperformed, ever since missing clear as day opportunities to use their powerful navy back in the first Middle Ages (I guess having a blind leader didn’t help them spot those), and refusing to settle anywhere sensible at the start of the new Ancient Era. They won’t make it the top 20, but the Moors might yet bungle their invasion, or Enrico might find a peace offering lodged behind the sofa somewhere. It wouldn’t surprise me if they stuck around for another ten parts, each week providing a tiny dash of purple and another dull 200 words to the world. It would be very Venice of them.
Bloody Altima
A bad week for the Yup’ik, who joined the Runt Parade this week, losing all but one city to Shikoku’s desperate march east. Left with just Cev’aq, a mountainous, hilly, snowy city in the northernmost part of the world, they may actually survive for a while longer- Shikoku have bigger problems right now so even if they build a navy it’s not going to be a huge deal, Haida themselves just joined the Runt Parade as well, and the Metis will (probably) have a rather rough time invading the city between their small Ice Sheet Fleet and the overland terrain. I don’t see them joining the Black Parade anytime soon.
LonelyRS
Remember the tragedy of Libya and Algeria? Remember how the two limped through North Africa, focusing on the religious game and inadvertently turning themselves into rumps by doing so, then died almost on top of each other while serving as the meat in the Moor/Songhai sandwich? Well, those of you who enjoy rumps racing to the bottom of the power rankings got a special treat this week: it’s happening again, and this time the setting is the frozen wastes of the coldest reaches of the Pacific Northwest. Koyah’s definitely the Libya, if we’re running with the theme of making comparisons to civs long gone. Libya, you’ll note, ended up surviving slightly longer. Unfortunately, Libya also was kind of torn to shreds in the span of a few parts, and, uh, the Haida’s quick and brutal evisceration by the Metis is certainly reminiscent of that. Will they die this part? Probably not, not when their capital is a two-tile island and their only relevant aggressors are a Metis and a Shikoku away. Will they die eventually? Almost certainly.
Random Strategy
Nepal gives away Gorkha to Taungoo, who ungratefully use it to citadel Kathmandu. But it's fine, they still have 2 unconquerable mountain cities. They still have 3 out of 4 neighbours attacking them due to Parthia joining in instead of Taungoo. But Parthia's presence actually weakens the coalition, because now instead of a constant stream of Kazakh knights going in one by one, Nepal instead has to deal with a constant stream of alternating knights and Grivpanvars going in one by one. (Grivpanvars are horseman replacements and weaker than knights.) It should be manageable. Their biggest risk is, like last part, that they will give away their cities, like they did just do to Taungoo.
Vihreaa
Madagascar is at this point holding on until Zimbabwe declares war on them. With Zimbabwe currently researching the tech for frigates as well, I would say their days are numbered. Regardless of that, they still manage to climb 3 ranks this week, purely because everyone else was doing worse than them, which hey, if it works, right? Here’s to hoping they’ll get one of those settlers out to Antarctica before the Zimbabwean boats come calling.
Canton continues to rise slightly as other civs continue to crumble around the cylinder. And at this point, that’s the only thing you can hope for that’s not a swift death. With mediocre stats and neighbors in the Qin and Taungoo, Ching Shih’s only real chance at a palpable gain is either a lucky snipe, or waiting for the collapse of one of their neighbors. And considering the power differences between Canton and their neighbors, even that’s not as likely as being curb stomped.
Rose
Now i'm not the biggest Prussia supporter, but even I couldn’t help but feel bad for the nation this part. Prussia suffered from the one thing that every nation fears will happen to them, being stuck without their capital. Even if the Prussians manage to take it back, the city will have a population total of 3 at best. Apparently this pity was shared by several world leaders however, as the Sami and the Goths have sworn to “take revenge” on the Vikings, but in a way this is worse for Prussia as this turns the odds of Prussia getting its capital back from slim to slimmer. At least Venice looks prime for the taking, but even that could be swiped by the Moors
LonelyRS
Nubia gains two spots, tied for the third most of any civ this part… despite doing almost nothing of note. Really, Africa as a whole was rather stagnant this time around, which, sure, seems very good for Piye on the surface. He doesn’t have to worry about dying horribly if the camera never turns his way. The camera’s trained to actively seek out those dying horrible deaths, so his not being shown on screen is probably a good thing considering how frail he is. The rub: every part he spends in relative peace, he’s only getting frailer. Between Benin, Palmyra, and Zimbabwe, Nubia’s drawn a tough group of neighbors, and even the least advanced among them is still getting almost double the science per turn Piye is. And Civ V, of course, is a game founded on the concept of snowballing. Right now, he might stand a chance of at least surviving if one of them elects to tear his civ to shreds. In a few parts? He probably won’t.
Alaric has one of, if not his only, last chance here. The Vikings have only a fraction of their forces in their recent gains from Prussia, giving Alaric a damn good chance to take over the area. If he succeeds, Alaric can hopefully position himself to gain a better foothold in Europe. But if the invasion fails, Alaric will find himself with only three cities, a pitiful army, and neighboring the Kazakhs. An attempt at Greco-Prussia could be made, but the peacekeepers are already starting to crowd the place. If Alaric doesn’t make some good moves in the next part, his small chances could evaporate.
Knot
I came into this write up ready to completely trash Parthia, but honestly, I can’t remember the last time they were in this good a position. They probably still can’t win, but they now have the potential to do something. If Mithridates can somehow get around the mountains, the war with Nepal could be a way to expand his empire. Maratha gets weaker and weaker every episode, so jumping into a well timed coalition could maybe get Parthia some decent cities that would increase their production. Even a war with Palmyra, while not good, might not completely sink them, as they have enough of a force to stall a little while. Now obviously, all of this is under the assumption that the Kazakhs completely forget they exist, because the moment they remember, Parthia’s done. However, the Kazakhs have way bigger fish to fry right now, so maybe they’ll let Parthia do something cool. Parthia has graduated from “Absolutely no way for them to ever do anything,” to “Slightly possible for them to be interesting before they die a fiery death,” and that’s about all I could ask for
Lacsirax Ariscal
The pendulum that determines the fate of the Viking people has been swinging wildly in the past few parts. One moment it’s deep in the red, as a decidedly blue threat takes a city straight from their homeland. And this episode it swung back to green, as they captured a capital and an inland city they never dreamt of taking by force. And just like that it violently judders back to red, as a new coalition descends on their homeland and their conquests alike. But I’ve taken a liking to the Vikings, and I’ve a somewhat drowsy belief that they’ll pull through regardless. They always do, right? The Vikings can only be killed by Ragnarok, and I think the tech for that isn’t until Future Worlds.
Knot
Remember when Maratha was a top tier contender? Remember when they had scarier stats than Taungoo, Qin, and Zimbabwe? Remember how they did nothing with those stats for turns and turns and turns on end? Remember when endgame gave them another shot at taking out their neighbors and being the power on the subcontinent? Remember when instead they were somehow less interesting than Nepal, as they just sat there wasting away, and it finally became clear that they were irrelevant?
Yeah, me neither.
Bloody Altima
The Manx have a decent part, bunting out the ambitions (and undefended) Iroquois settle and quietly bulking up. They utterly failed to evict Sami from Greenland, but hey, can’t win ‘em all. Their stats are almost across the board better than the Vikings, particularly in production where they more than double the raiders. While they are set to avoid the slaughter the Vikings wrought upon them last time, they still have a few rather notable problems- number one, their navy is smaller and more primitive than you’d think for an island power. Number two, the Moors are still on the Isles, and they in turn have almost double the Manx’s manpower, and while certainly most of that isn’t going to be Manpower In Theatre, it’s still a relevant concern for the Manx. The Manx still have plenty of opportunities, particularly if they nab Astronomy and bulk up their navy, but they do need to act fast before the Vikings establish themselves as a real player on the continent or the Moors wake up.
Knot
Ok, so obviously Shikoku is not in a good spot. A coalition featuring the top superstars of the cylinder all after your juicy land is not ever going to be good. The question is how bad is it gonna be? Can Shikoku keep enough of their land, maybe even take a few new cities, and eventually bounce back from this war, much like Pre-endgame Metis did against the Iroquois? Does Shikoku survive these wars but lose so much territory and waste so many resources that they can’t ever recover, living on as a pseudo rump state like the Iroquois did to the Apache? Or are we looking at “Songhai 2: Now in Asia”, where the Kazakhs and Qin, with some Metis help, partition the rest of Shikoku’s lands, and Ryota joins his comrades on the submarine. It’s not clear right now, so at the moment, Shikoku does not move. Only time will tell if a couple weeks from now, we’re talking about how well Shikoku came out of this war, or we’re writing them a eulogy.
Vihreaa
The Sami seem to be overcoming this hurdle that they faced at the start, but they are still at best a regional power. Perhaps if this war with the Vikings is successful, then they will be able to gain control over a sizable portion of Europe. Oh how one could dream. Regardless of this, the Sami have several good places they can expand, seeing how Europe is still so fractured at the moment.
Gragg
Africa hardly appeared in this week’s episode so we didn’t get a lot of updates on Benin’s situation. They did appear, however, in the director's cut. Here we see that they are poised to take advantage of Nubia’s long war with Zimbabwe. Whether they will or not is another matter. The Moors and Zimbabwe aren’t immediate threats so Benin should at least stay stable. On the other hand their only realistic expansion opportunity is a war with Nubia, and soon.
Random StrategyPalmyra drops below Taungoo as they continue to stagnate. A few parts ago they were a forerunner for number of cities with 6 when the rest of the world had 4. Now, a few parts later, they are still only on 12 while the top-tiers have at least 18. They are way ahead of tier 3 civs, whose civs only have 6 or 7 cities, but being bottom of tier 2 is still slightly disappointing given their fast start. One strength they do have right now is good science; their tech is notably higher than the Metis or Qin's. What Palmyra needs right now is to crush one of their neighbours to gain more cities. They have one of the weakest set of neighbours in the game right now. The Goths and Nubia are both 3 city rumps that should be easy to take. Parthia, though not a rump,is also a decent conquest option since they are only half as strong as Palmyra. The only problem with these options is geography: there are mountains or sea protecting most of them, but nothing Palmyra's superior tech and production can't beat (that is if they use their tech advantage on units instead of cultural buildings). One final option is to take the Zimbabwe colony of Chibuene in Arabia, though Zimbabwe is on the verge of unlocking frigates, so it might not be wise to poke the beast.
Gragg
As I’ve always said about Oceania - easy come, easy go. These small naval cities are difficult for an AI to defend. This episode it was Australia who learned that lesson the hard way. In a few episodes, maybe they’ll be on the other end of it. For now Australia expansion has been stalled but they are far from out of it. Their core is still safe and the Qin/Taungoo aren’t toooo scary yet.
LonelyRS
Just another part of Taungoo executing what we’ve come to learn is their usual plan for these sorts of games: starting slow, coring up, then pouncing on a weak neighbor and doing their level best to unite Indonesia under their banner. The unlucky civ sacrificed upon the altar of Taungoo-being-good-actually this time around? Australia. Or, well, part of Australia, but who can tell, really? The island itself is probably going to remain a pipe dream no matter how many boats the Goo sends, but Hobart’s an easy target, and if that falls then Taungoo will have quite the power base on their hands, given the recent addition of the Nepalese city of Gorkha. Of course, given their non-Marathan relevant neighbors, that might not end up meaning much. Australia’s still got a shot at being stronger than them even after the consumption of a good third of their empire, and to the north the Qin lurk, set to grow even stronger at Shikoku’s expense. There’s rump states, yes, and they’re plentiful. But those free sources of extra cities will only last so long, and if Taungoo want to really leave their mark on this smaller cylinder, they’ll need to do more than just revel in the kill like they did last time around.
Lacsirax
South America is a blessed continent to live in. Wars come, wars go, sure. But as long as you’re not a soldier, you’d hardly notice. Especially not for those Venezuelans living in their newest colonies, the sunny Caribbean islands, an archipelago that war has never once touched. And surely never will.
If it ever did come to it (and it won’t) Venezuela aren’t immediately done for. As the gap between Métis and Iroquois hegemony grows blurrier, Venezuela would be a handy ally for either side when the next inevitable war rolls around. With the sheer amount of coastal cities they’ve racked up in the region, their navy will soon be a huge fleet capable of flipping the Eastern Seaboard for generations of sailors. With Uruguay proven a non threat til planes, they’ve an outside chance of outgrowing the feared Blue Monolith.
(Oh, and they apparently eliminated someone this week. Barely worth this footnote, I forgot about it already.)
Random Strategy
I would like to go back to my part 13 write-up of the Moors. Yes it was a long time ago. This is what I had to say “I would attack Songhai with my brand new trebuchets and grenadine cavalry (crossbow replacement the Moors are currently researching at this very moment). Songhai's western cities are particularly empty and Songhai is still stuck on classical military tech so I should be able to blitz a lot of cities. Then I can keep them thanks to tavern happiness (also unlocked at crossbows).” We all know what actually ended up happening... Well guess what? the Moors are in the same situation again! They are the only civ with crossbows while Benin is still stuck in the classical era (both their land troops and navy). The difference is that Benin isn't as empty as Songhai was, nor are they at such a big production disadvantage like Songhai was, though they would at the very least lose a bunch of coastal cities to the Moors superior navy.
However, the Moors are also pretty unlikely to attack Benin at the moment so that is mostly irrelevant. They're too busy with Venice and Prussia at the moment. Stettin is protected by forest hills which block artillery from shooting it and is thus extremely difficult to take and I don't think they can do so (though they can very easily get it in a peace deal). As for Venice, the Moors have wiped out Venice's entire military, and are currently setting up trebuchets. It will almost certainly fall by the next part. The Moor's last neighbour, the Manx, are currently rather lacking in the naval department and don't look to be much of a threat either. Though I wouldn't attack the Manx just yet - I would wait for frigate tech so that my colonies can defend themselves. Overall the Moors are in a great position. They're in the top 10 of all stats, including a nice 3rd on tech. But unlike other top 10 civs, they have great expansion opportunities! The whole of Europe is made up of weaker civs ripe for the taking! Their biggest threat is Benin who they would currently beat up if they fought (though this is only temporary and the match-up will even up once Benin researches crossbows and a medieval navy)
Msurdej
Big ‘Guay falls back into the lower half of the top 10, as two things become clear. The first is that Venezuela isn’t going away any time soon. The two have comparable stats, though Lavalleja will probably pull ahead with a better production and city count. But the other thing is a bit more nuanced. Chavez is now the only feasible expansion route for the boys in blue now, and the only other ways are across an ocean. Is it possible, sure. But it’s still quite a ways away, and still probably farther away than them overpowering Venezuela.
Cloudberg
Metis had an interesting episode, in which they won a fight with Haida, lost a skirmish with the Iroquois, and made some impressive gains in the stats. Despite losing two minor Arctic cities, and razing everything they took from Haida, Metis now has more production and more cities than the Iroquois, an edge that is likely to increase as the Metis have room for more new cities than the Iroquois do. That said, until the statistical gap is a lot bigger than it is now, Metis will suffer from much the same problem as the Iroquois: each civilization’s only viable expansion route will be through the other. For now, Metis can still finish off the rump states of Yup’ik and Haida, and maybe take some cities from Shikoku, but after that it’s hard to see where to go except east. And that won’t be easy—expect more stalemate wars in the future.
Cloudberg
Last week the power rankers speculated at length about the outcome of a future Iroquois-Metis war. And lo and behold, we got one this part, which went pretty much as expected: the Iroquois captured and razed a couple of undefended arctic cities, but the main front went nowhere, and the two sides made peace. This only reinforces the conclusion that the Iroquois, while strong, have no obvious path to further expansion for at least the foreseeable future. If they weren’t so bloody thicc, they probably wouldn’t be all the way up in fourth, and if they start to lose their statistical edge, expect them to drop like a rock.
Rose
Zimbabwe had a grand total of two(count em two) mentions in this part. One of which was them being a part of the meme being featured within the part, with the other idolizing their fat stash of gold. This is relatively uncommon for a civ of its size, as one would at least expect a quick shot of the core of the nation.There is an old saying amongst the community that “no amount of power can save you from inactivity”, and that is true in this case where other power houses like Qin and the Kazakhs, and even the Iroqouis in some cases, are surpassing Zimbabwe. However, Zimbabwe is specing into navel tech, meaning that the nation may be able to colonize several untapped places around the cylinder, so this inactivity may change rapidly.
Cloudberg
Qin rises to second, its highest rank ever, on the heels of a pair of bold wars against powerful neighbors. Qin attacked Australia and lost some outlying colonies but gained a city in Japan, which wasn’t exactly a resounding victory but it was at least exciting. Now Qin has declared war on Shikoku, and while Ying Zheng doesn’t seem totally prepared for the fight—Shikoku is in fact pressing the early advantage—the stats don’t lie. Qin has a much larger army, much more production, and an ally in the form of the Kazakhs, all factors which are sure to force the war to go in a very different direction very soon. The raw numbers also support a top 3 Qin: they’re third in military, tied for third in production, and third in cities. So why are they second and not third? Well, honestly, your guess is as good as mine.
Rose
The Kazakhs had a solid performance this part,powering through the front line of Shikoku, starting what historians will call “the crushing of Sakomoto’s hopes and dreams”. While the Kazakhs didn’t get as many cities from shikoku as they may had hoped for, the Kazakhs did gain a bunch of new cities via settlers, which will be useful for them in the long run. Additionally, the Kazakhs also have a metric ton of settlers on the board, meaning that they will most likely raze a bunch of the cities they capture and put an “oc do not steal” logo on their new gains. There is the possibility that the Kazakhs may peace out next part too, as their front line is stretched thin, however there shear production output of the Kazakhs likely negates this concern