Power Rankings: Episode 16 – S2

Vihreaa

Anangu, my beloved. You were taken from this world too soon. You’ve been an anomaly the entire season, from embarking your entire army across the ocean while you were invaded by Kulin, growing from a one city rump state to three entire cities right under Kulin’s nose, to holding off against the powerhouse of Malacca for several parts, all the way to being eliminated by Kulin all in one turn. While not the strongest civ, most likely to win civ, or really typically competent in any way, You did capture the hearts of many in the sub, and your antics are those that will be remembered as you join the Australian losers club. (Kimberly say hi!)

Random Strategy

We've seen some civs with very few tiles but Yuan is on the verge of breaking all records. With a total of 5 sea and 1 mountain, they do not have space for even 1 land unit. And of course, the only reason they’re still alive is a nice Uzbekistan paratrooper, who could move or be ejected from Chukchi lands at any point, which would lead to Yuan’s immediate death.

Vihreaa

The Olmecs really did a solid for Palmares this episode, giving them a hotel room to set up a Palmares government in exile from one of their cities. I’m sure we all laughed when Palmares got a one tile city from their peace treaty with the Olmecs, but who’s really laughing now. Enough about Palmares though. The Olmecs really saw no change from last episode, besides giving away one of their cities. In reality, their real power remains unchanged, as they would get instantly rolled by any of their neighbors if they declared war on them. Better to go out on your own terms, like the Teutonic Order, I say.

Rosay

I am genuinely convinced that the Palmares have adopted a new strategy of ”just keep losing,” to which they have executed flawlessly. Once a contender for South America, the nation executed their brilliant plan of not taking the Caribbean combined with the tactical excellency of letting Marajoara balloon to top tier status. Both of these on their own are brave maneuvers, but combined are true tactical genius. However their real bout of excellence was being kicked out of their capital when a bunch of vandals sailed east and went “give us the capital” to which the Palmares accepted without resistance. Now, the great minds of the Palmarian empire have spring their newest maneuver: ”take a rump city off of the Olmecs in a war we don't fight then give up the entire rest of the country“ truly brilliant plays by the former south american contender.

Random Strategy

I think it must be prophesied that Burkina Faso must always be weaker than the Ptolemies. It's been the case since part 2, even as the two collapsed. And now the Ptolemies have mysteriously survived certain death - almost as though it's fate that they will die after Burkina Faso.

Knot

Today, we mourn the loss of a former top ten civ that was shamefully pushed off the continent and was finally ended this part by their vanquishe… What’d you say? They aren’t dead. The heck?!?  Nigeria had a melee unit right freaking there! They were geared up to end them! We had a funeral planned for the Ptolemies and everything! We even bought refreshments! Ugh. I miss the Yupik.

Random Strategy:

With the fall of Palmares, the Olmecs and the Anangu, the Neutrals gain another 3 ranks. Some interesting news is that it looks like there will soon be a third rump in the Quebec region: Mississippi, who are rapidly losing ground to the Dene. This is probably bad news overall: if Mississippi do survive and aren't wiped out completely, then they will be stronger than the neutrals overall just because of tech, no matter how terrible a city they're left with. And what is a rump to do with the time if not to conquer neighbouring rumps? There's nobody else to conquer... On the other hand, if the Mississippi do get wiped out, then they will be neighbouring the Dene, who have already shown themselves to be ruthless conquerors, hostile to both the Neutrals and rumps in general.

Random Strategy

Remember in the early game when we thought the continent was Mississippi vs Chinook and there was debate about which would come out on top? Well, despite being behind Mississippi for basically the entire game, it's possible the Chinook will end up outlasting them. So that's a potential small moral victory. Though it’s not really “coming out on top”, more like “not being at the bottom”. And they’re also not there yet.

Random Strategy

This part Georgia researched fortification, which seems like a good idea because fortifying their last city means it's harder for random paratroopers from across the world from taking it.

Rosay

Tahiti update: yup they're still here, and they took a city too, thats cool i guess

Random Strategy

This part, Hawaii researched industrialisation. Unfortunately they need 3 cities to get an ideology so they'll just have to wait till the modern era instead.

Altima

The saddest thing is that even if peacekeepers didn’t deny New Netherland’s shot at conquering the Neutral Nation, at uNNification, they’d still probably fail to take the city just because Niagra is the most Hell Geography city on the cylinder. They have two ways into the city, one of which requires hiking over several hills and the other an amphibious landing and then hiking over hills. The Peacekeepers just make it an absolute zero.

Altima

Inaction breeds pain.

Death clad in green from the sky.

The price of weakness.

Altima

Despite what the part might indicate, Laos still exists.

Rosay

Yeah, Spain is still doomed, but at least they are flying under the radar. A quick ctrl f shows no mentions of the nation this part, which is either good or bad depending on your perspective

Knot

Ok, things were looking bad for Mississippi last part, but let’s see how they’re doing this par-Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh deaaaaaaar. That’s uh, yeah that’s rough, but look on the bright side! Since the Dene and Rio Grande basically spilt your massive territory equally, North America is now more interesting than it’s been this entire CBR! Take solace that you played a part in that Mississippi while the Dene hopefully make your death quick and painless.

Knot

Iceland: an endless tundra of ice.

I wish I could be a little more nice,

To this lone civ stuck in the muck

But I cannot because they suck.

Random Strategy

Japan rise above Iceland, Mississippi and Sweden, caused by the later 2 getting conquered, and Iceland's continued general incompetence. Finally in the top half overall! Japan is currently researching battleships, so if someone lends them a bit of oil they can maybe try to go after coastal rumps (Hawaii, Tahiti, Olmecs, ...). Though that's probably too big an if.

Vihreaa

Despite losing one of their few cities to Uzbekistan this part, Bhutan manages to rise 2 places. Being both surrounded by mountains and also by greater powers, Bhutan rides a thin line of their mortality in this game, with a declaration of war from Punjab or another one from Uzbekistan spelling their possible doom for this game. Now reduced to 4 cities, Bhutan doesn’t particularly have many permanent expansion opportunities, but their best option may be to just try to survive until endgame and go from there.

Vihreaa

Zanzibar maintains their ranking of 28 this week, despite their bold declaration of war against Chola, a civ who is one of the main naval powers in the Indian ocean. At most, they realistically will only lose a few one tile ocean cities, so they won’t be severely damaged from a negative outcome from the war. I don’t see it very likely for them to take any cities from Chola, but with Chola’s war against Punjab, anything could be possible.

Random Strategy

Thanks to the admirable work of the Lesotho and Uzbek peacekeepers, Zaire has been unable to touch any Kurdish cities. Big congratulations to them for surviving war unscathed so far except for the shitty border cities they lost 2 parts ago. But they'll be completely boned once the peacekeepers move out.

Knot

Good news! Great Perm did something this part! Bad news: what they did was basically leap onto the stage with a great big “Kill me” sign. Stephen has decided to fly the flag of freedom while surrounded by autocratic nations with superior armies, tech, and production. An admirable stance, but one that is destined to finally wake up their neighbors and kick Perm into the city state club in the best case scenario. All that, and they still went up this part, mainly just because their destruction is only imminent whereas civs like Sweden are experiencing active destruction. Perm will join them soon enough.

Knot

I think Tongva has done enough to justify their existence now. They haven’t done anything interesting, but they technically had an impact on this game when they ate most of the Chinook. That’s more than civs like Sweden or Finland can say. Now they’re probably set to coast off that for the rest of the game until Rio Grande gets competent enough to build units that can go over the mountains, or until endgame thoroughly kicks them in the teeth. Good on you, I guess.

Rosay

With sweden kicked out of Scandinavia, the last option for a remotly possible Finnish nation has been crushed. Uzbekistan and the USSR are mighty foes who are the likely controllers of the region and finland is just a roadblock between the two. Basically think of ww2, but the ideologies are swapped

Random Strategy

As 1 member of the midtier club gets demolished by Uzbekistan (Sweden), and another declares a suicidal war against Chola (Zanzibar),  Kosovo remains unchanged. They have overtaken Finland in tech at long last (it turns out, 11 cities are actually better than 6 cities), thereby becoming the midtier with the best tech. Wait - 2nd best tech - I’ve just downgraded 2 sicilies to midtier too. Anyway, they are using their science to discover uranium. They could use this to make their own nuclear deterrent, or alternatively they could sell it to nuke-obsessed Lenin in exchange for protection (and to prevent Lenin from covetting any uranium they might have)

Random Strategy

The reason for Taiping's drop is their last expansion opportunity - Northern Yuan - is getting stronger and have actually overtaken Taiping in the stats. They kinda missed their chance with that one. Now their best bet is to turtle up and wait till endgame and a second chance. Maybe next time when they try to set up their naval base they won't get rolled by a civ that cheated their way to high early stats. Or maybe they won't bother trying to set up a naval base at all and concentrate on the land so as to prevent said naval civ from destroying their efforts. The Anangu have shown that having 0 coastal cities is an extremely effective strategy against Malacca.

Knot

In the first of what will probably be many partitions of Two Sicilies, Germany managed to snag a couple of cities off the edge of Two Sicilies territory in a peace deal so deflating that it wasn’t even shown in the part proper. This changes very little. The cities do very little for Germany, and while it’s certainly bad for Two Sicilies, it’s not like those cities were the thing keeping them in the game. Really, this just confirms what we already know: Two Sicilies is an undead monster, unable to truly die, but unable to do anything more than sustain.

Knot

Paraguay continues to rise. Partly because the sword of Damocles finally fell on some other civs like Two Sicilies and Mississippi this part, partly because their recent conquest of Palmares have boosted their stats a bit, and pushed them closer to some of the other middling civs on the cylinder, but partly (at least in my personal ranking, but I think it’s reflected in our other PR’s ranks as well) because the endgame reset continues to loom larger and larger. In the current game, Paraguay is certainly in a worse position than other civs on the cylinder at the moment. If they get invaded by Marajoara and Mapuche, it’s going to be bad if not game ending. However, if Paraguay survives to whenever cycle two actually happens, I think they’re in a much better position than a lot of the other powers in the 20-10 bracket. It remains to be seen if the rise of Paraguay will actually mean anything long term, but I watch it with interest.

Knot

Northern Yuan is still big. That’s it. That’s the writeup. You could give Northern Yuan exactly the same tech, armies, neighbors and opportunities, but remove like six cities from them, and they be chilling way down the list with Zanzibar and Iceland. Their bigness gives them enough of an edge that we need to remember they exist either because they will eventually get consumed by PARG or Chukchi, or because they will eventually have slightly better stats in endgame. Until either of those happen, just remember: Northern Yuan = Biiiiiiiiig.

Rosay

Well, Cholamentum was fun while it lasted. So Punjab has officially declared war on the Chola, and given the comparative armies, its likely to be a landslide. If the current rate of conquest, being that Punjab has already taken 4 cities and killed millions in the subcontinent, I'd like to say that the subcontinent of India is viable to fall, minus a couple of coastal cities, burma, and a couple of island takings. There is the potential of a new safe haven in Zanzibar, since the African rump declared war on them despite the giant navy on the horizon. Regardless, I expect to see a very different Chola in a few parts

Altima

A fucking antarctic colony. The Lesotho lost a war they started, to a fucking antarctic colony. Cities could have flipped had they not peaced out in time! This of course ties nicely to the problem that they just don’t have options. They can’t take either of their northern neighbors, their navy is such an embarrasment that it lost to a fucking antarctic colony so good luck projecting force elsewhere. Their only viable option for expansion is through the Zanzibarans, and they need to get on that soon before either Endgame rolls around or someone else gets around to it. Until then, they’re just another Peacekeeping nation.

Lacsirax: While much of the map falls into chaos, some parts stay pretty constant. Europe didn’t see any cities change hands this week (outside of a certain Scandinavian peninsula), and as such one of the continent’s more confusing powers, Gaul, keeps its rank of 16th. It’s increasingly hard to see a way out for the Gauls, surrounded by seas and powers with a little more firepower than them, but given Germany’s inefficacy against Two Sicilies and the Vandals’ deficiencies on land, it’s also hard to see them collapsing before Endgame. So the speculation is now if they can turn their decent stats into something greater come the restart. It’s worth remembering Moors weren’t exactly a superpower pre-Endgame either, so it’s not out of the question.

Altima

The Mapuche didn’t do much this part aside from indecisive naval skirmishing with the Kulin (which probably should have been more decisive given the techs on display but whatever), so instead let’s track their options. Those options begin and realistically end with Paraguay. They can absolutely take on the Bois in Blue, having double the manpower and a seven tech lead, and as Paraguay has just gotten done eviscerating a civ, they might even have the inclination to do so. Some of that manpower, being naval, won’t be reflected on the main battle lines but it still points pretty hard to a pretty deterministic end for that fight. It would be a damn good idea for Lautero to get on that nowish, before Endgame hits so that he can give himself every edge he can get going into it- all else being equal, Marajoara will only be more of a problem given all the space they’ve earned themselves going into it.

Knot

This part was not the gut wrenching attack of the Vandal’s hopes that last part was but it did cement their position as being surrounded by brick walls. They have the indestructible pink turtle of Rio Grande in North America, the oceanic titan of Marajoara in South America, and the military monster of Nigeria in Africa. It ranges from unlikely to impossible to break through any of those. Where does that leave them? Europe I guess. Maybe they can continue the reverse Songhai and try to break through the Gauls? Maybe an oceanic assault of Two Sicilies. That’s not going to be an easy conquest, but that’s about the only option they have left, and that’s not even considering what happens if they make their neighbors upset by doing so. The possible gains are drying up is what I’m saying.

Altima

Hey Lenin! The Permesians just adopted Freedom! Will that be enough reason for you to eat them like you should have ten parts ago? Lord knows you’ve got the tech for it!

Random Strategy

Germany makes very minor gains against 2 Sicilies while their competitors make major gains and rise above them. In particular, Uzbekistan's conquest of Sweden is a big blow to Germany since Sweden was supposed to be one of Germany's easy expansions to take whenever they felt like it. But they didn't do it. Germany has spent its time obsessed with fighting a pointless grindy war with 2 Sicilies - one of the worst possible choices (the only worse one is the USSR). And they didn't even tech for it. Germany has spent its time teching for naval techs harder than any other civ on the cylinder. When other civs got artillery, Germany got submarines. When other civs got paratroopers, Germany got marines. When other civs got nuclear power plants, Germany was the only civ of the entire cylinder to research environmentalism for tidal power plants. This wouldn't be a problem if they had actually fought naval wars against civs bordering the north sea - Sweden as already mentioned, Iceland who still don't know how to navigate, or even the Gauls who are severaly struggling for science and have very poor naval tech. Fighting 2 Sicilies also wouldn't have been a problem if they'd teched for artillery and paratroopers like everyone else. But the combination is just awful. And now their easy expansion opportunities are vanishing.

Rosay

Dude! Dene shredded it this part! After the pink wave seemed inevitable, Dene decided that if anyone was gonna stop the nation, it was gonna be her and became the first civ to launch its nukes, marking Rio Grande's first setback in several parts via making the great plains a nuclear wasteland. After that Dene decided they wanted more, and went straight for the weakest power actually worth a damn on the continent, Mississippi. Now Dene is posed to be a true contender, all but ensuring it's benign status in endgame. Dene always seemed as a weird civ that was never quite top tier, but definitely better than the likes of say, the Gauls, but this might have been the nations coronation.

Vihreaa

Some may question the rise of PARG 4 entire ranks this week, as they seemingly did absolutely nothing of interest this part. For our viewers in the sub who aren’t eagle eyed on the stats for each episode, We believe that PARG ran into some kind of bug that caused their food production to absolutely skyrocket this part. Though that may not seem too impactful, it could prove to have important consequences for PARG. Though they have neglected to build much of an army for the last several parts, this skyrocket of food production could change that, somehow.

Rosay

Oh baby what did they do to you. Zaire was all but set to become the african powerhouse, but was blocked by Nigeria, after Zaire decided that it just wasn't gonna do anything in Egypt. Nowadays, Zaire can be seen struggling to take control over Kurdistan. Granted we've seen power flips thought impossible before, mississippi's fall, Marajoara's rise, and the Dene's rise to name a few, however i don't see that as the most likely option. I wish that i'm proven wrong

Knot

With the powerhouse of Anangu surprisingly dealt with through an incredibly close and interesting war, the Kulin finally rise up the ranks as their biggest problem is finally dealt with.

No, not really. Kulin continues to rise as even our most steadfast Aussie haters have to admit their stats put them way ahead of most other civs. Nothing about the status of Kulin has really changed. Malacca is still an obstacle for any eventual landfall, and random wars with the Mapuche don’t look likely to change that. It’s just that Kulin’s basic stats are so dang high that it’s difficult to imagine them not going into the eventual endgame reset without a large advantage. Can they use that advantage if Malacca continues to be good in Endgame as well? Unclear at the moment, but nonetheless, the potential for power moves them up.

Random Strategy

Just as Rio Grande looked like they were going to be the supreme ruler of North America, The Dene came in with nukes and paratroopers to put a stop to it. That's certainly bad. However, the damage was limited thanks to Rio's cheated city defences, which killed a bunch of paratroopers and put a hold to the Dene advance (not to mention preventing Malacca and Marajoara making any progress on the other fronts). Yep: this cheat is, as expected, very impactful and one of the most unfair ones of the CBR. Now the reason the Dene were able to do so well was that they'd been science turtling for a while and were the most technologically advanced nation of the americas. Rio Grande appears to have realised what an amazing strategy it is and also started teching hard (the 'turtling' part of the strategy they get for free by cheating). They are currently making 1943 effective science to the Dene's 1232. This will put them in a very good position for winning future wars.

Random Strategy

The time has come! The war we've all been waiting for since early game! The time for Punjab vs. Chola II, where Punjab will crush Chola for good, Forgie's law notwithstanding. Punjab is entering this war with 3 times Chola's military, slightly more production and a healthy tech lead. Their paratroopers have already successfully captured a few Cholan cities and they are currently researching stealth bombers, to make this even more effective. Also, now that we're passed the point in the tech tree where navy has its own line, Punjab's missile destroyers are now better than Chola's battleships (Chola should in theory have missile cruisers too but I can't see any; I do see a lot of outdated privateers though). Successfully annexing the entirety of the Indian subcontinent would plug a big hole in Punjab's defences and give them a very powerful core from which to fight Uzbekistan, or anyone else. It will take some time to get all of it due to Chola's large supply of boats capable of flipping any coastal city back but with the help of stealth bombers it should be doable. All they have to do is not give up when the flipping starts.

Random Strategy

The Chukchi ran out of money this part. They have 0 money on their treasury and are making -1483 per turn. This has put a damper on their science generation which is a big problem. And tundra is not particularly good for gold generation. What's more: North America, which was once a continent full of weak, easily conquered civs far behind in tech, is rapidly getting its own powers in the Dene and Rio Grande. They will be able to block any Chukchi invasion (Rio Grande particularly due to cheated city defences). If I were them, I would invade Northern Yuan and Japan, who are very behind in tech and therefore easy pickings. And uhh... try to find some gold somewhere, obviously. Their army isn’t overly massive either so disbanding it won’t fix the problem, though it is critical they keep it smallish so as to not make the problem worse. And, well, a smallish army isn’t ideal, but it’s what they’ll have to live with.

Altima

Well, that could have gone worse. While they lost some island cities, MJ still managed to keep the significantly more advanced (86 v. 74 techs) Kulin forces from taking ground in South America, and held their frontrunner position on that continent. This war showed some real gaps in their armor- of the top four, they have by far the worst tech, and as civs start getting more futuristic that’s going to start snowballing if they don’t take pretty immediate action. Still, they’re the clear frontrunner on the continent, and as Endgame creeps closer, that’s more and more of a factor in their favor.

Vihreaa

Uzbekistan rises to their highest rank so far in the royale, climbing onto the podium to claim the #3 spot. With a massive army with good composition, Uzbekistan flexed on the entire cylinder through the dismantlement of Sweden, taking all but one of their cities on the European continent, including their capital. With paratroopers and planes, we could see this happen to other nations around the world, if they aren’t careful. This expansion isn’t without its costs, though. Uzbekistan is losing over two thousand gold per turn, and with only around 12 thousand  gold in their treasury, they will soon be in hot water in the economic sector.gold in their treasury, they will soon be in hot water in the economic sector.

Knot

Malacca continues to hold their steady second, but they certainly are not as uncontested as they were before. The coma they’ve fallen into is starting to become a bit worrying especially when powers like the Uzbeks and Marajoara are certainly becoming more formidable than they were before even if they have their own problems to overcome. That said, they can reassert their position as top dog at basically anytime. A quick war with Chola or Taping, maybe even a real war with the Northern Yuan or Chukchi, and there’d be no question of Malacca’s status as a superpower.

Knot

Despite a fairly action packed part with a sleepy Nigeria (couldn’t even finish off the Ptolemies, I’m still very salty about that), Nigeria still holds the #1 spot by almost a unanimous vote. The Uzbecks might look mighty scary, the Dene might look vicious, and Malacca and the Chukchi might still hold plenty of expansion opportunities, but pound for pound, Nigeria remains the most well rounded and powerful civ on the cylinder. They’re far enough ahead that they could just rest on their laurels and float on their tech lead for a while, but with how ambitious some other civs are getting, it might be wise to start making some moves on their continent before one of the other major powers makes a big move over the next few parts.