Power Rankings: Episode 25 – S2

Random Strategy

Taiping started off the game quite good, settling a large land area, conquering Vietnam, then followed this up by settling all the islands from Japan (curiously not settled by Japan) to the Philippines. Unfortunately Taiping was also the first to experience the power of Jong. Before Taiping's new island villages could build up their defences and navy, Malacca attacked and crushed Taiping so hard they had to retreat all the way back to the mainland. And that was Taiping's chances gone. They did continue to fight minor wars against Bhutan, Yuan and Northern Yuan but not enough to get them back in the game. Before total war, Northern Yuan somehow acquired a ridiculous number of great generals and citadeled half of Taiping, allowing them to quickly pick up those cities. But Malacca was the main threat, as they reduced Taiping to a city state (and continued north to demolish Northern Yuan). In cycle 2 Taiping's starting bonuses were too small for them to succeed. A Chukchi/Northern Yuan alliance reduced them yet again to a city state. But history repeats itself, and Malacca came yet again to destroy Taiping. Rather fittingly, the civ that has thrice invaded Taiping and ruined their chances is also the one to get the final kill.

Cloudberg:

Well, it was a good run. Despite a stronger-than-expected start, the Neutrals are in serious trouble, down to just two cities and at war with the Dene. Rio Grande holds their capital and they have barely any units left. Elimination may be a ways off yet as Thanadalthur is distracted by her own war with Rio Grande, but it’s looming in the distance all the same.

Lacsirax: Things may not have gone as swimmingly for Punjab as we expected them to… but don’t be fooled. “Being at war with Punjab” is still a probable death sentence for Uzbekistan, whose main infantry unit is the simple swordsman, and whose terrain isn’t as mountain-filled as you might expect. Uzbekistan is down very bad, especially having given away a third of their cities to PARG in a peace treaty. Indeed, in a simple 1v1, this would be an easy kill for Punjab… but Karimov’s saviour might be overextension. Not on his part, Christ no, his empire’s tiny and unambitious - but Ranjit is also at war with Northern Yuan and Nigeria, which might serve as meaty enough distractions that pathetic little Uzbekistan goes unnoticed. But if Ranjit does decide to pour most of his resources into this war, it’s toast for Karimov. No matter how many forts he builds.

Vihreaa

Finland has been effectively isolated to the northern reaches of Scandinavia at this point, surrounded by more powerful European states. Located this close to the bottom of the board, there isn’t much left for them to do, except fortify their defenses and wait until the inevitable invasion comes their way. A top 15 finish for Finland is possible, but it won’t be easy.

Msurdej  

Well, things have certainly taken a turn for the worse for the Gauls. Geneseric decided it was high time to take back Lilybaeum, and began to move northward into Gaulic territory. This has kicked Vercingetorix out of Iberia, and it may soon spell doom for his chances. With a paltry army outnumbered nearly three to one, and out produced nearly equally, The Gauls may find their capital taken if peace isn’t declared fast. Should continental Europe fall, the Gauls will be forced to exile in the British Isles and Canada, where the Vandals could still pick them off.

Rosé:

Oh boy, that was rough. Admittedly, Northern Yuan defended itself decently enough against the Chukchi onslaught for the power gap (oh trust me we will get to them) But now, the Last Yuan is more or less doomed to irrelevance in inner asia, and that's the best scenario. There is always the looming threat that Parg decides to finally be competent and take down Northern Yuan, or even worse Chukchi returns for seconds. Was nice knowing you Northern Yuan, lets see if you can survive to the top 10.

Altima

Well that could have gone better. The Kulin have lost the archipelagic cities they once held, a couple of them permanently, and have even lost a continental city again (although it did flip back offscreen). Still, they’re not out yet- if they can hold steady, most of the razed cities can probably just be resettled, and they do seem to be researching naval techs which will help them bulk back up once they can eclipse the dreaded Jongs. Mind, this war could also get worse for them- unit limits has reduced their ability to hypercarpet the continent like Aussie civs of old, which raises the possibility that Malacca may well actually capture and hold a continental city even without wackily timed peace treaties. Ultimately, the key deciding moment will come when the war finishes and we see what the peace costs.

Msurdej

Punjab takes a tumble this week, falling out of the top 10 for the first time in Cycle 2. Their war with Uzbeakistan could have been a great way to eliminate Karimov. But then he decided to fight Northern Yuan...and Nigeria.  Now with three wars, Ranjit has overextended themselves, and could see their empire shrink if they start losing land.

Msurdej  

A decent part for the PARG, as they manage to pick off a city from the Uzbeks. Sadly, the bigger prize of lands taken from Northern Yuan eluded them this week. But there is  potential land for the taking in the west. The USSR is focused squarely on Finland, and have left the eastern part of their empire exposed. If Kolchak can blitz cities like Kharkov and Kiev, that could be pretty PARGchamp.

Vihreaa

Not many people expected Lesotho to be doing so well, I’m sure, but here we are, as they are one of three major powers in Africa. After consuming a sizeable portion of Zaire, they stand to compete against Nigeria. If they are able to come out of a war against Nigeria on top, they could have a real play for winning the game if they are able to snowball. Lesotho is currently in a tier of civilizations that aren’t quite world powers, but have the capability of becoming one. This tier of civilizations is still really large, which is another reason why the game is still interesting.

Cloudberg:

Rio Grande falls to 9th place despite gaining several cities this episode, including the Neutrals’ capital city. As for why... well, I’m honestly not sure. They are at war with the Dene, but their armies seem well matched and Rio Grande has superior tech, so it doesn’t seem like Rio Grande is likely to lose. That said, rankers might be skeptical of Rio Grande’s long-term prospects. The Dene won’t be an easy nut to crack, the Neutrals are almost spent, and there’s no way Rosillo could touch Marajoara. So where does Rio Grande go from here? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Altima

The Dene really do keep getting into cycles of making inroads into the Neuts and getting declared upon by the river bois. Well, at this moment, given the geography and extreme statistical evenness of the parties on display, neither of the two are likely to break through each other. The present is not their friend. Neither is the future- the Chukchi loom heavy over the Dene’s head just as Marajoara does over the Rio, and both are growing stronger faster than their respective North American neighbor. The Dene could still swing things around- hold out against Rio while finishing the Neuts, try and close that effective science gap, and hope that they can consolidate enough of North America bit by bit to hold strong against the Light-Blue Walkers, but they need to act fast.

Rosé:

Hey, remember when Germany was the undisputed leader of Europe? hahaha. What once seemed like an inevitability is now an impossibility with the German Empire being flanked by two significant players in the world. This one is just sad really, Germany had so many chances to become a world power, but seemed to blow it every time. Whether it be Sweden, Finland, the Gauls, Kosovo to a lesser extent, Germany could've easily become the de facto leader of Europe, but just sat on its hand the entire game (except that time they took Britain). It's kind of a similar situation to Zaire really, two former powerhouses that stalled for way too long and got surrounded by bigger powers which inevitably dwarfed and ate them. Time is a loop, though there may actually be one last chance to break it, if the Germans attack the Soviets in the last second they still can.

Altima

Quiet part for the USSR. Their line slowly engulfs the Finns, and their German and White Russian neighbors have steadfastly refused to do anything threatening. Next part we’ll probably see something more interesting out of them when the war begins in earnest, but for now, the USSR drops a bit as others make more decisive actions.

Lacsirax: Nigeria holds fifth place despite leapfrogging the Soviets - for the first time since episode 13, no longer the highest ranked nation in Africa. This was, simply, not a particularly active part for Nigeria, in a stage of the game where periods of inaction can be a crucial timeloss. Even more worryingly, their production has dropped below both Lesotho and the Vandals, though they do still hold their characteristic tech lead, edging the Vandals and Punjab to the highest count. Still, building tech is one thing, but using it is another - and on a smaller map, they can’t expect to just sit back and enjoy the same quiet but killer growth they experienced last time around. They do have a golden chance to do some damage in Arabia to Punjab, which has just declared war a little unpreparedly - but a killer blow to one of their two African neighbours would calm a lot more Nigerian nerves, I think.

Cloudberg:

The Vandals rise to fourth place, tying their all-time high from episode 7. And the reason is obvious: their early-game strategy of settling as many cities as possible has paid off, and now Genseric is clearly top dog in both Africa and the Mediterranean. In this episode, he attacked the Gauls and consolidated Iberia, with more Gallic cities potentially in the firing line soon. At the same time, the Vandals now have some of the best stats, with top three placements in several key categories. As skeptical as we may have been going into Cycle 2, it is now clear that Genseric is in it to win it.

Random Strategy:

The power of Jong was on full display this episode. Before this episode, I would have said that Malacca can be beaten: all the Kulin had to do is tech up to frigates and then use those to beat the jongs. Frigates are an entire era ahead of jongs and usually dominate the enlightenment era. The Kulin also started the war with equal production to Malacca and galleons already in place to be aggressive (which are also more technologically advanced than jongs). However, despite all this, Malaccan jongs still somehow came out on top. This isn't some “crush triremes” slaughter like we've already seen the jongs pull off. This is on a whole other level. Oh and Malacca also killed Taiping this part, lest we forget.

Random Strategy

Marajoara has decided to repeat its strategy of science turtle, as they now have the highest science and population of the game, thanks to the south american jungles. And with their own private continent, the turtling part is extremely easy. The aim with this strategy is to get a high enough tech lead that you can eventually move out and colonise the technologically backwards nations of the world, even when natural defences (such as oceans) protect them. For the moment they drop down to 2nd place as the big-siberian-strat the Chukchi is employing is usually more effective than science turtle.

Rosé:

Well as a giant slap in the face on how I've always thought the Chukchi's power was overblown, I was the official narrator of the part, where Chukchi being number 1 was officially undisputed. In my eyes Chukchi is not necessarily in the same range right now where they are unbeatable, such as say mark-X Uruguay and mark-2 Boers(at least at first), but they are now the undisputed leaders of the world. The only two nations that come close are Marajoara and Malacca, each with their own specific downfalls. But Chukchi simply has no clear weakness, and they are making advancements too, wiping the floor with Northern Yuan and being able to do it again to anyone else in the far east. (Cept maybe Malacca, that's kind of a stall).