Power Rankings: Episode 9 – S2

Random Strategy:

First blood! At last! In cbrs, many civs that die deserve to live, and many that survive do not. Peru Bolivia is not one of them. Peru Bolivia was not a good civ. In fact I have difficulty thinking of another civ more worthy of being ranked 61st (possibly Somalia?). They were a rump even when compared to other rumps. The blunders started in part 1 when they failed to settle their second city, then eventually settled it in part 2 in a ridiculous undefendable location on the other side of the Mapuche. To top off the stupidity, they then foolishly declared war on the Mapuche... without an army... The Mapuche eventually marched all the way to the capital though Paraguay sniped it at the last moment. But it was Gran Colombia (a civ who had an equally blunderous start) who was the one to finish them off in the end. And good riddance.

Rosé:

At first I was rooting for Wales to win in europe, by the end of the like part 5 i Just wanted them to die, which should really tell you all of what this civ accomplished tbh. Hell they didn't even take control of the British isles. ICELAND was more of a presence in the region than Wales, and I struggle to remember that Iceland exists at points. The only, and i mean only reason this civ continued to cling on to life for as long as it did was because it was in a weird spot where notoriously bad ai naval invasions couldn't reach it, and Spain was just incompetent to the core, and had to wait for the green neighbor worth a damn to finally take the final Welsh city. Needless to say, Wales is not a civ I will be missing. No F

Msurdej

And so ends the reign of Mohammed Siad Barre. Sadly, Somalia was never much of a player, peaking in the first part and tumbling from there. First with a failing attack on Zanzibar, followed by a disastrous peace deal with Cleopatra. The loss of Hargeysa all but crippled Somalia, and the loss of their second city from Hejaz left them a rump.

Truly, the most interesting thing about Somalia was who killed them. Nigeria, from the other side of the continent, sent a backdoor squad to attack Somalia, and ended up taking the capital to a shock to many. But that shock was the only high note in Somalia’s sad run, a run that is now over, thanks in large part to his own surrender to Nigeria.F

Random Strategy:The problem with starting the game surrounded should be self-explanatory. Everyone will be blocking off your expansion and everyone can attack you. And this is exactly what happened to the Three Affiliated Tribes. Their northwards expansions were razed by the Dene. Their southwards expansions were captured and destroyed by Mississippi. They foolishly gave away a city to the Chinook, then spent the rest of their life as a city state trying and failing to recapture it, while also murdering the sparse Chinook units that made it over the mountain passes. And finally their first enemy, the Dene, finished them off.

Knot

Oh, you’re still here? You weren’t one of the civs that died last part? Well, what are you waiting for, Vietnam? We’ll give you a nice long eulogy when you actually get down to the sub, but until then, you really are just taking up space. Learn something from Wales, why don’tcha?

Rosé:

How did this civ of all civs survive. Seriously the one rump which the majority of the PR believe was done for when the part hit, made it to the end of said part in one piece. Not to mention, this was the same part four rump civs died, and while im very happy to have four less civs to rank, its shocking to see the one that was TWO TURNS from defeat lived. It wasn't even via bad peace deal, Manchu just refused to die. Gotta to congratulate this civ on actually manage to shock the world by not dying, but in a way that was cool for the viewers. (They're still screwed though)

Doom:

Something finally happens for the Teutonic Order and unsurprisingly, it's not good. The Teutons lose their new capital but due to a citadel chain from the USSR, Sweden can't put them out of their misery. The Teutons are now down to one city but unlike other city states, they only have 3 neighbours so might survive a while with luck. On the other hand, unlike with Tuareg and Wales, they have no defensible terrain so expect them to vanish as soon as a neighbour notices them.

Rosé

Welp somebodys on the chopping block. After numerous parts of Mississippi's status as the defacto leader of NA being questioned, they, (along with New Netherlands but their bullying was mostly before this part so it is mostly moot) decided to do something about it and bully the Neutrals. The bullying was successful as the Neutrals are down to one city remaining, and the Neutrals could honestly be next on chopping block. With one city left, and expansive neighbors around them, the Neutrals are drowning and the water keeps raising.

Doom:

Jamaica has now outlived 4 civs. Good for them

Cloudberg

The Tuareg climb four places despite having a single city jammed in the mountains, taking potshots at Burkina Faso units that keep trying to push through the pass. Their end is inevitable, but so far it doesn’t seem like Burkina Faso will manage to bring it about until artillery. Previously we dismissed the Vandals as unlikely to attack because the Tuareg don’t have anything of value, but this episode showed that civs won’t necessarily hesitate to kill random rump states, even if they don’t control any capitals, so Tin Hinan had better watch her back. Her days up here in 52nd could be numbered.

LonelyRS

Oooof. Well, it had to happen sooner or later, and after Gibeon fell all that stood between Zaire and Namibia’s capital was desert and a river, so it’s not exactly surprising that Namibia found themselves reduced to a two-city rump so fast. If anything, they should be counting their blessings; at least Zaire had enough mercy in their hearts, after all, to stop after functionally knocking Namibia out of contention. Oh, sure, Moringa can still entertain idle thoughts of storming back into his capital with the strength of Namibia’s best and brightest behind him, but as the tech gap grows and grows his odds of taking back anything from even a weakened Zaire will grow quite slim indeed and none of that’s going to change the fact that he’s the nut caught between Zaire and Lesotho’s nutcracker. At this point, really, Jacob Morenga has one goal in front of him - survive as far and as long into the game as he possibly can. Early returns say that’s not going to be very long, but, hey, if Tibet could suck up to Vietnam for that long while they still had a capital on their hands...

Msurdej

Jerusalem falls back into the bottom ten this part, mostly due to the dying of multiple civs. Baldwin is still in an unenviable spot, two cities in the northern portion of the Middle East. The only saving grace is that Jerusalem has more of a chance of staying alive for now. The Ptolemies have a narrow window to attack, Kosovo is preoccupied with the USSR, Georgia would require an amphibian attack, and Kurdistan is....Kurdistan. Can Jerusalem fully fall? Yes. Will it fall any time soon? Probably not.

Cloudberg

The Olmecs climb this week despite being half dead, overtaking the Neutral Nation, Namibia, and Jerusalem. I don’t know why Jerusalem is ranked below them now, considering that the Olmecs are at war but Jerusalem isn’t. But the other two make sense—we’re into the part of the game where civics start dropping like flies, and when you’re surrounded by stronger powers that are trying to kill you, your days are probably numbered. If Rio Grande ever wants to finish off the Olmecs, they’ll be dead in 20 turns. But for now Rio Grande is distracted up north, and the Olmecs just barely squeeze into the 40s as a result.

Cloudberg

Come one, come all, Anangu has founded a third city! In light of this excellent news, which heralds Anangu’s inevitable victory over Kulin, the power rankers have decided to bump them up five places to 48th. That’s the highest they’ve been since episode 3. Praise be!

Msurdej

Looks like the Pacific island girls are at it again. Hawaii once again is trying to wipe away the shame of Tahiti’s bold settlement. However, it remains to be seen if Lili'uokalani can actually pull it off. Both armies are lacking the real backing in either military or production however, so it'sa likely that this war, much like the last, will go badly.

MsurdejWait, I have Tahiti too? Well...they ended their war with Kulin. Other than that, just re-read the previous slide to hear my thoughts on the Hawaii-Tahiti war.

Rosé:

THE VOC HAS FINALLY FALLEN DOWN A RANK RED ALERT RED ALERT. The Voc has fallen below one civ this week, likely due to the quirks of map. I'd like to blame this on the fact that there are simply minimal rump civs to pass. I mean maybe VOC can pass Zanzibar and Bhutan again but that's all I can see in the near future.

Cloudberg:

Bhutan holds steady in the mid-40s this episode, thanks to Punjab’s inexplicable failure to kill them. Last episode it looked like Thimphu was on the ropes, but now we’ve gone another 30 turns and Punjab is even farther away from capturing it than they were before. I don’t know whether to give kudos to Bhutan for their defense or lambast Punjab for their offense. Either way, Bhutan is still fucked, just maybe a little less in the short term.

Random StrategyWell the only significant event that happened to Zanzibar was that they lost their only possible expansion when Nigeria killed Somalia. It would have made a great story if Zanzibar had been the one to deal the killing blow as revenge for the early game, and it would also have elevated Zanzibar to the exclusive club of civs with 2 capitals and the exclusive club of civs who have a kill. Sadly, Zanzibar does not wish to be remembered for any of their deeds. I guess they could still technically capture Mogadishu from Nigeria seeing as Nigeria's route to the Indian Ocean has now been blocked off by border expansion, so the expansion opportunity isn’t completely lost, but they won't.

Altima

Another part gone with Vietnam still standing is another bad part for Laos. The surrounding sharks grow in strength as this fish flounders. They need to finish this fight, now, and then open and close a fight against the VOC. Therein lies their only hope to not just die as a small fry.

Rosé:

Imma be real with y'all georgia is definitely one of the weirdest civs in this game. For one they have a great navy, which is in the Caspian sea, and therefore, basically useless. The civ has more or less tanked a funneled Uzbekistan, which will happen when you give a civ one tile to advance through. On top of this Georgia is somehow functional with half of their nation essentially on its own. Move over two sicilies, we got two georgias in town.

Random Strategy

So it turns out that executing all your scientists for heresy is a bad move. Huh. Who knew? For indeed, though Hejaz had enough land and production to be relevant, their complete lack of tech made them easily conquered. And that is exactly what the Ptolemies are doing to great success. Now, though the capital is gone, there is still some hope. First of all, Malacca has made peace so won't be flipping any more coastal cities. But more importantly, Zaire and Nigeria have declared war on the Ptolemies, which will severely distract them. And since the distraction provided by the weaker Burkina Faso alone was enough to prevent the Ptolemies making any progress for an entire part, you can expect Zaire and Nigeria to have  a significantly bigger impact. Hejaz can use this opportunity to peace out with what remains of their empire.

Msurdej

Palmares drops this week, as their capital suffers a flip from the Vandals. They were able to flip it back, a peace treaty ended the war with the capital in the hands of the invaders. This is a huge blow to the already ho-hum Zumbi, and gives Geneseric more room to expand his empire across the Atlantic. Can Zumbi ever hope to reclaim his capital, let alone win?

RosayGreat perm has literally not been mentioned in almost tw months by any of the PR, man what an achievement. Also they got their UU which is a geo guessor, felt that was worth mentioning.

Altima

We were so close to greatness. The Yuan were on the verge of finally killing their yellow sitcom arch-nemesis, but have been distracted by Taiping’s aggression, losing a couple of cities to the jade tide, and failing to even swing the killing blow. Now they find themselves both on the backfoot in the war against Taiping and with the final Manchu city back in the green. Truly, the worst of both worlds.

LonelyRS

Photographic evidence that Kurdistan still exists! You don’t see this every day, folks.

MsurdejIceland’s big move this week was to declare war on Wales...right before the Guals wiped them off the map. Sure there’s some good reasons for doing this in a diplomatic sense, but if Kristjan wanted some actual land, he should’ve been a bit more proactive a few parts ago.

Msurdej

The Spanish had a lackluster part this week. They failed to eliminate Wales, and got war declared on them by the Gauls. While the Spanish navy could be used to counteract any attacks by Vercingetorix, Carlos has half the power and production of the Guals, meaning that for most of this war, he’ll likely be on the defensive in Ireland.

LonelyRS

Fun fact: technically, by real rank, Tongva and their eternal bugaboos Chinook were tied after this episode. It’s a punch to the gut for any supporters of Chinook who haven’t fled for greener pastures after their evisceration at the hands of the Chukchi, but it’s a delicious kind of schadenfreude for the up-to-now perfectly mediocre Tongva, their four fans no doubt in open revelry as they, through no effort of their own, begin eclipsing their big sister to the north. They certainly don’t have any other reason to celebrate: the Tongva are nominally part of the anti-Mississippi coalition but any hopes of them getting anything out of it seem to be dying on the Rockies peaks’, neighboring Rio Grande are ascending to take their place as top dogs in North America, and with the Pacific growing more crowded and less friendly by the episode, it’s looking more and more like what would’ve been Tongva’s least viable expansion option last time around might soon be their only one. Not that they’re going to actually take it, of course, but still.

Doom:

The Chinook drop 13 ranks as the Chukchi invasion hits. At this point it's just whether the Chukchi can be bothered claiming every Chinook coastal city. However, there is a glimmer of hope for the Chinook as the Chukchi are starting a war on the other side of their empire. This doesn't mean the Chinook can win but it does mean that at least some of the Chukchi navy will be diverted and they may settle for peace sooner. Even if they do the Chinook are lagging behind the other North American powers now.

Altima

Japan is a goddamn weird civ. Half of it is continental, half of it Japanese. It sent settlers to grab random Pacific islands that have since been burned by the Kulin for their impertinence. At the very least, it seems that those will be the only real losses of the Kulin war; we didn’t see any Kulin ships in Japanese waters. At the end of the day, this was a slow part for Tanaka; not a whole lot happened to him while the rest of the world turned and burned.

Cloudberg

Mannerheim, welcome to the top half! It’s only his second time up here, as he ties his previous high point of 30th place, achieved all the way back in episode one. But this might well be Finland’s ceiling. They have massive cities, a decent army, and other stats that aren’t half bad, but their production is so low and they have so few cities that if they got into a war with a stronger neighbor those stats would collapse in a hurry. On the other hand, Finland could ride its way into the top 20 by being extremely friendly and never going to war, so if you think that’s what will happen, buy Finland stonks.

Doom:

Sweden gets the biggest move up the rankings this week, returning to the top 30. Their forever war with the Teutonic Order finally pays off and Karl nabs the better of the two Teutonic cities. Overall their situation is basically the same despite this. Sweden would lose to Germany or Finland in a fight right now so they're really just hoping for a lucky break through a coalition of some kind.

Knot

Kosovo and the USSR actually declare peace at the end of the part, so they survive another day. I applaud their defense and turtle-ing strategies, but eventually the USSR is gonna figure out how to do a good war with a good army, and when that happens, not even a napoleonic level of warfare strategy is gonna save you. I think the “Kosovo winning the CBRX” ship is pretty close to sailing. I don’t know if it quite sailed yet, but their window of opportunity is shrinking rapidly. However, I expect Kosovo to at least go down in a brutal bloody meat grinder of a battle which might keep them alive a long time, and you know what? They probably deserve that at least.

LonelyRS

Northern Yuan was a superpower, once. Hard to believe even just a few short episodes after their fall from grace, and hard to reconcile with the vision of a defeated Mandukhai ceding undamaged cities to Kolchak in a desperate attempt to keep the rest of her fledgling empire whole, but once the violet horde had a credible claim to being top dogs in Northern Asia, the entire continent hinging on what they decided to do, who their first target would be. Now they’re more like its doormat. Come, savor the sights of the scenic tundra, feel the cold biting at your skin, partake in the time-honored tradition of fleecing Northern Yuan out of another nigh-useless frozen outpost. Losing significant chunks of land to PARG is almost excusable, but doing the same to Japan and Yuan certainly isn’t. Given that of those three aforementioned civs, one has gained a reputation for disappointment, one saw what Georgia did and decided to follow in their footsteps, and somehow neither of those came even close to matching the mind-boggling cowardice and incompetence of the inferior Yuan, that Northern Yuan has so consistently proven themselves a complete pushover is astonishing. They’re not the worst civ in the region, not by a longshot. But they are the region’s biggest jobber, and that’s almost worse.

LonelyRS

Paraguay are the cylinder’s chihuahuas. They have a very, very shrill bark, the chief denouncers of the game, and have not hesitated to use it, insulting everything from large and powerful Mapuche to weak and useless Peru-Bolivia to the awful microwaved breakfast you had this morning. And they’ve proven very annoying, sniping the Peruvian city of Tacna and through obstruction of the Mapuche single-handedly allowing Gran Colombia their finest, most shining moment. But they’ve proven very reluctant to trade out that bark for a bite. On no occasion have they used that military they seem so intent on building to net effective returns. As well, with Marajoara expanding into one neighboring continent and Palmares having just lost their capital to another, Solano Lopez currently helms the most peaceful civ in South America. He can rant, rave, and yell all he wants, but unless he demonstrates that he can put some force behind his declarations of eternal hatred, he’s doomed to be nothing more than a nuisance. A chihuahua might look threatening at first, but it’ll never be anything to be afraid of unless it learns to draw blood.

Knot

Remember when Chola was in the top five? I feel like there was an alternative version of this game where Chola leveraged that and became a world power alongside Punjab and the Uzbeks. I say that because they still have incredibly rock solid stats for a non power. Like a lot of the civs you’re gonna see ranked above Chola have worse stats than Chola. If you squinted at their empire, you could believe that Chola was a regional player provided you had a rare medical condition where you were unable to see the color orange. Yeah, it’s honestly a bit unfair. Civs in the americas get power ranking boosts despite mediocre stats, and Chola holds a pretty respectable set of stats, but gets bogged down because they lost the only war that mattered against Punjab. Is all hope gone for them? I guess not, but it’s certainly likely we’re gonna seem them slip ever further.

Random Strategy:Last part Burkina Faso won a minor coalition war against them. Well technically the war wasn't over since the Tuareg, Zanzibar and Namibia didn't make peace. And they continue to not do so this part. This means that Burkina Faso has spent most of its time this part funnelling soldiers 1 by 1 through the mountain pass to try and capture the last Tuareg city of Kidal. This is a complete waste of resources. What they should do is take advantage of the Zaire/Nigeria joint war against the Ptolemies, whether by trying to get revenge on Nigeria while their troops are away from home, or alternatively by taking advantage of the Ptolemies getting spread too thin.

Rosé:

GC scores one of the four eliminations this part, making thus making the one of my four favorite civs for this part. Ok seriously though GC is still going strong being a contender for best in SA, and this raw comeback they pull have solidified them as one of my favs. Just don’t crash the royale like last time

Knot

Oooookay. I’m going to try and be nice. I’ll ignore the incredibly boneheaded decision of the Dene to give away Kincaid, their only major gain in their war with the Mississippi, to Marajora like a moron. It’s fine. Could have used that to secure a larger piece of the Mississippi pie and made a huge game changing move, but it’s fine. Water under the bridge now, Dene…..

Let’s be positive! The Dene could make good use of the possible crumbling fortunes of the Mississippi. Now they did declare peace with them, but that time has long passed, and so they can jump in with the Rio Grande at any time. Remember that Mississippi was the top dog on the continent. If they strike hard and fast here, they could have a shot at stealing that crown. Let’s just hope they don’t turn out to be a total dunce about it this time.

Altima

Well this is bad. The Mississippi military is demolished, fighting on all sides, and losing ground everywhere. Haven’t seen a fall this bad since Texas all those years ago. Now, it isn’t all bad- they are gaining ground against the Neutrals (as damning a faint praise as that is), and they did take back that one city the Dene traded away. Still, the coming parts will bring further drops to the Mississippi if things continue like this.

Altima

Tragically, New Netherland ended their Rio war without taking a city from the ambitious upstarts. Worse still, the blighters have managed to actually build themselves up pretty significantly since then and are actively eating a major power’s turf. Still, the better NN gained some decent ground this part, taking the (admittedly worthless) capital of the lesser NN and peacing out, punishing their cheating anachronistic muskets. Things are heating up in North America, but the beaver trappers are in a good position to prepare for it.

Rosé:

Deciding to not do the obvious and take on the Palmaries, Marajoara ended up going on a little field trip in North America. During this field trip north american exclaves were razed and cities were taken. Nobody to this day knows why they didn’t take advantage of their obviously weaker neighbor and pulled this, maybe they were just bored.

Altima

The Two Sicilies are doing okay. Strictly okay. They have their UU online, a full naval carpet capable of creating chaos ‘cross the coasts, but they still seem to lack any initiative to capitalize on that. Right now would be a pretty good time to join in the Cleopatra Conflict alongside Green Bois Zaire and Nigeria, as her production will be distracted by the two of them, but we’ll have to see if Ferdie’s got that kind of spunk in him.

Rosé:

As much as i believe Zaire clapping Lesotho is an inevitability, Lesotho does have some good things going for it. For one the Lesotho core is STACKED and was repeatedly respected throughout the part. Secondly, Zanzibar is still an option for Lesotho, along with the exclave of Nigeria, hell maybe even Hejaz might be a target for Lesotho. Course, the second Zaire decides to 86 Lesotho, its game over albeit not without sacrifice. While I dont think that Lesotho will be a dark horse to win it all, I do believe that the civ could sort of be the Selk'nam to a Uruguay if that makes sense.

Doom:

Master diplomat Awolowo manages to convince Somalia to kill themselves so he doesn't have to waste units flipping Mogadishu. Unfortunately, Mogadishu itself isn't particular meaningful since it's on the opposite side of the continent to Nigeria's core but there's always bragging rights. Of course the big news this part is the Ptolemies war. Nigeria are poorly positioned compared to the already better Zaire so if the Ptolemies do falter, Zaire is likely to get the lions share and become even more threatening. Burkina Faso would be the much better target for Nigeria but out of pity or forgetfulness they don't seem to care.

LonelyRS

On the one hand: Taiping is terrifying. Highly advanced, based in Asia, adept both on land and at sea, and just spooked Yuan so bad they gave up on a one-turn kill of the Manchu in favor of shoring up their hilariously overmatched defenses just that little bit more. Scary stuff.

On the other: Taiping is kinda mediocre? Like, sure, they were pretty powerful for a little while, there, but then Malacca took them and shook them around like a chew toy. They’ve got decent stats but not very good ones, are decently powerful but could never claim to be a contender, and Chukchi saw them and said “yeah, I might be midway through crushing Chinook’s hopes and dreams right now, but I can take that.” They’re kind of East Asia’s punching bag.

So, what are they? A power with legitimate hopes of winning the game, or a stepping stone and side character in somebody else’s story? The conclusion is simple: Taiping is Worf. Ostensibly powerful, easily able to punch out minor runts of the litter, but overwhelmed by whoever the new superpower of the day is in seconds to establish that, hey, these new kids can put up a pretty decent fight too. Look forward to them inexplicably surviving twenty more episodes at their current strength, only to be turned into a fine paste by a newly-ascendant VOC.

Rosé:

I’m gonna be real with y'all, I'm a simp for cowboy civs. When the test games that I viewed showed Rio Grande doing well i was really happy, but that happiness turned to sadness when they failed in Mississippi. However with time comes change, and Rio got control over the Gulf, I was a happy man. It's not like a razor thin line into Mississippi line either, as Rio Grande now has access to the exposed core of the former top 5 civ. Also North America is still contested so I can clearly see Rio Grande being a dominant power in the late game

Altima

Small rise for the Mapuche this part. They’ve got a really solid production and enough standing army to, in theory, take on their one significant land neighbor, Paraguay, who they also have at near-tech parity, thus nullifying their greatest weakness for the time being. However, long-term, I’m personally more skeptical- we’ve seen Big Boy Blobs go hard like this, neglect their tech, and then get wrecked when they go up against a technologically superior foe. The Mapuche have to fix their tech issues lest they go the way of the Metis.

Knot

In the face of massive successes from Civs elsewhere, PARG continues to slip down the mountain of relevancy. They still absolutely have it in them to eviscerate Northern Yuan or Great Perm. They just have to, y’know, actually freaking do that! Until we see some results from them, or at least a return to the monstrous stats club, we’re gonna keep seeing PARG fall down the list.

Altima

This was going so well, until it very suddenly got worse. The Ptolemies find history repeating itself upon them, as they, after making significant Middle Eastern progress, find themselves warred upon by a neighbor in undefended Africa. Except last time it was Burkina Faso, who are decently strong but ultimately just kinda okay. This time it's Zaire, the current winner of the number 1 roulette, and Nigeria, a tech leader. Zaire alone outproduces the Ptolemies by almost double, and with Nigeria, it’s almost triple. This is liable to get Mississipian next part.

Now, despite the sword hanging over their heads, the Ptolemies still have decent stats and a decent empire, so they do have the chance to once more pull out of this without much lasting damage, but it’s going to be close. If they can lock this down, and hold their Arabian conquests, they’ll have a helluva thing going. Ultimately, we’ll have to see how this plays out, but I am not confident.

Altima

The Kulin have, objectively, some of the best stats on the cylinder, no existential threats in reach at the moment, and a fully dominated continent. The Anangu don’t count, we all know they’ve been dead for years now. So what the hell is that deviation in their ranks?

Well, here’s the flipside of that praise. They’re Australian. What good are powerful stats when everyone you’d use them against is across the sea, when most of the good territory to conquer is going to require an amphibious invasion? Further, while they have no existential threats by land, by sea, Malacca is a bit of an issue. Their stats are fairly comparable, but Malacca has a tech lead and easier avenues of conquest than the Kulin, having neighbors who are actually close.

Now, the Kulin are growing, making continual strides to even the gap (having actually eclipsed their rival in Production). They may actually be able to do what no Aussie civ has ever done, and make a landfall on a real continent stick. But until then, skepticism will keep their rank down.

Altima

Russia and getting itself involved in a slugfest of a stalemate in the name of warm water ports, name a more iconic duo. The Kosovan front has not moved an inch since the fighting started, but given the 2-1 production gap, given enough time the USSR will just grind this war to victory. It's only a matter of time, and of commitment. We shall see if the USSR has enough of both to see this through.

Doom:

The Gauls stay in the top 10 this part, slowly gaining on Germany. The war with Two Sicilies made as much progress as expected but ended quickly so Vercingetorix can move on to the important stuff like finishing off Wales and fighting the much weaker Spain. It's not yet clear that Vercingetorix can press the advantage on Spain but Germany's standing army (on land at least) isn't good enough to make trouble for them either so they have some freedom to mess up here. The death of Wales was more of a formality than the elimination of a contender but it makes sense to kill rumps off early when warmonger penalties are lower.

Knot

The Uzbeks have seen a lot. They lived through Northern Yuan pre-game hype being shattered, PARG dominance deflating like a balloon, and Taiping slowly withering away. These civs were expected to be very large issues for the Uzbeks and now Uzbekistan is ranked higher than them all.  As Punjab continues to throw their army against the Bhutan with very little benefit, it’s worth asking if Uzbekistan’s upward momentum will outlive Punjab hype as well. When you phrase the possibility like that, kinda makes you wonder how they fell a spot this week.

Random Strategy

Germany didn't do anything this part, which has caused them to fall behind the Chukchi and Vandals. They certainly have expansion opportunities in Iceland, Sweden and Kosovo, but for the moment they're letting them live. The best would probably be Iceland in order to develop an Atlantic naval base - one which could one day beat the Gauls, who are notoriously weak at naval warfare.

Cloudberg

The Vandals continue to bounce around the top 10 for yet another episode as the power rankers continue to be unsure what to make of them. They just became the first civ to take a capital on another continent with the capture of Macaco, capital of Palmares, which flipped five times before being cemented in Vandal hands by a well-timed peace treaty. Due to the bizarre, still-unsolved bug, they also now have 120 trade routes. Their stats are decent and their army is scary, but their empire is highly disconnected, with several random bits connected only by water and others not connected at all, and their capital is sticking right into the middle of the Two Sicilies and their carpet of steam frigates. So what on earth are the Vandals doing? Who the hell knows!

Doom:

The Chukchi reach a new high as Chinook resistance crumbles into dust. However they might be getting too greedy. While not at risk from their current enemies it's better to focus on them one at a time. The AI is notoriously poor at target prioritization and any kind of logistics so despite overwhelming superiority Chukchi will likely not be able to make gains against both Taiping and the Chinook simultaneously. That said, neither will be able to take any worthwhile cities from the Chukchi either.

Cloudberg

Punjab tumbles from first place, losing the top spot for the first time since episode 3. And it’s plain to see why: Punjab is still big and scary, but they have little to show for it. It’s been a long time since their conquest of Chola catapulted them to the top, and their conquest of Bhutan has been a total failure, without a scratch on Thimphu despite Punjab’s far superior technology and numbers. Furthermore, their rivals for the top spot are making moves and conquering new territory all the time. Ranjit SIngh could easily retake the lead, but with the way things have been going lately, he’ll need to prove that he deserves it, and not someone else.

Random Strategy

Despite beating Punjab at long last, Malacca still misses the top spot by just a hair. Being the first civ to frigates, they currently have the largest army by  a mile. But having the largest army only means something if you use it well, and though they have recently used it well to invade Taiping, in civ there is no guarantee the ai will continue. In terms of their other stats, they are all good but not the best. The Kulin and Chukchi are beating them in terms of number of cities, the USSR, Zaire and Nigeria are beating them in terms of overall science and tech and the Kulin, Zaire, Punjab and Germany are beating them in terms of production. The Kulin and Chukchi being on these lists is concerning due to the close proximity and competition in the same niche as the pacific power, so Malacca would do well trying to nip those problems sooner rather than later.

Knot

Welcome to the top, Zaire! With most of Namibia’s empire incorporated into the Zaire lands, the sky is kinda the limit for them. Africa has been the most competitive continent so far with a lot of very strong civs that still have pretty good odds of winning the whole thing, so it means a lot to say that Zaire could probably take on most of the civs in Africa right now and win. The one they’ve chosen to take on is the Ptolemies to the north. Probably not their best option, (I think I might have gone with Lesotho or maybe even Hejaz first) but definitely the one with the most upside. If Zaire does well in this war, they will probably pull way ahead of not just everyone in Africa, but probably everyone on the cylinder. Of course, it will not be an easy fight. Cleopatra definitely has the skills to match Zaire if she plays her cards right, but the odds are probably in Zaire’s favor. We may have our first continental super power here pretty soon.