Power Rankings: Episode 0 – S3

JDT

Imagine you had to give a civ the absolute worst start in a BR possible. What would you give them? Well, first of all you’d give them an isolated island start to remove as much space for expansion as possible. Then, you’d make sure there's literally nothing in their direct vicinity for early game growth. And yes, just to make sure, give them no mid-late game resources of any sorts or distinctive, decent terrain to help with science or production. Actually, just make that any resource in their start. Afterwards, you’d surround them with militaristic, somewhat aggressive civs, so they get muscled out of what little land they have around them and can potentially get turn 1 bodied. And yes, once again, no defensive terrain but the water, which isn’t even relevant because the civs they’ll be up again start with Optics and Sailing while also being forthright naval powers. Finally, you’d give them the most dogshit militaristic AI ever, one which prioritizes trivial improvements and strange movements over actual national defense or expansion. Now, look around in the map for a sec. Guess which civ I just described.

Msurdej  

While not as bad as an island start, Europe is also considered not the best place to start. And no civ better explains those issues then the Anglo-Dutch. William finds himself in a crowded region, with a very powerful neighbor in Brandenburg. His main gimmick requires him to get a religion to be effective, which isn’t a guarantee in this game. Coupled with ho-hum AI that needs to survive to the mid game to “shine”, things don’t look good for the Anglo-Dutch Oranges.

CelestialDalek

No question has been given to the worst civ. Of course it’s Timor-Leste. The question that has been asked more is if you removed a civ from the game, who would be the least noticeable? Consensus falls on the Philippines.

You can see the first problem by looking at their name. The Philippines are islands. They are in the Pacific. You can see the second problem by realizing that, if they settle in any sensible places (they won’t), they are next to Indonesia’s paradropping boats, Mori, Cambodia, and whoever conquers over Timor-Leste. The chances for a Philippines breakout are slim to none, emphasis on none. But hey. They’ll be more exciting than Kurdistan.

Emu

No matter how vicious their vanilla counterpart's reputation is, it won't help Cetshwayo one bit in this game. The Zulu find themselves in quite possibly the worst starting position of any civ this side of Timor-Leste. The great South African dogpile has them trapped right up against the Indian Ocean. With nowhere to go, they'll need to fight like cornered animals to make their way out. And even if they manage that (against three historically stronger civs, I might add), their problems are far from over. They're more likely than not to run into a brick wall or two in Central Africa, and the civs up there won't have to deal with anything near the problems associated with Cetshwayo's start. So will they get crushed instantly like their mk2 predecessors? Or come out forged in fire, with an unstoppable army and a thirst for blood? Their fate is hardly sealed this early on, but I wouldn't hold your breath for the great Zulu empire to show up anytime soon.

Cloudberg

Tetouan has been one of the most discussed civs leading up to this season, but not because we think they’ll be strong, in fact quite the opposite—Tetouan’s AI is known to be fairly abysmal. There was a bunch of hype about an updated Tetouan with better AI, but that was released after filming of the game had already begun, so it isn’t included. Unfortunately, that means our favorite pirate queen Sayyida al-Hurra is probably going to accomplish feats which may include settling only three cities, one of which is very far away; losing their capital to Castile; and trying to farm the Sahara. In other words, while the Vandals may have pulled off a Maghreb Miracle, we don’t think Tetouan is going to repeat it.

Leman

You must be thinking: “Wow, a South African Civ with a great production bonus in the bottom ten? All the rankers (except one very cool one) must be crazy!” But alas dear reader, while whomever didn’t rank Botswana in the bottom ten is indeed very cool, this position is fairly warranted. I mean on the surface Botswana has a lot going for it. The Botswana UA is very strong, charging up the early economy by speeding up land improvement and power Botswana’s midgame through dozens of free Engineers (so more production, more Great Engineers, and more wonders). The two uniques are a bit late but undeniably useful in their own right as economic and culture bonuses as well as military presences. And its South Africa, the region that brought you the Boers, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho. So, what’s wrong with Botswana?

There just isn’t enough space down here in South Africa in Season Three. With both Zulu and Angola right on Seretse Khama’s doorstep, Botswana doesn’t get the wide-open spaces to settle and develop that Zimbabwe or Boers had in CBRs past. They’re thrown into the gauntlet on turn one and while one power ranker thinks the Zulu are chumps and Botswana is going to emerge from that crucible the definitive power in South Africa, even that ranker has to admit the odds are stacked against Botswana this go around.

Orange

Mohave are sadly placed near the bottom which in my opinion is a travesty. But to be fair, despite my biases I must admit they do have a pretty terrible start, the southwest desert is a tough spot surrounded by bad land, mountains, and stronger civs. Mohave however has one thing going for them: Some really funny test games. In a large number of test games Mohave ends up settling random cities on far off continents which is absolutely hilarious and also gives them the ability to start up an empire in another corner of the globe than the American southwest. No one can say for certain if they will do this in the real run, but I really hope they do because with it they may end up near the bottom of the rankings but near the top for most interesting.

Zanthor

I really wanted to like Muisca. Interesting and not too bad uniques built around exploiting the nearby mines, and an aggressive UU if they make it to the Medieval Era. But the problem is, I like their neighbors way more. Perhaps in response to the snoozy South America of last season, we’ve really turned on the gas for our south of the border civs-except this one. Kayapo has great growth uniques, and their territory is near uninvadable. The Inca are looking to bring some honor to the Andes region, and while they aren’t boxed in by the mountains, they’ll sure keep invaders out for a few eras. Central America (the region not the civ) is a veritable Thermopylae to invade, and the location of Central America (the civ not the region) makes them all but impossible to push around. Muisca can fight Seminole for the Caribbean, but what’s that worth? Simply put, there’s nowhere for this civ to go but down, unless one of their neighbors goes down harder.

Emu

The British Isles is nigh-universally a death spot. The UK, England, Ireland, Mann, and Wales all completely failed to break out, establishing nothing more than minor beachheads on the continent. The CGR is the only notable time any civ from there has even kind of succeeded. Although Micheal Collins is by far the best AI to ever start on the Isles, with the other North Atlantic powers forecasted to be strong, and the absolute behemoth of Brandenburg on the continent, their chances look a whole lot slimmer. Their uniques are good, especially for the defense they'll surely need. Their relatively isolated position at least gives them time to bulk up their home isles, but even with the recent buff, that's not a lot of space. Ultimately, unless they become a strong North Atlantic and/or North Sea naval power, I don't see many places for them to go at all.

Shaggy

Seminole has the unfortunate fate of starting on a competitive continent without a huge amount of land to reliably beat out its neighbors to settle. As a result, they catch rank 52 for their debut. Given the AI’s penchant for chopping down jungles, the Seminole uniques won’t be effective for very long. They may give them some defensive boosts but I doubt they’ll last longer than the first invasion or two. Maybe Micanopy can prove the expectations wrong and outlast more of their continental rivals, or even make a slippery expansion to the Caribbean and hideout for a while there. We’ll just have to see!

Also hey! I’m back to the regular PR rotation this season.

Arilasqueto

The good thing about Qocho is that they're very expansive. Hmm wait, turns out that’s actually a downside. Starting in the Tarim basin means they end up settling a bunch of weak desert cities that the big boys like Han and the Gokturks are all too happy to snatch up. This also just generally means they’ll have garbage stats even without getting ganked early on. I guess you have to hand it to them for helping their neighbours out with the free cities? Overall not a civ I’m overly confident in, which is a shame, because it would be cool to see Uyghur civ do well given recent events.

Msurdej  

For our other Anglo- civ, Canute has a slightly better shot than her Dutch brethren. With Uniques that don’t rely on religion, and access to Scandinavia, Anglo-Norse have a few advantages that could see them possibly become a regional power.That being said, they have two major hurdles they’ll need to overcome first. The first is Brandenburg, who is looking to be a powerful force in the region. The second is their TSL, the island of Zealand. While it might buy them some time defensively, island starts are never great, and it could end up trapping Canute in a prison of her own making.

CelestialDalek:

You may have noticed that Kilwa is not in the bottom 10. That’s because another civ with notoriously bad AI is here: Chile. It’s also because Kilwa massively improved, but that’s for later. Allende doesn’t take the “Most Improved” trophy and continues to flounder. He does better in some games than others, but there’s one problem for when he does: Rio de la Plata. Chile and RdlP are facing off west-to-east, and RdlP is 48 places higher than Chile. With the Andes to the north, they have a high chance of getting cut off in expansion. Some tests, they did settle well south, but from what’s been leaked they never took over their neighbor. Essentially, they’re a better Anglo-Dutch. They’re here because of those tests where they don’t die, as opposed to the civs above it which do.

Shaggy

Pandya clocks in at rank 48 this season as our southern Indian contestant. I’m intrigued by their unique amphibious spearman replacement that gets an extra attack when it starts its turn next to a coast. Sure it’s situational, but the subcontinent lends itself to a lot of coastal opportunities. I think they could be a bit underrated, I like how Indian underdogs can fare. Their other uniques involve great people generation and bonuses to golden age frequency. If the AI can pull it off, they might just have the production to be productive. If.

Orange

Modoc are a strong civ and would be a good contender in the Americas if it wasn’t for the fact that three out of their four neighbors is in a location with better land and are also often even stronger militarily. Ideally they can settle well and keep their neighbors in check but odds are that their neighbors will do it to them. The Modoc are still one of the civs that I think will do well because of the bonuses they get in their mountainous home that other civs just wouldn’t be able to achieve. The only issue is that they are mostly defensive bonuses, both in terrain and in uniques. But if they can use those to their advantage to make it into the late game then they will be a terrifying force. May Kintpaush have the best of luck.

Emu

The Ainu aren't in a strong position by any stretch of the imagination. They have an island start, mediocre AI, good neighbors, very little non-tundra land to settle.... All in all, it's the perfect storm for the Ainu to absolutely crash and burn if they don't make just the right moves very early on. In their best runs, they look like they're barely cracking double-digit city counts, if at all. Their one saving grace is their very strong defensive position on Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and Kamchatka. Treacherous straits filled with Ainu boats and narrow isthmuses (isthmi?) to bottleneck with effectively separate them from potential (likely stronger) enemies. But defensive positions don't win battle royales, and it's that same geography which helps trap an already relatively unassertive AI in. It's almost a guarantee they won't die quickly, but they have almost no room to perform well either. I wouldn't expect the third Ice Sheet Fleet to sail from Hokkaido anytime soon.

Msurdej  While not my preferred leader of Greenland (Thoravaldsson ftw), Hans Egede does bring some interesting things to the table. The biggest of which is a Great Prophet UU that can spawn cities on foreign soil.This could lead to some very screwy borders for Greenland, spanning from Africa to Australia. However, that requires a good investment in religion, which often is a losing strategy for the Battle Royale. Still we could see some serious border gore due to Greenland if Hans plays his cards right.

Orange

Alas! Assyria’s ass is assumed to be handed to them. Hey, at least they’re not dead last. Perhaps they’ll get a pass from their neighbors, or maybe their sass will blow their chances at being the top brass who will surpass the competition. But more likely than not they’ll be stuck at an impasse as the contrast between them and others continues to amass. This forecast puts them as outcasts on the road to collapse as they fail to advance like the rest of the cast. I guess this slide has been a bit crass but it’s giving you a glance at the civ with the ass set to max.

Leman

I’ve always been fond of Southeast Asian civs ever since Vietnam exploded onto the scene all the way back in Mk 2, and I’m still a fan of Cambodia, despite its middling ranking here. Cambodia has a decent start position, a decent unique ability would seem, and a solid AI that likes to do fun stuff like try and colonize Australia in at least one test. All of this would seem to equal a decent civilization with high prospects and a bright future ahead of it.

But unfortunately, Cambodia’s downfall comes with its neighbors. Powerful civs like Kokang and Bengal to the north keep Cambodia boxed in and prevent Cambodia from creating any land empires in Asia. And while the civs populating the Indonesian archipelago aren’t the strongest, and do pose a solid expansion opportunity for Cambodia, overall, the prospects for this civ aren’t the greatest.

Leman

Ok, ok, Vermont is good. I promise. I know, it’s in the bottom half, and that’s not great, but hear me out. It really boils down to two things. First, space. Vermont has all of Quebec to settle and make an empire out of. Yeah, sure Greenland is looming up north, but America is occupied with its western frontier, the Cree are far to the west and Arapaho are halfway across the continent. All of Quebec is sitting there on a silver platter for Vermont to settle. Plus, it’s not so hard to defend, with the Great Lakes forming natural choke points.

Second, that UA, “The Green Mountains,” is quietly exceptional. Maple effectively provides +1 Food + 1 Culture per tile over a standard Lumbermilled Forest, and, in my experience, spawns on over half of the forests in Vermont’s territory. This is a fantastic growth bonus and can easily form the backbone of a powerful economy. Plus, the Maple Trees are pretty on the map.

So, Vermont has a lot of room to settle and a great economy. What gives? Well, the problem is Vermont’s neighbors. Three of the four civs I mentioned earlier, Cree, Arapaho, and America are all incredibly powerful, top 15 civilizations, that are going to make Vermont’s life very, very difficult. Even if those three don’t crush Vermont early, (honestly, I would be surprised if they did), they’re gonna make expansion really, really hard. That being said, I still believe in Vermont and have high hopes going into this BR.

Leman

I think this civ was voted in for the memes. That’s cool and all, and I’m sure the shitposts will be great but I’m a bit worried that North Korea will fail to really accomplish anything to shitpost about. The PR team has basically agreed that North Korea is a below average civilization, with some rankers going as far as ranking them in 60th place.

It’s not really too hard to see why North Korea doesn’t inspire much confidence. The Korean peninsula hasn’t really minted a powerful contender since Sejong’s goldilocks run back in Mk 2, and Kim il-Sung is no Sejong. He lacks the unspeakably powerful science bonuses that Sejong had. Instead, he comes equipped with a quietly incredible, but late-game UU, and a decent, but situational, growth-focused UA, which are fine, but nothing insane. Perhaps North Korea can use those to build up a solid empire, especially if it can settle Kamchatka before Ainu and the Gokturks, but given the power of the latter civilization, I don’t think that’s super likely.

JDT

Within the Civilization Battle Royale, there are certain civs that simply exist. They don’t do that great, they don’t do that terribly, they just are. Yolngu is shaping up to be one of those civs… if they don’t flounder and immediately get bodied by their neighbours. They have a very powerful early game tool in the Lippa-Lippa, a trireme replacement that gets stronger for every civ they meet, and, well, they’re probably gonna meet a lot of civs while its still active. Their start, while not the best, is not bad at all either, giving ample resources for growth and enough room for further expansion both inland and onto the north. The issue? The Yolngu are incredibly inconsistent, and they CANNOT afford to be inconsistent in their region. The Yolngu often are driven to expand north by natural geography, and while several locals are pushovers, the two main powers of Indonesia and Cambodia fairly consistently develop… something of a powerbase, preventing easy grabs and requiring exhausting wars to exploit. We haven’t even gotten to potential invaders, such as Ming, the Mori, Bengal and Kokang, all of whom have the potential to be far deadlier than the local inhabitants. And of course, we can’t forget the Wiradjuri. While they are a tad bit sleepier than previous Australian contenders, they still have the better start with less competition, conferring the ability to eventually catch Yolngu with their pants down. We haven’t even discussed the biggest issue with the Yolngu - there are times where the Yolngu put their AI on sleep mode, with predictable results. With all those factors, we cannot say we have that much confidence in the CL escapees. But who knows? Every power above the bottom 6 has genuine chances of doing good, and the Yolngu are no exception.

Altima

Egypt has a fun color scheme and a lot of unique religious tech that seem fun to play with. This does not contribute much to a powerful civ in a 61-way battle to the death, especially in a crowded chaotic conflux like the crossroads of the Middle East and North Africa. At the very least, from Lacx’s test runs, Egypt will likely do some dumb goofy settling, which should at least be entertaining.

CelestialDalek

Historically, Indonesian civs have not performed well. I forgot Indonesia was in Mk. 2 until just now, and the VOC also fail the memory test. But, there’s reason to believe this run’s the run. Frankly, this civ’s the civ, as Suharto can paradrop boats. Even better, because it uses the built-in paradrop function, the AI will paradrop its boats. Instead of so many other military UAs, Indonesia actually makes use of their abilities.

As for any problems they might face, Timor-Leste isn’t going anywhere, the Yolngu are not favored in Australia, and the Philippines are a contender for “least impactful civ”. Indonesia has a lot of opportunities, but whether it can make use of them remains to be seen. They’re definitely so low because they’re an island civ, but I personally have high hopes that they can be the next Malacca.

CelestialDalek

Kilwa is known for having some of the worst AI ever to grace the civ AI game world. Rarely would they not trip over their own two feet.

One problem. They’re in 37th. How did this happen? I have no clue. People who run test games, however, do. Zulu is stuck in a claustrophobic coast, Botswana does nothing, but most importantly the AI mods make Kilwa not die in 61st every time. Instead of the AI being seemingly hard-coded to fuck itself over every game, it settles hard, does crazy naval skirmishes, and overall is just not awful. Just overall, they’ve proven to be good enough in tests. For once, we get to see Kilwa’s true potential. They have unlocked a part of them that remained hidden until now. Will they be Uruguay 2.0? (No. They are ranked 37th.)

JDT

The Stormin’ Normans, what can I say! They are ready to do some looting today! Papa Robert and his familia will definitely attempt to maraud all over Europe, recreating the great conquests of Norman heyday. The question is simple - can they do it? The answer? Probably not, but at least they won’t sink immediately.  The Normans get the unenviable spot of starting in Italy, a cramped and boxed-in region that while not the absolute worst (especially with the lack of any immediate competition), does not confer much towards success. Historically, we all know what happens to Italian civs - they settle decently early-midgame, then either get bodied by a coalition of surrounding powers or peter out later on due to a refusal to actually utilize their military assets. With Yugoslavia being their only immediate rival, the former situation seems fairly unlikely, but the latter is more common than hoped. The Normans just don’t storm enough some days, in spite of their aggressive uniques, decent military biases and irl history. What this means is that while they’ll survive for quite a while, they won’t have enough of a powerbase to ever reach the summit. And the former situation has even happened several times in tests! Of course, we will not be counting them out completely. Most of their immediate region is fairly weak, and there is always the chance they pop off and take after their real life counterparts in a grand naval conquest

Shaggy

​​Khazaria begins the season at rank 35. Surrounded by a number of other potent looking civs, Bulan certainly has his work cut out for him to beat out the expectations. As a primarily religious civ, it won’t have much help from its uniques in doing much more than spreading soft power and maybe convincing some neighbors to not go for their heads early. Maybe we’ll see some Turkic-flavored Judaism on the cylinder sometime in the next thousand years.

Altima

Yugoslavia has the problem of being trapped between Turkey, a well-rated civ in its own right, and Brandenburg, the chosen child of Germany. While their UA is pretty good, it’s not good enough to overcome the looming shadow of death hanging overhead. If they can survive the threats before them, they may well make it through to build a real power; but they also might well just die.

EmuWhat to say about Brazil? They look solidly middling and honestly a bit boring this time around. But that's not quite as laughable as it may initially seem, even in a South America like this. In a continent filled with two (arguably three) obvious prospective superpowers, they look stuck between a Kayapo and a La Plata place with no prospects and nowhere to go. But South America's Achilles heel lies in the Kayapo's turtling tendencies. Normally, a pure science turtle, which is what the Kayapo are projected to be, is very good to a point. I just don't think that point is when your only competent neighbor is given to Great General spam. I think if Brazil has any smarts at all, they're about to lay down the citadelling of a lifetime and become a strong contender in the continent that has spawned so many world-spanning powers.

Zanthor

Afghanistan sits in the middle of the pack, and while that normally means we expect a civ to do little, Afghanistan has a chance to do more. While their mountainous start and defensive UA means they’ll likely do a little turtling, we saw what Uzbekistan could do with this region last season. Western India seems to be free clay, so settling in that region might pay off if they can beat Pandya there. Unfortunately, that’s the only easy path for expansion. With the mountains on all sides, it’ll be a long walk to fight Assyria or Yemen, both of which seem equally hard to displace. The real fans will remember that Kurdistan existed last season, and they’ll try really hard to remember something memorable that civ did besides die. 32 is a respectable ranking, since it’ll likely take that long to finish Ahmad Shah Durrani off. But we’ve seen worse start positions than this one produce a world power, so never say never.

Altima

Central America is a fun civ trapped in an awful TSL. I don’t think I can overstate how bad that TSL is- we’ve seen fairly powerful Pacific Islands civs on occasion, we’ve seen Greenland rise and fight the domineering Boers man-to-man, but we’ve never seen a good Central American civ. The TSL traps you; you can’t break out of it through the Civs in the North or South Americas, you’ve just got too much of a chokepoint to deal with. There is a silver lining, though. That 31 ranking is not indicative of them really having much of a chance. It’s indicative of the fact that its damn hard to actually kill Central American Civs. And also one of us randomly giving them a #10 ranking. The Olmecs survived a while for how much they sucked eggs, and the Palmares that inherited their position further survived a lot longer than they had any right to. Central America might well pull a similar stunt. Only time will tell, however.

Altima

The Inca walk into part 0 with an average ranking, sitting at 30. Better than half the other combatants, worse than half. While their geography is very defensible, their Uniques are middling (they certainly won’t be getting gold from that UA), they aren’t exactly well-regarded as conquerors, and they have a bit of a small area to work with. We could see them do something, but they could also stagnate into irrelevance in their tiny corner of South America.

JDT

Jonas Savimbi will surely rally the people to his cause with such immaculate memes. But can he rally enough spirit to overcome his start? While traditionally a South African civ and a Congolese civ would go on to be top tier contenders, Angola's location as the representative of the Congo means that the South African thunderdome is even more crowded than usual. And as Savimbi knows oh so well, there just ain’t enough space in town for the two of us, let alone the three. What this means is that the three South African civs will get into really early scraps that will severely hamper their development, and the oh-so-lucrative land of the south will get claimed through and through rather quickly, preventing any of the three from becoming strong entirely through natural settles. This, of course, leads to a vicious cycle where no major civ emerges from the region and an outsider (normally Uganda, Chad or Mali) swoops in for the kill.

So why is Savimbi 25 ranks above his two southern compatriots?

While the PR’s aren’t sure whether a South African civ will even rise at all this season, we can be sure of one thing - if someones rising out of that mess a victor, it’s Savimbi. Much like in real life, it will take a lot of bullets to take him down. And even if he does go down, we got the memes to remember him by.

HIS JOURNEY TO VICTORY HAS BEGUN. DEATH TO THE MPLA!!

Cloudberg

Like many civs near the middle of the rankings, Castile is a civ for which we have no particular expectations. On the one hand, Spain is one of the better starting positions in Europe, given that the Moors won it all from an Iberian start in season 1. Castile’s nearest neighbors, Ireland, the Anglo-Dutch, the Normans, and Tetouan, are also all in the bottom half of the rankings and are not expected to perform well. That said, Castile is not known for strong performances either, so it’s entirely possible that they’ll squander these benefits. Their position slightly ahead of the midpoint is a compromise between these two competing forces, and suggests that on average, Castile will be a mid tier civ.

Arilasqueto

Despite being ranked below where last season’s Japan was (and we remember where that hype train went lmaooo) Mori might just have the best shot at the win we’ve seen yet. Turns out having a naval design and an AI that loves pumping out their zerg rush caravel UU makes for a good combo when you start on an island. I’ve seen Mori hold territory in China, Australia, and on one memorable occasion, half of Mexico. That isn’t just through snipe chicanery either - they put in the work. So what’s the catch? Firstly, Mori are like every other naval civ, in the fact that some games they just do sweet fuck all and sit in Honshu the entire game while the world passes them by. The second, also a naval civ thing, is that they take a while to get going - partly because naval warfare is a joke before the renaissance, but also because their UU replaces the caravel. They also only tend to get super expansive a bit into the game, and if North Korea or Ming are having a particularly good run there’s nowhere really for them to go. Overall Mori could be another disappointment, or they could be Shikoku on crack - it’s hard to say.

Orange

Willie Seaweed is leading the civ with the best name bar none, but apparently the other PRs didn’t get the memo that we are ranking based on name coolness and not how good they will do. Hmm? What? Well then. It seems I’m being told we are actually ranking them on how good they will do, strange. Kwakwaka’wakw stands as the highest ranked civ on the west coast (the best coast) as a lot more people have confidence in them doing well compared to Modoc, or at least that they will outlast Modoc. Much less consensus about where they will go and that’s caused them to end up near the middle, but still within the upper half. Much of this is due to Willie doing well in other games and having much more land to make use of then some of their neighbors. As long as they make use of this space then they are sure to do well, and the signs point to them settling that space.

Shaggy

One of our more controversial ranks for part 0 with a standard deviation of over 13, Kyivan Rus’ comes into the season at rank 25. I’m unclear as to the degree that the AI makes trade deals, but if it’s regular enough then the Rus’s UA could make for a sleeper bonus, it damages enemy cities per deal broken on declaration of war. If Olga can’t make diplomacy and trade work, then the majority of Kyivan Rus’s uniques won’t be of any impact other than a minor situational training XP bonus from their unique market replacement. Rankers have this civ ranked between top 10 and bottom 5 and I will admit that I have the highest rank for them. I just have this dream where Kyivan Rus has enough space to manifest their destiny eastward and doesn’t get jumped in the inevitable European Clusterfuck. I can dream, can’t I?

Cloudberg

Placing 24th despite their isolated island start, the Maori seem to have garnered the power rankers’ favor—well, most of them, at least. I personally put the Maori near the bottom, but there are admittedly a number of reasons why they might be in the top half. For one, they receive a free settler upon meeting their first foreign civilization, giving them a boost right off the bat, followed by additional settler production in the capital with each new meeting, which can add up very quickly. Potatau te Wherowhero also supposedly has a very expansive personality, which he’s going to need in order to break out of New Zealand. He’s also got one of the weakest Australias of any season. But still—24th? Only time will tell whether we’ve gotten this one right.

Emu

No one really knows what to make of the Comanche. The general assumption is just that they'll get destroyed by Arapaho eventually, or failing that, Cree.  Despite the ever-looming shadow of the titans to the north, they do have a few things working in their favor (something that's very reminiscent of their IRL history). Their AI certainly isn't weak, and their Quickstinger cavalry lives up to its name, gaining 50%(!) combat strength at the start of a war and then gradually losing it until it's back at its original strength. This allows them to make early gains in any war around that era and get some momentum going. Their UA also lets these same units enter enemy territory during peacetime, enhancing the ability to strike fast and hard at border territories, taking enemy cities and depleting frontline carpets before they know what hit them. This is certainly a civ to keep an eye on; blink and you might miss the action.

Msurdej  Vsevolod seems to have a fair bit of room to carve out a nice little empire for them. Their main gimmicks are built around spawning Great Writers, which can be used to buff their army the turn they spawn. However, they have two big caveats keeping them out of the top 20. The first is their eastern neighbor Perm, who while being on the opposite side of the Urals, could make a strong rival empire. Coupled with some occasionally quirky AI, and the Vladimir people will have their work cut out for them.

Emu

Gediminas' Lithuania is a very old mod, with many AI games to its name. Despite its age, it's a very well made mod with historically solid performance. I'd say they'd be a shoe-in for at least regional power almost anywhere. But Eastern Europe isn't almost anywhere. It's a region full of other very solid civs with plenty of space and plenty of army bias, from the confusingly-named Vladimir to the hardy Kyiv to the mighty Brandenburg. Now, with the utter weakness of the Anglo-Norse they have a solid chance of becoming the de facto Scandinavian civ, and even if the wild successes of Mk2 were a fluke, that's not nothing. It's also possible they manage to hold their own in Northwestern Russia or even their Baltic homeland just fine, too. I think they have a very good shot of surviving a long time, but as for true success? I think they'll end up hemmed in far too quickly to really shine. All things considered, dominance in the region looks unlikely to flow from Vilnius this time around.

Zanthor

Last season gave us strong competitors from the previously rump zones of North Africa and Southeast Asia, showing  it's not where a civ starts that determines its chances, but how it starts. One region that has yet to produce a strong civ is the Arabian Peninsula, but that might finally be about to change. Yemen looks to break the mold with a safer start position than most, far enough from Egypt and Assyria that it gets a little time to grow. And grow it will. With a granary UB that can be built multiple times, and a UA providing bonus food when building new luxuries, Yemen will be able to come over the biggest weakness of the desert, and do it on their own time. They could even settle Eastern Africa before Uganda does, if they want to be a better Somalia this time around. This would give them control of the coast, opening up expansion to Africa or even India. Both of their neighbors (Egypt and Assyria) have more dangerous positions than they do, so the odds seem to be in their favor for now.

Orange

Kokang stands just outside of the top quarter in part due to a few low ranks canceling out the ones putting the opium warlord in the top ten. Many of Olive Yang’s neighbors are showing themselves to be top tier civs that make Yang’s strong performances in tests seem less likely to materialize as those civs push her back. But not all is lost, Kokang has many paths to the top and there’s no reason to believe they won’t be able to make that happen. Their start in the mountainous jungles of Burma already puts Yang in a fantastic position of defense, and she’s going to settle all through South East Asia giving plenty of room to keep others at bay. In addition, Yang is ready to bring those around her to their knees with multiple methods of forcing cities into anarchy (and not the good kind). Let’s all hope she can bring her opium to the masses of viewers by getting them hooked on a civ gunning for the top.

Msurdej  

Chinese civs are something of an odd duck for the CBRX. Between Mao, Xia and more there are certainly some stinkers, with the best being S1’s Qin, who despite a good Cycle 1 showing, ended up dying in the 20s. Ming certainly has some drawbacks to it, with a bunch of uniques that have to do with city states, and are therefore basically worthless. But it does have an early Musketmen UU, and a weak neighbor in Qocho. If they can survive the early game and into the mid game, Ming may be a good regional power.

Arilasqueto

Every season we get less confident in Australia. Here for instance, Wiradjuri, the top dog of the continent, are all the way down in 17th. Hell, they’re only 7 ranks above the Maori, a pacific island civ, which basically sums it up. Wiradjuri can definitely win the continent, but they’re also vulnerable to losing it. Indonesia and Cambodia often grab big chunks of it when they have good games. Even Maori are surprisingly competent and often settle parts of eastern Australia faster than Wiradjuri themselves. The one civ who aren’t a threat (well other than Timor) are the Yolngu, who are more inclined to settle Papua than Australia. Either way, Wiradjuri are pretty good, but without the get out of jail free card most civs in their TSL have.

CelestialDalek

Turkey is in a good position to do well. They get some decent bonuses to science, aren’t surrounded by really powerful civs, and generally perform well in tests. They aren’t the best civ, and they aren’t mediocre. They have a good TSL that is easily defensible, and frequently have chances to conquer Assyria. They’re a solid, well-rounded civ. Just don’t expect them to do well religiously.

Leman:

Any civ starting in the wide-open steppes of central Asia deserves a very close look, and Tomyrus’s Massagetae are no exception. Tomyris is an aggressive leader who likes to take advantage of all the land at her disposal to settle a wide, sprawling empire, before bullying her neighbors. This, combined with a handful of aggressive uniques and a solid economic focused UB, the Massagetae are an early force to be reckoned with.

However, there’s a reason that the Massagetae miss out on a coveted top ten placement. While they have a lot of room, a lot of it is central Asian desert – not the most productive base an empire can have. They have a few powerful neighbors, most notably the Permians to the north, who have even more room than the Massagetae and have proven themselves to be a powerful contender and have spent tests happily bullying the Massagetae out of their cities. This doesn’t mean the Massagetae are doomed, not at all. The opportunities are all right there, but Tomyris has her work cut out for her

Emu

Uganda starts next to the absolute hell that is Southern Africa this time around. However, most of the PRs think they have a very strong chance to take advantage of the four-civ dogpile that was the jumping off point for so many great powers of the past. There are a couple reasons for this. First is their AI: they're aggressive, settle-happy, and go in no holds barred right off, which is an absolute must when you're fighting with Chad for spoils. Second is their unique ability, Lord of all Beasts. Every declared friendship (up to 5) gives them 10% more production in every city, and while this isn't a game of peace, there's a solid chance they'll be able to scrape up a few friendships somewhere. But that's not even the juicy part. When they declare war (any war), production in the capital is hurried, and this increases to all cities when it's against a friend. Wow. This basically gives them the ability to instantly replenish a threadbare carpet in the right circumstances. This might just give them the kickstart they need to make their way out of the heavy competition they find themselves in.

Shaggy

Mali comes in to the season at rank 13, though this is more a product of the rankers having a very lively debate over who *really* belongs in the high teens and Sundiata Keita has eked out in front of a few others. This civ has some interesting uniques, with the ability to rush unit and military building production by through purchases (not that the AI will make good use of it, unfortunately) and a super-barracks that provides additional happiness and can have two instances in each city (again, if the AI can figure out how to use the purchase mechanic). The UU is really where this civ shines: a knight replacement that is a fancy-shmancy ranged unit too! With indirect fire! It also loses the regular penalty against city attacks that knights normally get and can get a bonus to city attacks if purchased. Hopefully Mali figures out how to open its wallet and pony up for some ponies. “So why did the rankers like Mali so much if they don’t have confidence in their ability to even use their uniques, Shaggy?” Well, imaginary strawman interviewer, Mali gets a really nice tract of land in Africa that has (apparently) been a reliable base in tests (I don’t tend to look at tests, but I know a guy). The Lion of Mali may have enough territory to roam to become a major power, keep an eye out for them.

Zanthor

Oh boy, East Asia is a place to watch. We’ve got a lot of faith someone strong will punch through here, between Kokang, Ming, Gokturks, and Han, who all border each other and yet all still placed in the top 20. Han seems to be the frontrunner in this situation, with the test runs showcasing an extremely tenacious AI able to defend itself from many enemies at once. Han sports an early game Spearman upgrade that can claim tiles for the city it's trained in, and we saw how gamebreaking a tile claiming unit can be when the AI trains a dozen of them. With a UA that also contributes to culture, we’ll likely see their borders expand quicker than their neighbors, which might be the advantage that they need to put a neighbor down quickly. They’re on a razor's edge however, with all of their neighbors sans Qocho being able to take them down in one good war. They could be the next Vietnam, or the next Taiping, we’ll wait and watch the chaos.

Emu

The good old Siberian start. Plenty of space, plenty of time, plenty of turtles. The general consensus on these guys is that they'll build a very respectable empire and Snoryak it up until the end of time (or the end of their neighbors' patience, whichever comes first). I, on the other hand, beg to differ. Tuva just does. not. give. up. Sure, they may have enough strong opposition to reduce the average leader to a substance the consistency and color of strawberry yogurt, but Donduk Kuular is not the average leader. He's the one to take advantage of the weak start of the Qocho and the Permians' usual focus in a more European direction. He's the one to form an impenetrable defensive line, grinding his enemies to dust as they fruitlessly attack his cities. He's the one to build a vast steppe army and strike when no one expects. He has the space, the skill, and most of all, the opportunity. There's a very good reason that even surrounded by the likes of Perm and the Gokturks, Tuva finds itself bubbling just below the top 10.

Emu

Kayapó starts in northern South America, among the Amazon rainforest their (quite powerful) UA is no doubt based on. It gives +1 culture to Jungle and Marsh (+3 starting in the Atomic era), meaning they'll have a very high cultural output early on. They're also typically a science turtle with weak-to-moderate neighbors and.... You see where this is going. I don't even have to say their predecessor's name for them to pop into your mind. But will they measure up? I'm of two minds about it, but signs point to yes. On the one hand, there's a strong South America this time, so they'd have to get fairly lucky for just sitting around to not cost them some crucial opportunities, and that Great General spam from Brazil may prove a real thorn in their side. On the other hand, most of that strength is either down in Argentina or across the Andes, so they've certainly got the space to try turtling and teching up. Their neighbors to the north are fairly weak, and thanks to La Plata their southern neighbors can end up that way too.

Altima

Franky just barely dodges slides into the top 10, getting in on the very last ranking. While his Uniques aren’t a lot to look at for the early game, his stronger relative position compared to his neighbors gives enough faith that he’ll still manage to come out on top of them. The Arapho will be a long-term problem, but no-one has faith in Vermont except the two people who have a lot of faith in Vermont and even that much can’t be said for the Seminole, so Roosevelt should still have room to expand and build a powerful empire to contest the continent.

Zanthor

A lot of people, myself included, were pretty bummed about how Punjab turned out last season. Despite a super strong core, not too shabby play, and stats consistent with top powers, they were never able to really project their power beyond the Indian subcontinent. While part of this was their own doing, and the scrappiness of their southern neighbors, it was also the Himalayas blocking their northern and eastern expansion. Bengal aims to fix that problem, with their capital moved just northeast from the crippling base of their precedents. While this does give their southern rivals a little more space to get the ball rolling, it also lets Bengal be a real player in Asia. They can do early battle with the Kokang for control of the Indian and Pacific coasts, or dogpile on any civ that starts slacking in the East Asian/Western Australian regions. Kokang won’t be an easy kill, but it’s one that can pay dividends. Overall it’s a safe position with good potential, and they’re one good war (in any direction) away from being a strong regional power. Add in a UA that gives them bonuses to food, gold, and production on the river they start near, and the ball is in their court.

Emu

The Cree start on the Canadian plains, with plenty of good, usable space and their backs to the top of the world. Even with the recent nerf to northern Canada, that's plenty of land that's likely to go uncontested to the north, west, and east. In addition, their uniques aren't bad at all, their AI is great, and almost every other North American civ is either incompetent or usually focuses far away. So what are they doing in the bottom half of the top 10? Surely they'll take North America uncontested, right? Well, they do have one huge problem. That's their close southern neighbors, the Arapaho. They're every bit as aggressive as the Cree, and almost every other PR thinks they have equivalent or better chances. I, on the other hand, think the Cree have the best chance of anyone to win it all. Aggressive and expansionist AI in Western Canada as a whole isn't exactly known to make weak contenders, especially when there's not more than one strong opposition around. If they can take out the Arapaho, they're an absolute shoe-in for the win, but it all comes down to those one or two decisive wars. One thing's for sure; this is a region to watch closely.

Leman

Here we have one of the big dogs (bears?) of Asia, the Permians! Boasting what I suspect will be a quietly powerful UA, a solid aggressive and expansive AI, and what I would call the best TSL in S3, clearly the Permians are a force to be reckoned with. Unlike the Gokturks to the east, the Permians’ central Siberian starting location always produces a monstrous civilization: Sibir placed 3rd, Kazakhs placed 5th, and PARG placed 7th. We see no real reason for Permians not to continue that trend.

In tests, Azykay’s strength has  been proven. He tends to spend the early game settling the insane amount of free frozen land he has, wastes no time bullying Tuva, Khazars, Massagetae, and Vladimir and just rides all the strength he amassed into a clean, easy game.

However, it's not all roses for the Permians. Actually, there are no roses. Roses don’t do great up here in the tundra. (I assume, I don’t know a lot about roses).  While tundra starts aren’t quite as bad as desert, the Permians would really prefer having some tiles with actual yields. This hasn’t stopped the Permians’ Siberian predecessors, but it never helps. And secondly, none of his neighbors are slouches. While Permians are ranked higher than all of their neighbors, both Tuva and Massagetae snuck into the top 15, and Vladimir is close behind. All this means is a sleepy Azykay is a dead Azykay – his neighbors can and will take advantage of it. The Permians have a very strong start and are looking fantastic going into Part 1, but they’re going to have to make sure to stay active and alert to stay here. Luckily, Azykay tends to do just that.

Cloudberg

Who do we think is the top dog to win Africa? That’s right, it’s the Chadliest of them all, Idriss Deby. Out of all the African civs, Chad probably has the most room to expand, and even though some of their neighbors are not pushovers, no one is really close enough to matter until Chad has already got itself established. And to be clear, Chad is itself a strong civ, with a good reputation. And Idriss Deby is a bit of a character too, given that while president of Chad, he literally died in battle, in the year of our lord 2021 no less. (I mean, who does that nowadays?? What an, er, Chad.) Of course, in the CBR, a leader dying in battle is a bad thing, but we think out of all the civs in Africa, Deby is, ironically, the one who is least likely to do it, and therefore most likely to win.

Arilasqueto

I know what you’re thinking: yet another Orkhon Valley civ - these guys are gonna be ridiculously overhyped and throw hard in the actual game. I mean, remember Northern Yuan, the Khamugs and Mongolia, right? Well… there’s still the very real possibility they do that. HOWEVER, TSL reputation aside, the Gokturks have the biggest potential of any Mongolian civ we’ve seen so far. There’s no Chukchi figure to the east, and Siberia to the west is divided between Tuva and the Permians rather than being hegemonized by one monolithic power. Han to the south can be dangerous, but they’re apt to stalemate themselves against the Ming, giving the gokturks a chance to break out. Overall, don’t write off the first Turkic Khaganate, they might surprise you.

Arilasqueto

Honestly, was not expecting my own civ to make top 3, but here we are. Either way guess that makes me the expert™, so here’s the gist. Arapaho are a glass cannon, through and through, for a few reasons. Pretty Nose just loves throwing around settlers. These early game zoomies can put them at risk of getting ganked by Comanche or Cree, and of course starting in the great plains only compounds this. Obviously this makes them vulnerable, and personally I think 3 is a bit high for that reason, but once they start reinforcing their settles they’re basically sorted. Their UA gives them free mounted units every time they get a trade route, and so long as they settle on strategic resources they’ll have a lot of those. Throw in a juicy UB that converts trade income into production and you have a recipe for success. Am I biased? Obviously, but I’m also setting my expectations low because I know how volatile the plains can be. You look away for 5 seconds and a whole empire can just go up in smoke.

JDT

If you have even glanced at some of the test games, you’ll know immediately why we are considering Brandenburg a top contender. In almost every single test they are in, they roflstomp the rest of Europe, completely steamrolling any and all opposition and establishing themselves as an eternal top tier off the bat. They have one of the most brutally aggressive AIs that we know of, and a helluvalotof space thanks to the placidness of this season’s French contender and the lack of an immediate issue to the east. Sure, the eastern powers are fairly strong, but they take time to set up and often find opposition in their immediate vicinity. And the Irish and Angles on their west and north? Please, they don’t so much as wiggle a finger. But even if they weren’t so much of a pushover, Brandenburg can and will dominate them. They are THAT aggressive, and their uniques only bolster that aggression with the ability to rush unit production from social policies and a Barracks UB that gives extra production when training units. What does this mean? If they can build units, they WILL build units, mind you, experienced ones. That barrack UB gives extra experience per opened policy tree. And what of their starting region? Germany, while central and susceptible to flanking, is fairly resource rich, and this time around our Prussian friends have, let me stress this more, NO IMMEDIATE CONTENDERS. The Lithuanians tend to stick to their own guns in the east and north, while every other civ around them is either a pushover or geographically limited in opposition. And let me tell you, Brandenburg will settle hard. Or, at least hard enough to get a rolling start. And with that rolling start, they will roll over Europe and bring the black eagle to the rest of the cylinder. Unless you’re that certain PR who ranked them 47th. But who knows. There have been games where they uncharacteristically falter, and perhaps their neighbours can serve as strong enough rivals in the mid-late game. Don’t count on it though.

Cloudberg

At last, ladies, gentlemen, and enbies, we have reached the end. And our first place civ is Rio de la Plata, a civ known for its ferocious AI and excellent starting position. Every battle royale has had a top two finishing civ from South America, whether that was Brazil, Uruguay, or the Marajoara, and this time we think Rio de la Plata is in the best position to be that contender. Jose de San Martin is expansive, aggressive, and has wide open land full of resources. His neighbors, Allende’s Chile and Pedro I of Brazil, are not known for being aggressive or expansive, and in fact Allende is known for throwing almost every game he’s in within the first 30 turns. All of that having been said, Rio de la Plata ended up on top not so much because most people put them first, but because all the other first place contenders were more controversial. Only two rankers out of 15 actually put them in first place, but nobody put them lower than 13th, giving them the best score on average. So don’t be surprised if we still claim to have been right all along if they finish a respectable third instead.

And with that, we’ve reached the end. Thanks for reading, folks, and see you when the game kicks off on October 5th!