Power Rankings: Episode 16 – S3

Cloudy:

Today we say goodbye to the Philippines, a civ that unfortunately met expectations in the worst possible way. Before episode 1, we ranked the Philippines 59th, and they finished 57th, close enough that we were clearly on the right track. They had a hard starting position, which was clear enough from the outset; they would have needed to play very well to break out of it, but they sadly did not. Aguinaldo made a bold first move settling his second city on the mainland next to Cambodia, but he never followed this up with any further expansion, and the few cities he did try to found were immediately snapped up by Indonesia. Indeed, in the end it was Indonesia which took every Philippine city, including, at long last, the capital. And with that, it was all over.

Rosay:

Until now I've been the only one in the “brazil is overhated” train, that changed this part. Defensive terrain is sometimes a double edged sword because it's also really hard to advance beyond it. Kayapo, who has really just been kinda pacifist up until now, just went ham on Brazil and has put both of their cities in the yellow. The siege seems to be going well so we might get another elimination.

Altima

Cambodia? Mo’ like Cam-boned-ia. Mo’ like Can-body-ia. Mo’ like No-bodies-ia.

Anyway, Cambodia will probably die in like 30th or something equally maddening as a result of their relatively hellish geography.

Leman:

Khazaria is in that fun spot where they keep gaining ranks because other rump states are getting eaten, and not because they’re getting any better.

CelestialDalek:There’s a bit of a problem in Yolngu lands. That problem is called Timor-Leste’s navy. The civ with one of the most advanced navies on the cylinder is now going up against Yolngu, one of the worst civs on the cylinder. All of their cities have now taken damage, and some are very close to falling. I’ll just get straight to the point: you won’t be seeing PR slides on them in a few parts.

Cloudy:

Like everyone else down in this part of the rankings, Vermont rises a point because of Brazil collapsing. Woohoo!

JDT:

The Modoc go up in rank by 1, I see. Ah yes, master plan they shall yes! Very good comeback! All enemy distracted, full assssssault, make money, tech up! Modoc sweep! Modoc sweep! MODOC SWEEEEEPEEEP@I!J@IOJ@!*)#)*@J!#IQ!!!!!!!!!

Reformer:

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JDT: Outback Steakhouse closed in Indonesia recently. The Seminole partially own that chain. The Seminole have gone up in ranks. Coincidence? I think not!

Leman:

Uganda is not dead. I think Uganda is probably the hardest of the rumps to kill. The mountains are annoying and their only real  threat is Chad, and Chad is having a pretty serious economic crisis. So, they’re probably fine.

Altima

Well this was a rough part for Rio. Lost a city to the flames, with another potentially on the way as well. Still, they somehow rose a rank through statistical noise, so they’ve got that going for them. They also potentially have the chance to snipe the kill on Brazil, which, you know, would absolutely get them killed from warmonger penalties, but would at least be a fun way to go. As-is, they’re boned, but at least they can probably hold out for long enough that the Inca get bored and go home partway through.

Reformer:

One of Kiev’s big neighbors has come knocking. Turkey seeks revenge against Eastern Europe for earlier humiliations. Ataturk unfortunately can’t tell the difference between Vladimir and Kiev, but the outcome is more or less the same: some units die, and that is pretty much it due to the geography. If Turkey had two ports on the Black Sea, or a canal city on the Bosporus, it would be a different story, but that’s meaningless what-ifs. I give Kiev pretty good odds of coming out of this war unscathed, but if they lose too much military score, other neighbors might start looking on with bloodlust.

Emu

The hermit kingdom spends another part doing not much of anything, their solid little core getting dwarfed more and more by everyone around them each week that goes by. Even Mori is significantly stronger than them now. That's a genuine accomplishment. Kim Jong-Il is definitely the most recognizable 'villain' leader of this mark, and you kind of have to hope those guys fail, else it starts to get a bit awkward that they were included in the first place.

Emu

Ainu gain two ranks off the back of the Kwakwaka'wakollapse, leapfrogging historical comparison point North Korea. Their war with the Gokturks might be worrying if the Gokturks had any navy to speak of (Ainu is still sporting triremes), but as is I'd say they're in a slightly safer position than they were last week. Not stronger at all, mind you, every competent civ is still pulling even farther ahead, just safer.

Orange:

As an ardent Mohave supporter I’m entitled to say that they should jump on the Central America coalition and get a nice piece of that pie.

Anyways, CA really isn’t in a good spot, they pushed back the Muisca on land but their army is basically nothing and will get crushed soon enough, leaving the entirety of their core empty. They also already lost their fleet and Muisca took the city they founded right on the frontline. To be honest I’d say it’s a shock they aren’t lower, maybe we all just think Mohave is gonna attack Arapaho and it’ll keep the pressure off.

Orange:

They still hold on to their capital, so that’s something… But uh, -136 debt, 11 techs behind. Things ain’t looking good for our duck bois… They really need a peace deal that doesn’t give away more cities now, before they get reduced to a rump (albeit a rump that still has a lot of cities even if those cities are shitty tundra cities).

Altima

Massagetae are pretty boned right now. They’re still fielding their unique Swordsman when others are starting to get Longswords online, notably including Afghanistan for whom they are the most approachable invasion candidate. The Massagetae Mass is still probably large enough to keep other civs at bay for a bit, but their chance is blown, and it’s only a matter of time before someone starts a fight Tomyris cannot win.

Reformer:

Uh, well, this is going slightly worse than expected. Mali is actually pressing on, and has acquired their UU, the ranged knight with no city combat penalties. The Atlas Mountains could still prevent Mali from flipping Fez, but Mali’s new-found determination is quite intimidating. Tetouan’s exhausted military cannot hold on, will not hold on. A strategic peace could prevent tragedy, but I fear it would only delay the inevitable.

Leman:

Castile spent most of this episode sinking lost Irish triremes. That’s good for them.

Leman:

Botswana somehow managed to squeeze two more cities into their southern core. That’s a good start honestly. Maybe an episode or two of bulking up and a war with Zulu and maybe, just maybe Botswana has a shot?

Rosay:

Mori exists still except now they are not the worst of the three stooges anymore. In all seriousness Mori could become quasi-relevant if they were to take on North Korea or Aniu with a buddy but I don't see that happening.

CelestialDalek:

Pandya is still stuck and left to rot at the bottom of India. Don’t give yourself hope that they can break out, because their neighbors are Bengal and Afghanistan. Well, maybe they can, as they have neighbors without much military to go against. But whatever fortune they have will be quickly reversed once their neighbors bring their military against them. Until now it’s just waiting time.

Emu

Despite everything, the Anglo-Dutch come up as a pretty solid mid-tier. Never going to set the world on fire, but surprisingly not-Brandenburg for this point in the game. It's generally said that Willy really gets going around the Industrial era, and it's looking more and more like he's going to get there. Of course, by then, it'll very likely be too late, but it should make for a nice twilight golden age for our orange friends. Their tech looks lacking too, but short of a full Brandenburger offensive, the Anglo-Dutch are safe, and that's all you can really ask for from a civ like this.

CelestialDalek:Is there anything to say about the Ming? The answer is a resounding no: there is nothing to say about them. They’re still surrounded by Kokang and Han, aren’t going to expand by attacking Mori, and have their chances of relevance still about as low as the other civs in this tier. Oh well, at least they have mediocre colors.

Orange:

Kilwa peaced out with Yemen so their chance of jumping on that while Kilwa was distracted is off the cards again. Um, maybe they can try to use their 9 hammer production lead to figure something out here…

JDT:

The Maori drop a whopping 6 ranks as what we feared most finally happened to them - the Wiradjuri attacked them and they were pantsless. Those two western cities? Yeah, those are good as gone barring a wild truce or miraculous assault. And their army is remarkably small, with little chance of further growth short term due to their complete bankruptcy (-94 GPT? I am frankly shocked something like this could even be achieved at this stage of the game). All that can lead to is one outcome - loss of Australian holdings and a return to utter mediocrity. Welp, pack it up girls and boys, the dream of a competent Polynesian civ will probably have to wait.

Cloudy:

The big scare is over for Kilwa, and at long last this beleaguered nation is at peace, having settled its conflicts with Uganda, Yemen, and Botswana. For that reason, Kilwa jumps five ranks, now that the sword of Damocles is no longer hanging over them. But Kilwa remains a weakened nation, unlikely to break out against any of its neighbors, and it’s hard to imagine they’ll ever return to the heights they once achieved.

CelestialDalek:I always have to remind myself that Vladimir is in this game. Have they accomplished anything this game? I think so, but I forgot what it is. Their neighbors aren’t much better: name one achievement Lithuania has accomplished. Lithuania is only high-ranking because it’s strong, not because it has a good track record. Speaking of which, Vladimir lives at Lithuania’s whim. Or Turkey’s whim. Vsevolod has his life only because he is surrounded by civs which are sleeping instead of trying to make gains.

Orange:

Greenland finally breaks into the top half of the civs (ignoring the fact that 4 have died putting the halfway point two ranks further down)! Now, don’t get me wrong, they still do kinda suck, their tech and army size are both atrocious, they still haven’t been able to take anything beyond that one Vermont city, and are unhappy. But hey, they have 11 cities, that’s pretty nice. Let’s go Hans! Err.. is that too enthusiastic?

JDT:

The Irish go up by one due to bureaucratic restructuring. Don’t mistake it for a win yet though, they still are in a tad of trouble. The home isles still remain littered with as of now harmless settlements, but the Brandenburgers have gotten a fairly firm hold over a portion of it, and as far as I know they have not fortified Oviedo for an inland assault yet. Michaels stats aren’t exactly peak either. His army is shot, and the remainder of his stats are average or slightly above average. You’re gonna need a quick brew to get that fighting spirit back man.

Msurdej:  Yugoslavia, what happened to you?  Well, you’ve done nothing for a good long time, while Brandenburg continues to grow. Their stats are what the kids call, pretty middling, and there’s only a few avenues for growth for them left. Their erstwhile rival the Normans are outshining them at the moment, but there’s still time for Tito to turn this Yugo around.

Msurdej:  Yemen reaches a new high (Part 0 predictions notwithstanding) with this part, managing this purely by staying under the radar. Sure they may be neighboring Turkey, but Arwa al-Sulayhi has a sizable carpet in the area, something Araturk does not. Still, I wouldn’t go for a sneak attack on Turkey unless it’s a massive coalition.

Emu

Mali finally makes some actual progress in the endless Maghreb meatgrinder, but that's only really due to Tetouan settling an easily-capturable city on their side of the Atlas mountains. Between that and the fall Chad took to the east, we just have to move Mali up. And to add to all that, they've just started to carpet their lands with their incredibly strong Knight replacement which doubles as a siege unit. Overall, Mali looks stronger than they have in a long time, and I can confidently say that a Songhai-style collapse definitely isn't anywhere in their near future.

Cloudy:

Kayapo mostly holds steady this episode as we wait for them to finish off Brazil. It seems certain that Raoni will get Recife, but unless something truly unexpected happens, his hard work sieging Rio de Janeiro may prove to be for naught, as Rio de la Plata is poised to snipe the city. If this does happen, it probably wouldn’t hurt for Kayapo to declare war on San Martín immediately, but I think we all know they probably won’t do that.

Msurdej:  Chad falls back into the 20s this part, as it seems all of Africa has come under a drought of meaningful action. Sure there’s some scuffles over by the northwest African coast, but there’s no major African conflict in the center. Sadly, Chad is still dealing with massive amounts of unhappiness, so their armies will be focused more on fighting internal rebels rather than external armies

Emu

The situation in South America has never been terribly certain. It really says something that Muisca, who pulled off a conquest of a civ who started 50 ranks above them, aren't even the biggest upsetters on the continent. And that continues to this day, even as Kayapo's tech lead allows even their paltry army to start making conquests. So if their biggest threat is getting stronger, why did we move these guys up 3 ranks? Simple: The Muisca look just plain stronger and more competent than ever before. Even next to Inca, I have no qualms saying they have a real chance of conquering their home region.

Orange:

Holy shit is that the Normans without crippling debt???? By the goddesses of all that is holy Robert has done it, he’s pulled his nation out of the money pit and into good times. Production’s doing pretty well too. Could this be the Norman Renaissance?

Reformer:

At last, a glorious end to the Filipino campaign. Suharto delivers on his promise to end Aguinaldo’s reign, and things are looking up for the stubborn conqueror. The innovation of carracks and galleasses keeps his navy competitive in a changing environment. After some rebuilding and consolidation, the world is his oyster. Bengal’s navy pales in comparison, and Timor-Leste has just become occupied in a major war. Though, mind the tech gap. Here’s to hoping Suharto can keep up the pace and bring excitement to the masses!

Msurdej:  Bengal and Kokang ended their stalemate as we knew they would: with no territory losses between the two sides. This gives Bengal an opportunity to go after someone weaker, and with less mountains in the way. Like Pandya. C’mon Shuja-ud-Din, I know you wanna kill Pandya.

Cloudy:

Windradyne had an exciting episode and faces an even more exciting episode tomorrow. After countless turns of doing nothing, the Wiradjuri finally decided to evict the Maori from Australia, but as soon as they did so, Timor-Leste declared war to defend their island friends. This will surely make for a messy, multi-front war. However, we power rankers are reasonably confident that the Wiradjuri will come out ahead, because the Maori have many undefended cities, and Timor-Leste is not likely to capture much, especially since they’re also at war with Yolngu, which is drawing away most of their forces. All things considered then, this is a great chance for Windradyne to assert his dominance over the game’s smallest continent.

Altima

Chile’s chillin’.

Orange:

Angola continues to build up all the cities they founded the last few parts, but that’s kinda it. However, Mali has a bit of a scary looking army that just might decide to go eat those forward settles if Savimbi isn’t careful. Maybe he should do something about that.

JDT:

The Kokang drop one as the PRs realize something critical about their position - there's very little to go long term. Sure, there's the Ming up north but after that, they’re kinda stuck between the rock of the Himalayas and the hard place of the Han. This recent war between Bengal did a great job of proving that no, you cannot wage a war amongst mountains and jungles, leaving only the Ming and potential naval exploits up for grabs. However, let's be real here, this is still talking 3-10 parts in the future, in the now, Kokang stays stable with strong stats and good projection. The one big issue is that it appears people aren’t happy with this female warlord's reign…

Altima

Well, the Gokturks at least have damage on one of the Ainu cities. They should probably have more on it by now, but hey, can’t be too picky I guess. We’ll see where this goes in the coming parts; they have the manpower to take the inland city, and the coastal one potentially depending on how well they can weather one trireme attack per turn.

Cloudy:

After America’s meteoric rise last episode, we were expecting them to drop, but that has barely materialized. Instead, America almost holds on to its new rank, as their stats continue to show improvement. America now has the third largest army in the world, far larger than anyone else in North America, and now that they’ve made peace with the Cree, we hope they might soon use it against a more immediate neighbor. If they do, then we could yet see FDR force his way into the top 10.

Emu

Perennial underdogs Timor-Leste rocket up 7 ranks, landing them in firing distance of the top 10, a record high from a 61st place starter. The forecast for their war with Yolngu couldn't be sunnier, and the view that neighbor Indonesia is a paper tiger is gaining traction. Despite their past unexplainable stats advantage waning, the cunning and guile (not to mention the galleons) coming out of Dili gives us faith that Xanana is going to wow us all yet again on his quest to prove everyone wrong.

Emu

The great empires of the world now look very different than they did in Azykay's heyday, but not Perm. Perm still looks exactly the same. Sprawling settles, a wide smattering of Classical-era units, and a lot of potential. Even though they've spent the last couple months in the shadow of Tuva, their stats bear out the fact that they haven't been resting on their laurels in that time. They're still playing catch-up for sure, but their army is actually larger than Tuva's now. Azykay may no longer set the benchmark for greatness, but don't count this 11th-place contender out just yet; they still have plenty of opportunity to travel the world, meet new people, and then kill them.

Emu

I never like getting the Mohave writeup. They're weird, they're big, but not in a way that lends itself to a good writeup. Their core didn't even get shown, just outskirts and colonies. Speaking of, they snapped up three more islands this week, bringing their total to way more than you'd expect from a desert Southwest civ. In that shot of the corner of their main empire, we can see that they have their Longswordsman UU. It can create We Love the King days (not terribly useful), and it starts with Amphibious (marginally useful). But the real wrinkle is that they don't require Iron, and I can't say being able to build as many of the most powerful infantry unit of the era as you want is a bad thing. In a few parts, that will be a carpet full of muskets. Arapaho should be scared.

Leman:

North America is a hotly contested continent, between Arapaho, Cree, Mohave, and America, and Arapaho is used to being the strongest of the strong here. However, it seems that this week, after Cree managed to capture the Kwakwaka’wakw capital of Tigwasti, Arapaho has dropped to second place in North America. They retain a solid 9th and are comfortably in the top ten, with their twenty cities and excellent stats. It's their small army and lack of action that caused us to put them underneath their blue northern neighbor.

Msurdej:  With the capture of Tigwasti, Poundmaker has managed to retake the top spot in America from Arapaho. And while Willie Seaweed was able to recapture the capital, the Cree seem poised to take it back. Even if it flips a couple more times, the Cree have the army and production to hold it. In other good news, the Cree have fixed their low happiness, meaning they won’t have to deal with bandits popping up.

Rosay:

Ok Inca, you got a good thing going for you right now, you have a nice siege in Tucuman going bringing it down to half in an admittedly slow fashion, you need to follow through this time to actually get the city and permanently block Chile from ever expanding within the continent. It's make or break now to basically guarantee total dominance over the continent, make a half-measure, or even worse Chile jumps in before you do, then you're going to have to compete with them for the rest of the game.

Emu

Lithuania needs to muster up some get-up-and-go before too long. Vladimir, Brandy, and Perm are all on the move, but Gediminas is still stuck in slow motion. They're still doing amazingly stats-wise, but the geriatric great power needs to use some brainpower to get themselves some more effective firepower. Their tech isn't bad, not even for a top 10 power, but looking at their carpet you wouldn't know it. Horsemen, compbows, swordsman UUs.... A war with Brandenburg right now would be devastating. However, we at Power Ranking HQ still think that all this is nothing more than a lull for the Vilnius-based powerhouse, so we leave them right where they were last part.

CelestialDalek:Now that Tuva and Han have made peace with a resounding win for Wu, what’s next for the Han conquest machine? Their victory from behind was a good moment, but looking at their carpet leaves a bit to be desired - a bit of units in their core. Wu can very well eat the Ming when he chooses, and then where to next? We don’t know, really. But he has plenty of time to continue growing stronger, as he can’t really be touched for now. Now just kill Mori and get it over with.

Altima

Afghanistan eats a few ranks from passivity and from having a very spread-out and thus unimpressive looking carpet. Still, their army is advanced and their position defensible if hard to push out from. They have time on their side.

Emu

The golden child of Europe inches up to a podium placing this week, using their shiny new musketman UUs (the first ones on the cylinder) to finish off the Norsemen they crippled in the first capital capture of this game. Honestly, I think this signals a turning point in the region; Fred-Willy is starting to pull ahead of even Lithuania fairly significantly in the stats, and this is right around the point in the game where a good tech advantage means everything. It may be way too early to call this, but I have serious doubts anything could stop Brandenburg pre-Total War.

Rosay:

Tuva climbs back to second place this time around, as their disaster of a war has finally ended. Despite this gigantic failure, it is far from the end of the world for them. After all, Tuva still has the largest production and population of any empire on the cylinder, tied for most cities, so they’re definitely still top tier. All Tuva needs to do is turtle up for a little bit, build a well balanced military, plop down some universities and , and they can go back to dominating Siberia. Han is obviously off the table for now, but the Permians and the Gokturks are still objectively outclassed by a damaged Tuva, they’ll become fodder to our Tuvan overlords in 20-30 turns.

Leman:

Turkey holds the top spot again and for good reason. Solid borders, a huge army, high science, strong production, are all factors keeping Turkey on top of the pile this time around. They’ve opened up a war with Kyiv, which Turkey vastly overpower, so as long as the Black Sea doesn’t prove to be a huge obstacle, Turkey’s stats may be climbing even higher after a conquest. There hasn’t been an incredible amount of progress so far though.

I will say that one of the main things that influenced me to give Turkey the top spot was their impressive science lead, which, for a brief moment, looked like it would be giving Kayapo a run for its money. This part however, Kayapo has surged forward while other superpowers seem to have caught up to Turkey. Not saying that Turkey is in a bad spot, but that they might have to put in some work to keep the top spot.