Power Rankings: Episode 3 – S3

Leman:

Sungulug Khagan is getting pretty used to being down here. This time, somehow things have gotten even worse. The inevitable fall of Beshbaliq occurred this part, dropping Qocho to a single city, joining Comanche in that dubious honor. Then, in a miraculous stroke of genius, Qocho founded a second city, close to their capital. However, it too looks like it's about to fall to Han. Even if the Han invasion fails again, (and this time I don’t think it will), these bad settles and constant wars have absolutely cratered Qocho’s stats. Honestly, there’s no real coming back from this, if you ask me.

Msurdej:

Iron Jacket has traveled across the Atlantic Ocean by way of Greenland, only to seemingly decide “No, I don’t want to settle in Europe. Back to America with you!”This indecision is putting the Comanche further and further behind, and any war could spell the end for them. The only consolation is they haven’t gotten into any fights yet, which means their army still is in a good position to defend their city state.

JDT

Sammuramat is getting pounded. The Turks and Egyptians are penetrating through the front lines and fucking her empire. Assur and Nineveh are very vulnerable, and even the capital of Nimrud is open to getting dicked. Her military defenses are non-existent, leaving her very open to some chicanery and tomfoolery on the part of the two men on her doorstep. And even if she somehow survives this ordeal, she’s not very fertile or productive at all. Assyria currently has joint second lowest production in the game, and that desert of theirs doesn’t do many favours.

Rosay:

Damn I really want to believe that the Seminole can win do good decent, but god damn, they just suck at life. Like this isn't even an instance of “well X would be good if they weren't by Y and Z” but nope they have plenty of space and the US and Central America are mid at best, and they are actively fighting Seminole possibly removing them from the game. What's really the damning thing about the Seminole is their statistical disadvantage. Now I know stats don't mean much this early in the game, but when you have an average production of 6 for three cities, then you're just dead in the water. If there is one thing they have going for them is that the Caribbean is still up for grabs but even then, that barely means squat.

Altima

Well, this is going well. While there is a non-zero chance of Kokang flubbing the landing and not taking the city (jungle is hard, and their nearest melee unit at last peek was a near-dead warrior), Cambodia has been thoroughly stuck in place by the conflict while their neighbors have grown, leaving them with awful stats and stronger rivals. All I’m gonna say is, CAM is probably a bad investment right now.

Emu

Good old Philly didn't do too much this episode, but plenty happened around them. They didn't lose any ranks, but considering they were already bottom 5 that isn't really saying much. That forward settle is and will always be a pretty slick move, but only having two cities at this stage in the game has really kept them down. The fall of Cambodia is good news for them, but their capital is behind the very mountains and jungle that made Cavite el Viejo such a good move in the first place. Space is open from Luzon all the way to Rapa Nui, and they do have a settler out, but their rank is indicative of the fact that we really don't think they'll do much with it. Overall? Given the strong powers to the north, the PRs think they're completely screwed sooner or later. Me, I’m going to buy some $PHL and hope it’s later.

Cloudberg:

Botswana somehow avoids death after beating the Zulus back from the gates of Gaborone. This is bad for the Zulus, of course, but only moderately good for Botswana, because we think they’re screwed anyway—the timeline just got a little bit longer.

Rosay:

Yolngu, yeah I dont think it will be controversial at all to say that Yolngu is not going to be the Australian leader. North Aussie civs just got it rough according to historic precedent, and it really doesn't help that their only way out of the continent is actually (slightly) over performing by some miracle. If I were to make a possible win path it would be to huddle up in the north and take the east, and try to team up with Maori; other than that, the outlook’s tough.

JDT: You’re getting stomped, yet you keep coming back, why? Because you keep on smelling the syrup you worthless nation! Vermont! You have done nothing noteworthy over the past 2 parts! Greenland and America have made attempts to grow, the Cree and Arapaho are coming, and what have you been doing? Asking for financial support? Wake up Ethan “Sanders” Allen, if you really want to have any semblance of a chance of not dying before part 10, you gotta wake up and settle Ontario. NOW!

Orange:

Vladimir continues their drop as they continue to watch events unfold around them without doing so much as to lift a finger. Surrounded by the strong Lithuania and a couple civs who like to build armies, Vsevelod’s lack of expansion is going to very quickly bite them in the butt. Though at least they have a bit of time before then.

Msurdej:

Good news Anglo-Dutch fans (all three of you at least). You are one of only a few civs that have risen each time in the Power Rankings, congrats! The bad news is, you’re still stuck in Europe, only have three cities, a pitiful military, and worst of all, a Castille army at your borders. But it should be fine...right?

Orange:

Modoc gains ranks! Huzzah! This is despite me, the ranker who likes Modoc the most, lowering my rank this part because somehow others (and I became no longer the one with the highest Modoc rank sadly) ranked them higher. This is mostly just because of a lot of other civs doing worse and in a more threatened position while Modoc has some nice defenses, but still. We going up baby!

Orange:

Tetouan drop a tiny bit as they have shit stats and no sign of any more settlers, but at least that seems to be a better position then some of the others. They wasted their army attacking Mali for some unknown reason despite not having nearly the capacity to fight that war, so maybe if they go make peace they will focus on building up a proper empire?

Msurdej:

Well, the rise in North Korea’s ranks that came from the attack on the Mori nearly vanishes as he fumbles the war. While it looked for a moment that Kim Il-sung would take Tajihi-Sarugake, the moment passed nearly as quickly. While there’s still time to turn things around, it seems this war will end in a stalemate.

Shaggy

Canute isn’t doing himself any favors by refusing to put a damn jacket on and brave into the cold. I wish I was joking but they got name-dropped thrice this part and every single time they were simply labeled a target for Brandenburg should they not expand more. Live up to your name, Anglo-Norse!

Msurdej:

Okay real talk folks. Every CBR, there’s a civ that always underperforms hard. In the Mk 2 it was China. X1 had the Aztecs, X2 had Sweden, who was famously known as a catboy. And while it’s still early, I’m going to say that Rio De La Plata is this game’s Catboy. Rio De La Plata has the fewest cities in South America, and is quickly being overshadowed by civs like Kayapo and even Chile. Their war with Brazil has gone nowhere, his army being lost in the rainforests of South America. As more and more cities are settled, Jose looks like he’ll have less and less chance to expand without conquest. And with how bad the current one is going, well, let’s just say I see a lot of FF XIV in Jose’s future.

Altima

Ainu? Mo’ like Ain-who.

JDT

My God. My greatest nightmare happened. Timor-Leste… is actually doing decently. Sure, they’re still stuck on two cities, but Indonesia and Wiradjuri still need time to work up, Yolngu is a joke and the north might as well not exist for now. More importantly, they are still keeping pace with the top powers in terms of relevant stats. They’ve got high production, decent science, 12 techs and an okayish army. In fact, only Han and Turkey outmatch them in terms of overall production! This cryptid, man, it’s beautiful. Lets just see if it runs.

Altima

Despite their bad science, bad production, and middling city count (3 is barely at par), Khazaria rises up a rank due to statistical noise. Make no mistake, they suck right now, but they’ve got some space to expand into if they should theoretically decide to start spending production on settlers rather than masses of junk units they do nothing with.

Shaggy

Other than having a scout attend a satellite Scout Con that has yet to pay its licensing fees and can thus not yet be called a Scout Con, Brazil had a productive part. I doubt many on the PR team would have expected them to put up such a stalwart defense against the Royal Danadian Lounted Police back in our Episode 0 rankings, but Pedro is taking advantage of his neighbors’ missteps. He may even have a delicious fresh settlement to snap up from Chile should the latter attempt to forward settle into the Amazon. Speaking of forward settles, Brazil settled Recife this part and I wanted to point that out as it seemed to have gotten lost in the narration. They are definitely making their case for later Amazonian supremacy. Unfortunately, they do drop in the ranks this week as they have quite a bit to do to get to that point and other civs have been doing better at strengthening their existing cores.

Cloudberg:

Uganda slips farther into the ranking doldrums as Idi Amin has yet to figure out the whole “building settlers” thing. His war against Yemen might net him a third city, but it’s in a terrible location, and frankly at this point in the game settling is much more important than conquest. So if Uganda waits much longer, they will be stuck as a rump in the highlands, while Kilwa, Angola, and Egypt snap up all the fertile lands around them.

Emu

I was right. Yemen plummets straight into the 40s as Uganda takes a stab at their forward settle and Egypt rises in the north, all while Sayyida Al-Hurra continues to not settle her peninsula. Turkey and Egypt are quickly taking away their only real conquest opportunity in the north, and they have a very real chance of losing a war to Uganda, of all people. Sluggish settles, neighbors closing in, bogged down in a war they have no chance of gaining from, and subpar stats in most areas to top it all off. To get anywhere, and I mean anywhere at all, they need a serious change in direction, yesterday. Seeing as they do still have all that extra space, Yemen's time to turn it around isn't quite up yet, but at this rate, it won't be too much longer before it is.

JDT

Suharto finally decided to wake up our typical Indo lethargy and found himself rewarded for taking 200 steps. Not only did he settle Yogyakarta on the edge of Aceh (Fun fact: Both Yogyakarta and Aceh provinces are known for fairly strict islamic codes), but he found himself a little gift in the form of the city of Chittagong right in the middle of his empire. The Bengalis currently don’t seem very interested in bulking up that city, leaving it a very good target for future expansion. As a result of these activities, and the downfall of neighbouring Cambodia, we have elected to raise Indonesia up the ranks a bit. Slow and steady wins the race, it seems.

Leman:

Chad is frustrating. Along with Rio de la Plata, Chad is a civ we initially ranked really highly and has plummeted in the last few weeks because they absolutely refuse to found any cities. Two cities at this point is nigh indefensible, and the window to found a few more is rapidly, rapidly closing. There’s not really much else to it.

Maybe you’re wondering why they haven’t fallen further? Well, Chad still has decent stats, with a large army and good effective science. They still have a monstrous unique ability. Most importantly, they still have a decent amount of room to settle. They can, theoretically, still turn this around.

Leman:

Kyiv see-saws back up fourteen ranks. To be honest, we probably underranked Olga last episode, and 37th might be a little closer to where she ‘should’ be. She’s got a third city and a war against Lithuania out of Kyiv this episode, both great improvements over last time. We don’t really think the war with Lithuania is going to go anywhere, but who knows? Kyiv could get lucky for sure.

Rosay:

Oof, Ming definitely got done dirty by the greater powers. Both Han and Kokang are high tier civs, and they in all but name cut off Ming from central China, effectively locking them out of the entire mainland continent. While the future is grim however, it is definitely not over for the Ming just yet. Judging by the Vihreaan map and the slides at the end of the part, there is definitely still some open territory for the Ming to settle, and Korea and Mori are not exactly beacons of strength. The biggest way that I could see Ming turning things around though is to turtle and build tall, invest in a proper navy to take out all of the squishy island nations, and just wait until Kokang or Han enter a war they can't quite win and snipe some cities. All in all it's far from over, it’s just definitely an uphill battle.

Leman:

Greenland nabbed its third city in Greenland proper. Without a religion, either its own or one from one of its neighbors, Greenland is just a fairly average 3-city mid-tier civ. We’ll keep an eye on it, but don’t expect much from Hans right now.

Emu

Michael Collins took a second to get in gear, but this episode he finally started settling Britain in earnest. This is a pretty big boon, but the British Isles are, have always been, and will always be a death spot, weak Western Europe or no. This just shows that Ireland is going to use the meager space at their disposal to the best of their ability. That's worth something for sure, especially with the Anglos and Greenland both having a bad time, but how does that really solve their main issue? Solid beachheads on the continent are still difficult to come across, and without that, they're just another island civ that languishes for a while before getting taken out around the Industrial era. Even so, their immediate prospects look a lot better now, and for that they gain 8 ranks.

Lasqueto

Morazan finds himself in an odd spot. He currently has a good shot at sniping Loxahatchee from Seminole if the Americans don’t grab it first, and might even stand to make some gains on land if things play out right. On the other hand he’s still left all of Mexico wide open and has an ascendent Muisca on his doorstep, which could prove a problem if he doesn’t bulk up soon. However this is definitely the point we see whether Central America becomes another Olmecs or something greater.

Msurdej:

While the Mori may not have lost a city in this part, it did lose a number of ranks. Mori was so high in the last part since it had three cities, when that was still pretty impressive. Now it's starting to lag behind, and the problems of its small army still linger. But on the plus side, Motonari might be able to make a new city...if the Koreans don’t pick him off first.

Orange:

Castille continues to do nothing this part except they look like they might do something next part! They have an army waltzing around France which indicates that Isabella is seeking to bring a fight to Willy III after he converted one of her cities to that evil Lutheranism.

Emu

Kilwa fails to Kilwa around, much to the disappointment of the many loyal Kilwateers, and we dropped them 6 ranks for it. Their antics haven't ramped up just yet, but settling Madagascar was pretty funny I guess. Other than that, they didn't do a whole ton. Their drop isn't really indicative of them doing too poorly, more just a function of two facts: One, other civs going up, and two, they aren't really making too many aggressive plays. This'd be grounds keep them right where they are if they were in the 40s somewhere, but last episode they were 25th, and that high up, it's either get moving or get out of the way.

Lasqueto

Last part Chile attempted to rekindle the glory of Chiles past by bringing back the Backdoor Squad. They sadly misinterpreted this as sending a settler up to Bumfuck Nowhere, Brazil, rather than a cutting edge naval attack. This also means wasting a settler that could be spent bulking up their core, which by the way they still haven’t done. Another option would be bulking up to take out RdlP before they get any ideas of becoming relevant again.

Arilasqueto

Zulu take a proper tumble in the rankings after their invasion of Botswana fizzled out. This wouldn’t normally justify a 20 point drop, but it comes with a recontextualisation of Zulu’s position in Africa. Before this part they looked to be a rising star in a sleepy continent, poised to carve out an empire in their crowded corner of the continent. However we left the part with them looking increasingly boxed in as their neighbours start to pick things up. Angola started settling the great void of central africa and kilwa remain tenacious. Either way it looks like the Zulu’s chance at an early game steamroll is slipping away.

Rosay:

Ok Mali, now is your chance to be a breakout star. Everywhere around you is ripe for the taking, the civs around you range from mid to awful, and anyone that is a serious threat is far away enough to ignore. You got a really good thing going here while Chad and Tetouan are busy doing nothing, take some free land, core up, and cheese your way to becoming the easiest power on the cylinder before everyone around you wakes up.

CelestialDalek:In a continent of giants, Mohave is Robert Waldrow. They have a good amount of land, and benefit from the Modoc being a sitting duck. If Central America goes northwards, they could be trapped. But if they continue settling the Caribbean, then the Mohave have all the more space. How they will use it is up for debate.

JDT:

So maybe that joke about Lacs resetting runs until she got one where the Muisca went off had some merit to it. The Muisca skyrocket up the rankings as they prove themselves to somehow be one of the most proactive players in South America, getting a 4th city down smack dab in the Amazon.They still have a ways to go - they are currently trailing the pack with tech and have middling production and science. In addition, they’re still hemmed off by the walls of the Amazon and Andes and their northern rival in Centroamerica. But who knows? With enough time and effort, they have a great chance to go big.

Altima

The failed assault on Apopka, while likely inevitable all told given the heavy forestry in the theater, still costs America some points in the rankings, as does their kinda mid statistics when other North American powers are starting to consolidate. They aren’t out of this yet of course, they’ve still got time and opportunities in the future when units are stronger and forests have been chopped, but they do seem likely to stagnate for a bit.

Rosay:

Ok so hear me out, Angola is the most likely civ to take all of Africa. Yes I know they have many issues right now, but most of those are either not that big a deal or offset by the good they have going for them. They still have a bunch of places to expand into both via settlers and via conquest, and unlike a lot of civs in that position, Angola is actually pressing that advantage.That city they plopped in the middle of the jungle is honestly fairly safe for now just because of terrain and the only civ really threatening it is Uganda, while serving as a barrier for making opposing settlement somewhat more difficult. There is the double edged sword however that is their terrain being all jungle, which does help cities in the event of invaders, also really slows them down while trying to secure all that empty Central African land. Regardless, I still think all the pieces are in place for a strong Central African Civ this game, they just need to be put together.

CelestialDalek:

The Maori still have 4 cities. That’s pretty good. They have places to expand still, but Wiradjuri is also expanding and has good tech. It’s going to end up as another New Zealand vs. Australia from X1, but without the peacekeeper bugs and with indigenous civs. Luckily, they have strong settling habits if they can just keep it up.

Leman:

This is the first time we’ve seen Jaxartes since Massagetae’s introduction on turn 1. Turns out the Massagetae core is looking decent enough. They are at war with a couple for Asian frontrunners, but don’t worry, the distance will probably keep them safe.

I will point out that Massagetae has some of the worst stats of any civ with four or five cities, being below average in science, production, and military. It’s early, so that can all be turned around but that weakness has been reflected in their slight dip this week.

Cloudberg:

The Kayapó didn’t change ranks this episode, but don’t be fooled: they’re one of the most controversial civs, with a range of 38 places between highest and lowest. The issue is that their stats are bipolar: they have by far the most food, effective science, and population, but they are dead last in production, with less even than Qocho or Comanche. Consequently, no one is quite sure what to make of them. Some people think they’re terrible, some think they’ll be impossible to kill, even if they don’t become a power in their own right. Only time will tell, and until then, they’ll cling to the bottom of the top 20.

CelestialDalek

By not sucking, Inca has rocketed up to top 20. South America is looking pretty weak at the moment: Rio de la Plata tripped on its own feet, Chile isn’t capitalizing, Brazil is middling and Kayapo is turtling instead of churning out cities with their population. So, the frontrunners are, somehow, Muisca and the Inca. Both have 4 cities, weak neighbors, and defensible locations. Don’t get me wrong, Tupac needs to work to get good, and to keep going as well. But they’re damn close.

Altima

While the loss of sportsball city is awkward, the new settles in North Africa give enough hope to keep the Normans above 20. While they’re definitely not a European power for now, they’ve got enough options in Africa to give them a solid future path to follow, especially with further European conquests being uphill for the Yugoslavs.

Emu

Turkey v. Assyria is usually one of the first wars declared, but Egypt doesn't tend to join in like they did this part. What's worse, Ataturk doesn't look to be taking the necessary initiative to take the cities that, up until recently, everyone assumed would be his. Turkey's offensive has yet to really get going, while Egypt is about to capture Assur. In fact, some think Egypt is about to lock Turkey out of any share of the conquest at all. I think it's a bit early to say something like that, but Egypt's great stats and large army is for sure Turkey's number one threat. Hardly their only one either, as they find themselves within reach of both the Normans and Yugoslavia. Turkey finds themselves in a big pond, and now's the time to prove themselves a big fish with what it takes to compete.

Orange:

This part we saw Afghanistan expand to four cities after declaring war on Pandya who are too far away for them to do anything about. Maybe they just wanted to get in on the action. But either way they have a nice jump up into the top 20 as they have real good stats, a lot of empty space, and their always strong defensive position.

Emu

The fallen-but-not-quite-really-fallen-more-just-a-bit-slow-to-start-up titan in Germany undergoes a slight correction as the prs realize we overreacted a little to their boxing-in. I mean, this is Brandenburg we're talking about here, they're still favored to win Western Europe, even after all the nothing they've been accomplishing lately. As of right now, the center of power in Europe looks likely to end up somewhere a bit further east, but it's far from out of the question that Vilnius and Belgrade wind up speaking German after all. I'm aware that at this point it might seem like we're ranking too much off Brandenburg's historical performance and too little off what they're actually doing, but just look at the stats- four cities, many pointy sticks, and top 10 production. Frederick William may no longer be the undisputed king of Europe, but the crown is not far from his grasp.

Msurdej:

Though Pandya loses a couple of ranks, it's more due to other civs doing better than they did. The big kicker for them this part is the war with Afghanistan(and also the Permians, but they’re too far away). The two sides are getting closer and closer to actual combat with each turn, though  don’t expect this to change any time soon. The Bengalis are the bigger potential threat, and with Alli Rani’s borders getting closer, he must take care not to piss off his northeastern neighbors.

Rosay:

In the initial rankings, I rated the gokturks lower than any of the other rankers. Is that still valid: kinda but I believe that there were some things I didn't take into account. First off the good, the gokturks do appear to have access to the Siberian coast, due to Korean incompetence. The bad news: the Gokturks are failing to advance into Han, the latter literally deciding that “yeah I can take this city” mid defense. Tuva is also looking strong while having a lot more room, so the Gokturks win conditions are narrowing, and that's never good for long term success

Shaggy

Willie Seaweed (awesome name, right?) peaced out with the Cree this week. Probably a good call at the moment given that their border terrain is prime meatgrinder material. The lack of any material gains, however, means they will not sit atop the power trio of North America this week. As an aside, it seems like Kwakwaka’wakw really likes their units and wants everyone else in the world to see them dance. Great Artist points don’t do much in CBRX, but who doesn’t love a timely island dance performance?

CelestialDalek:

Kokang is certainly living up to their legacy of being exciting. Cambodia’s second city is likely going to fall to them, they have two settlers out and about, and they have a strong military? What’s not to love? Maybe the mountains next to them, or the middling Ming, or Bengal? No. Kokang is doing well and will almost certainly keep doing well for at least a bit.

Emu

Wiradjuri continues their march across the continent, sliding back into the top 10 as Yolngu stands sedately by and Maori struggles to leave their island. I'd hardly say they're hypercompetent or anything, more just that they're top dog in Oceania by default. Stats are okay, military's okay, settling's actually pretty good, neighbors are bad. The sun sets in the west, Comanche isn't settling, and the Eastern Australian civ is winning in Oceania.

Shaggy:

Bengal breaks into the top 10 this week after another solid episode of buildup and development while their regional rivals either mire themselves in grinding early game wars or have How To Fight Wars Good sitting at the bottom of their reading list. I'll be honest, I thought they'd see more direct competition by now. Time isn't a resource that gets tracked as closely as production and city count by the PR team, but by golly Bengal seems to have it in spades!

Cloudberg:

A couple episodes ago, no one would have predicted that Egypt would be in the top ten, but here we are. Akhenaten is in this fight to win it, founding four cities from the Mediterranean to Nubia, spamming his UU, and launching a massive invasion of Assyria, which looks likely to result in the capture of Assur. With Chad and Uganda simultaneously underperforming, Egypt is in an even better position to dominate the region. The only question is whether they can knock down the Normans before they cement their control over North Africa—a big id, given that Akhenaten’s army is currently in Mesopotamia.

CelestialDalek:

Lithuania is in a good position. Brandenburg, while still a force to be reckoned with, is hemmed in. A decent invasion could snap Vladimir like a twig. And do the Anglo-Norse even matter? Lithuania has plenty of settling space: Scandinavia, towards the Permians, wherever the hell the Comanche settler is going. And if there’s one thing I know from personal experience, Lithuania loves to churn out settlers. There’s only one way to go from here: up (except for down or staying put).

JDT

Yugoslavia surges up the power rankings as people realize that they’re the closest thing to a European superpower. And when you look at their current position, it's not hard to see why. 5 cities? A good military? Good stats? And unlike the other two civs with a similar position in Europe, no massive corners? Sign me right up baby, Hej Slaveni! Of course, that very interesting shape is prudent for occasional assaults, but the alps exist to prevent northern excursions and the great Yugoslav defense force exist to protect the south. If Tito keeps this up, we may be seeing a true pan-slavic empire… or perhaps even further beyond

Leman:

The Cree are looking swell. They’re growing their four cities, throwing a few units away, with a stagnant war against Arapaho, but with great stats and a bunch of room for more cities, there’s not much negative I can really say for Poundmaker. He’s in a pretty great spot.

Leman:

Arapaho mostly holds steady this part, still finding themselves neck-and-neck with their greatest rival, the Cree. Their war with their northern neighbor is going nowhere, so, clearly, the pair are fairly evenly matched. Arapaho is up on city count and science, while Cree has a larger army and production. We’ll see who gets there in the end, but if you’re an Arapaho fan, I would not be worried.

Cloudberg:

Han skyrockets into the top 5 for the first time ever, climbing almost half way up the rankings in a single part, after reminding us why we ranked them highly in the beginning. Han went from two cities at the start of this episode to five at the end, effectively boxing in Ming, while also fighting off a Gokturk invasion and laying siege to a new Qocho city, which will make them the first civ to six cities if they capture it soon. Han’s stats are good across the board, and their AI so far seems to be both aggressive and expansive. For a moment, we thought they wouldn’t pull it off—but let’s just forget that we ranked them 31st last episode, shall we?

Cloudberg:

Tuva holds on to its second place position as the power rankers continue to default their support to expansive civs with lots of room. In that respect, Tuva is one of the best, with five cities already out and Siberia open to them. But lots of Siberian civs that were ranked high early have gone on to disappoint, so it remains to be seen whether Donduk Kuular will avoid the same pitfalls.

Leman:

Permians retain their spot at the top of the ranks after snagging Beshbaliq, the first conquest of CBRX S3! To make matters better, at the very last minute, Azykay founded a fifth city, joining that exclusive club. They’ve got a ton of room, solid stats, five cities, and are one of only two civs that have managed to pull off a successful conquest. All of this comes together to give Permians another week claiming the top spot.