Power Rankings: Episode 45 – S3

Leman:

Gokturk’s gonna die.

Cloudy:

At my insistence, Castile will be surrounded by ice in the rebuild too, so expect their isolated existence to continue. Lacs, our gamerunner, has confirmed that the final winner does end up controlling every city, presumably including Castile’s somehow, but where they will finish is anyone’s guess.

Or maybe Castile wins, wouldn’t that be funny.

Leman:

Kayapo’s also gonna die but probably like 4 turns later.

Rosay:

Despite everything thrown at them manages to make it to the final chapters of this cycle surviving into the reset. That war against Kilwa really ended up paying off and will likely slip them into the top ten finishing civs. Though don’t get too attached, they’re called the final parts for a reason.

Orange:

Let’s go Mohave c’mon take it back turn the Pacific into your playground decimate the competition rule the world! What do you mean I’m delusional and this will never happen? It definitely will! Please, it’s gotta… I’m running out of hope…

Msurdej:  

Brandenburg’s managed to get to the 2nd cycle, but it’s here that their luck will probably run out. The border with Turkey looks to be in Araturk’s favor, both in men and production.The west flank looks little better, with the Arapaho able to snipe Sukkertoppen pretty easily if they desired. If Frederick wants to win, he’ll have to hope his neighbors are too busy with other wars to notice him until it’s too late.

Emu:

It may just be curtains for the other miracle of TW. Advancing into TImorese Africa isn’t out of the question, but they’re going to get absolutely roasted by Turkey once they’re done mopping up the British Isles. It was entertaining to watch, but it was always just a matter of time for the West African power that could.

Emu:

In a recent poll, plucky underdog Timor-Leste scored by far the highest as far as preference to win, but got exactly zero votes for probability to actually do it. Honestly, I see it. They’re really in the classic Aussie civ position now, and even if it’s a smaller map, that’s still not a great place to be, especially when you have the Incans lurking across a concerningly short expanse of water in Polynesia. The fact that they lost so much in Asia in the final turns of pre-TW really seals it. Next rank up is civs with a chance to actually win.

Altima:

Arapaho ended the preboot in much the same position they’ve been in for several parts now, mostly in full command of their home continent, weak foothold on Asia, contested ground in the gulf, the best military on the cylinder and generally high stats besides. They actually have a very strong chance to swing this, depending on how their AI rolls; if their AI manages to lose that mysterious fuckupery curse that haunted them during the preboot, their stats are just way better than everyone else and might well finally win the game for a North American Native civ. That if is a scary word, but they’ve got a chance. It all comes down to if they try to take it.

JDT:

Wooh… Afghanistan. What do we say about them? Initially the true underdogs of the contending powers, they had managed to turn things around and rebound into an incredibly solid contender. Their production was clambering up into the levels of the Inca and Timor, they had a powerful core to scale out of in Asia, and best of all, they had momentum and no super scary powers besides Turkey. What could go wrong?

What about getting the biggest cuts out of anyone in the transition to cycle 2?

Yep, Afghanistan took massive Ls in the transition. They are coming in with 33% of their original production, 40% of their original cities, 35% of their original food, and 37% of their original military manpower. This has considerably increased the distance in stats between them and the other top contenders, and they were still trailing at the end of the first cycle. Is it possible for the brave fighters to overcome this deficit and claw their way to victory against all odds? Most assuredly. Is it likely, and do they deserve 3rd? Probably not, but Timor is boxed in and Arapaho are hilariously incompetent in war while being right next to a much stronger power. So I suppose its process of elimination?

Cloudy:

With by far the most cities and land going into the reset, Turkey is in a strong position to dominate the Old World, but their success is far from guaranteed. Turkey starts off with a smaller army and more neighbors than the Inca or Arapaho, which could slow them down in the early game while their American rivals consolidate and expand. However, with total war being continuous from turn 1 of the rebuild, the fact that Turkey has the most production could also prove decisive, if they use it wisely.

Cloudy:

The Inca rise to first place for the first time since episode 37, in light of their strong position going into the rebuild. Fully in control of South America and with Arapaho struggling to hold the line in Mexico, Tupac is the undisputed king of the Western Hemisphere, and we expect him to defeat both Arapaho and Timor Leste in the fight for dominance on land and sea. However, the Inca might face a tougher fight against whoever emerges victorious in the Old World, much like the Marajoara did last time... or we could be totally wrong, and Timor-Leste steamrolls them in 5 turns! (Hey, a girl can dream. And so can you!)