Power Rankings: Episode 11 – S4

CelestialDalek:

Luckily for the Shawnee, their neighbors have yet to declare war on them. Unluckily, when their neighbors realize that Prophetstown is a free city and declare war, they will instantly get eliminated. Most of the other bottom-tier civs have fallback cities, like Rio Grande’s shitty tundra islands. But the Shawnee have nowhere else to run. They are capital-f Fucked.

ECH:Ouch. Just ouch. Not a good time for the plucky little rebel civ, with a genuine risk of their 3 city core getting sliced like a pizza three-ways (OK, maybe that’s partial hopefulness on our end, it would be so much more fun for Bora-Bora to take the southern city than Tiwanaku, irrelevant of likelihood). Their inland city of Alegrete has already fallen to the Andes civ and their capital, Piritani, has a healthy siege of pikeman and catapults raining down from New Holland. They may have hoped the Kalmyks’ situation would spare them the dishonour of likely being the first capital loss this season; but that’s fallen through also. The core question then, saving them from a certain 61st place, surrounds the security of those near-Antarctic island colonies: our current assumption is that none of their enemies possess the power projection or drive to chase down these final bunkers of their civilization, although I’d keep my eyes scanning in case Bora-Bora decide to show off their new naval tech perhaps. Regardless, exile to these barren waters will all but assure them a rank around bottom 5 for many parts to come, and likely leave them stray pickings for the first great power to gather ocean going ships in the South Atlantic.

Orange:

On the plus side: Their two main neighbors are fighting each other and grinding away their units rather than fighting with Rozvi.

On the minus side: Well, uh, everything else.

Shaggy:

Florida narrowly avoids getting coalitioned by a number of proximate civs this part. You don’t really think of that region as being strong in diplomacy but hey, they aren’t dead yet!

CelestialDalek:

Man, I get two dud civs? Much like Shawnee, Florida, and Rozvi, the Kalmyks have no far-flung island cities to retreat to. By some miracle, they managed to defend Astrakhan, and last we saw it’s mostly recovered. HOWEVER. They still have better, more competent civs on either side and Astrakhan is in a horrible defensive position. Their other two cities are easier to defend, but still will probably eventually succumb to Pontus or Kazan or someone.

Arilasqueto:This was a good part for the Mamluks, not cuz of them playing well but more because Rome seems to have just given up. One second they're about to collapse and the next they're on track to retake Mansoura. I reckon that'll be as far as it goes for them though, and Trajan might end up getting a second wind too. Regardless, I think the Mamluk's odds have gone from “megafucked” to merely “fucked” so I'd consider that a win for them.

NopeCopter:Nothing really happened to the Alaouites to make them fall two ranks, aside from the Visigothic-Sierra Leonean War ending. The drop is probably more due to the fact that Sierra Leone’s position as a top power and the Alaouites’ position as a rump state has really been set in stone by now. The Alaouites are now well and truly surrounded by a civ that is seemingly pretty safe from any big shake-ups for the time being, with only a single Burgundian colony and the terrifying Visigoths as potential ways out. Even if they can pump out their UI and turn their awful desert cities into something useful, they’d still be completely outmatched by everyone around them. From here, the only move the Alaouites have left is to wait and pray that Sierra Leone miraculously collapses so they can claw their way back up to middling regional power status or something.

JDT:

A dark silent crow

Stares longingly into the lights

And sees not itself

Dandy

Emu:

The Finns aren't really any less fucked, but the recent sweep of the Sami army says good things for their immediate chances of not dying. Picking off a stray city to the north isn't even really in the picture. They're not a fallen empire or anything either, this is the biggest they've ever been. Started from the bottom, still at the bottom.

Arilasqueto:As Rio Grande disintegrates, Tehuelche's still a thing I guess? They were technically at war with RG too but they sent a single trireme to sneeze at Pelotas and that was about it. Aside from that it's business as usual - Tehuelche's spot at the edge of the world means they probably won't be registering on many war radars for a while but uhhh there's still not much of a future in sight for them.

CelestialDalek:

Oh, how the not-so-mighty have fallen. What seemed to be a crazy upset in taking Tehran has turned on its head, as now the significantly better Afsharid army is bearing down on Samarkand and circling menacingly around Bukhara itself (the city). Apart from Samarkand, Bukhara, and the former Kalmyk city of Elista, Bukhara has a much tougher nut to crack, as their cities of Balkh, Turkistan, and especially Merv lie in prime terrain for defending. They’re not in any danger of elimination currently, but their position is definitely unenviable (unless you’re one of the 10 civs below them). We’ll see if the Afsharids make a stupid peace deal though.

Reformer:

Eswatini had a dramatic episode. First, near the beginning, they make peace with Rozvi, ending a war that had been pointlessly draining both civs’ resources for a while now. But Rozvi was the least of Eswatini’s worries, funny enough. Ndongo is still here and willing to fight…but of course, the terrain is incredibly hostile towards Ndongo. Conversely, Eswatini has managed to take the fight to their former city, Malkerns, and even brought it to yellow, thanks to the fact that the city is indeed disconnected from the Ndongo core and thus impossible to reinforce. Still, it takes some guts to make this move, and if successful, it’ll help Eswatini a lot, so we’re hesitantly moving them up a bit. It’s not exactly a comeback, but it’s not keeling over and dying, either!

Msurdej:  

Falling to the lowest point ever, Maguindanao is getting bodied. Now down to only five cities, and pissing away

Their armies, Kudarat is getting picked apart every which way. They lost Kuno to the Wahgi, and Ubon Ratchathani, after some flipping, ended the episode in the hands of...Zheng?! Hang on a tick... checks notes... Well if you’ll excuse me, I need to go make some pizzas....

Leman:

Royal Hungary’s stellar defense against Pontus is what’s keeping them out of the basement of the power rankings. They are bad, don’t get me wrong, but they aren’t quite as hopeless as some other civs. I don’t really think they have all that much of a chance, but at least they’re not going to disintegrate next episode.

Nathanmasse:

I had high hopes for Seneca when they founded their religion but they’ve done little else since then.  Kanawagas is once again about to be captured and this time it looks to be gone for good.  They may yet gain fame by claiming the first elimination if they take out the Shawnee, or perhaps Florida, but I have little faith in their ability to pull even that off.

Rosay:

Damn Dai Viet had their worst part to date. Their war with Siam has seen Dai Viet dramatically underperform, to the point where Dai Viet is suddenly on the defensive after seemingly pushing into the belligerent Siam. Seeing blood in the water, Singapore has sent their navy to Dai Viet's southern coast as Singapore looks to capture a city or two. While I don't believe Dai Viet is currently at risk of being wiped out, or even moved to rump status for that matter, if Zheng decides to help their ally Siam with their mainland woes, then we could realistically see the first Mk4 elimination. Now I dont think Zheng is willing to enter a two front war like that for now, but it can't be counted out as a possibility. Even if Zheng does join in, losing 3-4 cities is never good for a civ.

Reformer:

Makhno jumps up a bit in the rankings. They’re just vibing. I mean, they’re still fighting Kalmyks (for the last 50 fucking turns), but it’s not like we should expect anything new to happen there. Instead, I think this is just the rankers collectively awakening to the fact that Makhno is kinda safe right now. All their neighbors are busy, and Makhno’s army is rather nice for a civ of his size. So we can expect him to stick around for quite a while longer - and if opportunity arises, who knows…maybe he can put his armies to better use than funneling into Kalmyk arrows.

Nathanmasse:

And here we see Henry V’s mighty kingdom.  Not much has changed from last week.  They’re rebuilding their ground forces but seem to have a rather sparse navy.   On the plus side, they should be very close to reaching civil service which will usher in a period of agricultural reforms and will help the devastated cities in northern France recover.  Pikemen will also come in handy if Burgundy takes offense to the resettling of their former colony.

Emu:

Taino continues to beat up on the only neighbor they reasonably can. Not that they're having a lot of success, but hey, at least they're trying. Would be nice if they built a navy about it.

Shaggy:

Take one city? Pop up 12 ranks. Get your invasion plans gummed up and end up having one of your core cities get encircled by your largest rival while settling a one tile island off the African coast? Drop back down 6 ranks. Yes, the hype train may be going off the tracks a bit here and hopefully the stonk traders have sold at the top for the Vij. If they can’t solve the Harappa Problem then they won’t stand a chance down the stretch.

JDT: Oh Kanem-Bornu…

You are a civ that exists. Somehow Saba is taking forever to even do anything against you. You’ve got 8 cities which isn’t that bad. That probably won’t last long however. Bornu is under siege and your position is exposed with poor military, stagnating tech and mediocre production. This is not a recipe for success, it's a recipe for death.

Shaggy:

The Khoshuts did nothing this part but gained two ranks due to churn. Their sole mention this week reminded me how annoying it is that they gave Lhasa to the Dzungars if only for the border gore of it all.

Orange:

With eSwatini embroiled in war, now is the chance for Mog to actually do the mogchamp move and mog all over Madagascar. Like come on Mog, please do this, I don’t want to be disappointed by you even more.

Rosay:

I would like to point out that Osage shouldn't even be doing this well. It's not like they don't deserve to rank above 40, I think their current ranking is very fair, it's just that on paper, Crow and Seneca were supposed to be relevant and they're flopping hard, which naturally elevates Osage, who everyone expected to be a jabroni. Now out of all of the civs on that side of the Mississippi, (excluding Faroe real quick they don't count) Osage is somehow number 1, eclipsing all of their eastern neighbors statistically. Now obviously there is a future reckoning in the form of Pueblo but, and I can't believe I'm saying this, Osage could somehow take out a couple of their neighbors to claw their way into a position where they don't get instantly steamrolled.

Reformer:

Nothing new to report from the heart of Europe. Everyone’s favorite castleboy is having a good time. Stats-wise, Ludwig’s strongest suit is still the military, but it’s not here to fight, it’s here to stand guard in case an angry fan tries to break into Münich. That’s why the Bavarian army has been renamed into the Bavarian Defense Forces, to represent the true purpose of the troops.

JDT:

Nothing really changes for Burgundy. The Faroes are still fruitlessly trying to make their Normandy landing in Amiens. They are still middle of the pack with everything. They’re still deadlocked with all their neighbours. All in all it's just another brick in the wall.

Orange:

Qarms drop a bit as they could not retake a city from eSwatini that is right next to their homeland. A stain upon their record. At least they got some colony stuff going on, but they need to turn that into a proper empire to be a competitor. And that, that requires them to not stupidly lose cities to eSwatini.

Cloudy:

So far Nivkh is holding onto the city they took from Ikko-Ikki without much trouble. No credible attempt to take it back has been launched. That said, Thule, Goguryeo, and Ikko-Ikki are continuing to settle new cities in their neighborhood, and they’re going to need to push a lot farther than they did to really make a dent in the regional power dynamics, which is why they remain in the bottom half despite their modest military success.

Leman:

Visigoths are frustrating. Their first Irish settled prevented them from settling a second Irish city and, more importantly, peaced out way too early against Sierra Leone, because, apparently, expanding into North Africa is a stupid idea for stupid civilizations. I guess. This leaves Visigoths as a very mediocre and uninspired civilization and their middle-of-the-road placement reflects that.

NopeCopter:

Alas, Rome’s incredible conquest of the Mamluks was not to be, as their invasion force has definitively petered out and the Mamluks look poised to push them back to the coastline. It’s sad, but Rome will have to look for other expansion opportunities from here on out. Luckily, they do have a pretty good navy, albeit not a lot of good targets to use it on. Both Royal Hungary and Sierra Leone’s North African cities are (as has been demonstrated) not exactly easy to take by sea, and we all know what happened last time the Romans fought the Visigoths. They could also potentially come back for a second round against the Mamluks later, but I’d bet on Saba-Da’amat or Pontus taking them out long before Rome thinks of that. As of right now, Rome is looking awfully like the last two Italian civs in the CBRX - not exactly a good thing - but at least they’ve shown the initiative to try and break out of the Mediterranean, so maybe they can still make something happen.

Rosay:

Look at me. Did you peace out when you were about to take a capital? Due to a diplomatic failure in peacing out just a few turns too early, Kazan has been brought back down to their pre war heights with a grand total of one, singular, new city. While this was one of the first few major blunders of the cycle, Kazan has at least built up their production base and military. Latvia, Finns, and ol Makhy are still future invasion options but failing to make the easiest possible capital flip is not a good look.

Leman:

Bora-Bora rises 9 places as they look to potentially snag a quick city capture from the swift and complete collapse of Rio Grande. Nothing’s quite set in stone, Bora-Bora hasn’t quite accomplished this, so I do think some people are overhyping Bora-Bora, but it’s undeniable that they’re doing quite a bit better than they were a few episodes ago. They’ve started settling more cities and their science stats are as strong as ever, which is definitely worth the rise.

Msurdej:  

Steps away from the oven. Okay so where are we now, Singapore? Well, ol’ Lee Kwan Yew has been doing his darndest to escape his 61st placement from Part 0, and has been doing pretty well. With middling stats, Singapore is trying to break out from the middle of the pack with a war on Dai Viet. Bac Giang continues to take damage, but it seems unlikely that the city will fall into Singapore’s hands.

ECH:Ikko Ikki continues to slide down to the halfway mark as the goodwill from their early adventures with Goguryeo against Shang fade into history and we broadly fear they’re letting the moment pass by them, not helped by Zheng showing themselves to be more of a threat than initially imagined. The crux of critiques this week has been the areas of Japan allowed to pass to rival settlers: Okinawa was settled by Zheng, depriving them a chance to assert their naval sphere of influence, and more close to home, the island of Honshu saw two new cities founded by rivals, their religious ally and ranking giant Goguryeo; and Pueblo following in the path of their CBR Californian predecessors. Hell, by the looks of the displayed slide near the end of the episode, looks like Goguryeo is going in for a second city! In the meantime, Kennyo has floundered in the senseless Nivkh war he declared, and settled a Bering Strait island instead. Their saving grace may be science, as they are set to be the second civ grabbing education, but that’s a very risky strategy as they aren’t even on the high end of science cultivation currently…

Cloudy:

Mongolia rises several ranks this week because we’re seeing some signs that they might beat some of their neighbors in a head to head matchup. Specifically, the Selkups are looking thin on the ground and Mongolia’s army is looking pretty strong. But until Sorghaghtani acts on these fundamentals, her gains will remain incompletely realized.

CelestialDalek:

Every week when I rank the PRs, there’s a section of civs that I just don’t know how to rank because I don’t know enough about them. Ecuador is always in this category. In fact, genuinely I forget they exist every week. All the civs that I know are doing poorly are ranked below them, all the civs I know are doing well are ranked above them. So it’s fitting that they are solidly in the middle, because they are doing NOTHING. I want to like them. Their colors aren’t bad, their military looks like it could get up to some shenanigans. Unfortunately they are sitting on their asses. Like go on, name one thing Ecuador has done. I think there was a slide focused on them this episode? I don’t fucking know man. They might have middling stats, is that why they’re low? They could have top-10 tier stats and I still wouldn’t notice. I know they don’t, but they could. Given how much I’ve written about them it feels like Ecuador is vaguely cognitohazardous. Send help

Reformer:

Pontus accepts a few sad, vaguely pathetic peace deals this episode. In the south, Pontus loses some largely worthless desert cities in the Arabian interior in exchange for Bandar-e-Bushehr. Not the worst deal, considering how well the Qarms were doing initially. A peace deal with Saba just about saves Trapezus, too, allowing Pontic control over northern Arabia to stick. Meanwhile in the north, the war against Royal Hungary ends in an unequivocal defeat. RH holds onto both Gyor and Gazura, leaving Amastris as Pontus’ only European holding. If it’s any consolation, the stage is set for a revanchist offensive some time in the future. RH is unlikely to suddenly become a powerhouse of either production or science, so in half a dozen parts Gazura should be easy pickings.

Cloudy:

Kazakhstan reverses last week’s losses as their military situation appears to have fully stabilized. The Selkups have no hope of pushing farther, and no other credible enemies remain. Now, they’ll need to focus on rebuilding and pumping up their science before all their useless snow cities start to drag them down. Snagging a piece of Bukhara before the Afsharids carve them up should also be a priority.

Orange:

Okay so two major things happened for Latvia this part: One was them losing most of their army, it’s just gone and Royal Hungary still has units looking to fight, and this is real bad for their southern front. And two is that the Finns founded Tiurinlinna between some Latvia cities and look like they have a bigger army too, at least in the area. These are both, uh, not great. They need to build up an army and secure their border instead of just sitting there wasting away. At least they got good tech…

JDT: Sierra Leone drops 3 after they manage to forestall the loss of Waterloo by edging out the Visigoths in a peace treaty. Ok, that's not the reason why, the reason why is increasing growth of Saba Dmt, who are actively invading Kanem Bornu, and their plateauing stats, which are very firmly middle of the pack for a top tier. The potential is there for them to solidly display themselves as the third of Africa’s big 3, but for now they need to consolidate themselves then start eyeing Kanem-Bornu before Saba swallows.

NopeCopter:

The Faroese-Sami War has ended in the least satisfying way possible, with the Faroes failing to get much further than a couple of easy coastal cities and the Ume Sami just giving away a city that they had a fairly stable hold on. With this, though, the Ume Sami are free to start rebuilding and looking in some other direction, so that their next bout with the Faroes might not go so badly. Except… where is there to go? Somehow, the Finns still don’t look like complete pushovers, and they could easily repeat their earlier success against an Ume Sami invasion. The classic “take Denmark and go invade Germany” strategy employed by Gustavus Adolphus won’t work either, because the Faroes own Denmark, and even if they didn’t, Bavaria is still an impenetrable fortress. So… Latvia? Latvia does have a few semi-exposed island cities in the Baltic Sea, but their mainland holdings would be much, much harder to take with a naval assault. It’s a tricky situation the Ume Sami have found themselves in, and while they can definitely still turn it around, they’re looking a lot more like X2 Sweden than Mk. 2 Sweden right about now.

NopeCopter:

Siam begins to drop down the ranks as it becomes clear just how stuck they really are. The invasion of Dai Viet has been a resounding failure, to the point where even Singapore has managed to deal more damage to Dai Viet’s cities. Their military has been worn down heavily, and the terrain continues to be unforgiving, so the odds of them turning things around are near-zero. What’s more, Siam’s easiest expansion routes outside of Dai Viet are looking less and less appealing - Singapore’s bizarrely competent navy continues to threaten Siam’s vulnerable coastlines, and while Dai Viet and Vijayanagara do still exist as potential targets (eventually), taking these invasion paths would put them face-to-face with Zheng and Harappa, respectively. And to top it all off, their backdoor naval squadron has been all but destroyed. Siam needs to give up on the war with Dai Viet, seriously rethink their strategy, and then strike back at one of their weaker neighbors fast, or else they could go from a respectable mid-tier power to a boxed-in no-hoper in an instant.

ECH:Last week we punished Harappa with a 5 rank drop for fumbling the naval defense of Sri Lanka in the war declared against them by a power we thought much weaker. Well, this week Went-Antu clapped back with a reminder of why we held those assumptions in the first place, gradually but firmly pushing back the Vijayanagara assaults and ending the part with Chandragiri, their rivals northernmost city and only hope to not be considered a trapped Southern Indian civ, under a firm siege. With this pivot point of the subcontinent looking to fall if current trends continue, we PR’s have apologetically risen Harappa by 8 ranks, back into the top 20 they’ve flitted in and out of the whole game. I personally think even with this likely win Harappa has a tough geopolitical scene, caught between the strong Afsharids and awkward borders with the Khoshuts and Siam, but a slow consumption of South India, beginning here, would ensure their competitiveness.

Msurdej:

Congratulations Zheng, you did it! You made it into the top 20! It’s taken some amount of work, but with the capture of Ubon Ratchathani, and the failures of civs like the Siam and Sierra Leone, Koxinga has gotten into the top 20. And by the promise I made in Episode 2 of the Power Rankings, it is time for a pizza party. Enjoy it Zheng, you earned it.

Rosay:

Mexico seems all but certain to gain a foothold in the Eastern United states, which would make a great jumping off point for future expansion. The main point against Mexico right now is that they have nowhere easy to expand between Pueblo being a legitimate threat, and Ecuador having impossible to invade geography, but Florida and the Seneca (and Osage to a lesser extent) are all valid Mexican targets. Basically Mexico getting footholds on the east coast would be like introducing an invasive species to an island where all the natural inhabitants were slacking.

Emu:

Noongar is at this point the typical uninteresting Aussie power. They're not as interesting as Wahgi or Palawa, they just..... have a bunch of land. They could definitely make something of it, but so far I'm not really impressed. They're at war with Mag, but so is everyone else. Maybe they win the continent, maybe they don't. It's Western Australia. They're fine.

NopeCopter:

The Dzungars do gain a rank this episode, but make no mistake, it’s only because of entirely unrelated factors. Our outlook on the Dzungars remains about the same, because really, they didn’t do much last episode - sure, they’ve failed to make a dent in Bukhara, but we already expected that. The Afsharid invasion of Bukhara is tough to call, and if it fails then the Dzungars could potentially see some bigger gains in Central Asia eventually, but even if the Afsharids take it all there’s still Mongolia to go after. Being boxed in so hard by Shang and maybe three separate mountain ranges does still suck, though. (Oh, but they may want to work on that tech deficit - not having researched Writing at this point is just sad.)

Cloudy:

All eyes are on the Afsharids as they begin to push into Bukhara, rebuffing an early Bukharan attempt to take Tehran. Bukhara’s capital and second city both look vulnerable, but it remains to be seen whether Nader Shah can put his military genius on display, or whether he’ll fail to make progress due to splitting his forces. There’s no question that the Afsharids have the resources to beat Bukhara—but do they have the competence? If the next episode shows that they do, then expect a big rise.

Emu:

The Dong may have lost their pole position in Africa with the rise of various powers up north, but not only are they still a reasonable contender in that direction, they absolutely smash anyone to the south. The stats are there too; they're still narrowly ahead of Saba, and everyone else on the continent is far, far behind. I would recommend doing literally anything. [Editor’s note: Except losing a city to Eswatini, don’t do tha—oh shit.]

Leman:

Saba-D’mt slides a little, but still maintains their perch at the top of the African continent. They’re stalling against Kanem-Bornu and that’s not really a great look, but they’ve been quietly pumping up their stats. Those stats, however, aren’t really stellar. They’re good, but in some ways they’re still digging themselves out of the hole they dug themselves into way back in part 2. Still, Saba is a very strong civ with a lot of options and avenues for future growth.

Cloudy:

There’s not much new for Palawa this week. We didn’t really see them on screen and the narrator never mentioned them. Good stats though. They chillin’ I guess.

Msurdej:  

Our favorite fishing boys and girls take a tumble this week as war takes one of their cities. Ishtan fell to Goguryeo, and Varsed could fall next. But this is due in part to Vonya’s reluctance to create a larger army. Their army lags behind nations like Zheng and Bavaria. If a civ like the Dzungars decided to capitalize on this weakness, then it could end badly for the Selkups.

Leman:

Yellowknives are in an interesting spot. They have fantastic stats, a solid city count, and built a powerful wonder this episode, but, awkwardly are not the strongest, or even second-strongest civ on their continent. Pueblo and Thule are two monstrous neighbors that pose a serious threat to Yellowknives despite their prowess. That being said, the Yellowknives do have a lot of potential. There’s a decent amount of room left to settle, a bunch of weird exclaves to gobble up, and Crow, a civ Yellowknives could kill off at any moment. And when they do, all of the weak North American plains civs are open, like Osage, Shawnee, and Seneca. Basically, I think there’s a bright future ahead for Yellowknives.

Orange:

Rip Mag, I think that’s all there is to it. The Wahgi stopped expanding settling wise, but they look to make up for it by dealing a devastating blow to Maguindanao. Though of course their real good stats are a bit diminished by their main rivals in Australia also having real good stats…

Nathanmasse:

Shang is in a bit of an awkward position.  They did well to fend off the invasions of Goguryeo and Ikko-Ikki but now seem to be resting on their laurels.  There is little opportunity to expand at the moment as their military is outclassed by both Gogu and Zheng and spread widely across their empire.  Even Mongolia may present a threat to their eastern cities if they move quickly enough.

Or is Daji simply biding her time?  Even with the loss of Yanshi, she controls a respectable 14 cities.  Having just completed Civil Service, her military should expand rapidly and possesses a powerful counter Gogu’s unique horseman.  Every extra turn gives Shang the chance to improve their core and connect their dispersed cities in southwest China.  In any case, they are a far cry from their initial ranking in the high 40s and are not likely to return there any time soon.

Nathanmasse:

There was no movement for the Thule this week and they may have risen as far as they can without taking a more aggressive approach.  They are a civ ripe with potential but seem to have little inclination to act upon it yet.  Their military and production stats are great.  Their eastern colonies are a bit isolated and exposed but, without any real enemies, remain secure for now.  Meanwhile, they’ve expanded onto the islands of the Bering Sea which may pose a threat to the Nivkh or even Ikko-Ikki.  For now though they slumber on in the polar night of the far north.

Reformer:

Despite New Holland finally picking themselves up by the bootstraps and actually damaging the Rio Grande capital, they fall back to 5th, after a brief two-episode stint up higher. Stats-wise, there’s nothing special happening, just the usual shuffling. The actual difference in raw rank between NH and Tiwanaku is tiny, so it stands to reason that this is just your usual, run of the mill fluctuation. It is rarer to see it like this in the top 10, but it does happen, especially now with a few more active rankers. Enough of meta stuff, though. With the fall of Piratini, NH will be one of the main benefactors of the Rio Grande collapse - but, unfortunately for NH, Tiwanaku will be the other main benefactor. Funny enough, NH would ultimately prefer Bora-Bora to snag a city from under Tiwanaku’s nose. The two giants remain quite equal statistically, and it’s hard to imagine a war between the two ending in anything other than a stalemate. It’ll be all about who can keep growing efficiently before the showdown in the jungle like 20 parts from now. See you then!

Arilasqueto:The Tiwadozer starts rolling down into the Pampas as they take Alegrete and show no signs of stopping. If Rio Grande has any presence in South America by the end of next episode I'll be very surprised. Cacapava do Sul looks like a safe grab, and Tiwanaku getting an Atlantic port would be great for their naval prospects once frigates come into play. The capital could go either way - New Holland also has a pretty good shot at capturing it too. It's not that unlikely that Tiwanaku walks away with both cities though.

Reformer:

Highlight of the part for Pueblo was settling Japan (haha imagine the Japanese civ settling their home islands, now stop imagining and weep). Realistically speaking, that city is probably not staying in Puebloan hands, but stranger things have happened. Back at home, Pueblo continues wasting units in the Mexican meat grinder. Doesn’t seem to matter much though, as Pueblo climbs (back) up to 2nd in stats. Puebloan stats are chugging strongly along - though science could use a boost. Once they stop obsessing over Mexico, their other neighbors ought to be worried.

Shaggy:

And leading the non-Faroe civs this week is Goguryeo. I think they like cities, I really do. Settles on Sakhalin and the northern tip of Honshu along with the slow consumption of northern Selkup cities this part is a nice expansive trend. Their stats aren’t too shabby either. As a Selkup fan, I am a bit disappointed in Gogurt’s choice of target but as a PR they are making one hell of a case for Asian dominance!

ECH:Well, here we are again… but notice anything different? A little number in the top right, labeled ‘Deviation’? Yes, the top dog Islanders have been #1 since Episode 4 and undisputed in that regard since Episode 6 with no PR’s contesting that… until today, as two PR’s drop them, one to #2 and one to #3. As it happens, I am one of those doubters, placing Pueblo above them. So what gives? Looking at the stats, they’re still number one in just about every essential area except military, and even then are 6th place there. Highest amount of cities, tech leader, just won a war… the argument for keeping them first is certainly fair. However, more and more PR’s are looking at their momentum compared to other frontrunner civs, and feel their pace is slacking a little. Their production lead has kept dropping each part, and now lies just 28 hammers above Pueblo (although it’s worth noting they’ve yet to pick up Metal Casting for workshops) and their science lead was only reclaimed from Wahgi when they grabbed Education for universities, which others are approaching too. More than anything for me, I have my concerns about their approaches to the game: workboats over units; passivity over aggression; and happiness already stretched before any major conquests. Now, I could see myself raising them up to first again, especially if they finally grab Compass, upgrade their fleet and expand it significantly, but simply put, a civ that has had the advantage for so long should have achieved so much more in an active sense since being made #1 7 parts ago.