Power Rankings: Episode 12 – S4

Nathanmasse:

Rio Grande hits an all-time low to 61st this week after being kicked off the mainland.  New Holland doesn't seem satisfied however and has sent a fleet to finish off their south atlantic colonies.  The only thing going for Rio now is the dire situation the Shawnee find themselves in.

Msurdej:  Well would you look at that! Shawnee managed to take a second city. Yes, with the incompetence of Seneca, and the inability of Mexico to defend the city, Tecumseh managed to grab Genundowa practically scott free. Unfortunately, they get no breaks as the Osage declare war on them, hoping to bring them down, perhaps for good. What will happen now depends on how well the Shawnee can defend themselves.

Shaggysnorlax:

Rozvi? More like Rumpzvi. Ndongo has more manpower in Kabasa than Rozvi has overall. Sad.

NopeCopter:Florida manages to survive the Taino “““onslaught””” unscathed, and is free to continue existing as a two-city rump state that’s only remotely safe because of the sheer incompetence of their neighbors. But wait, what’s this? It seems somebody new has just moved into the neighborhood. It’s Mexico, and while they don’t exactly share the longest border with Florida, it’s more than enough to pick up Fernandina if the two were to come to blows. Still, because the Three Stooges beneath them are looking more precarious than ever, Florida retains a prestigious 58th rank - and with more and more civs joining the race to the bottom, their stocks can only go up from here… right?

Orange:

Well, they had a chance to stop their demise, and it didn’t work out. Shajar couldn’t retake Mansoura despite it only having a couple units. And now K-B is walking right into the middle of their lands. The best Shajar can hope for right now is that they fall into the classic trap of splitting their troops, a lot. Yeah… It’s not looking good.

NopeCopter:

Now that peace has been secured with Makhnovia, the Kalmyks are finally at peace once more. Unfortunately, that doesn’t change the fact that there is nowhere for them to go from here - it’s a dead end. Kazan, Kazakhstan, and even Makhnovia to the north are just too strong to break, and Pontus and the Afsharids to the south are even worse. Oh, and they’re going broke, too. The best hope for the Kalmyks is to take Elista (which they settled in the first place) off of Bukhara, but when the single best move you could make is taking one city with no real hope beyond that, you know things are rough. At least the terrain of the Caucasus would make it hard for a single civ to kill them off for a while, so they’ll probably survive at least one more war.

Orange:

Wahgi trireme count: 17Zheng trireme count: 6

Noongar trireme count: 7

Maguindanao trireme count: 0

Maguindanao ranged unit count: 5 (1 archer, 1 composite bowman, 3 catapults)

Cloudy:

We haven’t dropped the Alaouites any lower this week because other civs look like they’ll die first, but make no mistake, they’re in trouble. Sierra Leone is back on the offensive with a new war declaration, and there’s a real chance that they’ll recapture Kenema, which Ismail previously expended countless units trying to take. The Alaouites’ other cities don’t look vulnerable, but when you only have four, potentially losing one of them is a big deal. We might drop them some more if it actually happens.

Nathanmasse:

Bukhara slid in the ranks this week but was prevented from falling further thanks to a timely peace treaty with the Afsharids.  They should now be relatively safe in holding back the Dzungars but Elista is completely cut off from the rest of their empire, making it easy pickings for anyone choosing to take it -- even the Kalmyks.

Reformer:

North America was one of the centres of action and chaos this part, but Crow was outside of said action. They haven’t really improved in any way, and are indeed still incredibly bankrupt, they just went up two spots because Bukhara and Maguindanao went down. That’s all for the Crow Report!

Shaggysnorlax:

Apparently the heat wave hitting much of the eastern and southern parts of the US is also affecting the cylinder as Seneca can't handle the heat and decides to completely abandon the South. Losing Kanawagas wasn't enough for Cornplanter, Genundowa also had to be abandoned apparently. Oof. Unfortunately for Seneca, this season's Lords of the North, the Faroes, didn't take kindly to this new poleward focus and have decided to swing their weight around in Seneca's general direction. Only 2 of Seneca's cities are likely to be threatened by Faroe triremes (and Chenussio only has 1 coast tile to attack from), but at this point that is half of their empire. Luckily for Seneca, the Faroes only have a ceremonial land army on this continent so their capital is safe... for now.

Nathanmasse:

The Finns continue to sit idly by, watching the counter creep up.  They have likely missed their last good chance to become relevant by not jumping on the Latvia bandwagon with Royal Hungary.  As it stands now, they share Ume-Sami's religion so they're in no danger of dying but not likely to do much of anything else either.

Msurdej:

Well Maria didn’t have a notable part. Mentioned zero times during the episode, Maria mostly watched Rio Grande get torn apart. But it’s only a matter of time until someone like Tiwanaku, New Holland, or even Bora-Bora decide to come for them. And with some of the lowest production per city in the cylinder, a war doesn’t look good for the Tehuelche.

Reformer:

Eswatini! Eswatini! Eswatini! If they can’t do it, no one can! Okay, enough of my side gig as a cheerleader, let’s talk business. Eswatini has quite sadly FAILED to score on the open goal of Malkerns. Disappointing, but maybe, realistically speaking, I should’ve seen it coming. I probably let my side gig affect my emotions too much there. But on the other hand, they’re holding onto Nhlagano just fine. That’s something they can accomplish! Let’s all give a big round of applause for Eswatini!

Msurdej:

Cornplanter’s failure is the only reason Royal Hungary is gaining a rank. They completely failed to take Liepaja and Komarom from Latvia, leaving them stuck at five cities. Had they pushed harder, they may have taken the city, but left themselves open to counterattacks by Bavaria or other civs. With poor stats overall, it’s not looking good for Elizabeth’s chances.

Leman:

While we’re all focusing on Maguindanao’s spectacular collapse, Dai Viet is quietly crumbling as well. Singapore hasn’t been able to capture any of Dai Viet’s cities but they’ve been inflicting massive economic damage. Dai Viet’s coastal cities, specifically Bac Giang, are all starving leaving Dai Viet’s overall population stagnant (after having decreased last episode). All of Dai Viet’s production gains last episode (which were modest) have vanished, perhaps due to a golden age finishing. Their production score is truly horrendous now, lower than civs like Finns and Alaouites. Furthermore, Dai Viet has failed to finish researching Steel for several episodes now. Honestly, they’re like one city flip away from becoming a permanent bottom-ten power.

Cloudy:

It’s still not clear where Makhnovia goes from here. They have some weak neighbors like Hungary and the Kalmyks but they’ve fought those civs before and gained nothing. Maybe they can wait for Latvia to become vulnerable again? Team up with the Finns? Well I guess we can dream.

Reformer:

Taino finally made peace with Florida this ep. The war went on for 51 turns, so five episodes. For a war where Taino flipped one city in the first 10 turns, that’s rather awful. But hey, look at the positives: it’s over now! Fresh off the peace deal, Taino settlers are adventuring far off to the frigid north, seeing as Mexico has claimed all that remained of the Caribbean while Taino was busy sacrificing units at the altar of Florida. Then there’s the war with Seneca. Unlikely to be relevant, other than for the settlers streaming northward, for whom the war probably means death. They’re on 10% health already anyway. But on the plus side, it does make Taino a friend of the Faroes, the likely winner of North America!

Shaggysnorlax:

No Scandinavian settles for you, England. You snooze you lose. And you've been doing quite a bit of snoozing.

ECH:The Khoshuts did nothing this part but lost two ranks due to churn. Their sporadic mentions this week reminded me how annoying it is that they founded a religion and have done squat with it, or anything else they’ve built.

No, I won’t dignify the current Khoshuts with wholly original content. Try harder.

Leman:

Bavaria’s strategy of playing tall in Central Europe is still as mediocre as ever, and they didn’t do anything this episode to fix that.

Rosay:

Vijayanagara cashed in its “get out of death” free card and made it out of their war with Harappa outright gaining territory from them, and embarrassing them in the process. This hasn’t solved the main issue that has faced them since the beginning however, that being their inability to expand, though the new islands have made a lot more places options as soon as they can pass the deep ocean. eSwatini is definitely a viable option for one, but the Qarmatians are closer and could be an easier target. They still have to worry about their stronger neighbors blocking their land expansion, but as of now Vija is looking better than they ever had before

ECH:Kanem-Bornu is ranked 39th. Saba-D’mt is ranked 12th. The eagle-eyed may have taken note that that’s a good, substantial divide; over half the total civs away from each other in terms of judged ability to perform in the CBR, one way or another. You may have also noted these two are neighbors, with some areas of rough terrain but also plenty of flat Sahara to enter from. Saba-D’mt have a grand carpet and even a more advanced unit over their war rival with swordsmen… … … and yet, Kanem-Bornu remains virtually untouched, and even so secure they can take a good contingent of their forces for a jolly to harass the Mamluks and save Roman Africa in the process! Putting aside all that says about Makeda; it certainly builds an image for Kanem-Bornu! Their jump up two ranks is potentially just noise, but it may also be this perception, or maybe people wondering if their defensive UA - where cities connected to the capital zap invaders with damage based on their faith output - is even stronger than thought, given this bizarre state of affairs.

Shaggysnorlax:

The stagnation callout in this episode for Mogadishu has been a long time coming. I so want them to do... anything. But alas, settling Madagascar seems to be the most interesting thing we can expect out of Mogadishu anytime soon. Maybe they'll capture Hluti this century.

Msurdej:

Burgundy continues to hold out against the Faroe Islands invasion of Amiens, but such survival will only take Charles so far. While he is treading water, the Faroe Islands are continuing to make other moves, not giving their all to the attack on Burgundy. Meanwhile, Charles is limited to either attacking countries with similar or greater power, making any attack a foolhardy venture.

Reformer:

Quiet part for the Qarmatians too. Rebuilding their troops to beat up yet another neighbor, I’m sure. Except this time it’d probably have to be a repeat against Pontus. Theoretically they could try to beat up Afsharids again, or turn on their friends in Saba, but both are definitely rougher options. Well, with Afsharids you have the bonus that they just spent a good swathe of their army taking a city from Bukhara, so stabbing them while they’re weak would be unreasonable. Still, I’d definitely sooner encourage going for Pontus.

Nathanmasse:

In an unfortunate turn of events for the Shawnee, Osage now seems poised to deliver the first elimination of the game.  Composite Bowmen and (soon) their unique pikemen replacement, O-Don Guard, should make quick work of Shawnee's archers and spearmen.  There’s some debate as to whether they can pull it off but I think they’ll manage.

Nathanmasse:

Another fruitless episode for the Nivkh despite an apparent supremacy in naval units.  They are running out of options with Goguryeo and Thule growing ever larger and stronger.  If they can’t make progress against Ikko-Ikki then where do they go from here?

Orange:

The Visigoths are ranked 23rd on the stats sheet, I put em the lowest at 46. Why? Because they don’t got the vibes. I don’t know how to explain it well, but they just don’t got the vibes. They are trapped in Iberia, have struggled to attack any of their neighbors, and have therefore done basically nothing this game. Sure their stats are good but what can they do with them? I wouldn’t even trust them to attack the Alaouites, and they’re the Alaouites!

NopeCopter:After a very dismal episode last week, Rome’s fortunes have seemingly turned around once again as their inland African presence is saved by the intervention of fellow scrappy underdog Kanem-Bornu. Now, not only does Rome look likely to keep Mansoura, but there’s even the possibility of another push alongside their new friends! The odds of Rome actually taking (let alone holding) any Mamluk cities still doesn’t look too good, mind you, but even just keeping Mansoura is a big deal for Rome’s future prospects, being an important jumping-off point for a potential future second invasion of the Mamluks or even an attack on Kanem-Bornu.Oh, and Rome went to war with the Alaouites, too. It’s probably not going to end in anything good for them, but at least it keeps Sierra Leone busy until Rome can hopefully upgrade to Carracks and take those Maghrebi cities off them… right?

ECH:This is my third PR (of three total), so I feel a bit depleted of original insight yet also somewhat expert on the issues facing Ikko Ikki by now, as they drop once more, 8 ranks down in 3 parts. Really, they have a relationship with Goguyeo verging on the parasitic, it’s become apparent. Their high point was the war with Shang fighting alongside Goguryeo (where they should have taken Anyang); their religious alliance with Goguryeo seems to keep them together so far, and now their empires are ever more intertwined as what seems to be the last spot to have a city on Japan’s islands is taken (one could argue Kennyo started this with the South Korean city, but uhhh… big difference IMO). As I’ve noted before, their major individual bright spot in the past was science, and they’re researching Education for those precious universities, but even then their current effective science rate of 125 isn’t actually that golden anymore. They need to find a way out of this slide, sooner rather than later, before their ally decides they’re a leech.

Reformer:

Did you know! That Singapore! Is still sieging! The inland city of Bac Giang! With mostly boats!

Other than that, Singapore took a noticeable fall in the stats this episode. We expect this might be just incidental fluctuation, so we’re not dropping them for it immediately. But in case it is a more permanent state of affairs, I’ve broken out the champagne in preparation. Look forward to it next episode!

Shaggysnorlax:

Kazan rises two ranks this part, one for each citadel they used to annex Kalmyk territory. Otherwise they continue to be more boring than I'd wish and remain hovering around the middle of the pack.

Nathanmasse:

Harappa had Chandragiri in the bag but decided they didn’t really want it I guess.  They ended up losing one city in this war and are now hemmed in on all sides by stronger civs or impassable terrain.  They’re still at war with Eswatini so there is the possibility of further conquest of their island cities but I’m not holding my breath.

Msurdej:  Zero mentions of Ecuador. Zero shots of Ecuador. Zero love for Ecuador.

Reformer:

Mongolia is still unimpressive and awfully peaceful. If you’re going to turtle, at least do it well. Sitting on your hands the whole game and then barely making the top half in effective science is just embarrassing. Please leave.

Cloudy:

Since their bloody defeats two episodes ago, Pontus has been recovering nicely, with a large army again carpeting their lands, including both of their unique units. They’re still in their prime fighting period with both their UUs on the field, including their unique pikeman which has the ability to create more copies of its other UU when capturing civilian units. Hopefully we’ll see Pontus turn these new forces against someone in a concerted manner—because they’ll need to do that if they want to end up more like Turkey and less like Palmyra.

Rosay:

Zheng is kinda underperforming in the Maguindanao coalition right now, which is a real shame because they were really starting to show that they are a serious civ, and it’s not like they still can’t, but the path of least resistance is looking less viable by the turn. I still contend that they should be focusing on Dai Vet instead where they would at least take the northernmost cities with minimal issue, but I digress. They are definitely outperforming expectations though so good job you guys.

Leman:

Siam is a fairly controversial civ, with one of the largest deviations this episode. They got a lot of press for their strong faith output, and also have solid science and culture stats. On the other hand, they’re only fine in more important stats like production and military. They do have some opportunities to grab land and pump up those stats, but until they capitalize on those opportunities, Siam will rest here in the middle of the pack.

ECH:The definitive winner of Episode 12, with an 8 rank leap while its closest rivals gained 3 (and for the record, only beaten in overall movement by Harappa’s fall), is Bora-bloody-Bora! With the capture of Piratini, the first leader to hold a capital for more than one flip is Puni, and they have been rewarded. Why such a drastic rise though? Well, for certain part of it may be just that us rankers are a rather precious and excitable species, prone to unempirical bouts of emotions that cloud our judgment on occasion, especially in the midst of that most desirable high known as ‘hype’. I am willing to bet already that next part, even if they simply have a chill part building up forces and settling a city or two, they’ll drop a rank or two and the hype fades. However, there are justifiable reasons to feel good about them now that should keep them in the lower 20s at worst, save a disaster. They have expanded their South American holdings by one, and shown a level of military commitment to the continent some may have doubted before. In fact, personality may be a huge factor in general; Bora Bora have shown this part they have displayed a certain level of drive and competence one hopes to see in a CBR civ, between their pumping out of settlers and the military campaign. They certainly seem to be less content to doze away the game on their tropical paradise than say, Hawaii did. Furthermore, slides of their capital have shown a fully upgraded carrack armada, and some have speculated on how much the Bora Bora bois could take should they plow into the unguarded rear of Wahgi (ooo la la). Finally, as this is going long, their stats are generally in the green, save low production many island hopper civs have. Their effective science even surpasses Pueblo by one unit, although that may be an issue for Pueblo more than a BB point of praise. Whatever the case, I’m rooting hard for these Pacific underdogs!

Reformer:

Kazakhstan makes peace with Selkups this episode, finally ending the coalition wars that threatened Kazakhstan’s borders for eons. Considering the fact that they fought all four of their neighbors at once at one point, they came out pretty fucking well. Kazan did flip Taraz, but Kazakhstan managed to keep the city. Bukhara looked competent for a while, threatening Kazakhstani cities, but Kazakhstan managed to turn that war around and take Herat from Bukhara. Dzungars…well, they didn’t do much, but they were still a distraction that hypothetically could’ve attacked the Kazakhstani capital at any time. Selkups were the most stubborn of the coalition, keeping up the fight long after the rest of the coalition had given up. And it was also against Selkups that Kazakhstan had the only decisive defeat. Selkups came out of the war with Aktobe. Now, it is finally time for peace and rebuilding. But massive coalition wars often leave a permanent mark on their targets - there is seldom full recovery on the horizon. Kazakhstan’s stats, though okay, are certainly weaker than they were before the war, and Kazakhstan remains squeezed between potent powers. Except for Bukhara, of course, who had the Afsharids break through and take Samarkand. Rising back to where they used to be will be exceptionally difficult for Kazakhstan from here, despite the impressive defense.

Orange:

Well, they are back out of any wars, maybe this will give them the chance to build up a bit. Honestly, the fact that they came out on top of the Royal Hungary war is kinda crazy of them, like, Komaron was so hard to defend but Royal Hungary focused on Liepaja and even then they barely held on. If Bathory had pushed just a bit further than Latvia would’ve been split in two. Though, with this war somehow being a success that doesn’t necessarily put Latvia in the best position, somehow the Finns got a nice settle in and has more units around in the north, but now Latvia will probably be able to defend if the Finns do make a move with their slight current advantage. But at the same time, it would be really funny if the Finns did somehow attack and have their attack work out.

ECH:Sierra Leone has been bouncing just in and out of the top 20 for 4 Rankings™ now, perhaps an indicator of the assumptions and discourse ongoing among us when it comes to their rightful place. It seems clear to all now that Sierra Leone will be the winner of West Africa; with this newly declared war likely to confine the Alaouites to the Atlas Range. Their other rival for the West African Champion title, Kanem-Bornu, looks even more vulnerable from Peter’s front, should he finish up this new war and prepare a bit. However, I suspect a lingering question hangs in the ranks of all us rankers, often unspoken: so what? West Africa is historically not a strong region in the CBR, and there exists a certain fragility around Sierra Leone with its thin snaking city-lines and isolated settlements, plus its lack of carpet. They need to find a way to transfer their strength into openings elsewhere, and right now there exists doubt they have the momentum or ingenuity for that…

Rosay:

Sami is still recovering from their shellacking from the Faroe (stay strong Sami) and her stats have now reached the point where she can now build an empire of her own, mostly likely starting with the Finns then maybe later Latvia. Sami still doesn’t have any great options after the Finns, Latvia is now at peace and Bavaria is kinda tricky to get into, but this could be the start of a new era (that being in that Sami has a radical shift in success, not Sami advancing in the tech tree).

Rosay:

You know what, I’m about to say it: the Dzungars are the single most underrated civ this entire cycle. From what we have seen, the Dzungars’ army is absolutely cracked and from the little action we have seen from them, they can do the impossible and ACTUALLY NAVIGATE MOUNTAINS AND WIN A CITY which is nice. Dzungar also seemingly have strike forces ready to exploit a battered Kazakhstan, and embarrassed Selkups, and a gasping for air Bukhara. Yes their tech is awful right now, but who cares when your only outright threat is preoccupied on every other front (Shang) and they have to navigate the mountains that you actually know how to use. Overall, Dzungar is in a great place but they really need to get their tech issue checked out.

Msurdej: The Noongar may not have gained a rank this part, but they did get a city off the Maguin-dogpile. Now with Tamontaka in their grasp, Yagan has taken to sending ships to harry Maguindanao and trying to take T’bok. While the latter still has taken no damage, the distraction may prove fruitful in the downfall of Maguindanao. Until then, Noongar can also work towards gathering up more island cities and building up their power.

Shaggysnorlax:

It is definitely not a good look for a top 15 civ to likely lose a city to fucking Eswatini of all civs. Granted, Rozvi is certainly doing their part for Eswatini by making it very difficult for reinforcements from Cambambe to get to Malkerns. And don't expect any naval support from Kabasa, there is only one trireme in the area and it is currently occupied with units around Nhlagano. There is a strong potential for Ndongo to lose Malkerns without capturing Nhlagano. Maybe they'll swindle Eswatini in a peace deal or something.

NopeCopter:As the only Mexico doubter left on the PR team, it’s only natural that I get to talk about them now. It’s not hard to see why people are only getting more excited about the green giant’s prospects - their UA, coupled with a sudden pivot toward military production, has catapulted their military score into FIRST PLACE (without factoring in Gold), and by taking Kanawagas, they’ve seemingly broken out of the cage that is their geography and opened up several new conquest opportunities - like an invasive species introduced to a specialized island ecosystem, Mexico could eat Florida or the Seneca for breakfast.

That said, things aren’t all sunshine and rainbows for Maximilian. The geography issue is still very, very real - breaking through the Pueblo, with their military stats and the nigh-impenetrable geography, is basically impossible for the foreseeable future, especially without any other land neighbor to the north. Ecuador to the south is probably even more impossible to break, with only Panama as a land border and not a single coastal city to attack from the Caribbean (and their little beach-head on South America isn’t going to be too much help against a civ that’s actually reasonably tough). New Holland has coastal cities, but they also have one of the scariest fleets on the cylinder. And sure, taking Kanawagas provides a nice jumping-off point for a new power base on the eastern seaboard, but you know who else is doing that? The Faroes, who are currently at war with the Seneca. In fact, the Osage are looking to bulk up, too.

It’s definitely not an unwinnable position Mexico’s in right now, in fact it’s probably the best position they could hope for, but I’d wait until the outcome of Faroes v. Seneca and Osage v. Shawnee before really calling Mexico’s odds good. (Oh, and it would help if Mexico would actually invade the Taino before New Holland could give it another try.)

NopeCopter:After an embarrassing start to the war last episode, the Afsharids manage to save some face by turning things around in Bukhara and capturing Samarkand… only to make peace right afterward despite a straight shot at Bukhara itself. While this might seem absolutely pathetic in a vacuum (and it still kind of is, don’t get me wrong), it’s not actually that bad of a move - the vast majority of Bukhara’s holdings are still free captures for whenever the Afsharids come back, because the Dzungars are incapable of taking cities and Kazakhstan would honestly probably lose to the Afsharids even if they took a bite out of Bukhara first. In the meantime, the Afsharids could pretty easily go for revenge against the Qarmatians (if they dare…), or they could instead look east and strike at the thoroughly exhausted Harappa. Or they could just keep sitting on their excellent Production stat until they can roll over whoever they feel like, I guess. By failing to take Bukhara, they’ve at least avoided a massive diplo penalty that might’ve triggered a coalition war against them.

Nathanmasse:

Not much action from Saba-D'mt this week.  They're still at war with Kanem-Bornu but show little interest in actually prosecuting the war.  They would be better off attacking the Mamluks who are stretched to the breaking point holding back Rome and Kanem-Bornu.  Even still, every turn that passes brings them closer to another Golden Age which should springboard them into the Renaissance and beyond.

Rosay:

Palawa is in a tricky situation as Noongar is really beginning to rise up as of late and Wahgi is.. well Wahgi is trying and failing, but at least they are improving. They can still act but they need to act now while both of their main rivals are distracted, because if they don't try to take action now while Noongar is distracted, Palawa will essentially be out of the running for best oceania civ.

Cloudy:

Nothing has changed for the Yellowknives—they still have decent stats and could be in an excellent position if they take out the bankrupt, stagnating Crow, followed by the other weaklings of eastern North America. And they still have to beware the might Pueblo and Thule who surround them on two sides. But all of that has been said before. For now they remain unproven.

Reformer:

Noteworthy episode for Selkups! First, a long-awaited peace with Kazakhstan - sure, Selkups got a city out of the war, but it dragged on waayyyy too long. Massive drain of resources. Well. Could’ve been worse. Both sides spent pretty significant portions of the war committing nothing to the war. But the point stands. In the meantime, they are very, very slowly bleeding snow cities to Gogureyo. Which is pretty insignificant. Especially considering the pace of things here. Gogureyo so far has captured one whole city despite the non-existent defenders. Varsed will almost certainly also fall, but after that Gogureyo will find that a wall of Mongolian cities are in the way, so further progress will be impossible. Stats-wise, Selkups are still doing great!

Orange:

Following what I said in the Maguindanao slide, the Wahgi have like, a lot more ships than Mag does, especially since Mag has none. With the lack of ranged units and Zheng not having even half the boats the Wahgi have, there’s also a solid chance they can snipe Kuta Watu, and really just get the largest piece of the pie here. Though, for now, they still have gotten nothing, and really, if Bora-Bora attacked right this moment, they’d be rolled over in just a few turns. Wahgi’s gonna need compass soon before they get attacked, but as long as they don’t get attacked then they are gonna stay up at the top.

Reformer:

Shang is just vibing this part. They shuffled up to 2nd in stats this part thanks to the aforementioned vibing (also known as turtling, or perhaps simcitying, pick your poison really). The difference from 2nd to 5th in stats is still miniscule, so realistically, not a big deal. But at least it looks nice on the résumé. I’d seriously suggest glancing at the mostly undefended Gogureyo core right about now though. Most of the Gogureyo troops are fighting up north. Alternatively, I’m sure beating up Mongolia again would be a lot of fun.

Leman:

Thule is kind of a monster. Their military is huge. Their production is top tier, outpacing Pueblo and even, for one or two turns, beating out Faroes. They’ve got solid science and a top tier military and 17 total cities scattered across the Canadian arctic. On paper, Thule is really hard to beat.

However, in practice, there are some cracks in the ice. A decent chunk of Thule’s cities are not defensible, and easily picked off, which makes them seem a little better on paper than they are going to perform in practice. More importantly, Thule has nowhere to really point all those stats. Thule effectively has two neighbors. Nivkh, across the water, making invasion difficult, but not impossible, and fellow-top ten, North American superpower Yellowknives, which would probably just be a meatgrinder. Without any real expansion opportunities, a lot of us predict that Thule will be overtaken by civs that can conquer.

Reformer:

Right near the beginning of the episode, Tiwanaku feels content with the one city they grabbed from Rio Grande, and makes peace. It certainly didn’t save Rio Grande’s core, and Tiwanaku still got what they wanted, so a win for Tiwanaku altogether. And very importantly, New Holland only got one city (so far) of the ordeal, so no reason to be too worried about NH at this time. NH’s naval focus also bodes well for Tiwanaku. Achieving superiority on land would be all Tiwanaku needs to cripple NH in a future war - NH’s ability to flip the coast back with ships would be meaningless, as by that point the cities would be devastated to the point where NH could no longer realistically challenge Tiwanaku. Thus I do personally prefer Tiwanaku’s positioning.

Reformer:

The top…six, I want to say? keep shuffling. Well, top six, sans the Faroes, of course. Regardless, New Holland is doing well in the war against Rio Grande, as one could expect. Unfortunately for our Dutch contender, who for a moment looked like they’d grab two of the core Rio Grande cities, had Bora-Bora sneak in and take the Rio Grande capital. NH still ended up with Caçapava do Sul, which is something. The city is disconnected from the NH core by land, but it is coastal, so it’ll still easily participate towards the NH navy in the future. NH’s dominance in the south demands that they take Rio Grande’s Antarctic islands too, though, and it’s difficult to say if they’ll manage such a feat with mere triremes. All the same, the war was important in one key way: keeping up with Tiwanaku, the actual contender on the continent. As far as NH keeps up, it might end up being Tiwanaku that slips and lets NH pull ahead. For now we remain in stalemate territory.

ECH:Holding at third, and the only member of our current top five happily remiss of any conflict, are the Pueblo. Peacing out from the war with Mexico was presumably for the best, given outside of the minor victory of capturing Santa Fe things seemed a slog, even with their neat Comp Bowman UU. Now they have time to build up further, already plugging one hole in their empire with a city, or perhaps, as many of us have speculated on, turning to their weaker variety of neighbor. The Osage attack on Shawnee has become the main theoretical attraction here: if Pueblo could flip Mo-he-ag-gra in the past, they can certainly take it now. But even if they don’t, that’s arguably fine: the Pueblo are the antithesis of all those low-ranking civs we tell you each week need to make a big move immediately or lose. They could happily sit aside for a few parts and likely still be top 10, IMO. The singular Achilles Heel I feel is worth pointing out is their effective science rate of 121. Not bad, per say, 22nd of 61… but 22nd feels far from their 3rd place rank, especially when 8 civs are grabbing or already grabbed Education by this point. That’s a long-term issue however, fitting for a civ with time on its side.

Leman:

Goguryeo retains their silver medal this week, with their situation remaining mostly the same. Their stats have always been fantastic, with the exception of their science score. This week, however, Goguryeo really improved that. They’ve skyrocketed to number three in effective science and looked poised to join the rest of the pack. Look what finally picking up Writing 100 turns into a civ game does.

Cloudy:

The Faroe Islands’ number one position remains nearly unanimous, except for one ranker who boldly placed them third, and the lack of defections is because the Faroes appear likely to cement their control of Quebec. Their declaration of war against the Seneca is unlikely to result in any cities changing hands—but that’s great news considering that Faroese Quebec is very lightly defended. If Seneca doesn’t look likely to break through as things stand, then they probably never will. And at the same time, the Faroes have been settling new cities left and right, not only in Canada but also in Greenland and the surrounding area, extending their stats lead. So for most of us, we can’t see any reason to demote the north Atlantic giant.