Power Rankings: Episode 15 – S4

Orange:

T’Bok more like T’Bottom of the barrel because yeesh they are going through it. One city left and it’s already being damaged, 5 galleasses surround it and there is a trireme next to it plus a horseman that can swim over under the cover of the ships. So yeah, looks like we got our near guaranteed 60th out.

ECH:Ha, you thought being stuck in the Falklands with 2 arctic cities was as low as a civ can get before they’re swatted out of the season? How about being stuck in South Georgia with one spare Antarctic city left, waiting to be swatted out of the season?

Leman:

Rome snags Cairo, but honestly, despite this being devastating for the Mamluks, nobody in the PR server seems all that surprised, upset, or concerned. They were never really in all that great shape, to be honest, so I guess that makes sense. Now that they’re relegated to a single, useless city, the Mamluks are in the whole “wait around until I die” part of their lifecycle. Who knows how long that’s going to take.

Rosay:

Rovzi got no mentions this part. That's it. What did you really want an in-depth analysis on Rovzi? What is there to say about them, they're a rump civ surrounded by another bottom tier civ, and an underperforming high tier civ that just started to just barely get its shit together, there is literally nothing to add here.

Shaggy:

Well, that escalated quickly. Kazakhstan drops a stunning 20 ranks this episode after having their empire bisected and dismembered. By my count they lost their capital, 3 core cities, and 3 Arctic outpost cities. That’s a ridiculously fast collapse. Latvia seems relatively shut out of further Kazakh lands, but Kazan could easily take more of the Arctic outposts if they choose to focus up there. If, however, they really want the meat and potatoes they’ll be competing with the Selkups for Semey and Shymkent. At the moment I think only the Selkups have the potential to really threaten Almaty given that the Dzungars have mostly ranged units in the area, but the Selkups and Dzungars seem to have open borders with each other so both can maintain unit supply lines to attack Almaty in the future. The only thing Kazakhstan can hope for at this point is if the invaders start having too many happiness problems all at once and hold off. That may buy them some time but not much.

Nathanmasse:

Florida rises one rank this week thanks to the complete collapse of Kazakhstan.  The avoid-getting-noticed strategy is about all they can do to rise through the ranks at this point.

Reformer:

Alaouites hold on against Sierra Leone. It’s kind of admirable, in a really pitiful way, how they’re sticking it to Sierra Leone. But they are definitely out of the game by now. No paths of expansion. Sierra Leone is even managing to bring an army kinda close to Marrakech. Admittedly they’re still just rattling their swords with intimidating intent, but it’s strictly speaking not impossible that Sierra Leone decides to put some actual pressure on Marrakech. Not much else to think about in the meantime. Pray they get to Kasbahs, I guess? How far away from Chivalry can they be?

Leman:

You know how a few episodes Kalmyks lost Samara and we were all like “wow this sucks for Kalmyks,” and it did. But now, because Samara is owned by Kazan, that Makhnovian invasion is gonna go nowhere. So, you know. Look on the bright side.

Nathanmasse:

Burgundy has put up one hell of a fight.  Last episode they lost a city to Bavaria, this episode they lost another to England, but they haven’t given up yet.  The timely peace with Bavaria may have saved them for now but the Visigoths have no shortage of units marching across the Pyrenees.  The hills and mountains are making it slow-going and it might be enough for Burgundy to keep holding on.

Orange:

A Faroe army appeared out of nowhere, yet Kayahsuto’ke somehow avoids being damaged much at all. Sandur on the other hand falls and it doesn’t really look like they will be able to take it again, horsemen are not good against cities. At the very least Cornplanter can rest easy about staying at 4 cities, for whatever good that’s worth.

NopeCopter:

The Crow continue to be stuck in the middle of two great powers with no escape route. I’m not sure there’s even a theoretically possible escape route at this point, they’re just an especially carpeted-up buffer state. Even if the Crow were to go to war with the Yellowknives, because the Yellowknives lack a religion, the new Holy War mechanic wouldn’t drag the Pueblo into it as far as I know. It’s a shame, too, because the Crow are a really neat civ, so seeing them be reduced to this is just heartbreaking.

Msurdej:

Elizabeth continues to vibe in the quieter part of Europe, but that isn’t doing her any favors. Other countries are getting stronger, and soon they’ll see Royal Hungary for the weak rump it is. While their stats are going up, the rise isn’t good enough. It is only a matter of time before they find themselves on somebody’s chopping block.

Cloudy:

Tehuelche still exists, which is deserving of 48th place.

Leman:

The Finns are gonna be the Uganda of the season. Their game effectively ends in episode 6, but they keep rising because other civs die faster than they do

Leman:

Fun fact: Eswatini is no longer the least advanced country in the world. They are the second least advanced country in the world. After Rozvi. (And Shawnee, who’s super dead)

JDT:

Dai Viets biggest contribution to the part is settling a city on the site where it burned to ashes only to watch it get taken and then clawing their way back into its position

Rosay:

Something crazy has happened where Bukhara is actually gaining momentum with the rapid fall of Kazakhstan. Bukhara recaptured a city off of Kazakhstan this part and could potentially take another depending on how things play out. Given that the last few parts were rough on Bukhara, I for one think they deserve a free city or two, as a treat.

Rosay: With the rise of Mexico in recent parts,Taino’s future looks grim. Adding on the Faroes slowly creeping into North America and the South American civs slowly getting stronger as a result of the coalition war, Taino’s only chance at minor expansion is Florida then maybe Osage but that’s not even a safe bet. I mean maybe if New Holland’s hate boner for Rio Grande results in new Holland abandoning its north coast then maybe Taino can capitalize on that but at that point it’s grasping for straws

Leman:

Harappa takes a pummeling as the full force of the Afsharids bears down onto the Indus River Valley. They had a valiant defense, but in the end, Harappa has dropped two cities and basically all chances of winning this game. Funnily enough, despite picking up the Great Wall, it didn’t really help against the Afsharids, because the Afsharids UA grants them a movement increase upon the outbreak of war. Now, Went-Antu has found himself in a short period, with a small, outside chance of maybe going after Vijayanagara or Khoshuts, before the Afsharids return and finish what they started.

Reformer:

Alert! Makhno is back at war! He has declared war on his foremost rival, worst enemy, etc etc: Kalmyks! This is sure to result in ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AT ALL. A sad fate for a fairly proactive civ, to be constantly bogged down in a fruitless war. They could try to challenge Royal Hungary…or even wait for an opportunity to pounce on Latvia again…but no, Kalmyks it is. Alright buddy. See you in hell.

[Editor’s note: hehe... latvia... hehe...]

Orange:

They are… doing something? I guess? I mean I don’t really think that a few chariot archers and a swordsman are gonna be enough to take Dawenkou, but at the same time the city is stuck in anarchy and isn’t like, shooting back, so who knows? This will be so stupid if this is what allows the Khoshuts to start to break out of Tibet. Not the fertile Bengal delta, not retaking Lhasa, not breaking into Harappa. No, it’s gonna be the fucken eastern Tibetan cities that Shang has.

Leman:

Not a really interesting part for Mogadishu. The war with Qarmatians is still going on, but the invasion of Hajar has petered out. There’s a little bit of fighting around Safwan, but I doubt it’s going to go anywhere.

ECH:There are two readings of the Qarmatians’ performance this week. The first is the lighter side approach, pointing out that they are facing 10 civs in war as of the end of this part, and more who’ve peaced out, a number of which are even neighbors, and they’ve come out of it without major issue. One city in Oman getting scraped by triremes, that’s it. In fact, it’s gone unremarked by during this part they even started deployment of their pikeman UU, the Uqaylid Outrider, a sidegrade that’s much cheaper and weaker than normal, but does double damage while below 50% health and when killed does 30 damage to all adjacent enemy units. Neat. However, the second narrative is that all these petty fights stagnate the Qarmatians and leave their outstanding issues, notably having no easy route of expansion as far as it seems, unresolved.

NopeCopter:

England does the unthinkable (if you’re going purely off of the Faroese-Burgundian War, at least) and manages to capture Amiens! It looks pretty secure, too, so there shouldn’t be too many more flips. The question now, however, is… what next? With Bavaria out of the coalition and the Visigoths doing what they do best (sucking), England’s inability to break Burgundy’s well-positioned inland core of cities means they’ll struggle to make any more progress. Their unique units are approaching, but the infamous Longbows are still a ways away while the Chevauchee is more of a support unit in the AI’s hands than a proper advantage due to its lack of combat strength. And of course, it’s impossible to discuss ANY of England’s future prospects without acknowledging the giant icy ball of death hanging right over their heads at all times. Still, England isn’t out of it just yet, and there’s still plenty they can achieve to put on a good show before the ticking time bomb goes off.

JDT:

In an unbelievable twist of fate, Vijayanagara has suddenly found itself in the best position to “win” India. Of course, most of that isn’t actually of their own doing (aside from seizing Sri Lanka). The Khoshuts had successfully burrowed themselves into the Himalayas, preventing them from ever doing anything relevant ever again. Harappa just got its ankles destroyed by the Afsharids, and with the weakness of their remaining core their survival is entirely dependent on how they and Vijayanagara are feeling. Vijayanagara on the other hand? They are no longer facing any serious threats and have some space left to attempt expansion beyond South India. Sure, they’re probably still too trapped to make propper impact, but they now have a mad opportunity to win and make a strong comeback. Praise be to the hills I suppose.

Leman:

Nivkh didn’t get much of a mention this episode. They didn’t really do much of impact nor did they really have any major stats breakthroughs. They’re kinda still chugging along, existing, hoping Thule and Goguryeo haven’t noticed them yet.

Nathanmasse:

Perhaps sensing the difficulty in besieging Dijon, Bavaria and Burgundy make peace which I have to admit is pretty disappointing. I’ve been a longtime fan of Bavaria, but these kinds of moves won’t win them the game.  They have open borders with England, so that flank should be secure if they plan on making moves in the other direction.

Shaggy:

With Damanhur secured, Cairo was the big prize for Kanem-Bornu to take in their dismantling of the Mamluks. Unfortunately for them, Rome eked out the capture first. This leaves Kanem-Bornu with only Damietta remaining should they be thirsty for more Mamluk blood. Based on the troops available to attack Damietta, there isn’t much chance for them to take the city though. I’m unsure who their next best target is now that the Mamluks have reached irrelevance. Whoever they pick, Kanem-Bornu should focus on reinforcing and replenishing their army first.

Msurdej:

The bad news keeps on coming for Shang. More of their neighbors have joined the coalition to take down the former number 1 civ. Goguryeo and the Ikko-Ikki have joined in, further spreading an army that has already lost nearly half its strength from the last episode. Furthermore, most of their cities are still under resistance, making it harder to get out more troops. Cities like Xiaotun have already fallen and cities like Old Sarai and Dawenkou are in danger. Even if Daji manages to make peace with everyone and doesn’t lose any more cities (big if imo), they’ve probably ruined their chances of winning the game.

Shaggy:

As Andorra (in real life) and the Visigoths (on the cylinder) are both now keenly aware, it is damn hard capturing a Pyrenees city with a land invasion. Asturica’s placement continues to baffle the Visigoth armies as they are only now realizing they can wrap around the Pyrenees to the south to aid the regularly scheduled head-on attack. With Amiens squarely in English hands along with the general decline of the Burgundian army, it should be harder for Burgundy to keep supplying the city with units and thus easier for the Visigoths to squeeze it out should they continue to batter at the city walls. Ideally they can make that happen before England is able to land another invading force in France so they can be methodical in taking Autun as well rather than having to race for it.

Orange:

They’ve made it, for the first time since part 2, to the top half of civs. Slowly building up their core, finally taking out Shawnee, things are looking pretty good. There certainly isn’t a behemoth breathing down their neck who could attack at any moment and fuck them up. Certainly not. Yeah, things are looking good for Osage.

NopeCopter:

The Ikko-Ikki finally, after several episodes of frustration, return to redeem themselves in a second war against Shang! The only problem is… the situation is much, much worse for them now in terms of making gains. With only half a dozen units facing down the densest part of the remaining Shang military, all while racing against the notorious city-sniper Zheng, the odds of the Ikko-Ikki taking anything here is looking tragically thin. A much better move would have probably been to instead strike Zheng while they’re distracted and tied up elsewhere - heck, even Goguryeo may have been a smart move with their naval tech advantage. But alas, they’re invading Shang. This is hardly curtains for their chances - in fact, they may even somehow snipe Anyang - but giving up on this opportunity is still rough.

Nathanmasse:

The excitement from the initial declaration of war has faded and reality is setting in.  Attritional fighting on the outskirts of Ojjo and Lukurmata have worn down both sides' units and led to stalemate, which is to the benefit of Tiwanaku. There is no risk of Moreno losing any cities but it's not enough for them to sit tight. Failing to capitalize on what was undoubtedly their best chance gaining ground will leave Ecuador trapped and surrounded by three stronger civs and may ultimately lead to their doom.

Reformer:

Noongar remains at war with Palawa, though to not much effect. Noongar has pushed back the Palawan offensives, and stalemate reigns supreme. This setup still sucks for Noongar a whole more, as Palawa has almost twice Noongar’s production, and can thus better afford to maintain the facade of war, whereas Noongar will get dragged down a lot more by a continued, fruitless war. It’s not a good time to be a Noongar fan - they can’t beat Palawa or Singapore right now, which means they will need a coalition war to pop off against either to break out. That’s statistically unlikely.

ECH:As the last PR’s reveal, may I just say I and others called the Cairo result right, and if anything it was a firmer victory than I even expected. After a meager start, propelled by low expectations and Bavaria’s settling boldness, Rome has been rising higher and higher up these rankings each week; in fact by two places three times in a row. Now they hold another civs capital, and a well-developed one at that, at 9 pop even after its conquest. This good news has probably helped in propelling Rome’s Infoaddict score up 5 places at the same time, even higher than their PR rank at 23rd. Now, the question is whether Trajan has a plan in mind for where to turn next, because his empire has the disadvantage of being hemmed in and arguably none of his targets would be easy conquests, between awkward naval or mountainous approaches being required, or the opponent being equal or stronger than Rome. Perhaps the time has come to rush down Ingolstadt and unify the Imperial Province of Italia, before Trajan goes back to checklisting provinces of his destined continent spanning empire (don’t ask him where he received this vision, it raises existential questions).

Leman:

Mongolia is one of the biggest winners of the Great Shang Revolution. They’ve already picked off Xiaotun, and Sorghaghtani probably will be able to reclaim Old Sarai as well. Maybe, if they get lucky, Mongolia can snag a few more cities during this period where Shang’s unit building capacity is limited. However, the fundamental problem remains that Mongolia is still surrounded by civilizations that are much stronger than it. It’s unlikely that either Selkups or Goguryeo will have such a spectacular collapse like Shang did. Mongolia needs to get as much as possible out of this war in order to defend against those inevitable conflicts. Luckily, this is a great start.

Nathanmasse:

Kazan rises three ranks this week as it stakes a claim to Kazakhstan’s crumbling empire.  They also reached civil service which will give a great boost to the food production and military.  And if you haven’t seen the director’s cut on Kofi, you might think that’s it but there were some unexpected developments right at the end.  

As the slide shows, Kazan didn’t like Latvia getting more Kazakh cities than them and have declared a war alongside Makhnovia.  Admittedly, most power rankers didn’t factor this into their rankings this week as it wasn’t public knowledge yet but our glorious leader Coiot made it public so go check it out. Hard to tell exactly how this fight will go but it is certainly exciting.

Msurdej:

Mithridates VI was a sleeper in this part, but perhaps he was just resting before he went to attack again. He has a few potential targets, but Rome may not be a favorable target for much longer as it is recovering from its war. Royal Hungary is still an option though, and if they can retake Gaziura, it will certainly help their shot of winning.

Shaggy:

I have to say, the sequence this part of Dai Viet settling in front of Singapore's navy, Singapore capturing and then losing the city, then sending the navy back to capture it once again is ripe for some OC. Otherwise, not much from Singapore this part as they peace out with Noongar and continue to vie for regional power. Interestingly, as of this episode they now have a border with Zheng, who seem to be pretty willing to field a navy. Another flashpoint to keep an eye on.

NopeCopter:

Sierra Leone continues to struggle a concerning amount with the Alaouites. For a civ that should be a major power in theory by now, this is a pretty big stain on their reputation even if they’ll probably still win the war in the end. Indeed, beating the Alaouites isn’t the issue here - really, they didn’t need to re-declare war in the first place, given they were never going to reach the actually valuable Alaouite cities with just Triremes. Instead, the problem is that Sierra Leone is recklessly throwing away time and units while their real competition grows stronger. Kanem-Bornu is now equal in cities (although still decisively behind in other stats), Saba-D’mt is on the verge of another Golden Age, even Ndongo has managed to take Nhlagano. (Heck, Rome’s Mediterranean fleet could be a legitimate danger if Sierra Leone doesn’t act quickly!) Their gameplay has been impressive thus far, but Sierra Leone needs to get out quick and focus inward for a bit before their status as the top player in West Africa can come under threat.

Leman:

Quiet part for Siam. They're sort of in the same position they were in a few episodes ago. Siam has great science and culture and struggles with production. Luckily, Siam spent most of that meager production in their military and really puffed it up. It’s quite respectable now. Let's see if Rama V will put those troops to good use.

Cloudy:

Ndongo has made peace with Eswatini after Nhlagano, making the war a wash in terms of cities exchanged. However, Nhlagano is a better city than Malkerns, so I’d call this a slight win for Ndongo. That’s enough to boost them back into the top 20, at least for now. It remains to be seen whether they will finally turn their eye toward some of their other neighbors against whom they have better expansion prospects (cough cough Rozvi).

ECH:Hope the pizza oven is still fired up, because Koxinga is back to his ranking peak from Part 11 at 18th, and with plenty of room to continue growing dependent on the next episode. I’m actually kinda shocked he hasn’t risen further, but I guess I can understand some hedging in light of certain aspects. The armed forces of Zheng saw gains on two fronts this episode, the first being the consolidation of their place in the South China Sea with the taking of Maguindanao’s capital, and with it the six early wonders Kudarat bafflingly prioritized within. The Great Lighthouse is the standout for a civ with such naval aspirations, and sped up workers from the Pyramids is nothing to shrug for a growing empire either. Not sure I’d bother sieging down T’bok and grabbing an elimination diplo penalty, but I guess it’s a handy city to have, so you do you, Koxinga. Grabbing their UU caravel, the War Junk can’t hurt in regards to their naval aspirations henceforth. The other front, which is the real source of ranking discourse over the next episode, regards their war with Shang, whose citizens are rising up paralyzing the civ. Zheng has captured one city so far, but seems to be at risk of bearing the brunt of the army Shang has left to fight back with. Some concerns also persist around their production, with one of the worst production per city stats on the cylinder. That all being said, Zheng to me is in an invaluable position to become the Chinese power of this game, if they can avoid their rival to the North, Goguryeo, grabbing that mantle first…

JDT:

Karnilla Ice and Latvia drop by one in spite of their gains over Kazakhstan. The reasoning is simple - the cities they gained aren’t as valuable as other cities due to being arctic cities, they are effectively locked off from profiting anymore from the Kazakh coalition thanks to Kazan and their stats, while decent, are still pretty stagnant. This means that while they don’t fall far, others very much have an edge over them in the race for domination. And with some of the other powers who grew this part, Latvia winds up losing out a tad.

ECH:As a Dzungar doubter for a long while, even I can’t deny the need to bump them up after this episode, as they take a city as part of the Kazakh Koalition and expand their access to other areas for potential future invasions, after a long inactive period. Their science rate still raises an eyebrow from me, at 125 it’s by a decent margin the worst in the top 20 and one has to go back to Mongolia at 25th for worse; but it seems they’ve managed to keep up well enough in spite of this as they maintain an entirely average 27 techs. What I will say is that so far they’ve shown a propensity for sitting on a large carpet and letting the world pass them by, and with this sudden opportunity to finally use it well their grand reward looks to be what? The ruined husk of Petropavl? If they can snipe Almaty that may be something, but between Selkup dominance (who, it must be said, do have a tech advantage of note with their Knight UU) and the other snipers in wait, I wouldn’t bet on Guldan. Could now be the moment to march East, against a collapsing Shang or war-weary Mongolia?

Msurdej:Ume-Sami didn’t have much to do in this part, showing up only to declare war on the Shang. While it probably won’t amount to much, the fact that neighboring Finns and Latvia also declared war means any potential wars between these countries is unlikely. Which means Sami’s best potential war targets are now off the table.

Shaggy:

WOW! Bora-Bora completely shut Tiwanuku out of the Pacific this week, taking every single one of their island cities! Not only that, but their galleasses have brought Caçapava do Sul to the red with a swordsman in the area and Omo seems to be on Bora-Bora’s war goals list as well. If their will persists, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Pampa Koani get attacked as well to complete the coastal takeover. Most other potential gains for Bora-Bora in this war would need to come from land units. We also got a bit of Ishtar in Piratini action this week (though the narrator didn’t seem to care), likely documenting the incredible rise of this Pacific upstart.

Nathanmasse:

Mexico has built up quite a formidable land army.  The only catch is they really can’t deploy it against anyone but Pueblo, who is even more formidable.  The terrain to the south would make it difficult to try to move against Ecuador, even while they’re distracted with Tiwanaku.  Their navy is behind the times, sporting a moderate number of triremes and a continent stands between them and their easiest targets.  All in all, I don’t much like Mexico’s prospects.  There are still plenty of options, but they need to reprioritize in the Caribbean if they have a shot of breaking out of Central America.

Rosay:

Saba is in a really good position, now they even have their own little city state to take whenever they feel like. Currently, Saba is on path to be the hegemon of Africa with Ndongo and Sierra Leone pretty far in the distance, but right now, Saba is still a pretty small pond. Now normally that line is used to temper expectations civs who are the strongest in their weaker region but you could honestly place a nation like Saba in a stronger region like North America and their rank ling wouldn’t change by all too much, since their stats are still really high and they’ve shown the actual will to get things done. Hell the small pond aspect might help Saba in the long term, allowing them to consume their mid to low tier neighbors one by one before becoming an all consuming blob able to proudly stand up to the big boys via sheer numbers.

Cloudy:

Tiwanaku rises two ranks from their initial fall now that the scope of the war against them has become clear. Although Bora Bora is running rampant in the Pacific, Ecuador and New Holland so far haven’t been carrying their weight, giving an opening for Tiwanaku to capture Caçapava do Sul from New Holland. Bora Bora appears poised to flip the city, but Tiwanaku could take Piratini in exchange, which would be a much bigger prize. Ultimately, our magic 8-ball suggests that this war will not end Tiwanaku’s aspirations of regional dominance.

Reformer:

Quiet part for the Knives. Thule and Pueblo are still doing their best to fight around YK’s dangly borders. But their best isn’t enough. Which is probably the best case scenario for YK. YK wants these two primary rivals of theirs to spend resources and get nothing out of it - that’s ideal. Now, admittedly, the resources being spent aren’t all that much…Thule and Pueblo realistically can afford to throw away a bit of material and be just fine. YK’s prospects remain tough. Aside from Crow, each primary neighbor is at least on parity, if not stronger than YK. I see thus two possible futures: YK withers slowly to a point where they can no longer contest North America, or YK is crippled in a coalition war.

Cloudy:

New Holland has only fallen three ranks, but make no mistake, they might be in trouble. Their info addict ranking is all the way down in 22nd, just below the Visigoths, and while they do have the third highest effective science, their production is abysmal, with only three more hammers than England. To make matters worse, they’re failing in their war against Tiwanaku, dealing virtually no damage to any cities while losing their exclave of Caçapava do Sul. If they can’t turn this around soon, they might drop more—but at the same time, their main rival for South American dominance is Tiwanaku, who are presently losing several cities to Bora Bora. With that in mind, the power rankers haven’t been able to decide that New Holland is no longer the leader of South America, but we are beginning to hesitate.

ECH:I’m finding the general reaction to the Afsharids and their approach to the CBR quite fascinating. They simply do not attract intense feelings, it seems, even as they cement their place in the top 10. That doesn’t mean they’re disliked, not at all, or that they’re ignored like some other civs. They attract frank and rational debate on their state, and opinion largely between begrudging respect and muted admiration (where I probably sit, to state my biases). One commentator noted that ‘They are slow but methodical, I suppose’, and I think that about summarizes it. The ascension of the Afsharids since the failure of Shiraz has been a certain, gradual march: with solid empire-buildings, upper-half but not exceptional stats in just about every arena of note, and smaller but certain gains against opponents they have an advantage on to expand. It’s a smart way to play, not flashy, and I think any can respect that, but it would be nice to see them make a grand move one day.

Shaggy:

A relatively quiet part for Wahgi, but they do drop a bit in the ranks this week. They appear to have lost out on the Maguindanao capital to the Zheng navy and are looking for a consolation prize in T’bok. Zheng is racing there too so perhaps Wahgi may want to let them take the diplomacy hit from eliminating Maguindanao entirely. They also made peace with Noongar this part, maybe it’s infrastructure week.

Cloudy:

Thule is still totally untested in war, but they still have great stats and they’re not facing a coalition of neighbors, so up here in the 5-6 range they stay. We have nothing new to report, otherwise.

Shaggy:

Palawa took a bit of a breather this part to focus on filling out New Zealand and getting better stats. They're sitting in neutral until they can break through with Noongar or become so overwhelming that everyone in the Pacific takes notice. But hey, they're researching banking now. Gotta finance an army one way or another.

JDT:

The Selkups rise to 4th place as they make out with the lion's share of the spoils from the collapse of Kazakhstan. This war has been nothing if not a giant escalator to victory for the Selkups. They have gained 3 cities thus far from the war with the Kazakh capital of Almaty amongst them, and still stand to gain at least 3 more cities that are isolated and open for the taking. Their production is excellent, and while their science is a bit behind other top tiers, its not horrible per say. Really their primary bottleneck to scaling more off the corpse of Kazakhstan is their -11 happiness. But hey, you’d rather have fish and be unhappy than happily have no fish.

Orange:

Po’pay, I need you to understand this in the simplest terms possible: Please, just attack Osage again. PLEASE. They are right there, they have less than half the military, their capital is right next to your lands. For the love of Chaveyo just please fight Osage. I’m begging you, please.

Reformer:

For the first time since Episode THREE, Faroes have been unseated from their rightful place at the top! Though Faroes have continued their policy of occasional war declarations with the war dec on Seneca, Faroes have started to stagnate internally. Or more aptly, their growth has slowed down, and the likely culprit is a prolonged period of unhappiness. For the last 25 turns, Faroes have been below 0 happiness. As we know, this translates to -75% growth in all cities, and when at -10 or worse, that is -100% growth, of course. While Faroes have still managed to grow a bit through this tumultuous period, it has certainly slowed them down enough for Gogureyo to achieve parity. Parity is not enough to pass, but Gogureyo has the further advances of plenty of weak, accessible neighbors, and of course their former main rival - the Shang - is being crippled as we speak. While Faroes do not have an immediate neighboring rival, they also do not have much in the way of easy targets for expansion, sans the English. All other paths are beset with resistance. Further, there is no knowing how much longer this period of instability will last for the Faroes. Their current unhappiness of -10 is rather brutal. Relief is on the horizon, though: Machinery should be on Faroes’ radar soon, which will come with Taverns for some much needed happiness. In due time, Faroes will rise again, stronger than ever, forged in the fire of internal conflict…

JDT:

For the first time since part 4, we, the PRs, hail a new king of the things. Goguryeo has overtaken the Faroes in the PRs to take the throne for the first time, and the reasoning cannot be any clearer. On the stat sheet, Goguryeo beats the Faroes on effective science and production, giving by far the worlds best values in both critical metrics and therefore much better scaling than their rival in spite of being 4 techs behind and noticeably lagging in military. But what about the neighbors, you may ask? Well, yes, the Faroes have far weaker neighbors to undergo expansion, but their expansion is capped by their naval focus and the necessity of splitting troops over large differences. Goguryeo has no limit to expansion. They are noticeably stronger than almost all their neighbours in spite of fairly strong rivals like Mongolia and the Dzungars existing, and they have much more rewards to reap off opportunistic wars such as their current steel chair against Shang. Thereafter, we believe its time for a new monarch to take the throne and jostle the Faroes for first. Let the games begin.