Power Rankings: Episode 29 – S4

ECH:

I’m gonna keep this fairly brief, because let’s be honest, we’re all pretty dang sure next Power Ranking there’ll be an obituary in this spot, and it wouldn’t do to present a re-hash. It was generally known that the next time Bavaria, or perhaps even Latvia, declared on the vampire queen would probably be the death blow, but I think that was filed in the back of our minds alongside other rumps with deadly neighbours, not expected to fire for a little while yet. Well, it sure has, and to Ludwig’s credit the elimination is already well underway, not helped by Royal Hungary being harassed from the East by Makhnovia of all civs. Survival would be beyond miraculous, it would be inane.

Reformer:

Welp, the blasted Anglos are back already. Way too soon. Burgundy barely got a chance to rebuild! …Aw, who am I kidding, they were never gonna hold them off. This is the end no doubt. England is known for maintaining a war effort for a considerable duration, so even if Burgundy does get lucky with defenses at first, they’ll inevitably fall. They will be reduced to a mere footnote in the annals of history. Obscurity is Charles’ reward for his hard work. Should’ve worked harder I guess.

Msurdej:

Well boy howdy folks, Po’pay is in the gutters. The Yellowknives kept hammering down on them, taking their capital and forcing them down to just two cities. Furthermore, Pueblo finds itself increasingly isolated in their demise. Yellowknives made peace with Osage too, allowing them to focus entirely on eliminating Pueblo.  While there’s still a chance that Po’pay can make a working peace deal, I’d prime your F keys folks for the coming death of the Pueblo.

Reformer:

Despite being reduced to one city with 15% health, Tiwanaku is ONLY fourth from the bottom (of living civs) because there are many, many other civs on death’s door. And Tiwanaku notably has the advantage of having achieved peace with Bora-Bora, the far more competent half of the duo that brought about Tiwanaku’s collapse. What remains is Ecuador, the absolute numbskull, and thus we’re pretty damn confident that those civs below Tiwanaku will die sooner. In fact, it’s not impossible at all that Tiwanaku will even live through the next episode! Ecuador has not exactly shown themselves to be militarily competent, after all. Obviously we all hope that Tiwanaku doesn’t have to live on ignominy for much longer. Including Tiwanaku, I presume. That’s probably the motivation behind giving their antarctic cities to Bora.

Orange:

Shang having a real nice bump solely because the part was so devastating for so many other civs. Really, the next part is gonna be an absolute bloodbath, and Shang has managed to position themselves to likely be the last of them. Praise the mountain luxuries, they are evidently what’s causing Gogurt to struggle at the last step.

ECH:

By all metrics, the Alaouites continue to be a godawful civ; devoid of hopes or escape routes. My guess is that pretty soon they’ll be in a similar ‘awaiting an elimination war declaration from the few civs surrounding their city state’ club the Mamluks and Shawnee, amongst many others, have found themselves in over the seasons of the CBR. So, a three rank jump should be eyebrow-raising, surely?

Well… nah. I’m sure the writeups so far have pretty firmly alerted y’all to the odd confluence of near-eliminations the episode ended on, and for all the woes Ismail is tackling, active elimination efforts against him are not one. Will all 5 living civs beneath them actually die out over the course of one episode? It’s not impossible, and if so maybe we shouldn’t think of the Alaouites as failing upwards, like the slide suggests, but as the tide they sail upon in a rickety dinghy rising whilst some fellow captains sprung a leak; they were as low as they could be without drowning, and are still as low as they can be without drowning.

NopeCopter:

The Visigoths manage to worm their way out of an existentially-threatening two-front war with only one city lost to England (and nothing lost to the Faroes), leaving only Sierra Leone to be dealt with. One problem: Sierra Leone is absolutely strong enough to make headway all on their own. Thankfully, Sierra Leone may just end up torching every coastal city in Iberia rather than actually pushing inland, but they might also actually start making progress and drive the knife into the Visigothic heart in the coming episodes - with how inconsistent they’ve been over the course of the game, it’s hard to say. Even if the Visigoths do survive Sierra Leone’s assault, though, England now has the ability to attack from two directions when they come back (and they WILL come back - just ask Burgundy), so it’s clear that the days of the Visigoths as a solid-looking turtle are well and truly over. Still, though, their imminent demise isn’t QUITE guaranteed just yet, so they don’t drop any spots for now.

Orange:

The Kalmyks yet again do nothi- hey what the fuck Ayuka? Why the fuck did you give away a city to Bukhara??? Now you have two cities that don’t even border each other. But you know what, somehow you aren’t going to even be attacked and if you do you’re not gonna lose any cities unless you do another dumb deal. The stupidest mountain khanate.

Msurdej:

Makhnovia continues to try to be relevant, but with Royal Hungary all but destroyed by Bavaria, their last great option to easily conquer is quickly fading. Soon Nestor will have to deal with his neighbors coming for him. But he’s still doing better than IRL Makhnovia. So...yay?

Cloudy:

Well, it’s been a good run, but I think Eswatini is on the verge of becoming a rump state scattered across a few Indian Ocean islands. Ndongo has finally secured Big Bend, and as slow as their march forward has been, it is taking on a feeling of inevitability. Eswatini is almost out of troops and Ndongo’s southern flank is about to sweep up the coast toward Mbabane. ..........And despite all of this, so many civs are collapsing right now that Eswatini gains a rank! Woohoo!

Msurdej:

Tehuelche stays at 41, but they continue to have a worse position. Once Tiwanaku falls, they’ll be the weakest people on the continent. If Bora-Bora decides to absorBora them, Maria and her rinky-dink five cities won’t last long. Maybe the island city, but the rest won’t last long.

Msurdej:

Yes the Finns are staying aliveDoing their best to surviveThe top of their gameBut it’s still kinda lameThat they’ll never truly thrive

Reformer:

Welcome to Bukhara, population: idk could be half a milly. Not like the industrial revolution has hit yet. Oh what’s this. Bukhara did some things? Goddammit. Alright guys. First of all. Bukhara did end up losing that enclave by the Urals. But fret not, Bukhara fans. (However many of you there are.) Bukhara has acquired a hella fresh enclave to fill that hole in their heart. This one was generously donated by Kalmyks. Truly the Oirat civs love giving away cities. Anyway, that’s not even all. Because it turns out Bukhara is part of the anti-Khoshut coalition. This is a war that only just barely started so activity isn’t high yet. Unfortunately for Bukhara, this is the same front through which they tried to fight Harappa back when that coalition was happening. The front consists entirely of a handful of mountain passes which Khoshuts will easily hold with superior military tech. Meanwhile some other civ (Afsharids) is likely to swoop in and take the spoils, assuming Khoshuts lose anything. But I’ll give it to Bukhara. They genuinely are trying. They’re keeping up with the happenings in the world and doing their best to strike when the iron is hot. And even still, it won’t be enough. Truly unfortunate.

ECH:

Seneca got one special shout-out slide as proof of existence, might be tussling with Thule’s lone outpost in the Great Lakes (aka shuffling troops into a watery grave against frigates and city strikes); and remains in the exact same position of 38th, which is kinda impressive when you consider the turmoil in the low ranks around them. Altogether a pretty ignoble package for the civ once predicted as the second best contender on the cylinder this season.

NopeCopter:

Well, the Taino have made peace with the Osage, ending possibly their best shot at expanding further into North America. I mean, they weren’t going to either way, but it was a fun little mental image. If anything, the Taino can at least breathe a sigh of relief knowing they’re not quite the tastiest morsel on the menu anymore should Mexico finally wake up. One can only wonder how far they could have gone if they weren’t suffering from constant excruciating Happiness issues, but even if they were to fix them now, I don’t think they’d have a shot at turning things around in any major capacity. Maybe they’ve got one or two more tricks left up their sleeve somewhere, but I’m not counting on it. The Taino seem pretty much boned.

CelestialDalek:Time for your weekly reminder that the Qarmatians are alive and well! And if not well, at the very least alive and ok-ish. The war with Vijayanagara went nowhere fast and only resulted in hammering down the island city of Belgaum to mid-green. Realistically, the only opportunity they have is against Mogadishu right now, but unfortunately they’re being a bit too chummy with each other.

NopeCopter:

Mongolia had a quiet episode as Goguryeo cut them off from the remains of Shang, leaving this steppe underdog once again without anywhere to go. This time, though, there truly doesn’t seem to be any way out - Goguryeo is obviously terrifying, but they’re the easiest available target for the Selkups as well, and even the Dzungars would be serious trouble. It’s honestly reminiscent of the Mongols of Mk. 2, complete with a powerful Korean civ to the east and another Khanate to the west (albeit with a Siberian civ as the real threat alongside them). Perhaps they can ride out the rump life for some time yet like Genghis did. Or perhaps they can die with honor, instead.

Nathanmasse:

No news is probably good news for Mogadishu. They’re still at war with Zheng as far as I can tell but they seem to have little inclination to send their navy to defend Aw Dhigle let alone attack Huizhou.  Eventually someone will come along and pick off all of their Indian Ocean colonies but for now they get to continue playing the role of trade-focused east African civ.

NopeCopter:

Siam makes a brave but ultimately futile stand against Singapore as the lion finally turns its attention north. Siam’s historically solid tech count has become decidedly mediocre lately, as shown by Singapore’s fleet being completely dominant despite the multiple naval wars they’ve fought as of late, and while Siam was able to take an early lead, it’s clear that Siam is at the very least losing a couple of coastal cities in the next phase of the war. A peek at the stats shows that Siam’s military has been utterly decimated, their people are starving, and while Ratchaburi ended the episode in Siamese hands, the last shot we saw of it made it clear that Singapore won’t be kept out for long. Honestly, I’d bet on a nasty peace deal even if Siam is able to hold the line. For anybody still holding on to hope that Siam would end up being a dark horse candidate, I’m sorry to say that the dream is likely ending here.

Nathanmasse:

Bavaria ticks up a rank this week as they move in to land the killing blow against Royal Hungary.  That will at least give better access to support and defend Gaziura and hopefully they can put Csejte to better use than Hungary has been.  After that it’s a bit up in the air as to how things will go for them.  They could easily find themselves on the receiving end of a coalition thanks to the elimination diplo-penalty, but given RH has been a consistent punching bag for their neighbors, I would bet Bavaria gets away scot-free.

Cloudy:

The Ikko Ikki continue to sit idly by as the civs around them get bigger and bigger. Even Nivkh is better than them these days. Or were they always? Take the Nivkh Pill to find out.

Nathanmasse:

Osage slides a few ranks this week, owing more to the rise of the other civs around them than to any failing on their part.  They managed to get out of their war with Yellowknives mostly unscathed, but they are increasingly boxed in with few options to regain momentum.  They did join the Autocratic faction this episode, so hopefully that will endear them to Yellowknives and Mexico and give them enough time to rebuild their measly army.

Orange:

The war with Qarm was a fair bit useless, only lasting 6 turns. And now they are in a war that will also likely be useless, as Noongar decided to fight them. But hey, don’t discount Noongar, they got a fighting spirit, and more importantly a whole bunch of ships in the Indian Ocean. Though like, I doubt it will really go anywhere. What Vijay needs is to make peace and then turn on the Khoshuts again, or maybe go at Singapore while they’re spending units against Siam before they can win and consolidate their holdings? Idk, something besides fighting with Noongar at least.

CelestialDalek:

In the wake of a war dec on the Dzungars, the Khoshuts are solidly doing better. The massive self-inflicted wound of giving away Lhasa is about to heal, and if they’re lucky they can break through the Himalayas and retake Gyangtse too. The Dzungars are known for many things on the cylinder, but military technology is not one of them, and the technologically advanced Khoshut forces should be able to rip through them with ease if they break through the mountains. Since the units aren’t fast enough to weave through one-tile passes yet, the war will probably stop at Lhasa.

ECH:

No mentions and, as far as my scanning of the episode has found, no good shots of Kanem-Bornu at all this part, fitting of a civ pretty close to the current middle of the field. They’ve taken a 2 rank drop for a few notable reasons, and stop me if you’ve heard any of this before: they’re not doing enough; their stats on paper are quantitatively awful; and Sierra Leone may be increasing as a threat. Their saving grace remains their powerful invader-zapping UA, bolstered by an astounding amount of faith generation for a mid-tier religion; and a proven streak of general perseverance in their AI. I’m personally hoping these latter factors beat out the former detracting aspects, but until something actually goes down, they exist in the blur of speculation-land.

Cloudy:

Nivkh rises several ranks this week due to a sudden, massive rise in the info addict stats. In fact, Nivkh gained 11 places, reaching 15th overall, which is frankly bizarre. As far as we can tell, they built factories in their cities and then entered a golden age, causing their production to skyrocket. In fact they’re now 14th overall in production, which is just plain stupid. I mean how?? Anyway, they’re still screwed given who their neighbors are, but there’s now reason to believe they might hold on longer than we thought.

Cloudy:

After nearly overextending in his war against the Selkups, Galdan Khan decided to try attacking a weaker neighbor instead, so he joined a coalition against the Khoshuts. And he is... losing? Of course, he controls Lhasa, which is smack in the middle of the Khoshuts’ core and is impossible to reinforce. Unless Gushi Khan is unfathomably incompetent, the Dzungars will lose that city as it’s already in the red. And given the position of the Himalayas, their odds of taking another city to even the score are quite low.

Orange:

They took Pariti! Celebrations all around! Ignore the fact that they let Bora take Ojjo, Pucara, and Wankane. IGNORE IT. Really none of those matter because Bora is letting Ecuador take the prize of the city of Tiwanaku (and the warmonger penalty)! And it certainly isn’t the case that the city will be extremely easy for Bora to take in any future wars against Ecuador. So yeah, basically on top of the world right now.

For real though I’d put Ecuador over New Holland if I could cause New Holland can’t do shit and at least Ecuador tries.

Leman:

Saba continues to languish in the lower twenties. Their stats continue to be solid but not great, and they continue to be quite sleepy while their African rivals, Ndongo and Sierra Leone are making solid gains and daring conquests. Saba seems to be stagnating. Still.

CelestialDalek:

If Kazan were in central Europe, they’d be a pretty formidable power. Unfortunately, they’re stuck between the Selkups and Latvia. Neither of those are attractive war options right now, especially with Kazan’s shitty tech. They could always go up against Makhnovia and Bukhara and gain, like, one city. But overall they’re fighting a really uphill battle for the long-run.

Reformer:

Noongar moves two spots up. But let’s be real. It’s more that Saba and Kazan went down a spot each. Noongar is just an unwitting beneficiary. Nothing has really changed for Noongar. They’re still bordering a bunch of civs that are stronger than them. But that doesn’t mean Noongar’s going inactive! No sir. As we speak, Noongar is sending a large fleet towards Vijayanagara. You got that right. Vijayanagara. Honestly if they hard-commit to this ploy it might just about work. The problem is that the two civs have parity when it comes to naval military tech, meaning numbers decide the course of the war, and Vijayanagara obviously has a much easier time reinforcing the battles, considering the battles are taking place right off the coast of India. I don’t think Noongar thought this one through but I appreciate the effort. Much better than what some other civs are doing.

CelestialDalek:England is still doing fine-ish. They continued their campaign of UA-based success in Europe this part by taking Emeritia, but then on the brink of wrecking the Visigoths ducked out with just that city. If there’s one thing to note, it’s their relative lack of military tech for a civ in the mid-upper echelons. Despite their collapse, the Visigoths actually held a small tech advantage back when England did a land invasion, which is probably why that land invasion is being referred to in the past tense. Regardless, as long as Bavaria doesn’t take the upper hand, Henry has a hold over Europe for now.

Leman:

Afsharids slip down a single spot. PRs are very split on whether or not Afsharids can take advantage of this war with Khoshuts. Statswise Afsharids should be able to make it out of this war with a city or two. They have much better stats, Khoshuts’ old Harappan cities are poorly defended, and the Khoshuts are bogged down trying to take a city back from Dzungars. However, if I’m looking at Afsharids’ recent track record I’m not really expecting much. I’m hoping Afsharids prove me wrong, and realistically they should, but I dunno. Not feeling it.

CelestialDalek:

The Ume-Sami are still alive. They still have stats. Pretty decent stats! Not too shabby. But PLEASE do something for the love of god you’re at 18th and you haven’t done anything the whole game except lose some coastal cities to the Faroes.

Reformer:

Rome continues to observe as war tears Europe to shreds. Visigoths are dying, Burgundy is dying, Royal Hungary is dying. Even Mamluks died recently - to Pontus, of course, Rome wouldn’t bloody their hands with a kill. All that intensity and activity seems to be in Rome’s past now, as they are content to rest and watch other civs make gains. Their past of conquest is still fueling their current strength, obviously, and is the only reason they’re doing alright with stats. Continuing on this path of inactivity will eventually doom them to irrelevancy, though. I’m confident they’ll get out of this slump, in all fairness, but it’s still concerning to watch right now.

Cloudy:

Pontus retains their top 20 rank for a second week running, even though they haven’t actually done anything. Part of that is other civs in this tier starting to struggle, while Pontus remains surrounded by weak neighbors. So the potential for greatness is still there, but they need to act.

Nathanmasse:

Singapore drops four ranks this week as they go from the high of invading Goguryeo Hawaii to losing those gains and defending their own heartland from a Siamese invasion.  On the plus side, they certainly seem to have gained the upper hand and have started flipping Siam’s coastal cities.  There is some debate as to whether they will be able to hold any of these cities but their navy is a tier (or two or three) above Siam’s so I expect their cruisers to be able to rain steel on any units near the coast and eventually grind them to dust.  Perhaps I am biased as I put them highest among the rankers, but to me the longer the war continues the better for Singapore.

NopeCopter:

Ndongo continues to make very slow, very incremental progress against Eswatini, grinding the stubborn rump state to dust over a frustratingly long period of time. Call me biased, but I wouldn’t quite call this incompetence so much as Eswatini being very defensible (or perhaps Boer/Zimbabwe-related trauma)… but now that they’re out of units, Ndongo really should take things up a notch if they want to remain competitive. Sierra Leone is out there making landfall in Europe! Get your life together, Ndongo! There’s another Timor-Leste on the rise in the east, and if you don’t eat your rump state neighbors, they will!

Leman:

Thule didn’t exactly have a bad part, hence the small rise of one rank. But when one of your two neighbors eats the former continental hegemon, things cannot be going excellently. Thule’s stats are still fantastic, but, frustratingly, as we’ve been saying for weeks, they have no options. Yellowknives are far, far more powerful than them and without Pueblo there’s no hope for a coalition. Nivkh are weak, but Thule have been struggling to make inroads there. And after you kill Nivkh, if Thule kills Nivkh, where to then? Goguryeo is stronger, if anything, than Yellowknives. It really sucks, but geography is killing Javraganak. Swap Thule with Ndongo and you have an easy top tier civilization.

Orange:

Ulmanis on that honk shoo Latvians are superior people mi mi mi grind.

Leman:

Sierra Leone did kind of go on a rampage this episode. It was a little overlooked though because it was overshadowed by three former top tier completely disintegrated, and Thomas Peters is a pyromaniac who can’t stop burning Visigothic cities. I don’t know why Sierra Leone keeps torching towns. Their happiness is fine. Still, the war marches on and Visigoths continue to crumble. As long as Sierra Leone can put away the lighter long enough to hold on to some number of Iberian cities, they will be in a very strong position. Or they might just continue torching places and let Faroe Islands and England sweep through the peninsula sometime in the future.

Msurdej:

Mexico falls two ranks as their northern neighbor gets torn apart. As the Yellowknives get closer and closer to eliminating Pueblo, Mexico will start having a new, stronger neighbor to the north. Yet, in this, there is opportunity. If Pueblo gets eliminated, Maximilian could lead a coalition against the Yellowknives while they are weakened, it could lead to Mexico gaining a few cities of the beleaguered neighbor to the north. Another option is serving as a junior vassal to the Yellowknives, and working together to kill Osage. But such actions won’t stop Akaitcho from gaining more power.

Nathanmasse:

Palawa jumps back into the top 10 as they make peace with Bora-Bora no worse for wear.  They undoubtedly have excellent stats but so do many of their direct neighbors, making their path forward unclear.  At the risk of making the same mistakes again, perhaps Noongar is their best opportunity? Their recent advancement in tech (riflemen, artillery, and researching combustion) have put their military well above their continental rival so any repeat of their past animosity may have very different results.  You know what they say, fifth time’s the charm.

ECH:

Not too much action off the coast of China this week, as Koxinga continues bobbing along with fine stats and despairing worrying neighbours. I must admit, I’m quite surprised to see them rising and suspect they don’t have long left before a penny drops in our PR circle that Zheng, however much of a fighter they may be, current has both the no.1 and 2 civs on their borders, especially when they seem to have a land warfare weakness (and the number one civ certainly doesn’t). Zheng needs tech upgrades and units fielded, stat! If either major neighbour of theirs declared war on them next episode, they could be in for one of the largest rank tumbles in CBR history as things stand, in my estimation…

Reformer:

New Holland makes some critical strides this week. Previously, they’ve been the laughingstock among the top powers…well, one of the laughingstocks! Specifically, NH’s strange behaviour has been running a ridiculously outdated land army compared to their peers. Finally, this has changed. They’ve even started on an air force, and at this point in the game, any self-respecting great power has an air force. These advancements make NH’s position in the top 10 less contested, but they’ll still have to use this military if they wish to actually climb. Bora’s conquest of Tiwanaku has taken out one of the easier options, but the ever-incompetent Ecuadorians are still here. And looking mighty tasty after years and years of exhausting themselves against Tiwanaku, might I add. Let’s keep the ball rolling, don’t let Tiwanaku (hopefully) dying cause a period of peace in South America!

Leman:

No flaws in Selkups’ game this week, they grabbed Pavlodar after Kazan failed. But as other civs, like Bora-Bora, are ascendent, Selkups are starting to look like they might be a tier below the other superpowers. I wouldn’t really worry, as nothing really can threaten them at this moment, and they are still more than powerful enough to deal with their strongest neighbor, Goguryeo. But I think they kind of lack the strength, or the action to be in the top five for right now.

Leman:

Bora-Bora brings down the hammer this episode, completing their conquest of Tiwanaku. The former superpower is reduced to just their silly little capital as Bora-Bora completes their goal of pulling off a “reverse-Inca.”  It’s an insanely impressive conquest of a civilization that was really, extremely strong at one point, and even more impressive that Bora managed to get almost all of Tiwanaku’s cities! It’s a top tier performance for a top tier civ. Bora-Bora now sits at third in total cities, and top tier in every other stat. The only blemish on Bora-Bora’s record is their production, which isn’t bad, it just doesn’t measure up to the rest of the top six, who are all either doubling, or almost doubling Bora-Bora. It’s a historic weakness of island civs, but hopefully a new, secondary, South-American core will pump that score up and keep Bora-Bora powerful.

Orange:

Trondur watches on as the Visigoths fall to England and Sierra Leone, telling himself “hah, those idiots taking cities, what a bunch of fools they are”. Just as he has said for nearly every conflict so far. Clearly expanding through settling has put the Faroes on top of the board, so why would Trondur believe conquest is better? He politely laughs to himself at the delusion of the world. If only they knew…

Cloudy:

This week, the Yellowknives continued to hand Pueblo a spectacular shellacking, capturing all but two of the remaining Puebloan cities, including the capital. They also ended the Osage war up one city too. By the end of the next episode, they will have not only crippled a former contender for North America, but will probably have eliminated them from the game, straight up. These gains are still slow to be reflected in the Yellowknives’ stats, as they trail behind Goguryeo and Wahgi, but they’re easily on track to win the continent and their position in the top 3 is nigh unassailable for the time being.

Msurdej:

We saw a bit of Wahgi’s army in this part, and holy moly does it look great. Great War Infantry, battleships, and plenty of artillery: the fruits of Wahgi having eight techs and over 600 effective science more than the next best civs. While moving them north against someone like Zheng may not be the best move for Bol'im, south is another option. Palawa and Noongar are weakened, making both (but especially Noongar with its weaker army and closer proximity) appealing targets.

ECH:

Unlike certain other previous holders of the first place mantle, I think there are certainly narratives at this time a PR could go for that would lead to there being a different civ here. If you’re partial to the view that overall stats supremacy is key, then you may be tempted back to our old classic this season, the Faroes. Alternatively, one drawn to momentum and drive as the key indicators of a winner would certainly be drawn to the Yellowknives (and not to out but there are two rankers who have them first). And of course, one could look at the existential tech supremacy of the Wahgi and firmly argue ‘who could stand before them if they awoke?!’ (and again, there are two rankers who have them in the top spot instead).

What Goguryeo has, essentially, is balance. They’ve been a contender for stats lead more or less for the entirety of the game; they have a proven and active yearning for conquest necessary for a winner; and their tech may not be 8 techs above second-place, but it is literally second place out of everybody. I find it truly fitting how they straddle the strengths of the civs running behind them, and for that reason I’m still rooting for them more than I thought I would.