Power Rankings: Episode 3 – S4

Vihreaa:

Yeah… Things are looking a little grim for the Shawnee, not gonna lie. They’ve essentially been boxed in with just their capital by the Osage and Seneca, so unless they are able to raise a large army to reconquer any lands they’re going to need to spread their settling north, which is partially cut off by water, in order to try to remain relevant. Most likely, though, the Shawnee will get eliminated early or be a non-factor in North America. This could be interesting to see, as it is not often we see a power in central North America bomb out so early. Could this lead to other powers in the region snowballing because of it?f

CelestialDalek:Rozvi is fuuuuuuuuuuuucked. They have no army and are utterly hemmed in by Eswatini and Ndongo. Hemmed in by Eswatini, the civ that it looked like they’d crippled. This is a humiliating example of why you should never take cities in early wars. Hey, at least they’re at peace for now and the threat of elimination isn’t IMMINENT! They will not recover, though, and we all know this.

Orange:

Boraboraboraboraboraboraboraborabora

Emu:

Well. Okay hear me out here: it's Eastern Europe, there's space, Makhno can keep on going, and their UA means that with a few well-timed wars, they can build an empire in a flash if only they have the troops. Stats are good enough, opportunities still exist. This definitely looks bad, but our boys in black aren't out of the running just yet.

JDT:

Ah, the humble Finn. A passive, defensive beast, it is normally quite docile, but can have a surprising punch when threatened. Its first instinct upon assault by a predator is to crawl back into a defensive position, warding off its aggressors with a watchful perimeter and sharp teeth. This particular specimen does not seem to have a good fate aligned, however. Beyond the pressure asserted by the ruthless, if overly patient, predator of the Ume Sami, the Finn has no more grazing or breeding ground, its territory overtaken by superior predators laying around it. The Latvia as well stalks beyond the river, eyeing its prey with bloodthirst and hunger. Its current nest too, is highly threatened, the Sami occasionally knocking at its open structure. Without some good fortune, it seems unlikely that the Finns will survive the harsh winter, destined to become food for the scavengers and predators around them.

CelestialDalek:

Eswatini is back, baby! Now with THREE cities! That’s one more than Rozvi and with another city on the way! Just sit calm and ignore Ndongo. The game plan to become a major power is simple. Bum rush Rozvi, settle Madagascar, convince Ndongo to fight a war in the jungle, sneak in and win. The odds of this happening are small, but greater than the odds that Shawnee, Rozvi, Tehuelche, Makhnovia, or the Finns will do something similar.

Reformer:

So, uhh. Mamluks, huh. Well, they didn’t sit around doing nothing, strictly speaking. They declared a war on Saba-D’mt. Unfortunately for Mamluks, there’s plenty of mountains and hills in the way, and Saba have an army which is certainly strong enough to rebuff these unwanted advances. Really, I don’t know what Shajar al-Durr was thinking. Killing off your army of warriors and archers instead of building settlers? How enlightened. The Mamluk early game continues to not bode well for their long-term prospects.

Msurdej:  

Can I get an oof in the chat (or at least the comments section)? Rio Grande Got into a war with New Holland, and while no land was lost, the gap between armies has shrunk. Worse still, Gonçalves is getting increasingly boxed in from the boys in blue, not to mention Tiwanaku and even Bora-Bora. If they can’t break out, they’re likely to suffer more than their stats already have.

Msurdej:  

Ayuka gains a few ranks this part as the war with Kazan ends. While it’s a definite loss of the Kalmyks, it’s not an unrecoverable one. Heck they already made a third city. But like Rio Grande, The Kalmyks are in danger of being boxed in. A danger they need to avoid if they wanna win.

Reformer:

Well that was another nothingburger for Florida. No new cities. Instead Gregor watched Seneca settle in his backyard, and then joined the coalition against Osage. To fulfill this new obligation, the Floridian army is taking a daytrip over to the Great Plains. No big deal. One day adventure, in and out, everybody will be just fine. The plunder will be divided equally between all Floridians next part!

Lasqueto:

The Qarmatians continue to be resoundingly mid. They’re one of only 4 civs still on 2 cities - there’s still space to settle but that’s really not a good look. They also don’t really have many good options if they wanna try war. Pontus and the Afsharids are both looking beefy and the Mamluks have the Red Sea in the way. Unless they suddenly pull a bunch of settlers out of their ass, the Qarmatians are gonna be doomed to irrelevance.

JDT:

A swift rise begets a swift fall for our midwestern friends. After murdering the Shawnee for their resources, it has become clear that a conspiracy has formed around the killers of the flower moon. Literally all of their relevant neighbours sans Crow have gathered up, pressuring the Osage’s holdings and, in the case of the Pueblo, their most relevant foe, threatening the major city of Moheagra with overwhelming military force. Combined with the Osage themselves not doing too hot statswise with their low production and shattered military, things only seem like they can go down for our fairweathered friends of the plains.

Orange:

Big jump for Saba as our fears from earlier parts are finally vanquished. Saba-D’mt has settled a third city on Lake Victoria, a fantastic move, and has another settler out west. Their only issue there is the Mamluk invasion which, while not actually threatening any of their cities, does threaten that western settler. If they can kill that archer and settle where the archer is before those spearman come to its defense, then they can get another city down and be in quite a nice position.

Leman:

I don’t really know what to make of Rome. They dropped a  handful of ranks and the reason is not entirely clear. Noise perhaps? I will say it's kind of awkward that Sierra Leone got to Tunisia before Rome did. That is kind of a problem, but probably an easy capture later in the royale. I’d love more settling out of them though.

Leman:

Taino is slowly creeping up the rankings as they continue to be quietly fine. I don’t think they’re doing anything fantastic – they failed to settle a city and don’t have wonderful stats. However, they’re relatively safe and not as stupid looking as Florida, so they get a little bump.

Lasqueto:

Has Bukhara even done anything this game? We’ve barely even seen them. They have alright stats I guess? Maybe they could pull off a war with that army? Apart from that there’s not much to say. They’re practically building a reputation off doing nothing.

Reformer:

Kazan has finally ended the fruitless wars against Kazakhstan and Kalmyks. Well, the war against Kalmyks wasn’t fruitless, but by episode 3, it wasn’t going anywhere. Glad they got that done with, and even settled a city of their own. Things are looking up for Kazan! …Nominally speaking, anyway. While Kazan recovers from wasting a bunch of production, Kazakhstan and Latvia have expanded towards Kazan, squeezing closer, slowly but steadily. Latvia and Kazan are even at war right now. Anyway, there’s still some space…but Kazan spent a lot of energy for not a whole lot, and now they’re getting outmatched. Funny enough, Kazan’s best bet going forward might be to fight Kalmyks again when the odds are more favorable. Besides that, I don’t see them getting very far.

Reformer:

Weewooweewoo. Vijayanagara, affectionately known as “Vj”, did nothing in episode 3. That’s bad news for a civ that needs to be proactive to become a respectable power! Their stats got a boatload worse, and their stats are indeed bottom 10 now! Harappa is still cooler, and has close to double the military of Vj, so war’s not a legitimate option at this point. I’m holding out hope, though!

Orange:

Burgundy drops further despite making peace without losing any cities and becoming safe once more. Now that the dust has settled, we see a Burgundy that can settle maybe two more cities max, blocked in by Visigoths, England, and Bavaria, all of whom would be able to stop their potential expanding. Honestly their best bet is to build up their army and attack England to try and take York, and then solidify the northern coast.

Reformer:

Welp, that was a whole lot of nothing you achieved with that war, Henry. You had the right idea, but execution left a lot to be desired. Dividing your troops…not bringing enough troops to begin with…and no siege weaponry. Catapults are admittedly not that impressive, but at least they’d be something. Regardless, the true problem, as usual, is opportunity cost. While England wasted their troops trying to attack three cities at once, Faroes settled two more cities. No one else nearby is cause for concern, really, but Faroes? Very concerning. Incredibly concerning. England will need to do better than this to actually compete for the Isles.

CelestialDalek:Remember Kanem-Bornu?

Me neither! This episode they have done a grand total of zero (0) things. Coincidentally, this number is also how many opportunities they have right now. Maybe that’ll change. Probably not.

Vihreaa:

In this episode of the Civ Battle Royale, Ikko Ikki finds itself at a crossroads of expansion and strategic decision-making. Unlike their historical counterparts, who often focused on fortifying their positions in Japan's rugged terrain, this simulation sees the Ikko Ikki boldly venturing onto the Chinese mainland. As the episode unfolds, the Ikko Ikki must adapt their strategies to navigate the intricate web of alliances and rivalries shaping the geopolitical landscape. While their presence on the mainland offers new opportunities for growth and influence, it also exposes them to greater risks and uncertainties.

Leman:I definitely didn’t have wonderspamming Maguindanao on my bingo card. They haven’t gotten any busted wonders so far, but Cheomseongdae is a strong science wonder, and every island civs wants Great Lighthouse. The stats are solid and I can see a future where Maguindanao can use the boosts from all these wonders to get into a good position. However, at this point, these wonders are coming at the expense of Settlers. If Wahgi continues playing the way they are, Maguindanao’s going to be in a tough spot soon.

Reformer:

Not a lot changed for Crow this episode. Osage is getting coalitioned for the grave sin of conquering a city, but whether anything will come out of that coalition is another thing, and besides, Pueblo is in the way for the most part. Speaking of which, Pueblo stand to gain from the coalition anyway, if someone does. So Crow’s dynamics remain unchanged. They’re still somewhat penned in by Yellowknives and Pueblo. Their stats are still languishing too. They’re not doing badly, per se…just not good, either.

CelestialDalek:What did Seneca do this episode? Anything? Definitely nothing worthy of a #2 ranking in part 0! Maybe I’m being a bit too harsh, but I wouldn’t have to be if they did something. Settle a bit more, and not cities that could be easily taken if Florida of all civs declared war on you. Immediately eliminate Shawnee. Grab a bunch of land in Canada. Fuck it, declare war on Florida. It’d be funny. What could possibly go wrong if you don’t live in Kanawagas? Just wake up, Cornplanter.

Leman:

After Timor-Leste’s Cinderella story last BR, all eyes are on Singapore for a repeat performance. And while we can’t really say if Singapore is going to be able to recreate the magic, they’re absolutely trying. Singapore ends the part with excellent science, population and techs. They’re settling decently enough, and while they’ve neglected to build up a military, seems like all of Southeast Asia has decided to be pacifist. Maguindanao, Dai Viet, Siam, even Wahgi also have terrible military scores, meaning Singapore has more than enough time to continue pumping up its stats and rising through the ranks.

JDT:

Dai Viet has enhanced their religion! Welcome to the rice fields motherfucker! Enjoy your modern rice!

Msurdej:  

The Dzungars made peace with Mongolia. That’s the high point of their episode. They’re still very middle of the pack. NEXT!

Cloudy:

According to the assignment sheet, I’m supposed to write up a civ called “Ecuador.” Does anyone have any idea what this name refers to?

Vihreaa:

After doing apparently nothing, not settling any new cities, not conquering any other cities, Bavaria has risen 10 ranks! Hooray! What is less easy to see in Bavaria is their rise in stats throughout this part. If they learn to actually fight other people, they will be kinda dangerous!

Cloudy:

Settling two cities is all it took for Siam to rise from trash tier to mid tier, which is great because I bought 20,000 Siam stonks last week. Their settler that was going for the Ganges delta went a little bit farther around into India than I’d have liked, but they also settled toward Dai Viet, and their stats are no longer total shit, so I guess progress is being made.

Altima:

Royal Hungary solidifies its grasp on Regensburg despite determined Bavarian resistance, and is rewarded with an 11-rank plummet. Part of that is other powers growing stronger, part of it is a bit of correction from a potentially overzealous early ranking, but part of that is that RH is stagnating a bit. Their pop growth is actively bad, and correspondingly their tech growth is terrible. They may be able to swing out of this now that the war’s over and they can begin settling again, but it’s still not a great look to have worse effective science and military than the guy you just punched in the gut.

Reformer:

Just like last episode, Mogadishu is a middling civ sitting on three cities on the East African coast. War continues to rage in Southern Africa, now with Rozvi on the losing end. Ndongo’s ascendance was a fairly possible future, and now Mogadishu must contend with what is very likely going to be a juggernaut to the west. A healthy dose of proactive expansion would help a lot!

Reformer:

Well, let’s cut to the chase. Zheng built no settlers this episode, failing to expand. Meanwhile, Shang is up to 7 cities, and Ikko-Ikki has settled on the mainland, on the Yangtze River delta. Still, Zheng has space to settle inland, or off to the Pacific, but it is unfortunate all the same. At least Dai Viet are having a pretty lackluster game, so no need to worry about the south. And Zheng’s own stats are doing great, getting them into the top 20 in stats, so they’re clearly doing something right.

Altima:

Roog jumps from near-nadir square into the middle of the pack in one fell swoop: The settling of Fez. Such a ballsy move has cowed both opposing civs and doubtful rankers into accepting the superior dominance of the Alaouites. Soon they shall rule all of Africa and sit as undisputed #1. Such is the power of Fez, greatest of cities, jewel of the Sahara; who even could contest its glory? Sierra Leone has no military and K-B have mid as hell stats, while the Romans are throwing their navy away on the Visigothic shores.

The Alaouites also settled another city off-screen and broadly improved their stats, which may also have contributed.

Orange:

Honestly Mongolia should’ve dropped more than two (I say having put them lowest at 39th), they lost a city easily and don’t really look like they can take it back. I can’t tell if that lake is actually Lake Victoria but if it is then it’s a shame they haven’t settled it yet for that food, and settled more in general. I guess that’s Mongolia’s saving grace here, they still have a lot of space, even if they are getting beaten down by Shang for now.

Altima:

It’s too early to ring the bell, but things look Bad for the Noongar. They’ve got a terrible military, and they’re outclassed in any meaningful category by Palawa. There’s still time to recover, but they need to start working now; particularly, they need to unfuck their economy. They’ve actually got a low enough GPT that building back up their military could easily kick them into the red, which as we’ve seen can spell a death spiral for civs much stronger than them.

Cloudy:

That was just a little bit pathetic. The Ume-Sami only founded one more city this episode, and although they attacked the seemingly vulnerable Finns, they’ve so far managed to do nothing with their numerical advantage. No Finnish cities are even under siege yet. And with so many other civs already off to the races, found 5, 6, 7, 8, even 9 cities, four just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Altima:

What a complete failure of a civ. Victory was right there, with Pyongyang in the red! Now they have to deal with being on the wrong side of a city disparity with a civ that has broadly better stats and terrain than them. We’re early enough that they could recover, but damn, what a whiff.

Orange:

Thule stay steady in the low (high?) twenties with their safety, ample room to expand, and quite solid production, and uh, oh that’s an army seemingly heading east. Well good luck against the Yellowknives then, if they attack and succeed it will put them in a very strong position on the continent.

Msurdej:  The Visigoths end the war against Burgundy with the lines returning to antebellum. But that’s not good for Leovigild. He needs to either break out of Hispania into France or into North Africa. At least the Roman invasion will probably not amount to anything.

Reformer:

TWO CITIES IN SOUTH AMERICA! That’s right! Two cities! Bora-Bora is off to a chaotic and exciting start. They’ve chosen the locations for their colonies quite competently as well - between Rio Grande and Tehuelche, neither of whom seem particularly interested in climbing out of the bottom 10. Rio Grande notably WAS building up an army, but spent most of it fighting New Holland, to little effect. So all in all, entirely possible this forward-settling pays off handsomely. In the meantime, I am disappointed in the lack of settling back home. There’s plenty of islands out there, and Wahgi & Palawa are expanding like crazy. Bora-Bora will want their actual home core to be quite sturdy by the time they come to blows with these juggernauts, and right now they’re not doing much towards that goal.

Msurdej:  

The Khoshuts had a great part this week. Not only did they manage to not only double the number of cities in their empire, but they also set up some strong forward settles against the Dzungars and Harappa. This, coupled with their region’s less than stellar players, is giving them a huge rise in the ranks. Let’s see if they can make the most of it.

Leman:

Tiwanaku is back baby! Well not really, but with five settles, Tiwanaku is solidly better than it was last week. Actually, I’m going to take this time to rant a little bit. Half of our Part 0 top ten was looking like they were just not playing the game. Seneca, Crow, Mogadishu, Ume Sami have all been awkwardly sleepy this whole game, and I for one was very worried that Tiwanaku was among them. I hope that this episode isn’t a fluke and Tiwanaku starts playing the game like the power we all know they can be.

Leman:

Pontus is a fraud. That’s my hot take. They had a quiet part, no cities no techs, little real growth, and while they can absolutely continue to expand, right now they’re looking pretty anemic to me. I hope they’ll turn it around, they have a decent military, but I’m not convinced that they should really be up here in the top 20. But I could be wrong, there’s still a lot of potential with Pontus.

Cloudy:

So far, the Yellowknives are doing what they need to do, expanding into the fertile lands of Cascadia while boxing in the Crow and ignoring Thule, who are just off doing their own thing anyway. If Akaitcho keeps this up, then he’s poised to claim a large swathe of North America, and from there the game will truly begin for the tundra bois.

Lasqueto:

Harappa takes a bit of a dip in the rankings after they found themselves at war with both their neighbours. I highly doubt those will come to anything though. It’s Harappa’s other neighbour they need to worry about. Last part the Khoshuts suddenly woke up and started absolutely spamming settlers, catapulting them up into the top 20. Harappa, by contrast, didn’t really do anything much. Went-Anu had better watch his back, because India’s suddenly looking a helluva lot more competitive.

Cloudy:

Mexico is expanding nicely and seems poised to claim all of Central America without much resistance, despite the Pueblo forward settle. All is well!

Lasqueto;

The Selkups seem to have come out second place in Siberia this game, after a surprisingly good start from Kazakhstan. They’ve just kinda been sitting in their corner vibing. Their fish uniques haven’t really kicked into gear yet so their stats aren’t anything to write home about. They do have two settlers out though. To quote the narration “The Selkups exist.” - that’s all there is to say really.

Reformer:

The fuck is this dude doing with those settlers. Near the end of the part Sierra Leone settled another city on the Mediterranean, some way east from their previous settlement. And as you may have noticed, they’ve got a settler trekking around the whole of Kanem-Bornu, presumably to settle a city on the other side of a competing civ. Their stats and expansiveness may look great on paper, but these farflung colonies are going to be nigh-impossible to defend very soon. The Alaouites already have a sizable standing army just raring to go, and even Kanem-Bornu will build an army eventually…surely. In the meantime, Sierra Leone’s military is spread thin just escorting these adventurous settlers around. This is not a gamble which pays off. I expect tragedy in Sierra Leone’s future.

Cloudy:

Although Latvia has fallen one rank, make no mistake, the hype has only continued to accelerate. Latvia reached 6 cities this week, tied for the most in Europe, in part off the back of Makhnovia, who foolishly gave up their second city to Latvia in a peace treaty. This came after Latvia successfully repulsed the Makhnovite attack on Rezenke. Since then Latvia has built two more settlers that are currently heading out in search of new lands, and also declared war on Kazan, although nothing has happened there yet—maybe Ulmanis is banking on another peace treaty giveaway. In any case, Latvia is shaping up to be a fun civ to watch.

JDT: Kazakhstan sneaks up to 10th on the back of being the civ to exploit the vast wastes of Siberia. With 6 cities and more on the way, coupled with already strong production and a good military, and doubled by the relatively ineffectual competition around them, they are more than set up to dominate and become The Siberian Civ tm of this mark. Their only real issue right now is unhappiness, which is barely an issue. Get ready for the power of Nursultan to stretch across the steppe.

Altima:

Afsharids slip a bit, but they’ve still got a solid core with decent room to expand and consolidate. Their military is a bit mid, their tech is starting to lag (though this early on that’s a little statistical noise-y) and their pop is bad, but they’ve got above-curve cities and plenty of space, so they can easily fix those problems.

Cloudy:

The Wahgi are expanding like rabbits, settling one new city after another to bring them to a total of 8. However, their southern neighbor Palawa still somehow has more. And to their west, Maguindanao has some of the best tech on the cylinder, so Bol’im had better follow up his expansion with some military construction and libraries and stuff. Still, in a competitive region, the Wahgi are moving full steam ahead, so their top 10 status seems certain to stay for the foreseeable future.

Vihreaa:

Goguryeo continues their settling path north, narrowly escaping the Nivkh’s assault. They have been performing pretty well so far in the game, though one of their main concerns right now involves none other than Shang to their south, a strong power brewing, as agreed by the power rankers. Despite this, though, Goguryeo isn’t backing down, and is continuing its growth like all (most) other civs.

Lasqueto:

Ndongo absolutely shoots up in the rankings this episode, and it’s easy to see why. Nzinga is in a very very good position right now. Rozvi got kneecapped with the loss of their second city and Eswatini, while recovering, is still very weak. Aside from them she basically has the entire south of Africa to herself. Mogadishu and KB don’t look that great either. There really isn’t anyone nearby who could pose a threat right now. Her stats are kinda mid but that doesn’t really matter because she has all the space in the world to pump out cities and build up an empire.

Leman:

So, Faroes are a stats monster. This isn’t surprising really, we expected them to have nasty science and production scores, and Faroes have not disappointed. They top the charts on techs, production and effective science, come in second in total population and tied for fourth in number of cities. Honestly, they’re like one good war (and one dead England) away from snatching the number one spot and not letting go.

Vihreaa:

New Holland is one of those civs that isn’t really doing that much. I mean, they’re settling cities and expanding their core, great, but where’s the action? This is a classic case of starting in Brazilian South America, it’s a mickey mouse ticket to the endgame. With their geographical isolation to the east and ample room to expand, New Holland is the consensus pick for top dog in South America.

Reformer:

Pueblo continues to be the easy #1 of North America. Six cities, expanding uncontested. No one’s looking strong enough to challenge them at this time. Au contraire, Puebloan troops are partaking in the anti-Osage coalition, and may even seriously threaten Mo-he-ag-gra. We saw them on approach on turn 53, but unfortunately didn’t get a good shot thereafter. That probably means that Pueblo is not having much luck, which is understandable considering the terrain. Wasting a bunch of units is unfortunate, but won’t be enough to bridge the gap between them and the rest of the continent. Pueblo would have to seriously try to bungle up the current lead.

Leman:

Nine cities!

Honestly, I could end it there. That’s so many cities. Palawa rolled expansive and settling all these cities is exactly what needs to be done. Luckily their stats are not suffering, science is great, production is great, population is high. The only real negative is their happiness, and the general PR stigma against Australian civs.

CelestialDalek:Shang retains the top spot in the rankings, and it’s easy to see why. Their stats are still fantastic, they’re pumping out a good amount of cities, they have a great early-game UU, what’s not to love? Is Mongolia going to come around and hurt them, pulling off a crazy counteroffensive to recapture Old Sarai? No. Is Mongolia going to lose their capital to Shang? Also no, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still put Shang 1st. And unlike a lot of the top spots, they have already proved their fighting mettle by taking Old Sarai. Can Palawa say the same? No, they can’t. At this point, we have to ask ourselves who is around to stop Shang. The answer is we don’t know: it’s only part 3. But expect good things from them, assuming they don’t go down in a Solano Lopez-esque blaze of glory.