Power Rankings: Episode 38 – S4

ECH:

Today I have the morbid honor of pressing F for a real one, perhaps one of the realest to ever be one. I hate to pull a hipster card, but I must emphasise my personal sadness as I was one of a bunch rooting for Mexico from the outset, putting poor Max first in the X4 vote, rather than simply joining the growing chorus of fans as Mexico pulled their weight through the season. Maximilian offered us one of the most engaging civ stories this season, and in a way it’s quite ironic that they end only 2 ranks above their Part 0 prediction of 34th (3 if you don’t count Shang as alive).

Indeed, hopes were generally a bit mixed coming into this season, and why wouldn’t they? The Mexican region has never been a breeding ground for strong civs in the past, and with such lofty expectations for Seneca and other North American civs the feeling was that Mexico would simply end up squeezed. However, from the very beginning there were some suggestions that they could be a dark horse, as their Part 0 PR even says directly. Their UA giving them free units was a notable asset, and in testing they consistently held up alright. From the outset of the actual season, they began proving the optimists mostly right with a sturdy, even impressive, settlement program and statistical advantages: 10 cities by episode 7 and quickly becoming a military top 5 regular, boasting one of the more impressive carpets of the early-mid games. Notably, Mexico spent all but one episode of the first 20 in the 10th-20th range; and from Episode 21 to Episode 35 entirely within the top 10.

Now, in reviewing their total history after their death, the case could be made that they ultimately were never the most relevant civ, a perennial up-and-comer who never translated their momentum into game-changing action. They sparred with Pueblo and helped weaken their image just before their fall, perhaps. They enacted the great citadelling of the Mississippi, which has devastated Osage, true. They helped distract Ecurador when that civ could have been focusing attention on more profitable endeavours. Their most lasting image may in fact be their end; squeezed (as the PR’s of Part 0 somewhat got right) between Yellowknives and New Holland, fighting a grand struggle only to be betrayed by Wahgi, who had been peacekeeping all that time.

All true, and all perhaps paint a picture of a civ that could, and should, have achieved more. But perhaps, in the end, that was not the way of Maximilian. The Austrian Duke helmed a fine, prosperous empire for his people (let’s not check if they wanted him or not) and was cut down without clemency. Fitting, nein?

Cloudy:

It’s over, the end is nigh, we’re a minute from midnight, Bora has Bora’d its last Bora. Puni has been reduced to a single one-tile-island city that’s taking damage, and it’s virtually certain that New Holland will finish the job in the first few slides of episode 39. It’s been a long road to this dire point, but the story is at its end. Much like Mexico, Bora-Bora deserves far better than they will get, and they will live forever in our collective memory as one of the most incredible civilizations ever to grace the cylinder. At least, while their death is painful, it isn’t at the hands of the dreaded Wahgi—anything that doesn’t go to Bolim is a small blessing.

Nathanmasse:

Shang defies all expectations and has entered the industrial era, leaving just the Visigoths in the enlightenment era.  Unfortunately, they appear to have done so by stealing Archaeology so they’re still a long way from choosing an ideology.

Msurdej:  

With the collapse of Bora-Bora, the Visigoths gained yet another rank. But they're still biding their time until the Faroe Islands (or MAYBE Sierra Leone) grants them the sweet release of death.

ECH:

Boy oh boy, this was not a part for Thule lovers. In fact, this was a bad enough episode that it drew introspection by some, wondering why this civ was even as high as it was for so long in the past; that’s how you know you’ve done truly dreadfully. Us PR’s were prepared to see them take a battering from Goguryeo, some of us were even prepared to see Goguryeo break them in half. We were not prepared to see them get broken apart by Ikko Ikki as well! Now they have time to stew under the beautiful Arctic night skies, reflecting on what could have been…

Leman:

I like being mean to the civs at the bottom of the PRs cause, you know, they suck. But when we get to this part of the BR I start feeling bad. Kazan was a good civ. A proud civ. They did things. They tried really hard. They played really well. They killed Kazakhstan! It’s sad seeing them rumped and citadeled. I hope that Latvia or Selkups put them out of their misery so we can focus on that big yellow blob of five episodes ago and not the weird little husk they’ve become.

Reformer:

After thousands of years of coasting off of their UA, Saba is 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 getting their comeuppance in the form of yet another Sierra Leonean war of aggression. Those guys really have a lot of gumption huh. Nothing like Saba, actually. Again and again Saba failed to achieve anything despite their gifts. Most of their wars were fought to stalemates, and most of those were against weaker civs. Ndongo, Mogadishu, Kanem-Bornu, Qarmatians, Pontus, all proved too tough for Saba’s delicate constitution. But 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 is indeed the key word. Saba was never decisively defeated, even if they lost cities here and there to K-B or Mog. That changes now. SL is far superior in every way, ESPECIALLY willpower and all that follows. And it’ll be so, so deserved.

Reformer:Seneca proves themselves 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘭 once more, this time by snagging Kaoto’ from YK. I mean, it was theirs originally, but that was a long time ago, nobody’s gonna remember that. That’ll explain the three-spot rise. Besides that, Seneca is also at war with Osage, which 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 be of concern, but there’s so much crap in the way: mountains, lakes, New Holland, Mexican units, Taino units, a Ikko-Ikki unit, and there’s even what I believe to be the Floridian remnant in the form of a composite bowman walking around. Having actually gone through all these, I’m convinced Seneca is actually a tourist destination.

Cloudy:

I still can’t believe we’re at that part of the game where 24th place is basically bottom tier. That being said, Bukhara is plucky for a civ of this size, and their declaration of war on Kazan is at least cute, if not entirely effective.

Nathanmasse:

Osage found themselves on the receiving end of at least 12 declarations of war and managed to make it through the episode mostly unscathed.  Fortunately, so much territory was stolen by Mexico (now YK) that the Taino invasion was funneled into a dense network of citadels and torn apart.  Their cities took a bit of a beating, losing 24 population over the last 10 turns but it’s nothing they can’t recover from.

Msurdej:  

Trajan managed to get peace with Sierra Leone , but at this point, the damage was done. Only six cities remain in the once mighty Roman Empire, but that won't be enough to save them from a defeat. It's only a matter of time before Sierra Leone or another nearby civs comes back for the kill. But to his credit, Rome has done well to get this, and he won't go down without a fight.

ECH:

What a shock, a quiet part for Bavaria! I think Ludwig is perhaps aware of his mortality, and is just quietly enjoying his culture while he can. The downfall of Rome does perhaps offer a doorway for expansion, and they truthfully aren’t doing the worst at keeping up in terms of military tech (at least vs a Latvia tier power, a Faroes tier power would demolish them) but the future is still pretty bleak.

Leman:

Dzungars are part of an endangered species: mid-tiers. This episode saw the collapse of Saba and Thule both former members of the top 10. It’s only a matter of time before the same fate befalls Dzungars. Only question is: who’s going to do the deed? Goguryeo? Selkups? Afsharids? Maybe Wahgi even? Time will tell.

Orange:

Well they still haven’t been attacked yet so that’s good. And hey they tried to take the initiative and attack Osage, but that went absolutely nowhere. Instead they could try to go against Seneca again since Seneca might actually fall. But they are slowly getting completely surrounded by their superpower neighbors. How long until YK or NH turn their focus? Not long at this rate…

NopeCopter:

The Noongar have another very quiet part, which at this point is about the best news they could hope for. It’s a shame we’re so far past the point where a Noongar comeback was viable, but they just didn’t act quite fast enough, I’m afraid - and now all of their neighbors are terrifying. They hold on around the halfway point of the rankings just by virtue of actually having a decently large and intact empire, but by this stage of the game, that just means whoever takes a bite out of them will have to chew their food a little longer. Though to be fair, Singapore and the Palawa might actually struggle to take them out - the Palawa for obvious reasons, and Singapore just because of all those peacekeepers clogging things up. The Wahgi are as terrifying as ever though. Maybe staying in their good graces and holding their peacekeepers is a more viable strategy after all… they should ask Mexico how that turned out.

Msurdej:  

Kennyo gets the highest rank he's ever gotten, as the war with the Thule ends. The Ikko-Ikki walk away from the war with more cities than they started with, and have one of their biggest threats removed. Sure, they probably won't win and will eventually be removed by Goguryeo, but they can still continue to live for another day.

Reformer:

Ain’t no party like a dead deer party. Reindeer specifically but shush. Deer flowed better.

…

That’s all I’ve got, they haven’t done anything in thousands of years.

Cloudy:

With Sierra Leone tearing apart Saba, Mogadishu has a great opportunity to retake Hamar Weyne and maybe capture some more cities too. Given Mogadishu’s track record lately, I don’t doubt that they’ll do what needs to be done. Godspeed.

Msurdej:  

Zheng had a quiet part this episode, with little to show for it.  But with Thule defeated, and the Ikko-Ikki stronger, it seems unlikely the Zheng will rise any more, barring the collapse of a civilization. But still, for the civ that started in 60th place, being in the top 15 currently, and dying in the top half of the game is not bad.

Nathanmasse:

Pontus took this episode off to rebuild their army and the cities of old Qarmatia but hopefully they don’t wait too long.  There are still several decent avenues for further expansion from Saba, Rome, and Bavaria but these won’t be around forever.  In fact, Pontus did place a citadel to the north of Gaziura, all but cutting the city off from the rest of Bavaria.  Perhaps Mithradites is plotting to rejoin this lost city to his empire?

Orange:

Ndongo somehow is 6th in tech now, a surprising position to get for them. They also have an army size that’s nearly 1 million strong (but is heavily nuke based). But they still have one major thing holding them back: They’re fuckin’ tiny. I thought they were bigger but they only have 13 cities. Sierra Leone has 38 cities. Unless Ndongo utilizes their slightly good position to rush Saba and then Mog, they will fall too far behind Sierra Leone.

Orange:

The toady continues to do little without being told to by Wahgi, they could attack Noongar at some point but only if Wahgi attacks first so that Bol’im can get the majority of the spoils. How long until they realize they can only last so long before Wahgi rolls south?

NopeCopter:

Latvia clings to the top ten as, despite a deservedly quiet episode after the very long and grueling war against the Finns, nobody else really made waves across the top spots, either. The Faroes continue to go broke, the Ume Sami continue to be mostly irrelevant, and while the Selkups are no longer distracted by the Afsharids, they don’t exactly seem to be gearing up for war, either, so Latvia can afford to take just a bit of time to build up. They just need to be sure that they get to Bavaria and Kazan before someone else does.

Leman:

I’m kind of struggling with the Afsharids. They’re clearly among this second tier of powers with Selkups, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Latvia, and Palawa, but I can never really figure out where to place them amongst those powers. On the one hand, they ‘re big, they have good stats, great science for their power bracket, and a few opportunities to take advantage of – namely Dzungars and Bukhara. They don’t have any natural enemies but are completely carpeted by season four’s plague – Wahgi. Which means, two things. First, oddly enough, an Afsharid – Wahgi war would be nightmarish. Secondly, it means Afsharids’ military is way less potent, with Wahgi units blocking them and preventing them from spawning in in ideal locations. Basically, Afsharids need to close those borders, and fast, and I think Afsharids will have a decent shot at catching up to the top five.

Leman:

Singapore had a quiet bulk up part this time around. Fun fact Singapore’s population increased by 29.6% to 744. They overtook New Holland without capturing a single city and are now in fifth place overall! This came with corresponding gains in science and technologies. They’re third in effective science! They’re still a good dozen techs off from New Holland and Yellowknives and full twenty behind Faroes and Goguryeo, but they’re looking like they might close the gap when the big boys finish up that tech tree.

NopeCopter:

Sierra Leone rises up to 7th as they not only close out their war with Rome, securing a large chunk of the Maghreb in the process, but also immediately follow that up with a war on Saba-D’mt. Admittedly, this war declaration was maybe a bit TOO immediate - Sierra Leone didn’t bother moving their units to the front line before the fighting began, costing them some early momentum - but as of now they seem to be back in control and ready to make serious progress next episode. Of course, it’s hard to say just how far they’ll go, given Saba-D’mt has solid defensive terrain and Sierra Leone is still a bit war-weary, but given how many wars of near-complete conquest we’ve seen lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if Saba-D’mt was mostly gone by this time next week.

ECH:

I’m sad to say that at this point it feels like the Selkups are travelling a path well-trodden: that of a Siberian Giant boxed in between neighbours impressive enough to contain them, thus choosing to slumber and bide their time instead, tempting some adventurer to come along and slay the giant in time. The curse of Snore-yak, to CBR old timers. Well, maybe that’s unfair, as the Selkups did try something over the past two parts, bombing Afsharid lands into the black and sending in paratroopers, hopeful they could capture some pivot points of the continent but it was not to be. Now they sit in peace with an impressive military and some rumps on their border they really need to make a move on now, lest they truly fall for their region's curse.

Leman:

New Holland is the reaper of South America it seems, as just as Bora Bora finally made peace with Wahgi, New Holland swoops in to kill them off. It’s not a hard task, but it’s another four cities to add to a growing empire. New Holland's stats are growing too, and in the past few episodes they have more or less closed the gap entirely between themselves and Yellowknives, and I would consider the two to be more or less on par. This fresh off their dismemberment of Mexico, mind you, so it seems as if New Holland has finally woken up. I wonder if Taino will be next?

Leman:

There has been a little bit of chatter about Yellowknives, as people are starting to think they might be slipping. Goguryeo is crushing, Faroes stats are monstrous, Wahgi is unfathomable, and New Holland is ascendent. All the while Yellowknives is sitting quietly, recuperating from its rather modest conquest of Mexico. It’s not really a favorable comparison for our North American hegemon. That being said, I do think Yellowknives are doing fine. While New Holland is absolutely catching up, Yellowknives’ stats are completely fine. They are among the top tiers that have no looming threat of economic collapse and, despite the collapse of Thule, still have several expansion opportunities – Osage and Ikko-Ikki are prime targets. So, I wouldn’t worry.

Reformer:

Dramatically, Wahgi drops to third place for the first time in 12 episodes. This comes off the back of their perennial problem only getting worse. That being bankruptcy, of course. This week, Wahgi’s net loss reached -14391, and their effective science is down to 898, which slots them between Mogadishu and Bavaria. Tragic, really. Fortunately for Wahgi and Wahgi fans, Wahgi still has the advantage of all those techs they managed to stockpile while they still had an economy. Those won’t last forever though, of course. Goguryeo and Faroes are already five and six techs ahead of Wahgi, respectively, and that gap will only get wider as the other two superpowers get to actually research Future Worlds techs. In the meantime, New Holland and Yellowknives are only three and four techs behind, respectively. Wahgi will be left in the dust soon enough, but while they maintain equivalence, they can still slaughter whoever they please. Any such victory will be bittersweet of course, but you might as well do something instead of nothing. Eventually, the stage hazard will have worn itself down, and the TRUE victor of the cylinder can heroically slay the ancient dragon that terrorized the innocent for so long…

Leman:

Faroes gain a spot mostly as Wahgi’s science completely flatlines. Faroes have unreasonable stats still and that, more than their accomplishments, are what’s keeping them up high. They couldn’t even squeeze a city out of a Roman peace deal. But like I said, Faroe’s stats are another story. They’ve retaken the tech lead, hold the science lead, despite a substantial deficit, and have a monstrous, unprecedented production lead. They’re third in city count, second in population, and third in military. They just need to use all that power. Kill Ume Sami. Kill Bavaria. Kill Rome. Kill Seneca. Kill Visigoths. Just one. Or all of them. You can kill all of them, at the same time, in your sleep, Trondur. Please.

NopeCopter:

Goguryeo maintains their hold on first place this episode as the Thule are quickly and efficiently dismantled, albeit with some help from the Ikko-Ikki. Normally, the loss of so many cities to another civ would be a pretty massive issue, but the Ikko-Ikki are so weak relatively speaking that Goguryeo can pretty much claim them for themselves at any time (provided the Wahgi don’t come knocking, at least). Beyond that, though, the real good news for Goguryeo this episode is just the continued economic collapse of the Wahgi and the Faroes. So long as the Wahgi continue to demolish their own science output with their unending unit spam, and Goguryeo continues their steady Gold output, they’re probably set to stick to first place - provided they keep conquering, of course.