Power Rankings: Episode 0 – S5

ECH:

New season, new PR, this is the first morsel of entertainment the eager audience are getting from it all in months, you gotta do a good job here ECH…

Ternate?! More like, TER-NOT!!!

OK, for real, welcome to the exciting new dawn of a CBR Season, beginning as ever with the civ us exalted and wise Power Rankers have the least collective hope in. We’ve gone with a spicy choice this time, literally, with the spice island civ of Ternate! While it wasn’t the civ ranked 61st the most - that honor goes to Xavante - the most any of our 17 rankers placed them was 54th and 9 had it at 60th or 61st, representing a total lack of expectations for this trade and religion oriented contestant. The reasons why are a checklist of everything that can go wrong: largely underpowered and irrelevant uniques; biases not geared for domination; a small island TSL in the middle of stronger civs and open to naval attack; and a track record in testing ranging from mediocrity to disaster.

As a final note though, I and others do have a caveat on this ranking in the fact that it’s pretty unlikely Ternate will actually die first. Even if they perform worse than expected, naval warfare takes a while to get into the swing of things, usually around the late classical or Medieval era of the season, by which at least one unfortunate land-based civ tends to have already been eliminated by an early power. Don’t be impressed if Ternate lingers into the 50s.

[Editor’s note: What are we doing, ranking a Southeast Asia maritime civ 61st for the third season in a row? Haven’t we learned our lesson?]

Semi:

And so, the Levant True Start Location returns. For the first time since X2, our Anatolia & the Levant region will actually be represented by the second half of that name. The last time a Levant TSL was here? It was Baldwin’s Kingdom of Jerusalem. You forgot about those guys, didn’t you?

Ultimately, therein lies the problem. Phoenicia, on their own, is a fine enough civ. They settle quite a bit and have a good AI - not necessarily a warmonger, but not one that’s going to choose to sit on three cities and do nothing the whole game.

However…they might not have a choice. They simply do not have space around them. To the south, in a situation reminiscent of Baldwin’s, the Egyptian civ (in this case Hyksos, who have an early unique Chariot Archer) will be eyeing up the Phoenician capital from four tiles away from Turn 1. Sumeria hems them in from the east, Ma’in from Arabia, and Circassia from the Caucasus. There simply won’t be enough space to go around in this cramped region. And ultimately, we don’t think Phoenicia will be aggressive enough to break out. But if they have a good first few turns, with a fast third or fourth settlement, expect this ranking to go up quickly.

Reformer:

This ain’t it, boss. Hansa is an Amazing civ . . . but this ain’t it. The start is tough- Central Europe sucks to be stuck in. But that’s not even the whole story. Else they’d be a bit higher. But Hansa as an AI is just disinterested in fighting. There’s no battle raging in their heart. There is no grand ambition. No desire to see the world bow before them. And that is the more pressing reason as to why Hansa is a guaranteed loser. All starting locations are viable [citation needed], but if you don’t try, that’s that. Many rankers were even considering Hansa a contender for 61st . . .

Realistically though, Hansa’s probably not dying in 59th. Simply because of the neighborhood. Kalmar, who are right next door, at least have some fight in them, but are still not particularly intimidating, and themselves should worry more about Bjarmia. France has in the tests proven themselves mid at best. Besides these two, there’s quite a distance to potential neighbors like the Pope, Wallachia, and Scythia. All concerning in their own right, but probably distant enough that Hansa can outlive their starting rank. Besides, if you don’t settle aggressively, no one’s going to hate you right out of the gate. That’s something, right?

Leman:

Xavante’s issue can be summarized in a single word. Guaycuru. Consistently, in like every test we’ve run, Guaycuru waltzes over and absolutely kneecaps Xavante in the first hundred turns of the game. Sometimes they kill them outright, sometimes Potiguara has to come in and clean up but Xavante (I think) has never, ever won that face off, in any test. There’s always a time for Guaycuru to fuck up, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen. I envision Guaycuru vs Xavante to go just as bad as I expect.

Archimedes :

What do you get when you cross a civilization with trade based abilities with a starting location situated primarily in desert terrain? You get a low ranked civ that has the potential to at least get a few extra social policies and great works of writing before it dies to a more combative neighbour. The nice thing about Ma’in is that whoever conquers them will get to shuffle those extra great works of writing to their own productive, non desert cities. That, alongside a swathe of land containing trading posts, and a decent chance at establishing a religion, are the three lasting legacies we can expect out of Ma’in this game.

Msurdej:  After years of waiting, the Suez Canal has been remade. Hyksos has an early game that will either make or break them. Their Cultists of Set ability gives them science and culture whenever cities resist them, and culture when they conquer a city for the first time. If they can go on the warpath and grab a few cities early on, they have the capacity to snowball and be a massive problem in the region. The keyword there though, is if. Their closest neighbor is Phoenicia, but the other civs near them are across the Sahara Desert. A desert which doesn't make for the most productive cities on a good day. If Hyksos can't get the ball rolling fast in the first few dozen turns, they'll probably sit in the Suez for a time before they're eliminated.

ItsTruckMonth:

The NFL’s NFC West. The MLB’s AL East. The NBA’s Western Conference. The World Cup’s Group I. All stacked with powerhouse teams this year, just like East Asia in CBRX5. Sadly, every single one of these groups will have one team finish at the bottom, and Ryukyu is the most likely to earn that unfortunate title.

Simply put, they’re a one tile island civ, with uniques providing little in the way combat buffs, in a region chocked full of either highly ranked (Tang, Yunnan, Green Ukraine) or highly aggressive (Japan) civs.

That said, there is hope to be found: they have some breathing room to expand on the Chinese coast, and the Gusuku Unique Improvement has some pretty nutty benefits. Don’t be surprised (ok be pretty surprised) if they set up a decent empire.

Msurdej:  You know how civs will raze cities when it's not advantageous for them to do so sometimes? Well what if a civ could also PILLAGE its own tiles? No, not appealing to you? Well what if we put it on an island start? Still no? Well um... What if we give it uhm... a lovely color scheme? Yeah, Cebu might have some interesting mechanics, but given how burn happy civs can be, Cebu might be pillaging a lot of its own tiles. Sure they get culture when doing so, but is it worth the cost? Probably not.

Msurdej:  Rapa Nui (AKA Easter Island) might be a contender for coolest UI in the game with their culture and faith producing Moai, but it's hard to see them winning the game. Island civs struggle on a good day, and with Caral and Chono nearby, it seems unlikely that Hotu Matu'a will make landfall on South America, let alone an impact on the region. Still, Timor Leste has proven it is possible for a civ to win from humble islands. It's just going to be one heck of an uphill battle.

ECH:

The Kalmar Union have been a perennial contender for one of the Scandinavian slots with, in my estimation, a disproportionately vocal group of supporters each time the ballot rolled around. I count myself amongst them, consistently endorsing Margarethe and muttering ‘next time’ to myself when another civ won. After all, the civ is a classic from 2016 with an awesome history behind it for those aware; a rare uniting of the three crowns of Scandinavia orchestrated by one of Europe's most powerful queens in medieval history. Which makes it all the more awkward that I have to join the chorus of PR’s saying ‘This civ really ain’t cut out for a CBR’.

I don’t think it would be quite right to say Kalmar is an abysmal performer, they tend to get out their 4 or 5 cities in decent enough spots and have meh-to-fine stats and so on. I’ve witnessed one test game at least where they even managed to become the dominant power in Scandinavia. The issue is narcolepsy, just drifting along with a tidy little core while others  - usually Bjarmia - grow to surround and surpass them, and suddenly in the midgame whatever power has surged in the area pounces, disappearing Kalmar off the map. You’d think having the even-worse-ranked and historically appropriate Hansa as a neighbor would help, but if anything, the fact both are navally-inclined coast dwelling traders just attracts them towards each other, sleepily throwing away ships in pointless wars that go nowhere until one is killed by someone stronger.

Leman:

Scotland is a weird one if I’m being honest. In general, they’re not good. Scotland is never a great starting spot, it’s a small cold little island without a lot of space to expand and an early game rival in Umhaill who kind of has the leg up on Scotland. Unlike Faroes, Scotland lacks any unreal bonuses that would turn them into a gamelong powerhouse, so they’re mostly just working on their own merit.

That being said I think there are a few unspoken advantages for Scotland that we haven’t highlighted. One is that the changes to settling rules* really favor larger islands and peninsula civilizations like Scotland. Scotland is probably going to get a few more cities than its British Isles predecessors. Secondly is Greenland. Scotland is the de facto owner of Greenland. They wont be settling it right away but Onondaga and Umhail are far enough away that Scotland should win that race. If Scotland is left alone and settles well, there is a real chance they’ll build a very Faroe-esque empire in the North Sea and do something excellent with it.

Or they’ll be like the last Scotland. And die. Who knows.

[*Editor’s note: For season 5, civs will be able to settle 3 tiles apart, as in seasons 1-2 and Mk. II, rather than 4 tiles as in seasons 3-4, as long as at least one city is on the coast. After turn ~200 this rule will be expanded to all cities.]

NopeCopter:

The Aures, the desert-dwelling nomads who fought off the Arabs as they expanded across the Maghreb, might have one of the more inaccurate rankings out of the roster, because over the course of testing, they ended up receiving several massive buffs to their starting location just to try and make them less awful. While originally the Aures were basically just fodder for their southern neighbors, they now regularly form an actual core and have even gotten a few really solid games under their belt.

However, they’re still pretty decisively below the other two West African civs in terms of power level, since their competitors have access to larger swaths of non-desert land and can sometimes even rush across the Sahara before the Aures have a chance to settle. The Aures do have the advantage of being able to pick on the weak European civs across the Mediterranean, and they have triumphed over their southern neighbors before, so I’m pretty hopeful for this season’s Maghrebi civilization (even if I think the region looks a bit silly with all that extra Grassland)... but of course, their main competitors are ranked pretty high for a reason.

ItsTruckMonth:

Watching civs play out in the Caucasus feels like watching Groundhog Day. The script is in:

- Civ expands modestly

- Gets squished/split between Russian civs to the north/northeast and the Caucasus Mountains to the south.

- Dies.

Circassia is no different from the rest, as they have two powerhouses in Scythia and Vyatka to their north.

That said, the recent tests I’ve seen have revealed a pretty funny phenomenon: whatever civ is in the direction of Circassia’s settling tends to get fucked over HARD, primarly Phoenicia or Scythia. So while they are long shots from winning it all, they could at least be very funny and bring another civ down with them.

Shaggy:

Hello CBRXers (CBRXites? CBRXians?), it is I, Shaggy, back again for another season of power ranking and making niche historical puns. I have the pleasure of beginning my Power Ranking write-ups this season with Estonia, led by Lennart Meri. A filmmaker, historian, writer, and politician, Lennart Meri was a true Renaissance man, despite being politically active during a time the tech tree would define as the Information Era. Their UA, Singing Revolution, evokes this cultural legacy, giving Great People generation boosts for further diversifying their policy trees and giving defensive bonuses to cities for each Great Work of Music. This focus on Great People is also found in their UB, the Lauluvaljak (have fun with that one, audio narrator), which is a stadium replacement that gives yield bonuses for different filled specialist slots in addition to having slots for Great Works of Music. The UU, Forest Brother, is a nod to Estonia’s history of guerrilla warfare. It replaces the marine unit and has a free Woodsman promotion while also being able to ignore zone of control and use enemy roads. Definitely useful in the region if timed correctly. Unfortunately, mimicking real life, Estonia starts in a somewhat unenviable position, at the frontier of Eastern/Western European conflict. Based on that and their test behavior, the Power Ranking team does not have high hopes for them, but some hopes nonetheless. They seem to benefit more often from their neighbors stagnating and looking inward more than they do from their own initiative, though they do sometimes have interesting early settlement choices. It would be fun to see a dark horse Eastern European civ do well this season, but Europe is the cylinder’s perennial meatgrinder, so it may take a healthy dollop of luck for Estonia to achieve that.

NopeCopter:

Caral is not a civ that’s here to win. That’s not to say that they’re bad, mind you - honestly, I think they’re pretty severely underrated, given they often manage to be one of the better-looking civs in South America. But you’d really think that a civ that nobody ever really talks about, with a fairly drab color scheme, an early game-focused design, no reputation, and a starting location that’s traditionally seen as weak, would be kind of boring. Not so. Caral has been one of the most consistently silly civs in the game, regularly settling cities as far afield as the Caribbean. Of course, this comes at the price of consistency. These wacky settles can often come at the cost of a strong core, and with a couple of absolute monsters to their east and Rapa Nui competing for room closer to home, Caral often ends up looking a bit like X4’s Ecuador - a decent but ultimately doomed third (or fourth, or fifth) wheel. Still, keep an eye on them. The Inca have a successor, and while they’re woefully inconsistent in terms of power, they’re sure to be entertaining.

Lasqueto:

I think it's safe to say the Caribbean is the worst region on the map at this point. Very little land, terrible production, and 2 massive landmasses on either side. The Buccs were 10 years ago at this point, and they had a much better situation than any other Caribbean civ will likely have again. Since then we've just had a series of disappointments, no-shows and almost-cools (looking at you, Taino). So naturally when I saw Xaragua had gotten in, a tall, culture-focussed civ with no real combat bonuses, I was fully prepared for another dud. I mean, I made the civ - I should know, right?

And apparently Xaragua are... okay, actually? In most tests they settle respectably, and their design lets them maximize the growth potential of their starting area. They don't seem too sleepy either - I've seen them break into South America and the eastern seaboard multiple times. That puts them firmly ahead of most of their predecessors in terms of doing stuff. They're not like, insanely good, mind. In the grand scheme of things they're still average at best, but it's enough to boost them up into the 40s in our eyes.

ItsTruckMonth:

Mid really is the best way to describe Pegu’s, well, everything in this CBR: Middling bonuses centred around trade, middling settling tendencies, and middling test runs.

Unfortunately for Pegu, middling is faaaaarrrrr from enough given that their immediate neighbors are the mountain fortress that is Yunnan and a very competent Lanfang. This usually turns into them being boxed into the Burmese highlands quite easily, never making it into the double digits of city counts, and getting game-ended by one of said neighbors.

Again, very middling.

Archimedes:

On paper, Sumer looks great. With two swell starting abilities to both get extra population out of the gate and use that population to snag extra science and faith, it looks like Sumer should have a strong early lead and establish itself well. Unfortunately, Sumer is run not by Eannatum, but by a rock sitting in the gutter next to his Ziggurat. Their AI seems incapable of settling well, of taking advantage of their abilities, and of having any sort of aggression towards its neighbours. If, and this is a mighty big IF, Sumer is able to buck the trend and either settle strongly out of the gate or win an early war in this game, they may be able to then leverage against their nearby weak neighbours, which tend to have similarly poor results in either abilities or AI decisions. It’s a lot of crossed fingers, and both their starting terrain and the testing data just hasn’t been with poor Sumer on this one.

LynnWinn (Caitlyn):

Hello all, it’s Lynn (Caitlyn) again with my civilization as my first official PR. I’m really glad to be able to do this & hope that you all will enjoy what I write.

The Susquehannock are an Iroquoian people from modern central Pennsylvania to Southern New York, & the namesake of the Susquehanna river. It is likely not what they called themselves, but their original endonym is unfortunately lost to time. They were known for being competent fighters & strategists, attempting like other people groups to sell furs & other goods to European colonialists, & in their breakneck speed subjugated various Lenape peoples in trying to create these routes to them. Most eventually were absorbed (see genocide) by the Iroquois & many others formed a small community in Pennsylvania named Conestoga, where Chief Sheehays tried to keep the community stable with assistance from the Pennsylvanian colony, but unfortunately, much of the community was murdered in a two sequential pogroms by a racist mob. The Susquehannock, led by Old Sheehays is my first mod, giving a combat bonus for each trade route, as well as extra gold for luxuries & road connections, inspired by the routes made to trade with other civilizations. The Susquehannock are an okay civilization with unoptimized flavors that is in a rough spot in North America this cycle around the cylinder. The Susquehannock have the Iroquois breathing down their neck, while Ponca oftentimes compromises their territorial integrity, while the Susquehannock are fighting for the Southern US. It's not an enviable position, & even if despite all odds they win big in North America, it's hard to break out of the Americas in general. The main examples counter to this are the Bucceneers & Brazil, which shows it is not impossible, just difficult. Out of all players in North America, the Susquehannock probably have the worst odds of making it big. Generally the UA that increases combat strength becomes major only once the Industrial era starts. The UU is decent, but only matters if they play long enough to matter.

Orange:

Praise be to the guillotine! The Reign of Terror is upon us and the glorious deputy president Robespierre is here to lead the way! Surely these wonderfully bloody Frenchmen will be able to slaughter the rest of the competition? Well… We’re evidently not so sure. In fact based on our rankings, they seem more likely to be the ones that, just like Robespierre, will find their own head cut off sooner rather than later.

Really it’s cause France is a cultural civ at heart, it’s about destroying and rebuilding your own buildings to boost your culture as much as you can. Which, while handy in a normal game, is not so useful in the CBR unless all those policies are gonna go into Honor and Honor 2 Electric Boogaloo. Now, France does have some helpful neighbors for this, they got the Hanseatic League right next door who are pushovers, neither civ in the British Isles wants to consider themselves British so they’ll give plenty of space, and Portugal and the Papacy can easily be hemmed in without too much worry. But just like the revolution itself, France is more likely to burn fast than to be a slow roast.

Reformer: Anishinaabe is a very divisive civ among the rankers. With a range of 43 (between the highest and lowest rank), you’ve got fellows who think they’re in the 10s, and fellows who think they should be in the 50s. Controversial! It’s pretty simple: they have a wide variety of performances in the tests. In my view, North America in general is fairly unstable. Makes for great drama, at least. But some civs are still more consistent than others- there’s still a hierarchy. Or at least we can see a hierarchy in the abstract shapes. And in this hierarchy, Anishinaabe are on a pretty low rung. They CAN be a serious contender . . . or they can get kneecapped pretty early. More often, the latter. Of course, they could just be completely middling, too. Being ranked in this section is a bit of a nothingburger. There’s no way to be confident. But that’s part of the fun, no?

Cloudy:

On paper, Pakistan doesn’t seem like a candidate for 40th. They have an average amount of expansion room, according to the Voronoi diagram, and that space includes the fertile Indus valley. Their neighbors Bangladesh and Sumer, while potentially strong, are known for leaning toward tall rather than wide play. Bactria to their north is scarier, and Mysore is a wildcard, but overall their neighbors are quite average. On top of that, Pakistan’s high religious AI flavor practically guarantees that they will found a religion. So why is Pakistan ranked 40th, instead of like 25th?

Well, as it turns out, a civ’s position on paper and its actual performance can be pretty different. Pakistan’s big weakness is that its capital, Karachi, is vulnerable to swift capture from both land and sea, with only the flat desert flood plains behind and three adjacent sea tiles ahead, through which ships from the west can smash into its walls. During test games, this resulted in Pakistan losing its capital quite frequently, and not just to neighbors—in one test, Karachi was held by the Seychelles. After that, the rest of their empire tended to fall pretty quickly, and in several tests Pakistan was dead by turn 200. So in the end, we’re betting that Pakistan is more likely to collapse early than to find success, but success should not be completely ruled out.

ItsTruckMonth:

Ohhhh João, I am conflicted on you.

On one hand, you got good stuff going for you. They have quite a bit of space in the Iberian Peninsula, some good naval uniques to pair nicely with any European or African colonization, and some fairly unassuming immediate neighbors in France and the Aures.

On the other hand, your ass is NOT beating the Lazy Portugal allegations. They barely move out of said Iberian Peninsula, and rarely capitalize on the ineptitude of their neighbors, allowing the big dogs like Wassalou to come in and establish dominance.

They do have the possibility of waking up and taking names, but in the almost certain instance that they stick to their ways: warm your milk, get your pajamas on, and get under your comfiest blankets. We’re in for a snoozefest.

LynnWinn (Caitlyn):

Pope Julius II, lovingly or disparagingly called the Battle Pope, is this trip's candidate from the Italian peninsula. Pope Julius is best known for his direct political (see military) influence in the Italian peninsula, joining in the Italian Wars & realigning various powers in Europe during the early 16th century. He also initiated the reconstruction of St. Peter's Basilica & the founding of the Swiss Guard as protection for the Papacy. These are the primary design points of the civilization by JFD. The Unique Ability, the Warrior Pope reduces the resistance of cities with followers of your primary religion & grants cultural Great Person points in the capital, in addition, religious units may be useful in some combat situations. Their unique unit is very nice, but the AI generally struggles to actually purchase units, which may reduce the effectiveness of their actual design. Italy & Europe in general is always crowded in the cylinder. It's hard to break out from the pack there, especially with the Alps leaving limited routes north of the Peninsula. In most games, Italian civilizations have expanded into the Mediterranean, then struggle to gain enough momentum to have a running chance, then get conquered by other civs. The Papal States either do rather poorly in test runs, or do rather well but not a winning game.

JDT: Bangladesh is a victim of circumstance and non-aggressive AI. The Bengal delta is, in theory, a good launchpad for a half decent civ. Though slightly hemmed in by Burma and the Himalayas, normally the delta is such a good engine for growth that a civ can theoretically just outscale their neighbours and break out. So, what’s the problem?

Firstly, Bangladesh is more limited than most other Bengal delta civs from the jump. You can thank Pegu for that a lot, as their position in Burma poses a strong roadblock towards eastward expansion, whilst their position just isn’t good enough to decisively outscale Mysore or Pakistan. The second, and more damning factor, is that Bangladesh just likes to kinda sit there and do nothing. They build up a tiny core of cities and just turtle, despite having neither the position nor the strength to convert their stats into anything meaningful. Therefore, we can’t help but place them at 37th - the lower half of mid.

JMAn:Luba in another BR would likely be ranked higher than 36th to start. They have a lot going for them: solid uniques that make their conquest of cities go a lot more smoothly, a lot of tiles that will boost their production and growth by quite a lot, and a very defensive core for the beginning. But being locked into a very small spot on the map with Herero and Maravi being the two Southern African civs hemming them in makes its start hard no matter what. Africa this season is crowded, and Luba needs to have a lot go right to burst out of its position.

Lasqueto:

On the face of it Umhaill seems a bit screwed-  Ireland is already a pretty rough TSL even by British Isles standards. It’s further from the continent and so cramped that civs can lock themselves out of core cities if they don’t settle optimally. Then you have Scotland right there potentially blocking them from escaping their starting island. It’s not like British civs don’t have a long history of stepping on rakes either. Based on this you’d expect to see Umhaill at, perhaps, 58th, but here they are at 35th, so what’s the deal?

Here’s the thing: everything I said is true. Umhaill has one of the trickiest early games in the roster. If they don’t settle well in the first couple episodes they’re kinda fucked, but if they get past that they’re balling - these guys have momentum. They’ve got that spark of Henry V in them. When Umhaill gets over their initial hurdles they’re a pretty consistent naval powerhouse. Their uniques play right into this too, rewarding aggressive naval play. Grace O’Malley was known as the Pirate Queen IRL, and she’s perfectly capable of living up to that in game too. Don’t get it twisted though - this civ has a difficult path to greatness. It’s a coin flip whether Umhaill ends up being a plucky underdog contender, or just another sucky British civ that dies in obscurity by episode 15.

Shaggy:

The Seychelles come burning onto the cylinder at rank 34 to start out the season. Historically, this civ has a relatively recent origin. Led by France-Albert Rene (10/10 name), this civ will start the season on a small island off the coast of East Africa in the Indian Ocean, just north of Madagascar. Now, that may sound like a backwater, but the tests I’ve seen have had Seychelles looking somewhat expansive and able to take advantage of the lack of other civs that start on the eastern coast. The Horn Of Africa is largely uninhabited to start given how inland Ethiopia is and Maravi has their starting location south of Lake Malawi. The area from the Gulf of Aden through Tanzania is up for the Seychelles’ taking, if they want it. There are some concerns from various Power Rankers about Seychelles’ consistency in their expansiveness, but others are looking to Seychelles as X5’s successor to Bora-Bora. Frankly, I can see the argument for it given their behaviors and uniques. Their UA allows for automatic upgrading of sea resources for a quicker early game and gives trained units more experience based on tourism, an interesting use for an otherwise useless mechanic in the CBR. The Seychelles have one Unique Unit, a destroyer replacement that loves to go into unclaimed waters. After defeating an enemy in unclaimed waters, it has a chance of converting the defeated unit to Seychelles’ navy and has the ability to be used like a Great General to culture bomb adjacent unclaimed water tiles while in friendly territory (unfortunately, this does not come with a naval citadel parallel as a UI). Rounding out the uniques for this civ is the lotel, a hotel replacement that makes enemy naval units within their territory have a small chance to convert to the Seychelles’ navy while also making sea resources within the city’s territory generate tourism on top of their normal yields. Definitely a snowball-y kind of civ. If they make it through the early game then they have a great chance at becoming the cylinder’s naval Borg overlords, welcome!

LynnWinn (Caitlyn):

Zara Yaqob in our timeline is mostly remembered for his Christianization efforts (see genocide) & his religious writings & authoring during his reign. He led multiple campaigns against Muslim states, all leading to the inspirations of the design. It is a fittingly religious design around great people & faith. The civilization's UA, (designed by DMS) which has great writers permanently increases religious pressure & defense & HP will help with defending cities after using great writers in them. Similarly, the Debtera unique great prophet may help with military units as it affects enemy units. It likely won't be major, but little bits may count in Africa. The issue with Ethiopia is that they are fine. They do well enough but not always great. They aren't exceptional, but not kicked in the shins either. They have potential to be a strong African contender, but depend heavily on the game. Ethiopia is never a great place to start, it's inland an awkward amount & hard to penetrate, but also difficult to expand out of. Luba, Ma'in, Maravi, & Seychelles are the main thorns in Ethiopia's side, & may lead to difficulties in keeping a hold of the horn of Africa. My personal prediction is they'll lead a similar path in this game as Makeda under Saba-D'mt had a strong start, which fizzled out due to difficulty in the game & maintaining their strength. They have a tendency to build good cites & have regional sway, but rarely do they dominate the game. Hyksos likely will be a very minimal factor in their expansion, as they've consistently done poorly.

Shaggy:

Representing the Japanese Isles on the cylinder this season is… drumroll please… the suspense is killing me… who could it possibly be?… Japan!

Japan had a somewhat stacked deck in voting for this region given that all of the voting options were Japan and just had differences in leadership and uniques. The winner of our voting season pre-battle royale royale was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Great Unifier. Rising from humble origins, Toyotomi Hideyoshi became the successor to Oda Nobunaga and completed his predecessor’s quest of unifying Japan in addition to establishing a number of governmental, economic, and social reforms. But how will he fare trying to unify the cylinder? The Power Ranking team sees Japan as just shy of the median to start out the season. I get it. We’ve seen this region be a bastion of turtle culture and generally a thorn in the side of the dominant mainland civs rather than a major regional or global force in seasons past. The islands are just large enough to make it difficult to gain an early foothold on the mainland and Japan tends to be relegated to making piecemeal military gains rather than taking advantage of starting space like other civs in the region. Well, good thing Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s Japan is well-equipped to turn that playstyle into lasting success! Their UA, Gekokujo, is made for post-capture stability, giving the unit that succeeds in capturing an enemy city the Leadership promotion for free and also allowing units with the Leadership promotion to act as portable courthouses when stationed in occupied cities. But the fun doesn’t stop there with the captured city shenanigans; Japan’s UB is the Wajo, a castle replacement that is 50% cheaper to build, doesn’t require walls, and, when built in a captured city, damages all of the other cities held by the original owner when constructed. “How will they capture all of these cities, Shaggy?” Great question, Strawman Reader! With the Ashigaru, of course! Japan’s UU is a pikeman replacement that is 10% cheaper to produce and trades off the pikeman’s normal bonus against mounted units for +1 combat strength. It also upgrades into the melee path and will automatically upgrade to a musketman for free if the unit captures a city. Though some Power Rankers think they only have a snowball’s chance in hell, they are built to be a pretty good snowball.

NopeCopter:

Like the Dzungars before them, Qara Khitai has access to a lot of land surrounded by terrain that makes it very hard for them to break out. Unlike the Dzungars, however, Qara Khitai doesn’t need to worry about the Selkups boxing them in. Instead, their Siberian neighbor is the dangerous but also somewhat inconsistent Kipchaks. The Kipchaks are also not a fun civ to be bordering, of course, but the Selkups were ranked the top dogs going into X4 for a reason - whereas the Kipchaks aren’t, so Qara Khitai actually has a chance to break out here. That being said, Qara Khitai is also prone to slow starts, and they are not in a position where they can get away with that. Overall, the odds of Qara Khitai ending up decent are high, but they get boxed in very easily, and things will need to go just right for them to be more than just a mid-tier power. That said, they are still a civ with a LOT of free space and a pretty aggressive AI, so don’t count them out.

Shaggy:

Karankawa starts this season off as the worst of the best half of the episode 0 civs. They will be representing the Northern Mexico/Gulf region this season, led by Joseph Maria, a Guapite tribal leader who led numerous successful raids against Spanish ships, missions, and expeditions and was instrumental to the Karankawa efforts in the Spanish-Karankawa War. Though their uniques aren’t what I would call world-beating, uh cylinder-beating I guess, they will still add some interesting twists to the region. Their UA allows oysters and holly resources to be generated on tiles where units are defeated in addition to allowing some amphibious movement bonuses (free embarkation and faster movement from river/marsh/floodplains). Those oyster and holly resources will be able to be put to good use by the Bá-ak, Karankawa’s UB. The Bá-ak replaces the barracks and allows improved oyster and holly resources to extend golden ages. It also does AoE damage every turn to enemy units within the city every turn during golden ages. Unfortunately for their military endeavors, their only UU is a work boat replacement that gives combat and movement bonuses to units that start their turn on a tile it has improved. Fortunately for their military endeavors, those work boat UUs will also be able to turn into naval melee units when attacked by an enemy or after completing a fishing boat improvement. An odd way to build a navy but if it works it works! Maybe Joseph Maria is trying to hide the defense budget in infrastructure spending. Avid CBR readers will notice that most of these bonuses seem somewhat defensive in their use, one of the reasons the Power Rankers have left them in the core middle of the pack to start off the season. North America is no picnic on the cylinder and there are some true competitors in the region. For Karankawa to have a real shot at world domination, they will need to first endure the crucible of their neighborhood. I hope Joseph Maria is up to the task!

Cloudy:

Let’s face it, the Itelmen are no Chukchi.

For one, Chukchi had a powerful land-claiming ability, while Itelmen’s unique ability relies on settlements along rivers, which is of limited usefulness here because at the scale of the CBR map, the Kamchatka-Chukotka region doesn’t have any significant rivers. Their unique building is great for tundra starts, but that’s about it. Their unique crossbowmen has bonuses against barbarians—also useless—as well as preventing adjacent enemy gun units on forests from moving, which helps a little bit if they have to defend against Green Ukraine farther to the southwest, but isn’t much help in their actual homeland, which is largely forest-free.

Now, if Itelmen proved to be expansive in testing, I might write these issues off as irrelevant, but they haven’t been especially. Their expansion is normally modest, despite having a high expansion flavor, and they’re frequently overshadowed by Tlingit and Green Ukraine. Furthermore, those two civs are their only significant neighbors, with Japan starting far to the south, and both are in the top 15. As a result, we’re expecting Itelmen to be merely okay, probably boxed in from the start, not a pushover but almost certainly pretty boring to watch.

Cloudy:

It’s been proven again and again that the Kalahari and Namib desert region is the toughest start in southern Africa, an otherwise strong corner of the map. Could Herero be the ones to buck that trend? Well, as you can see by their rank in 28th, we’re not betting on it, but we also don’t think Herero will be a pushover. While this may be Jacob Morenga’s second crack at the Battle Royale, after his subpar performance leading Namibia in season 2, testing has shown him to be more suited to leading the Herero, with several good runs that saw them rise to become one of the top dogs of Africa, even as several other runs ended in catastrophic failure. But if Luba and the Maravi settle early in their direction, then everything could go up in smoke, like it did last time.

Shaggy:

The Eastern Brazil region will be represented by Potiguara this season, led by Felipe Camarao. I’ll be honest, this civ has one of the shortest Wikipedia articles I’ve seen in all my seasons of CBRX. The name ‘Potiguara’ translates to ‘shrimp eaters’ in Portuguese and they were allies of the Portuguese during the Sugar War where the Dutch West India Company repeatedly tried invading Brazil. This heritage is reflected most obviously in their UB, the shrimp pond. This is a water mill replacement that spawns a unique shrimp bonus resource if the city has fresh water with another shrimp resource potentially spawning as the civ progresses through eras. It also gives XP bonuses for new units based on allied civ resource diversity, which feels like it could be easily maximized in CBRX if they don’t end up as diplomatic pariahs. Their UU is a spearman replacement that doesn’t have much use in the CBRX format other than duplicating production for the first of each per city. Their UA, War of the Divine Light, is somewhat more relevant, giving permanent vision in city-connected forest and jungle tiles and applying a permanent debuff to enemy units and a one-time unit production bonus to cities that are nearby newly acquired forest and jungle tiles. Honestly, I think they’re ranked on the better side of 31 due to a combination of neighbor biases, starting location, and somewhat consistent above-average tests. And if they overperform those expectations, it wouldn’t be the first time we got a Brazilian heavyweight out of nowhere.

Orange:

The Yanomami are prepared to have a fun time in the jungle, and since their UA gives them faith on jungle after a pantheon and culture on jungle after a granary, they will be rolling in it. They seem likely to be able to transform that strong faith and culture base into a decent empire, though of course they will be fighting against some powerful neighbors. But the jungles and mountains of northern South America will do them well. I for one feel pretty confident that they will last for quite a while, but of course lasting is not the same as winning, and their chances of winning do not seem that high. But maybe they can pull something out and defeat my conceptions, use the powers that former Amazonian civs have created, and channel it into conquering the world once more.

Orange:

Wallachia had initially appeared like they’d just always get crushed under the thumb of Scythia, but they can actually hold their own well, and are even in a strong position to control all of southeast Europe. The Papal States can easily be penned into Italy, and Phoenicia (I love you but you are pretty shit) can’t contest Anatolia very well, so it’s mostly a matter of who will come out on top between Wallachia and Scythia. And well, Scythia also has to deal with the strong Vyatka expanding across western Russia.

Though as is, we PRs seem to think Scythia will be the ones to come out on top, yet Vyatka on top of all three, so who knows what will actually happen. But no matter what, I would wager there will be some pretty exciting wars in Eastern Europe. Wallachia is certain to cause trouble there, they’re design loves to pillage and their UB is really good for defensive wars. They will be a tough nut to crack for sure.

Lasqueto:

The Haudenosaunee are back for another season - this time they’ve sent the People of the Hills, better known as The Onondaga.

So how do they compare to their predecessors? On a scale of Iroquois (monstrous superpower) to Seneca (generational flop), they’re somewhere in the middle. Onondaga’s biases are all over the place so they can be a bit unpredictable. Notably they have a tendency to throw out wild forward settles that more often serve to squish their southern neighbour than actually benefit them. Susquehannock fans will hate these guys. The great lakes and Appalachians make the Northeast defensible for the Onondaga but also hard to break out of. Quite often Tadodaho finds himself boxed into his corner of North America by the Susquehannock, or more commonly Ponca or Anishinaabe. Even the British Isles civs can get the jump on him if they’re feeling especially bold. The end result is a civ that falls solidly in upper-mid tier by virtue of being a decent regional power, but rarely anything more.

NopeCopter:

Southern India is a region that’s historically had a… spotty reputation, to say the least. It’s very easy for a civ to get boxed in, and unless you’re a naval power (which Mysore is not), it’s very hard to do much of anything once you are boxed in. So.. what did Mysore do to deserve 23rd? Well, it turns out that they’re actually somewhat competent, and their northern neighbors really aren’t. Pakistan is shockingly prone to fumbling, and Bangladesh doesn’t tend to do much, which gives Mysore a chance to actually show off their natural expansionism. However, this really only evens the playing field rather than giving Mysore a decisive advantage, and more often than not South Asia ends up being a bit of a stalemate. But Mysore can still make it work - they have been known to actually take to the seas sometimes to settle some colonies, and while uniques don’t tend to make or break a civ, Mysore’s early rockets are VERY cool. As the certified #1 Mysore fan, I’m very glad that they at least have a shot at making a splash this game, even if their success is far from guaranteed.

Semi:

Our second returning leader, Jandamarra is back ruling West Australia in a return from Mark II, though this time in a more appropriate position as the leader of the Bunuba tribe. And, well, we think he can definitely get close to the great performance that he had while ruling Kimberley. Ternate…struggling to play the game opens up quite a bit of Indonesia to them, and while we think Lanfang could be strong, that doesn’t always come at Bunuba’s expense (often, it comes at Pegu’s). The AI is good enough at early expansion and development to ensure they won’t be run over immediately *cough* Yolngu *cough*. But there’s an elephant in the room. Again, Jandamarra’s stuck facing a very, very good Eastern Australian in New South Wales. Even despite early Bunuba victories in some tests, NSW never tends to quit, and given their position in the more fertile, open half of the continent, only one ranker put Bunuba above NSW.

Thus, the question (once again) becomes: how long can Jandamarra hold out? We saw him and Parkes be peaceful for long enough in Mk. II to allow him to conquer a good portion of Indonesia before the Great Australian War. And we think it’s likely that he can have a similarly good start as he did in that game.

In the unlikeliest of worlds: can he turn the tables? Can he do what no West Australian has ever done, and conquer the east? Or will he turn in a similar performance to the Noongar, with tenacity to rival a rock climber but not enough to be able to push over the top?

JMAn

Another season, another Siberia civ that has a high rank by the grace of being in Siberia.The Ket are not necessarily one of the great civs blessing this season, and their rank should reflect that the PR Team mostly sees them as a strong contender at best, but not necessarily in the upper echelons; however, the range of opinions on the Ket are extremely varied. With the highest rank from the PR being 12th and the lowest being 35th.The argument is that the Ket are likely going to be one of the weakest Siberian civs on display just because they’re not necessarily all that expansive/aggressive, they have some pretty impressive neighbors, and their uniques aren’t necessarily game changers.

The Ket’s reverse is that they have a lot of room to expand, and their impressive neighbors can easily hamstring each other where the Ket have less chances to be hamstrung. Their UA is somewhat useful for growth, though growth is not usually an issue for a Siberian civ.

We will likely see a pretty good run out of the Ket regardless, and we all sincerely doubt that this civ will have a poor performance at all.

NopeCopter:

After a succession of civs that have aggressively disappointed, it’s finally nice to see a real powerhouse back in Fennoscandia. The Bjarmians more often than not end up as one of the best-looking civs in Europe, generally triumphing over the Kalmar Union to their west and sometimes even becoming a regional powerhouse. That being said, the Bjarmians are far from guaranteed a free win. Chief among their problems is the very scary Vyatka to their east, capable of boxing them in at a moment’s notice. The Kalmar Union won’t just roll over and die, either, and they’ve been known to pull off a few upsets. The Bjarmians even at their worst often end up looking better than everyone else in Europe, but this European roster is… far from reliable, let’s just say. Will the Bjarmians be able to make Kekkonen proud? I personally would be skeptical, but they have a much better shot than most other civs that have started up here since Mk. 2.

Semi:The masked, massive, murderous Mongolian - wait, no, Turkish - horde finally make an appearance in the CBR. For steppe history nerds like myself, the Kipchaks were the biggest threat to Europe and the Black Sea between the Huns and the Mongols, first in confederations with the Kipeks and then, under Togortak and others, the Cumans. If you’re a fan of Russian history, you might know these guys as the Polovtsy.

In terms of actual CBR analysis, well, the Kipchaks are somewhat divisive, as they’ve got one of the largest ranges of any civ, with one ranker having them second and another 47th. But most of us put them somewhere in the second or third tier, between 10 and 30. In other words, we don’t think they’re about to pull another Kazakhstan, but we also don’t think they’re going to be the steppe civ to watch. (We’ll get to those guys in the top 3).

There is one trend to watch out for, though - their rivalry with Ket. The more northern of the pair has significantly more space in their Voronoi area, but tend to be less aggressive than the Kipchaks. And given that the two are surrounded by three neighbors ranked in the top 15 (and Qara-Khitai), whoever loses between the two of them is likely going to end up like Bukhara or Kazan from the last time around.

Msurdej:  

zzz...hzt, what? I have a ranking above the 50s? hot Dang, let's talk about an actual contender!Tang manages to have several bonuses on Internal Trade Routes that boost science, and with a UU that can grow cities, this could lead to Taizong getting a strong science lead in Asia. However, they've got some stiff competition around them; Yunnan, Green Ukraine, Rouran, even Ryukyu. This has led to a lot of variance within the PRs as to how strong Tang truly is. We should get a better understanding of their power in the first few episodes, but definitely keep your eyes on Tang.

Reformer: Maravi has many believers. The most bullish of the rankers place Maravi in the top 10. I for one find low 10s a pretty reasonable place for Maravi. The neighborhood over here is a bit unpredictable to say the least. Seychelles? Tiny island start, sure, but this tiny island start has hands. Don’t be surprised when they start throwing them. Ethiopia? Aggressively mid. But mountains are a fortress. Luba? A bit less mid, but in turn, no mountains. Massive jungle isn’t much better terrain, though. And Herero . . . well, I think Herero sucks. In my view Maravi ought to block Seychelles, then turn south against Herero to consolidate. When Maravi can execute on this simple plan of action, they do great. And they usually do at least good. Hence the rank. But the question is whether they can do better than good- because Africa has some serious competition this season. Maravi is fortunate to find that the worst of the competition is a few civs away in Wassoulou. Gives them some time to build up before the boss battle, you get me?

Semi:

The contender with by far the most pizzazz, Amina rolls in as our Civ VII representation and lands pretty highly. With Luba landing pretty far to the south (while not being particularly competent), and neither Hyksos nor Aures tending to expand in their direction, it seems like we could be in for another Nigeria-style run. Amina’s unique ability rewards her with technology for earning great generals, and military technologies give her great general points. Snowball, much?

So the question therefore has to be asked: why don’t we have Zazzau higher? Everything seems to be set up for a great run of north + central African domination. Well, there’s one problem I haven’t mentioned yet: our West African contender, Wassolou, might be one of the best yet. In tests, they’ve proven to be just as expansive and competent as X3’s Sundiata Keita and X4’s Thomas Peters (conquering Zazzau entirely in a couple), and both of those two prospered after making it all the way to Total War due to the strength of the West African TSL. That’s not to say Zazzau doesn’t stand a chance against Wassolou. It’s just that if, say, Burkina Faso were there instead, we’d be looking at probably a top 10 civ. Instead, we just get to watch Amina carve out a nice olive green African empire - wait what do you MEAN they changed the color

ECH:

Bactria being up at 15 may surprise some experienced readers of the CBR; the Central Asia slot has had varying success that trends mostly on the lower side. For every Parthia there’s been an Uzbekistan, and even the decent Afghanistans are more remembered for defensive resilience and regional power than actually being a contender, so why the optimism here. Well, the Greco-Indian kingdom of Bactria has something going for it besides being historically and anthropologically fascinating: aggression. They may start wedged between desert and mountains, but they have a record of escaping their starting circumstances by means of rapid and effective expansion, both in the settling sense and violent sense. Their biases and uniques only bolster this game plan, and in the opinions of most PR’s their neighbours make this all the easier in their weakness.

Now, there is a decent degree of variation amongst us rankers on Demetrius’s chances, and this 15th spot is a bit of a compromise: estimations range from 5th to 41st, although the core argument was between the teens and twenties. I sense there’s a fair bit of skepticism about their long term chances; the test games do well in showing early conquerors but most ended before the late game and already by the mid game Bactria often showed signs of slowing. Not to mention what happens if one of their ‘easy conquest’ neighbours turns out to be a touch more resilient in the actual game; just one botched early campaign could stall their momentum, and then you just have an undeveloped, overextended and surrounded civ with desert cities lingering in the middle of the continent once more. I’m leaning on the optimistic side however. These guys are fighters, and what is a domination game if it doesn’t reward the fighters?

Cloudy:

The Tlingit are off to an inauspicious start, with the dev team having developed a new color scheme that subsequently got reverted during an update without anyone noticing, causing them to end up wearing their original colors in the official run. That being said, they’re in the top 15 for a reason. They have the largest Voronoi area of any North American civ, equal only to Ashinaabe, and they’re easily a match for the mediocre Itelmen across the Bering Strait. Their flavors favor war and expansion, and while they have some tough neighbors in Ponca and Pomo, they’re well matched on the whole. There are some quirks that keep Tlingit below some of its rivals, though, including a tendency to settle as many coastal cities as possible, all in a line, while neglecting the interior. Their homeland is also full of mountainous tundra, and no civ starting on the southern coast of Alaska has broken out in any previous season. Could Tlingit be the first? We think it’s definitely possible.

Leman:

Indonesian civs are never the best but Lanfang is built different. With a set of powerful uniques and a history of being kind of a monster, Lanfang is set up to do quite a bit of damage in this game. Most of its South East Asian neighbors are kind of pushovers too: Cebu, Ternate and Pegu never really test while Lanfang consistently runs them over.

It’s gonna be the mainlanders that give Lanfang problems. New South Wales, Bunuba, Tang, Mysore, are all going to be difficult blocks for Lanfang. But those are midgame problems. Early game Lanfang is gonna be a monster.

ECH:

We’ve seen a good few Mongol civs step up to the plate, but what about the OG Mongol? It’s this logic that led Mugulü to get voted into this season, and us Power Rankers have some faith in his ability to live up to that legacy also. The Rouran Khaganate is a good old fashioned conquering civ, with uniques that admittedly are too situational to really be of much use but steer them towards more warfare at least! This civ is adept at settling the wide expanse it has around it in the early game, and consistently follows through into conquest once it’s done playing the settling game. Apologies to those who dislike the bug icon, it’s probably sticking around for a long while. The only question in the air is if any greater contenders will emerge around them to stifle and chip away at them, especially the controversial Tang to their South.

By the way, as noted in the above slide, we did have to modify or disable two aspects of their uniques to prevent them losing the ability to take cities. Firstly, a little known fact is that AI units with invisibility won’t attack cities, and their UA giving units this ‘ability’ was misfiring and staying permanently on units. Secondly, their Unique Generals promotion to be able to attack when within the presence of another one of them was getting attached to standard units, causing them to also only be able to attack when by a Great General. In case you wanted a taste of the bug finding and fixing that goes into a CBR!

JDT:

The Chonos seal their spot just outside the top 10, and before you can arf about their placement, there’s no fishy business behind their start. The waters of Patagonia render them a good coat against the cold grasps of the world with ample fish to eat and minerals to use. Sure, the growth isn’t great, but it's not negligible, and the warmer waters of the Rio de la Plata lie right ahead to seal their success.

Chonos, however, have one major hiccup. Just to the north lay their dreaded rivals and hunters - the Guaycuru. They are formidable in their own right, with sharp incisors and spears to cut through if they should snowball. However, in most games, the Chonos manage to employ excellent repelling measures, burrowing under the ice to hold fast in their own right. The lions of the southern cones are ready to bark up their bite, with the flippers to speed through South America. All that remains is to see what fate will be sealed for them. Arf!

Archimedes :

A Civ 6 Staple feature in this CBRX, Scythia looks to take advantage of its geographical position in this game. Next to a weak looking Europe and lower powered Middle East, Scythia stands in a position to make great gains during the course of their run. Testing has confirmed that they’re able to conquer their weaker neighbours and secure an advantageous position, but unfortunately their consistency has actually been occasionally spotty. Scythia is at least pretty guaranteed to gain a pantheon and a religion, and their great prophet generating resources is an interesting ability. Time will tell however if they’ll be able to stand up against the powerful and intimidating Siberian and West Russian civs, with Vyatka, the Kipchaks, and Qara-Khitai all standing as a presence to be reckoned with.

Archimedes :

North America is in a tough spot this season with a plethora of civs that have initial high rankings. Teotihuacan, a personal favourite of mine, is in a spot that has seen a few fan favourites over the seasons, including the CBRX4’s Maximillian of Mexico. With adjustments made to the central american territory, Teotihuacan is looking to be both willing and able to take advantage of its strong starting position and generally earlier game abilities. Its immediate neighbours, Yanomami, Xaragua and Karankawa have all tended to fold easily enough, but Pomo to the direct north stands as the strongest direct competitor to any Teotehuican dreams of a unified North America. All we can hope for is that the AI of this mesoamerican civ utilizes its strong settling, conquering, and especially wonder focused biases to start strong and solidify a strong presence in the Americas.

Leman:

West Africa has been a sleeper powerhouse of a region recently with both Mali and Sierra Leone finishing excellently in the previous two BRs. I think Wassoulou is going to follow right in their footsteps. Samori Toure is an excellent settler, a competent warmonger, and is equipped with a strong UA that gives him a little bit of extra tech as the game progresses. Combined with a proven start location, it’s an easy recipe for success.

What throws a wrench in Samori’s plans is those neighbors. Zazzau is a weaker but aggressive and competent neighbor right next door that can end up problematic. Wassoulou also doesn’t have the best land, as they do start right on the edge of the Sahara. And finally while I don’t think Aures are very good, they are great settlers and could cramp Wassoulou in. To be fair though, Wassoulou can potentially just turn all of those flaws into advantages by steamrolling through any over zealous neighbors. Time will tell.

JDT: The Guaycuru set the scene at an excellent 7th place, a position that may or may not be an underestimation of their abilities. They have the position that can be considered one of the strongest in the game - the status of the Rio de La Plata civ, widely considered the best start in the game due to its high growth potential whilst being surrounded by other high growth lands. In addition, they have strong militaristic bonuses that create oodles of strategic resources and simultaneously help snowball growth, with a very strong horseman replacement and a very accessible garden replacement that provides +10 XP to boot. So, what's the catch?

Well, first of all there's the Amazon. X1 has shown firsthand just how big of an impediment that can be, and given the snowbally nature of the civ, high city defenses and poor terrain can be a great disadvantage. Second are their immediate rivals. The Chonos and the Potiguara are no pushovers, oftentimes quickly rivalling the Guaycuru in strength and being able to engage mano y mano, limiting expansion prospects exponentially. Third, sometimes the Guaycuru just kinda… sputter out. The nature of Civ, their position and their units make the Guaycuru a very snowbally civ that relies on a strong early game with good settling and aggression to succeed long term. Sometimes this just kinda doesn’t happen, which results in them quickly getting outscaled and curbstomped. Despite these flaws however, I have full confidence that the Guaycuru will ride like the wind and make a mighty name for themselves this royale. They have to, after all, like the 60 other civs in this royale.

JMAn:

Ponca reminds me a lot of Korea from Mk2 because it has a very strong Science centric design. Sometimes uniques provide marginal differences, but Ponca’s seems very intensely geared towards a stronger early game than all of the other civs in the season. They get science for each farm tile when the city gains a pop, and their Walls UB spawns farms on all adjacent tiles to the city. It’s really a strong growth and tech civ during the early game, and nobody should discount the early game for setting a civilization for success.

Whilst this civ is surrounded on all sides, they have a great amount of room to grow and the civs around them aren’t necessarily strong enough on a case-by-case basis to fight back. I believe Ponca is one of the guaranteed civs to reach the top.

Orange:

I’ve finally gotten another civ into this royale since my Malacca in MKX2!!! ^-^ And wew it got in by one singular vote, I’m so glad for that, it gives me someone super easy to root for. And in opposition to Malacca, the Pomo are not starting in the bottom few, instead starting at the top. Hopefully they don’t go opposite in performance too, but with this ranking it is the belief of all of us PRs that they will in fact do quite well.

The North American west coast is not generally a very good starting location, the plains of the midwest usually allow for better empire building, and well, if you look one place below (or I guess above if you’re scrolling through this list vertically), Ponca is also ranked very highly. But while the Pomo are a strong contender almost all the time, tests indicating them being good at filling up their ample space and able to even cross the Pacific to take Hawaii and attack Japan, Ponca frequently come into conflict with Karankawa, Anishinaabe, and the Tlingit, giving much greater risk to their position and even allowing the Pomo many chances to take advantage if they dare to cross the Rockies.

Nonetheless, the Pomo could easily find themselves stuck in stagnation, but I think they’re quite likely to put on a good show. They’ve got a design based around cardinal directions, though they are a fair bit more focused on religion and culture than war. But they can certainly stand their own, especially if they start expanding their religion south and get healing for all their units.

Orange:

Despite my name, and I know this is sacrilegious, but Yunnan’s color scheme is just, one of the best there is. For some reason I’ve been calling it cherry and I don’t think that’s quite right but either way I do very much love it. Anyways I’m sure it’s because of this great color scheme that Yunnan is placed this high, right?

Wait they’re also a goated civ? Shiiiiiiiit

Okay so, Yunnan is a bit of a beast, they tend to do well in AI games that they appear in, they have a lot of space and have done very well in tests, and they have a capital that just can not be taken unless basically every other city is taken first. There was an AI game in which their capital had about 10k defensive strength. They are the peak of impenetrable. I have little doubt that they will dominate Asia and cover the lands in their pretty cherry colors.

Reformer: Ever heard of Green Ukraine, buddy?

Well, now you have.

And you better keep them in mind, because they are here to contend for ultimate victory.

GU has it all: strong starting location, many middling neighbors, and a strong, competitive AI. Of course, there’s always a wrinkle in the plan. Despite having some middling neighbors, that’s as weak as this neighborhood gets. Itelmen and Japan are ranked in the high 30s. It only gets more difficult from there. Tang is in the top 20- as is Rouran, who reach a respectable 12th in our Episode 0 PR. And no shade on Itelmen and Japan. They can be strong too, they’re just not nearly consistent enough to warrant a higher rank. GU has to defeat some genuinely serious competition to become a superpower, and it won’t get easier from there either: Get through Tang, for example, and you walk headfirst into Yunnan- you know, the civ you were just looking at in 4th. East Asia is STACKED this season. Truly gaming. I look forward to the fireworks.

JDT:

Coming in second amongst all the titans of the cylinder are the obscure river raiders of Vyatka. Though a forgotten polity in real life, in the CBR these varangians will be nothing short of the terrors of the east. The confines of central Russia provides a strong start for them to dominate Eastern Europe, with endless amounts of arable land and valuable production buffs. Even with a design centered around gold generation, something I’m not sure is actually going to be useful this game given the fact I’m not sure the AI will purchase units, Vyatka tends to have a strong, militaristic AI that blobs well then converts that early settling into strong, aggressive expansion. Their neighbours are no pushovers, though. Scythia and the Kipchaks are both threats, and there have been games where Circassia has proven to actually be decent, but the former is far more boxed in, plus forced to scrap with the fellow contender of Wallachia in between them, while the latter is separated via the Urals. And Circassia still has the Caucasus even if they are competent. Thus, these raiders can do what they want because pirates are free. And they certainly are pirates.

Semi:

And in true CBR fashion, the top tier, the premier power, the best of the best…is a polity that only was semi-independent, existed for about a year, and whose leader, *after* leading the civ, was tried for mutiny in a separate country. The Rum Rebellion is a wild story, y’all. The Wikipedia article alone reads like something you’d see out of a late 19th century filibustering expedition down in South America, not something from Australia during the Napoleonic years.

In game terms, the return of the colonials to Australia brings with it the best Australia since the Kulin. In every test, they consistently settled up the east coast of Australia, and confined Bunuba to just the north coast and some of the Outback. To add to their great position, there is no west Oceania civ, with Rapa Nui more likely pressuring South America, nor a consistent East Indonesia civ - Ternate is no Wahgi. That’s not to say they settle the area, but there’s no nearby civ to pressure the NSW core. It’s for that reason that the lowest ranking given to NSW among us power rankers was 14th. There’s no world that we see where New South Wales fails to expand out of the early game and is a presence until airplanes and likely Total War.

And yet…only two rankers (myself not among them) put them first. They only got first because nobody else had a higher average. Simply put, it’s the same Australia problem as we’ve had in past CBRs. A civ can build a great fortress in Australia, insulated against so many issues from the outside, but can they really win? Sure, you can point to Timor-Leste, but they conquered north from their Zulu backdoor squadron and inland from the Indonesia/Malaya area. The Kulin and Bora-Bora both expanded into lower South America…where, in this season, two top 11 civs in Chono and Guaycuru lurk, and where superpowers (Uruguay, Inca, New Holland) have failed to break out even after conquering the continent. There’s no clear path to expanding outside the box. Can these rebellious Britons break the trend? Or will they fall next to the graves of Henry Parker, Bob Hawke, and William Barak?