Power Rankings: Episode 22 – S5

Release Date:

July 06, 2026

Narrated by:

Power-Rankers

Abstract

Power Rankings! We Are Biased! Dun dun dunnnn!

Viewing: Vertical

Jump to scene

Maravi

1 / 0

1: Maravi

ItsTruckMonth:

Maravi and Sumer are both heading towards death’s door as the powers that be begin to consolidate power, with both being simple stepping stones for actual contenders. But out of the two, Maravi’s in the far worse predicament.

Whereas Sumer can still put up a fight with somewhat modernized military units, Mazula is content to protect his homeland with…swordsmen and composite bowmen…against muskets and knights. Yeah, the tech advantage is pretty obvious, and contrary to my predictions in my last writeup (back-to-back Maravi slander yippee!!!), Herero has not had much resistance to deal with regarding their navy (which now lies at the bottom of the sea), and their previously intimidating city defense now looks irrelevant as Herero has acquired cannons.

Start prepping those F keys folks.

1: Maravi

ItsTruckMonth:

Start prepping those F keys folks.

2: Ma’in

Cloudy:

Ma’in status: still here! Can someone try stealing even more tiles from them?

3: Sumer

ItsTruckMonth:

And here we have our other contender for the F key in this next episode: Sumer. Eannatum’s in a sliiiiiiiightly better position than Maravi at the moment, given he possesses an actual modernized military that is somewhat on par with his attackers and just made peace with the Seychelles in order to avoid a two-front war (albeit giving away two of their increasingly dwindling cities).

That said, things are still not looking great. Circassia possesses advantages on all fronts, and even if they do survive, they’re essentially blocked in by arguable top-15 powers on all sides. The only reason they aren’t last is that Maravi exists and there's a non-zero chance they can clutch out a peace deal.

4: Pegu

Semi:

They appeared this week! And they had a great artist! +2 ranks for that. (Also because Maravi is actively dying and Sumer is under attack).

5: Ponca

JDT:

Ponk

6: Karankawa

Archimedes :

What do you honestly want me to say about Karankawa. This civ with two cities is a joke of a contender at this point, and is certainly not adding any input to the game with their existence. Their capital still stands at the crosspoint of Teotihuacan, Susquehannock, Anishinaabe and Ponca, but ultimately their Greenland city is the most strategically important for them. Surrounded almost completely by mountains, and tucked away in the frigid north with realistically only Onondaga able to assail them, Karankawa has the chance to live for much longer than their neighbours. They won’t actually do anything, tucked away in that frigid north with a single population city, but as long as they don’t give it away, expect Karankawa to stick around for a long, long, long time.

7: Phoenicia

Cloudy:

It’s unfortunate to say it, but Phoenicia is just waiting for death at this point. The only neighbor they could possibly take a city off of is Ma’in, and after that, they’re sure to collapse to a coalition. And with Tyre cut off from the rest of their empire, it’s only a matter of time. The only question is who will land the killing blow.

8: Xaragua

JDT:

They invaded Xavante. My roflcopter goes XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

9: Papal States

Semi:

Man, the Pope’s been super active this week! He excommunicated some conservative Swiss faction, in what feels like the first excommunication in a while. It makes sense, they didn’t get the Vatican’s approval to create new bishops.

What’s that? Leo XIV is not the Pope in the CBR? Did that Pope do anything this week?

Nope, doesn’t seem like it. So why should I pay attention to them?

10: Green Ukraine

Shaggy:

Green Ukraine have themselves a nifty little carpet of a diverse set of units. Itelmen has left its home waters relatively undefended so there may be potential for Green Ukraine to capitalize. Ditto for Tang, though their tech is far more advanced. Up one rank for a modest increase in potential for Potential Civ, we’re just going to ignore what happens when their neighbors start building more units…

11: Wallachia

Semi:

Wallachia, in my opinion, are the perfect example of how Civ is a snowballing game. They aren’t bankrupt anymore, and sure they’ve given away a couple of cities, but they’ve had a reasonably solid core the whole game. Yet because of the early mistakes and bankruptcy, their game has been fucked. They’re only on 39 techs - more than only the bottom 5 (but not Sumer), Ponca, Xavante, and Vyatka. Their effective science is still below that of Bactria. The only reason they aren’t the worst civ in Europe is that the Pope starts in Italy. And it’s all because Vlad spent too much money on Classical Era military units.

12: Yunnan

Orange:

Yunnan continues to be ignored by most, which is pretty good for them, assuming they don’t want to win. Which is a realistic thing they could potentially want to do.

CBR In-Game Screenshot of Hanseatic League

13: Hanseatic League

JDT:

The Hansa take a tumble in the rankings as they take devastating losses to Estonia and Scythia. Not only were Estonia able to actually secure Rostock, they proceeded to give up the 23-pop city of Bremen to Scythia. While Bremen is burning to the ground and most likely gone, that is still a 23 pop city lost for the Hansa, a devastating blow to their already subpar infoaddict ranks. And that could also potentially mean more trouble on the horizon, should the Kalmar Union or France decide to act upon it. Suffice to say, business is not looking ka-ching for Wullenwever.

14: Bactria

Orange:

Well this war against Circassia seems interesting, just need to cross a sea, which I’ve heard Bactria are well known for IRL. That’s where they got the name Boatria from, something they proudly wear on their chests I’ve heard. This is gonna be the most exciting war to watch for next time, trust.

15: Xavante

ItsTruckMonth:

Yeaaaaaaaaah so on paper this Xavante-Chono war looks genuinely apocalyptic from the Xavante’s view, on paper that is. Stats aren’t even close: Chono holds nearly 6x the military manpower, 5x the production, and 20 more techs than Xavante, which you can clearly see in the miltech disparity in the slides (pikemen vs linemen omfg bruh).

That said, Xavante has two things that may help them in this war: geography and that DAWG. The Chono city of Aspero lies on Apoena’s end of the Andes Mountains, resulting in Xavante having free access to the city walls, while Chono has to slog through rugged terrain to reinforce it. Not to mention that Xavante are quite the dawg when it comes to defending their turf.

They just need to end this war quickly before Chono can out-attrition them. That, and hope that no one else joins the growing coalition against them.

16: Ethiopia

Shaggy:

Mek’ele and Gondar are once again Ethiopian, proving to all of the doubters that Ethiopia shouldn’t be truly basement-tier yet, they deserve at least just being labelled as “bad.” A massive 6 rank boost for them this week as the Power Ranking team generally loses faith in Africa and Ethiopia avoids Maravation.

17: Vyatka

NopeCopter:

Surprisingly, Vyatka turns out to actually be capable of beating up the Bjarmians, after all. Well, half of the Bjarmians. The point is they’re making more gains. Unfortunately for them, Scythia has remilitarized, and their stats are still pretty abysmal, but hey! We always love an underdog, and the Vyatkan rump state certainly qualifies. Surely if they had just invaded Scythia alongside Hansa and the Kipchaks, they would have been able to win! Surely.

18: Potiguara

Cloudy:

How do I express the depth of my disappointment in Potiguara? How much can we say about their multi-episode failed siege of defenseless Catu? What about their steadily falling stats or their increasingly pathetic-looking little raisin of an empire? Oh, you know what we should do—move them up three ranks, that’ll show ‘em!

19: Caral

JDT:

Caral has not been having a good episode. They managed to lose most of their pacific holdings to NSW and Tang, and, believe it or not, the Xavante continue to pressure them even if the Andes prevent an actual threat. The truth is I’m kinda shocked they’re not ranked even lower. Really is just a testament to how bad people below them are and how big of a role reputation can play. And just remember folks - one Chono war and they’re gone.

20: Bjarmians

Orange:

It seems Bjarmia has forgotten how to defend. I mean, they have been so good at it before, so what’s happening here? Wait sorry hold on they have never been great at defending. Right yeah, that makes sense. Well they tried harder last time, but it seems the fatigue is catching up to them, and this time they look to lose a few more cities.

21: Hyksos

JDT:

Apophis has decided that teaming up with his former enemy to invade a nation they only share a single tile naval border with is the best play instead of shredding said enemy, attacking Ethiopia or joining in on the Zazzau bandwagon. If that doesn’t exemplify Hyksos, I don’t know what will.

22: Kipchaks

JDT:

The Kipchaks fall down by 2 after deciding they’d rather not gank Scythia and would rather just sit there and do nothing. This may prove to be a fatal mistake. I doubt there is a better time to try to extract something out of Scythia, now that they are more readied. And beyond that, Bactria still exists, while Vyatka is veiled from them by the Urals. The truth is the Kipchaks are kinda stuck in their locale. They can eventually overpower Bactria, but even if that happens, what's next? The big elephant of Ket comes in. Yeah, I’m not exactly optimistic of their chances here.

23: Zazzau

Cloudy:

It hurts to say this, but Zazzau has suffered a very serious, potentially game-defining blow this week. As we feared, Luba’s attack has exhausted their military, allowing Ethiopia to reverse all of the gains that Amina made against them over the last several episodes, and potentially more. Luba flipped an original Zazzau city, and while they have been unable to keep it, the damage is done. Zazzau can still come back from this if they make peace with Luba, freeing up enough troops to drive Ethiopia back to the Nile, but that’s the ideal outcome. There are much worse outcomes on the cards too, like an Aures invasion, or white peace with Ethiopia. If Amina does what she needs to do, she could regain her lost ranks, but it would be a risky bet, and the precipice looms before her if she fails.

24: Umhaill

NopeCopter:

Unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot to say about Umhaill these days. They just don’t have a lot of potential targets, and they’re playing second fiddle to Scotland, who’s already kind of underwhelming as far as “major powers” go. The play from here is probably either some nonsense with a French coalition (or maybe a Portuguese coalition?) or trying to… I don’t know, attack Xaragua after researching better ships? Yeah, attack the civ with Frigates, great idea, I know. It’s hard to make suggestions for Umhaill, especially considering they’re now… flat broke and losing over 100 Gold per turn??? Oh man, never mind, Xaragua is far, far out of reach.

25: Guaycuru

Orange:

With the advent of Potiguara finally figuring out how to damage cities, Guaycuru rises two places because holy fuck Potiguara suck ass. But here’s a fun fact, despite three more cities, Guaycuru has the same amount of production as Potiguara. This is like a battle of shits and somehow, despite being half consumed by Chono, being under constant siege from Potiguara, and having about 5 tiles total in their capital due to citadeling, Guaycuru is the one who looks to not just be better, but significantly better.

26: France

Archimedes :

France, surprisingly, did not feature in the past episode. No mention of their name, no featured slide, they are what you may consider a persona non grata. It’s frankly what they deserve for their inaction.

And their stats are equally unimpressive. Middling science, middling production, and only 9 cities to their name, even their military is entirely unimpressive. Their total population is also lacking, perhaps because Robespierre is actively decapitating his citizens. The Guillotine is a theatre replacement that provides no happiness and instead provides +3 culture, and kills 2 citizens on construction. If the Guillotine is destroyed, it can be rebuilt and grants an additional +1 happiness when done so. A useful enough ability, but with France able to destroy their own buildings, it really can become powerful with successive constructions.

Except, as far as we can tell, the AI can’t actually destroy their own buildings.

So, France is building their Unique Building, killing their citizens, for generally not much benefit. Though they don’t quite need the happiness boost at the moment, they certainly aren’t going to get it later when they do need it. And, every time they adopt a new social policy, they’ll be killing a citizen in each one of their cities. It seems that France is on a fast track to rumping themselves as they go on, with Portugal, Scotland, and the Hanseatic League all standing equally on par with them at the moment. France will keep wallowing in mediocrity for now, it seems.

27: Onondaga

JDT:

When Onondaga was on the cusp of relevance, coalitioning Anishinaabe with Susquehannock and serving as a legitimate threat to an overextended empire… they decided “Nah we like irrelevance,” and proceeded to immediately peace out. Bravo Tadodaho. Well played. Enjoy your cornering buddy.

Ok to play devils advocate they were severely outclassed techwise but with Susquehannock behind them I think some things could’ve happened. Still shows they’re kinda boned lol

28: Kalmar Union

Archimedes :

Kalmar Union, surprisingly, did not feature in the past episode. No mention of their name, no featured slide, they are what you may consider a persona non grata. It’s frankly what they deserve for their inaction.

And their stats are equally unimpressive. Middling science, middling production, and only 12 cities to their name, even their military is entirely unimpressive. Their total population is at least not so bad, perhaps because Margarethe is actively settling poor production fishing villages. Their seas are full of Gun Holks and their cities are full of Kobstads, a unit that is entirely out of date at this point of the game and a building that merely provides a bit of extra gold, something that is generally not great in an AI focused game. With the AI being poor at purchasing and upgrading units, I guess that their fleets will stay obsolete and their cities will remain poor, until someone with more oomph in their step decided to invade Kalmar and put those ships out of their misery.

And the lands around them are beginning to stir, with Estonia putting up a modicum of a fight, and Scythia as well waging a successful enough war. Scotland to their west looks powerful, for the region at least, and another clash between these two could certainly cause some bloodshed. The Kalmar Union is doing a good enough job researching economic techs, working on Humanism to boost their culture and science, but still with only cannons to their name, they lack the significant naval technologies that they really need to defend their lands.

I think that Kalmar will unfortunately continue to do nothing, as even if they were to declare war on someone, I doubt they could muster an attacking force. Even the Hanseatic League ultimately seems more active, and they’re at present being consumed. Try better Margarethe, try better.

29: Luba

ItsTruckMonth:

Luba may be, honest to God, the ultimate “No Fun Allowed” civ to ever have been voted in CBR history. Any run that Herero could have gone on? Snuffed out by Luba’s lazy ass blocking off Central Africa and utilizing the jungle to their advantage. Zazzau’s Cinderella run? Dead on arrival thanks to Luba’s declaration killing any momentum they had in their war against Ethiopia.

They’re the NIMBY’s of CBR: Doing nothing of interest until something exciting comes around, just so they can stuff it out to the people’s dismay. No leading stats. No interesting storylines. No aspirations for the title. Simply here to be the ultimate party pooper.

I will be drinking to the inevitable eulogy written about your downfall Sungu.

30: Estonia

JDT:

Estonia climbs up the ranks as Lennart finally manages to take Rostock from the Hansa, redeeming a centuries long humiliation and proving yes they do have the potential to grow out of the spot they’re in. Fundamentally, their stats remain similar. However, with one more city, a little more grit and an opponent greatly weakened, it’s not unrealistic to expect more from Estonia in the near future.

31: Portugal

Shaggy:

Portugal embodied its best sleepy self this week and went under the narration radar entirely. They move up a rank off of stats and the relative performance of the other middling civs.

32: Herero

NopeCopter:

The Herero suddenly look just a little bit better, primarily because they’ve finally managed to clear out the Maravi Trireme fleet and use their navy to break their stubborn opponent. That’s the good news. The… slightly more complex news is what’s going on up north. Zazzau is getting owned, and while having one less rival on the continent is a good thing, Luba and Ethiopia are gaining from this, and that’s a very bad sign given those are the Herero’s other two land neighbors. The Seychelles finally figured out how to fight a war properly against Sumer, too, meaning now they’re free to declare war should the Herero ever get too uppity. So, the middle of the pack is where they stay, looking no closer to being a true power despite everything.

33: Qara-Khitai

Cloudy:

Qara-Khitai missed the bus and now they are so far outclassed by Tang and Rouran that they have no hope of holding their own against either. Their only outlet is the Kipchaks, but even that won’t be easy. Their stats are starting to slip as they reach the limits of their poor terrain and lack of expansion. So let the long, slow, painful rankings slide begin...

34: Bunuba

Msurdej:Being the second banana Australia civ, Bunuba remains in the shadow of their more powerful neighbor New South Wales. While NSW doesn't have very many troops near the border, it's not like Bunuba has much of a chance in that war. They have plenty of troops, but the majority of them are crossbowmen who can't capture cities. Furthermore, a war would almost certainly make NSW focus on making more land troops. And with more than double the production, Jandamarra would quickly find himself on the back foot again. Though with how history repeats itself, I have little doubt Bunuba will be there soon enough.

35: Cebu

Semi:

Cebu emerges from the Lanfang war…relatively okay, actually? Obviously, Lanfang has decided that their crown had grown a bit stale over the last couple episodes, with the war against first Cebu and now Bangladesh. But they didn’t quite put Cebu in the ground. Neither side had fully upgraded Frigates or Galleons, and so struggled to really push through the line, so the final score of the war is Cebu -2, Lanfang 1 (assuming they settle the visible Vietnamese settler)...Bunuba 1 as they settled on Sulawesi.

And to me that really emphasizes the issue with Cebu. As I wrote in the Wallachia section, we’re really seeing the Civ-as-a-snowball-game this time around with some of the underdogs. Cebu is quite good and has a lot of heart, but catching up to either Lanfang or Tang - and the rising threat of NSW - will be a tall order. But a Malacca-type run from this Filipino civ would still be a pleasant surprise from E0.

36: Mysore

Archimedes :

Mysore scraped through this war with New South Wales by the skin of their teeth, holding onto control of both Hassan and Chitradurga and keeping Sri Lanka and the Maldives firmly out of drunken Australian hands. Tipu Sultan has done a decent job of proving that New South Wales indeed cannot break out, but as their far off holdings were knocked down one by one, it’s perhaps fair to say that Mysore may not be quite as strong as they look.

Don’t get me wrong, they of course have Fortifications, allowing them to build grand walls and field great guns. They also picked up Scientific theory to bolster their science, and even nabbed Humanism to further bolster both their culture and science. They are even on track to become the first civ to pick up rifling, unlocking powerful riflemen that will obsolete their Unique Cushoons. Their effective science is in the upper echelon of this game, and their total techs are merely 3 shy from the top spot.

But they’re not looking so hot.

Mysore has definitely been beaten back, and their military is looking worse for wear. Their production is frankly abysmal for the kind of science they’re putting out, with only 357 production spread across their empire. Their cities are actively starving, no longer bolstered by the food bonus from their war declarations, and their closest neighbour is Pakistan, a civ that has three more technologies and 500 more production than them. Mysore may fold soon, whether from another New South Wales invasion, or one from Pakistan who has nearly double their military strength. At least they’ve grabbed Fasil Ghebbi, a wonder that provides +33% combat strength to units within 2 tiles of the city of Channapatna. Being up way to the north along the border of Pakistan and Bangladesh, in a place where Mysore’s core does not reside, is less ideal.

With cities pressing in at all sides, and Mysore actively losing tiles to Pakistan’s Unique Ability, it seems the question is when exactly they will fall. And who will be the one to do it.

37: Bangladesh

Archimedes :

I guess I’ll be the first to say it :

Bangladesh might be boned.

Lanfang declaring war on them is certainly a worrying prospect, especially since Lanfang has made some leaps and bounds when it comes to the military department. With Luo Fangbo fielding frigates, line infantry, skirmishers and field guns, we have a concerning amount of firepower pointed straight at Bangladesh and their core. With Hangsawatoi being a city that could have been considered “stolen” during the sweep through of Pegu, Lanfang seems primed to sweep through Bangladesh in a bloody, bloody war.

And, can Bangladesh hold them off? Though their navy certainly looks beefy, a good majority of these ships are triremes and galleases, and not a single frigate happens to be within view. With cities in the 38-40 city strength range, these are defendable cities but ultimately cities that can fall to sustained field gun fire. And Lanfang ultimately has a much stronger naval output compared to Bangladesh, with many more cities and more production.

Bangladesh might have some hope though. They actually have more production than Lanfang at the moment, with 547 to Lanfangs 426, and actually have more effective science too, at 738 to Lanfang’s 484. How Lanfang has managed to field such a powerful army compared to Bangladesh is certainly a question, but that momentary difference might be a tipping point. We’ll have to see how this war turns out, as if Bangladesh can weather the storm, they might ultimately be able to outscale Lanfang in the long run. As long as Mysore doesn’t decide to mess with them.

38: Circassia

Shaggy:

When you ignore the three-tile border that Circassia has with Pakistan, you realize that Circassia really can go toe to toe with any of their neighbors. And when you recognize that the three-tile Pakistani border is in Sarepta, which Pakistan is apparently allergic to capturing, you realize that Circassia is actually pretty defensible from all sides despite their geography. Sure, their current invasion of Sumer is half-baked and destined for failure, but their long-term prospects in the region are still strong and they are competently going through the cycle of build/attack/capture/rebuild with no signs of stopping. I guess all this to say that they have much more runway than the other players in this region and seem more able to stick the landing.

39: Scythia

Orange:

Scythia has done the impossible, they managed to get a city off of Hansa instead of the other way around (ignoring that they are burning it…). None shall believe themselves superior anymore, all shall cower in fear to the mighty horse. Scythia truly is Umazing!

40: Yanomami

JDT:

They’ve been exactly the same for the past few weeks. What am I supposed to say about them? Ig Teo is weaker so they have something to do…

41: Scotland

Orange:

I am at least half the reason Scotland is so high because I see them as one of the strongest nations in Europe, them and Scythia. Europe unequivocally sucks, on the stats sheet at least Scotland is the highest at 13, with Scythia second at 22, so this is the type of competition around. Thus, I think they should be higher, they have weaker enemies, they do not have real rivals like other civs would have.

42: Japan

Shaggy:

Japan is so unhappy that bandit knights roam the land and distract military leaders by forcing them to put down local rebellions rather than look outward towards conquests beyond their home shores. Sounds familiar, huh. Itelmen is rebuilding it’s navy a bit and even Tlingit is getting a little close for comfort. The geographic isolation and their ability to keep pace in stats is keeping Japan in the top 15, but expect to see some uneasiness about their situation from the Power Ranking team if they continue to only be able to muster navies for Pacific island warfare.

43: Susquehannock

ItsTruckMonth:

The big Susq-Anishinabeg war concludes with a single city flipping and absolutely nothing gained on either end, well, other than some pretty important info. Despite the one-on-two matchup and Susq getting early momentum going, Sheehays simply can’t keep up with Pontiac’s substantial production advantage, so going balls to the wall against the certified number two on the continent is NOT the move.

Thankfully, Susq is surrounded by fairly easy options. They can sniff out the Ponca or Karankawa’s last mainland holding with ease, and Xaragua should give you a free city if you pose some sort of a threat to them.

Though if Sheehays were a real MF, there is a certain white and purple civ to their north that could provide the greatest of spoils. The militaries are roughly even, but the production and tech advantages are obvious. Time to answer Old Sheehays: are you man or mouse?

44: Teotihuacan

ItsTruckMonth:

Despite the fall of E’lem and Ta’tem, Teo has been holding off the Tlingit offensive quite well. Perhaps it can be due to the bottleneck of geography, perhaps it could be due to that dawg in Spearthrower Owl, perhaps it could even be that Tlingit may be washed (lol, lmao even). Either way, the Teo defense is holding somewhat well. Should Teo get out of this with these two losses (hell, even a city or two more), they are still in contention: plenty of easy pickings with the Ponca, Karankawa and Xaragua nearby.

Of course, that assumes they don’t let this war drag on. Sheikysh is a persistent, bloodthirsty bastard, fresh off the high of snuffing out the light of Pomo. They absolutely have the manpower, production and military tech advantage to win the war of attrition, and Teo’s hopes decay so long as the bodies drop on the frontline. Peacing out and minimizing the losses should be Teo’s top priority at the moment, and should they do so, they are still quite literally in the race.

45: Aures

Shaggy:

Everyone, point and laugh at the hollow sand castles! Aures’ military is frankly embarrassing for a civ of their size. Not only that, but their cities are very weak and could be easily cut through by any tangible strength. Wait, what? They moved up a rank this week? That can’t be right…

46: Itelmen

Msurdej:

Like an encroaching winter, Itelmen continues to grow silently. Their stats continue to grow, and they show no sign of losing their new conquest to Caral. Plus, a friendship with Japan means one of their pesky rivals isn't likely to be a bother to them. Sure, the looming shadow of Tlingit continues to outpace and outclass them, but until Sheiyksh I makes a mistake, Harchin can't do much against them. Better to just slowly continue to build their forces and plan. And while they're doing that, maybe they should go scheme against a civ that is near them. You know, like Green Ukraine.

47: Lanfang

Msurdej:Sensing the ire wafting from the sub, Lanfang has decided to end their war with Cebu. The war was an indecisive boon for Luo Fangbo, but most importantly, it curbed the growth of Cebu. With Cebu's rise curtailed, Lanfang can continue to grow in power.

Now, his sights are set on Bangladesh. Luo Fangbo already crippled them diplomatically in the World Congress, now he means to cripple their army and hopefully take their land. The Bay of Bengal will certainly be one area to watch out for in the next episode.

48: Seychelles

Msurdej:While the opinion on Seychelles continues to be divided on the Power Rankers, I happen to be on team “Seychelles are great”. And this episode is a great example of why I like them. France-Albert's gains on Sumer may not seem like much, but the pick up of a pair of cities makes for a great base for future wars against Ma'in or Phoenicia. But for now, Rene should focus on incorporating his new gains into his empire, working on his tech and production before going into another war. The fact they're working on Manufacturing is a good move, and cities like Nashan will be ripe for a factory once they fall out of resistance and are annexed. However, small wins like these may be good, but bigger wins will be needed to break into the top 8. Or at least some big falls. Speaking of falls...

49: Anishinaabe

NopeCopter:

The Anishinaabe drop a couple places due to a bit of a scare that came in the form of a joint Susquehannock-Onondaga war declaration. What should have been a fairly easy defense almost turned into a disaster purely because the Anishinaabe just… didn’t have a proper unit carpet. Thankfully for them, both the Onondaga and the Susquehannock sued for peace before they could actually secure any gains (and now the Onondaga carpet is just gone), but losing a war to their ostensibly weaker neighbors was a pretty scary sign for a civ who borders the monstrously powerful - and expanding - Tlingit. They’re looking less like a proper rival and more like just another tasty meal right now, so they’d better get their act together before the Tlingit finish up their current business.

50: Rouran

Semi:

Rouran are always such a hard civ to rank. Objectively, they have the stats. Top 2 in army size, top 6 in prod, top 5 in science. But at the same time, they’ve always felt a bit boxed in. Ket to their west is an impenetrable wall of near-Rio Grande-from-X2 levels. Tang to their south has been one of the top powers for essentially the entire game. So where does that leave them? Qara-Khitai is just as militarized as they are, and any war involves annoying flips of Rouran’s 13-population Xihai. To the east is Itelmen, a top 11 civ (somehow), and the rump state of Green Ukraine. So there’s nowhere easy to go. And with Ideologies taking shape, Rouran’s even more on the outside looking in. Both Ket and Tang went Autocracy, while Rouran chose Order. So both terrifying neighbors now have reason to hate them together. Not exactly good news for the Wriggle Bros.

51: Pakistan

Shaggy:

I’m starting to get worried about Pakistan. As a Ket fan, Pakistan’s focus on spreading Islam combined with their UA’s ability to capture territory through religious conversion presents the most dire threat to Ket on the cylinder before nukes. As a Circassia fan, Sumer won’t be around forever and wherever the eventual borders are drawn, they will almost inevitably produce further friction between Circassia and Pakistan. As a Seychelles fan, Pakistan’s navy is getting really really built-up and I doubt they are only eyeing Mysore as a target. I guess as a Mysore hater I should be happy with Pakistan’s momentum propelling them towards eliminating Mysore, but that feels secondary to the very real and present threats they are creating elsewhere. They’ve almost broken into the top 10 this week with their pickup of the autocracy ideology, I suspect that it will take them either grinding through to a massive tech advantage over the rest of the heavy hitters or carving off a chunk of Bactria or Mysore to get them over the hump. That or someone above them implodes, always a possibility.

52: Ket

NopeCopter:

The Ket rise back up to 5th off the backs of a sudden loss of confidence in the Anishinaabe. Note that the Ket did not actually do anything to earn this rise, because they did not actually do anything this past episode, period. They’re still effectively immortal due to their religion, they’re still pretty big, they still have a pretty scary military and at least one neighbor they could probably conquer if they put their minds to it. They are, however, losing money, and their Happiness is so low that any city captures would instantly be razed. But they absolutely will not die any time soon, and that’s good enough for the top 5 right now.

CBR In-Game Screenshot of New South Wales

53: New South Wales

Not Safe Work - er, New South Wales - had a story of two episodes this week. In the first half, it…wasn’t great. The slam dunk invasion of Sri Lanka that we all anticipated would meet with great success really didn’t. But in the second half, NSW conducted yet another short, successful war. They took another city from Caral in Danggu and burned a third Potao (replacing it with their own instead of letting Ternate revive themselves). They’ve also begun descending on Mysore’s more far-flung possessions, already capturing the city on the Kerguelen archipelago.

All in all, where does this put them? Well, with a science output that’s surprisingly started to slide a bit, still in fourth place. We aren’t convinced they can break out via non-Austronesian pathways, and both Bunuba and Lanfang are still extremely respectable civs. They’re still a very good civ - second-most in cities can testify to that. But they still haven’t managed to dismiss any of the questions we’ve had since, well, Episode 0.

54: Chono

Archimedes :

Order in the court, order in the court. May all rise for the honourable Chono, the Orderable Chono in fact. As Chono has, alongside Rouran, picked up Order as an ideology, against the sweeping tide that is the generally Autocratic cylinder. Was that a good move for Chono, when New South Wales to their west has picked up Autocracy?

Chono has a very decent standing already when it comes to their stats. Their production is ultimately top tier, a bit under Tlingit and Tang but on par with NSW, Rouran, and Pakistan. Their science as well is just a bit under the top, but is very solid with 785 effective science. They have 58 techs, holding Flintlock, Fortification, Scientific Theory, and are on their way to be the first civ with Rifling . They have a very solid base for taking Order, with plenty of cities to benefit from the wide bonuses, and plenty of mines and factory potential to benefit from the additional production and science bonuses the policy tree provides.

With picking up Rifling, Chono is picking up a potentially significant advantage. With Guaycuru under siege by Potiguara for what seems like 300 years, both civs have been weakened substantially and are ready to be swept over by the age of modern gunpowder. Even Xavante can be absolutely swept through by Chono, as Riflemen boast 34 combat strength, enough to slam into cities and live to tell the tale. Though the difficult mountain terrain to attack Xavante right now is a hindrance, they should be able to push through and properly assault any of the cities bordering Aspero. Especially with field guns on the active front.

Chono ultimately still is in a great position to take advantage of their region. Though New South Wales is within striking distance, Chono has the chance to take on all of South America, Africa, and Oceania. Will Order be enough to give them the edge stat wise, and push through to conquer and sustain their empire? I think Chono at least has enough culture to defend themselves from opposing ideologies, but they may not quite have enough tourism to push Order on the other competitors in this game.

55: Tang

Cloudy:

Tang remains the unquestioned second place for the fifth straight episode. Factories have supercharged their economy, Autocracy policies will soon radically reshape their still somewhat sparse military, and their science is through the roof, taking the clear #1 spot and leaving Tlingit far in the dust. While Tlingit still holds the top spot based on other factors, there’s little doubt that in the Old World, Tang are the ones to beat. But they’ve been idle for a long time—will they ever wake up? And if they do, will they have built enough troops to actually triumph? Would they be vulnerable to a large coalition, should one materialize? These questions remain unanswered, and we will need to see them answered in Tang’s favor before they can make that final leap back into 1st.

56: Tlingit

Msurdej:Sheiyksh I joins the club of Autocracy, a solid choice for a domination game like this. While this was to be expected, choosing Freedom may have hurt their chances. But with their chances intact (at least for now. Their declining science numbers are a small worry), and absolute power in Sheiyksh I's hands, the Tlingit continue the war march.Sure, progress is slow on the Teotihuacan front, but it is steady. E'lem flipped a lot this episode, but now seems to be in solid hands. The front has moved to Ta'tem now, and unless they fumble the bag or have their attention diverted, the Tlingit have the troops and production power to keep pushing into northern Teotihuacan. While a war of attrition isn't great, it does work in the favor of Tlingit. But only time will tell if Sheiyksh I can keep their crown.

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