Power Rankings: Episode 8 – S5

Release Date:

March 17, 2026

Narrated by:

Power-Rankers

Abstract

Power Rankings! The rankings…of power! Dun dun dunnnn!

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Ryukyu

1 / 0

1: Ryukyu

JDT:

And so Taizong, willing to content his bureaucrats, released the Bangladeshi’s from their imminent conflict, and delivered Sho Shin, when he had scourged him, to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away into a cave, and they call together the whole band. And they clothed the land in his blood, and tightened the yoke onto his neck. And they smote him on the head with a reed, and spat upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and left him naked to bleed and drown, a million cuts and a crown of thorns entombed alongside him. And they rolled a large rock, the size of a guard tower, onto the alcove, confident that the chained man will be gone with the tides.

When the sabbath was past, the last band of the Ryukyuans wearily marched across the alcove, saying amongst themselves, “who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?” And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. And exiting the cavern, they saw an elder man, in a drab of white. And he saith unto them, “Be not affrighted: Ye seek Sho Shin of Ryukyu, which was murdered: he is risen; he is not here; behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his people that he goeth before you into Nanzan, tell them he is risen!”

1: Ryukyu

JDT:

2: Rapa Nui

Caitlyn:If you have one thing to say about Rapa Nui, it’s that they’re consistent…consistenly near the bottom of the bunch. Rapa Nui started off at best as a fun gag, but has become a little bit tiresome as of late. At least Ryukyu sucks more.

3: Ma'in

Msurdej:

Waqah'il finds himself down another city as he loses Nashan to Sumer. Stuck in modern day Yemen, Ma'in is a dead man walking. Second to last in techs, smallest army, third smallest production, there's nearly 0 chance that they can win at this point.The question then becomes, when do they die? Despite the many wars they're in, only the Sumer fight is truly notable. And Sumer isn't going to make it through those mountain defenses. Not without some greater power or strong diplomacy. So the Ma'in won't die today, but they are circling the proverbial toilet.

4: Maravi

Leman:

Maravi drops a pretty hefty city to Lub, which marks the third city they’ve lost to a neighbor recently. In my opinion, Maravi is all but out of this. We didn’t expect them to, but they absolutely could not hold on against the “Everyone Hates Maravi” coalition, and will be relegated to a weird little rump down here in South Africa until Seychelles or Herero decide to finish them off.

5: Karankawa

Reformer:

Hey, Karankawa, if you’re reading this, now is your chance to declare war on Teotihuacan!

…

Okay, maybe it still wouldn’t work out even when Teo is distracted. Oh well, back to hibernation! Up until someone puts these guys out of their misery, anyway.

6: Pegu

MSurdej:A coalition has formed against Pegu this week, with Bangladesh, Lanfang, and Yunnan all taking a shot at Shin Sawbu. But she's not going down without a fight. She's fighting the Yunnan to the west, and has brought the fight to Geiju. On the other hand, Bangladesh has gone on the offensive in the Bay of Bengal, taking shots at the newly settled city of Rew. The new city settles are good, but the time to settle was six episodes ago.

7: Yunnan

Cloudy:

Yunnan has become the second victim of Cebu’s newfound ruthlessness, losing Kaiyuan in just a few turns. This is probably how it’s going to keep going for them—losing a city here, another there, until there’s nothing left. Their capital is only a tough nut to crack if they have other cities to boost its strength. Without an empire, they’re nothing.

8: Ternate

Reformer:

Well, life is not looking so hot for Ternate. Bunuba is becoming a science monster, Lanfang is strong as ever, and now even pitiful old Cebu is a threat! Not to mention some fuckass South American civs are hogging up half of Papua. It is hard to expect Ternate of all civs to do something about that. Ternate is oft brought up whenever someone wonders, “who is the most boring civ so far?”, which, well, bodes poorly. Nobody sees a future for this civ. They are lower than the likes of Ponca, Wallachia, Phoenicia. And knowing fate’s fickle whims, they’ll be around for a while, taking up space.

9: Ponca

Shaggy:

Ternate’s loss is Ponca’s gain as Ponca rises one rank this week. Their position hasn’t changed materially but the political landscape of North America is starting to take shape more as Ponca has made friends with Anishinaabe just as most of the rest of the continent decides to dogpile onto Anishinaabe. I won’t mince words here, I hate this friendship. Ponca’s easiest path to relevance at this point would have been to join in on the coalition war against Anishinaabe. With enough different directions for Anishinaabe to manage, Ponca and their disproportionately large military could have really taken advantage of this coalition. Instead they are relegated to the sidelines at best and might soon be in Pomo’s sights at worst.

10: Wallachia

Shaggy:

Is Wallachia the CBRX critique of capitalism? We put vampires into the game and it seems like they have sucked their economy dry and plunged the country into debt, halting all scientific progress and letting their once-large army fall slowly into disrepair. They haven’t researched a new technology since episode 5! Wallachia is just getting left in the dust. Their neighbors will soon be able to field armies with units a full era ahead, then it might be Vlad getting put up on a stake.

11: Kipchaks

Shaggy:

The Kipchaks jump 4 ranks this week as Vyatka, their biggest immediate threat, is beset by distractions. They are being given a little bit of much needed breathing room at the moment but the macro picture here is still largely weighted against them. Ket and Vyatka to the north are still each both powerhouses in their own right, Bactria already has a taste for Kipchak blood, and Qara-Khitai are now looking startlingly more competent now that they are facing some actual competition. Hopefully they will be able to use this time to rebuild and sneak some cities into the remaining open space in the vast Eurasian north. Ideally doing that without drawing the ire of Ket as well. At least the units they’ve been lending out might start yielding some benefits at home as they start trickling back home.

12: Zazzau

Reformer:

Hm. Eh. Uhhh. Oh! Zazzau settled a new city! They’re all the way up to six cities now! Glorious. Hm. Eh. Uhhh…Alright, that’s all, no more Zazzau news for you.

13: Hyksos

NopeCopter:

The Hyksos didn’t really do much this episode, which, to be fair, is not particularly shocking. However, despite this and the fact that their rank has not changed whatsoever, the Hyksos are hypothetically in a pretty neat spot right about now. Phoenicia, their eastern neighbor, is currently collapsing, and if they were to declare war right now, the Hyksos could hypothetically make some real gains. I say “hypothetically” to all this, of course, because it would all rely on the Hyksos being able to somehow maneuver all their units across the Suez Canal and actually attack Phoenicia, which is something that’s much easier said than done. Still, though, they’ve locked down a lot of the eastern Mediterranean, and they have more than enough units to make any potential invader suffer, so the Hyksos are pretty likely to stick around for a long, long time. Maybe they can launch a surprise attack on the Aures or something.

14: Phoenicia

ItsTruckMonth:

Call it beginner’s luck, a hot start in a marathon, or whatever else, but the Phoenicia hype is dying, and it’s dying fast. It was one thing losing their Greek settle to his Holiness, but now Circassia has descended to take Byblos, and is pressing on the capital of Tyre.

Even if they can find an off-ramp from this war without giving up any more cities, where do they go now? They’re a bottom ten civ in stats, all while Sumer and Hyksos are starting to finally get their shit together.

Hiram you may officially be washed buddy.

15: Portugal

Leman:

Well that sucked. Portugal drops their second largest city of Porto to France. If that wasn’t enough, France is absolutely not done marching over the Pyrenees. They flipped Aveiro as well and while Joao managed to flip Aveiro back off screen I’ll be honest, Portugal looks kinda spent while France’s only real bottleneck is how fast they can get units through the mountain choke points. Things are not looking good and honestly could go even further south, very quickly.

16: Sumer

Shaggy:

Well that didn’t take long. Sumer swarms Nashan this episode, further smothering Ma’in against the coast and getting Eannatum out of the doghouse with his hot Sumerian wife for leaving the chamber pot seat up one too many times. Once the citizens of Nashan stop revolting, they will make fantastic staff members at the all new Sumerian Desert Oasis Spa and Resort. Ideally, management should achieve peak tranquility once the Sumerian army leaves the area surrounding the spa. “Just send them to any other city on the Peninsula” hears Eannatum as his wife reminds him daily that he boasts the largest army in the region in repeated attempts to expedite the construction of the all new Sumerian Desert Oasis Spa and Resort. “It isn’t the size of the army, but how you decide to use it” knows Eannatum, evaluating his options.

17: Xavante

JDT: Xavante drops a harrowing 5 spots as their assault on Yanomami peters out and they are forced back on the defensive against Potiguara. While we didn’t really think the war with Yanomami would go far due to the mountain ranges and jungles, and I personally doubt Potiguara will get that far into Xavante, this exposes the big problem with Xavante - they’re cornered and have nowhere to go with only 4 cities. While their production and science are pretty good, Potiguara and Yanomami are both on similar levels and also have way more cities to be able to scale those levels. And this isn’t a Kayapo situation where the civ has a unique that allows them to just turtle and grow forever. As time goes on, Xavante will end up increasingly unlikely to break out, trapped by the prison of circumstance in spite of their best efforts.

18: Xaragua

Cloudy:

Xaragua is attacking Teotihuacan! Now, I would give success in this war about the same odds as a sentient bowl of petunias and a whale suddenly appearing in low earth orbit. Too bad Xaragua doesn’t have an infinite improbability drive... or do they?

In fact, Uaxactun has no walls, only 11 combat strength, and three tiles facing the sea, exactly in Xaragua’s direction, and Xaragua has a bunch of triremes. So could this city flip? Yes! I don’t think Xaragua could hold it without a sizable helping of luck, but they could capture it, absolutely.

19: Bjarmians

JDT: In an unexpected twist of events that can only serve as proof of the end times, something we all thought would be impossible happened. A once in a generation event that can only serve as an omen to ragnarok. Something Bjappened. The Bjarmians, in a shocking turn of events, conquered the city of Vassa from the Kalmar Union. Seeing the disruption to the astrological cycles that may send the cylinder into an unrecoverable state of cascading simulation collapses, Harekr promptly gave the city back to the Kalmar Union in a peace deal, ensuring ultimately Nothing Bjappened and restoring the natural balance of powers. Unfortunately, the Bjappening risk stayed high, as the Bjarmian army managed to put Shabalinskoe in the yellow in the midst of a Vyatka collapse.

Aside from the reality collapsing however, fundamentally, even if something bjappens against Vyatka, nothing will really change for the Bjarmians. One extra city is not enough to make too big of a dent on their position, if they even take it, and Vyatka, Kalmar and whoever would replace them would ultimately outscale Bjarmia inherently due to location. The stats remain the same, and the grit remains soft as grits. The truth is, even when something bjappens, NOTHING. EVER. BJAPPENS.

20: Estonia

ItsTruckMonth:After the absolute fumble that was the peace deal with Hansa in the last episode, Estonia deservingly stays out of the spotlight as everyone else in Eastern Europe decides to jump Vyatka.

To be blunt, Estonia’s running out of time and options. Their stats are middling, all the while their neighbors are actively improving. Their last hope for relevance would be to strike at Bjarmia while they’re busy fighting in the Arctic wastes, but knowing Meri, he’d likely give up Narva in a peace deal to them as well.

21: Guaycuru

Archimedes :

Guaycuru is a potentially controversial contender in the CBRX5. Some definitely think they have the sauce, while others, myself included, think that they’re all out sauce, or never had it to begin with. They have of course maintained a hilarious settling pattern, dotting splotches of colour inside and around the periphery of the patagonian powerhouse Chono. But is a collection of horsemen and a pustulent looking empire enough to hold them in this game?

The Guaycuru have maintained an impressively below average statline, with a large military helping inflate their overall score. Their production, food, science, culture and city count is all below average, though their happiness is still quite high, a statistic that stands to be fairly useless when not well utilized. They have attempted a few attacks against neighbours, but the heavy and unrelenting terrain of the Amazon has stifled all of those attempts into futile treks through thick jungle. Their neighbours are currently fairly well militarized, both with the Potiguara sporting unique spearmen to counter their horses, and the Chono fielding a flock of unique Composite Bowmen that drain experience faster than Guaycuru can earn it. There is of course the Xavante to the north, who are currently being attacked by Yanomami and Potiguara, but failed attempts in the past may leave Guaycuru hesitant to attack their former adversary.

Guaycuru has run out of space, and is suffering the consequences. They have managed a few, small, far flung settlements, but at the risk of angering one of the top rated civs in all the cylinder. A war against the Chono would be entertaining to see the least, and would probably result in a few cities changing hands, but my opinion is that Guaycuru would come out the losing end of any engagements. Their military history has been poor, their neighbours boast impressive production to restock armies, and unique units threaten any advantages the Guaycuru might have access to. Any supporters of this plucky Gran Chaco contender need to hope for a strong attack next episode to keep them in this game.

22: Itelmen

Semi:

Two cities really takes you up five ranks these days, huh? Dang, other PRs are far more tolerant than I (I still had them at 47th). In all honesty, though, this is one of the best episodes Itelmen fans could have hoped for. They aren’t feasibly winning any wars against Green Ukraine or Tlingit anytime soon, and sure they might be able to take Hiroshima but as of right now the military situation around that area favors the isolated Japanese city. So surrounding it with new settlements on Sakhalin and Hokkaido was a good idea, and is the reason for the plus five ranks. Also helps when your stats are now just “bad” instead of “absolute garbage” - heck, they have more science than the Pope! And now-eight cities is still more than the cylinder’s median.

Now if only you’d actually settled more than two of those on a river…

23: Cebu

NopeCopter:

After their incredibly well-executed takedown of Ryukyu last episode, and amidst concerns that this was as far as they’d go, Cebu has doubled down this episode by cleanly snagging another city of Yunnan and expanding their foothold on the mainland in the process! This is excellent news for a civ that was in very dire straits not too long ago, and it means that Cebu has officially captured as many cities as they’ve settled. It is a bit unclear where they’re meant to go from here - Lanfang, Japan, and Tang still box Cebu in pretty heavily, and further gains on Yunnan or Ternate won’t be so easy - but this initiative and effective warmongering means that, if they keep this up, Cebu might continue to be an entertaining mid-tier for a while to come.

…However, it’s far too early to say that Cebu is remotely safe. Their military is fairly weak, they’ve done plenty of warmongering, and even one of their more powerful neighbors (let alone all three) could easily rip them to shreds. And there’s precedent for this, too. Mk. 2’s Philippines were coalitioned around turn 150. X4’s Magindanao faced a series of war declarations culminating in a coalition war around turn 130. And neither of them had done nearly as much conquering. The Curse of the Philippines hangs over Cebu’s head, and their stats aren’t nearly good enough to survive the protracted coalition wars that destroyed their predecessors. Lanfang and Japan are currently distracted right now, for sure, but Cebu can never truly breathe easy until they’re not just able to fight off one civ, but three to four at once.

24: Luba

Shaggy:

Luba bursts back into relevance as they capture Mankhamba from Maravi and right out from under the nose of Ethiopia who have an army en route to the city. This is easily the most impactful thing Luba has done all season. Not only that, but in capturing Mankhamba their borders now fully span the width of the continent at their approximate latitude. This blocks Ethiopia from simply marching armies southward down the coast as they continue to impose their will on Maravi, forcing them through the arduous logistics of embarking and landing their land units. Seriously, what is it this season with civs picking a direction and only focusing their efforts on going as far as they can that way?

25: Bactria

Archimedes:

Now, if you look at Bactria this episode you may feel some amount of pride in their recent accomplishments. They took Sarai from the Kipchaks, and successfully defended it from Vyatka. But look closer, and you’ll see just how pointless and futile Bactria's actions really are.

Sitting in the lower end of the city count, with below average production and food, Bactria looks boxed in and confused in their current state. With no wars actively being waged, their army looks substantial but unutilized against some of their juicy looking neighbours. The Kipchaks of course stand as a prime target, with an already established enmity for each other, but Sighnaq looks well defended with walls, composite bowmen, and a defensive river standing as major obstacles into the rest of their lands. Qara stands with impressive defensive mountains to the east, and Pakistan boasts high city defences and carpets of units to the south, other factors that have fully boxed Bactria in. The Caspian Sea has finally halted their expansion to the west, letting Circassia slowly but surely fill in the hilly, productive land. Their one and only military conquest is paltry as well, a desert city that opens the door to another potential Vyatkan invasion.

Their abilities, at this stage of the game, are beginning to wane as well. Their UA lets them gain happiness after conquering cities, but as neighbouring civs continue to close in, their potential settlement locations grow fewer and farther between. Their swordsman replacement, the Elephantarch, was well utilized in their conquest of Sarai, but armies of Composite Bowmen threaten to wear the slowly outdating swordsmen down to nothing. And their Unique Improvement, the Phrourion, could potentially be built to let their carpet of military units act as population in nearby cities. Their lackluster science however says that unlocking the necessary Ironworking technology is a potentially distant dream, meaning their desert and hill focused cities will be short on population for a long while.

Bactria has the opportunity to still make some moves in this game, but times are changing and their neighbours are beginning to grow up. Their time as king of the three stooges is looking to wane, and the wider world threatens to rush in and take out Bactria before they can blink. The best we can hope for is another attack on the Kipchak or on Qara-Khitai, as these three civs continue to crab bucket their way into irrelevancy.

CBR In-Game Screenshot of Hanseatic League

26: Hanseatic League

Semi:

You awake in there, Jurgen? A whole lot of nothing this week for the Hanseatic League as Europe continues erupting around them. And in all honesty, that’s probably not a good thing. They have failed to take advantage of any of the opportunities around them - stabbing France in the back while they’re distracted in Portugal, going after a weakened Kalmar again with Bjarmia, or going after a Wallachia who thinks the most advanced weapon any human can create is a long stick. And it’s not like they’re simming and turtling either - their military is subpar, their science is fine but not spectacular (it’s below Estonia, but at least above Kalmar), and their production is pretty bad. Maybe this newfound Scythian Bergen gives them an opportunity to connect up Rakvere and break the Kalmar Union in a future war. But who am I kidding, Jurgen doesn’t play the game, the game plays him. Welcome to Bavaria 2.0 everyone: Northern Germany Edition.

27: Papal States

Shaggy:

After more definitively securing Baalbek for now, the Papal States rise 2 ranks as they continue their slow but steady approach towards the upper half of the field. Having consolidated Greece, there are a few options open to them now. Western Europe is having its own squabbles that the Pope has been wise to have taken advantage of the natural barriers that the Alps provide and largely avoided involvement. Eastern Europe, however, is only really accessible to the Cheese Pope if he goes through Wallachia, a wholly doable task. Hyksos is an interesting target with their new Mediterranean city now abutting Papal borders at Baalbek and another relatively exposed Mediterranean city available should a Holy Navy be constructed. Similarly, the Phoenician cities of Sidon and Tyre are already under pressure by Circassia and might be vulnerable to a compounded attack from the west. I don’t think the Pope is really ready to start harassing Aures’ Mediterranean cities so I hope they don’t pick that path. With all these options to pray on, the Cheese Pope has his work cut out for him to persist and become an actually relevant Italian civ.

28: Qara-Khitai

Shaggy:

Qara-Khitai are looking… competent? OK, maybe “competent” isn’t necessarily all that high of a bar when your unexpected neighbor who plopped down a city right next to your big honking army declares war on you for having the audacity to send a settler out into what is your rightful land to claim, but that’s still a good bar for Qara-Khitai to clear at this stage of the game. The invasion of Salem is going swimmingly so far with nary a Mysorean reinforcement this side of the mountains to oppose the retaliatory force. Karwar will be a tougher nut to crack but perhaps Qara-Khitai have learned from the tales of the gifting of Nirun to Tang and are angling to finesse the city in a peace deal. Either way, it is definitely refreshing seeing a civ in this region do something right for a change.

29: Wassoulou

NopeCopter:

Welp. The Aures settled Ad Medias this episode, cutting off Wassoulou’s Maghreb city of Odienne from the rest of their already-splintered empire. This is yet another blow to the potential of what would otherwise be a very solid mid-tier, if not for the constant forward-settling by potentially the strongest civ in the game. There are a couple of (very bad) city spots left for Wassoulou’s many Settlers, but Theveste on its own takes up much of the space in the Sahara, and Wassoulou doesn’t seem keen to claim the regions that are left. Sure they could invade the Aures, they have a decent military, but the Aures cities have such high defenses that it probably wouldn’t work out even before considering the issue of splitting forces. They’d probably lose Kabadougou and Turunku in the process, too. Sometimes life just isn’t fair, and Wassoulou is experiencing that firsthand.

30: Kalmar Union

JDT: The Scythians kush must be hotboxing the entire Baltic sea, because what the fuck is happening with every single Baltic civ this season. After multiple episodes of sustained, if uninspiring, competence, Marguethe decides to puff the rocks higher than where St Benedict rests and randomly give Scythia the 7 pop city of Bergen despite being under no threat from them nor having any direct way to access the city. This might be the single most baffling peace deal all season, because even with Estonia giving up a city while ahead, or the infamous Slide 68, at least Estonia gave up a 1 pop enclave, not one of their biggest cities, and at least Yunnan was against a much, much stronger opponent when capitulating. Scythia??? Really??? Is this really who is worthy of giving a big chunk of development to? The rest of the core is still intact, but the aura loss and the loss of 7 whole pops is so devastating that we can only put Kalmar down 7 spots.

31: Onondaga

Leman:

So Onondaga had another kind of quiet episode. They are at war with Ponca and have a top-10 military, but unfortunately Ponca is on the other side of Anishinaabe so there’s nothing going on there. And while that top-10 ministry is impressive, Susquehannock has a top-5 military, Anishinaabe is growing stronger and stronger every turn, and even Umhaill is snapping up settling opportunities that Onondaga should be getting. At least their happiness problems have been fixed and their population is growing again.

32: Herero

NopeCopter:

The Herero, despite looking to be in a strong position, ultimately failed to take any more cities off of Maravi before making peace. It’s an understandable failure - Maravi’s remaining cities have high defense, and they were placed perfectly to get the Herero to split their forces. However, this is still a pretty major misstep for a civ that doesn’t have a lot of room for error if they want to succeed. The Maravi probably aren’t going to recover like Eswatini did, but they do serve as a potential invasion target for the Seychelles, and the Luba just scored another city, too. The Herero really needs to figure out how to get some momentum going, because otherwise it’s going to be very, very difficult to get any further.

33: Scotland

Orange:

Scotland gets a nice jump for remembering how to settle again, and as everyone must know: Iceland Bestland. With Iceland under their grasp there is nowhere to go but up!

Anyways, uh they have about equal stats with Umhaill, so maybe they will be able to get a bit more army and try to become the stronger of the two soon? Maybe.

34: Pakistan

Msurdej:

This was a pretty quiet episode for Pakistan. A new settle in the Maldives, starting some new wars that are irrelevant, and ending a war with Bangladesh. It ain't much, but it's honest work. honest work that will soon be written down as Pakistan is now researching Writing! You might ask, how does Pakistan have 18 techs and no writing? To which I say, because reasons.

35: Circassia

Shaggy:

CIRCASSIA BREAKS INTO THE TOP 30 THIS WEEK! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! ISMAIL BERZEG! ISMAIL BERZEG! The dominant capture of Byblos and ensuing siege of Tyre was more than enough to get the Power Ranking team to recognize the Circassian potential brewing in the region. They have done splendidly taking advantage of an overextended Phoenicia and now have the initiative in Asia Minor. Sarepta is now poised to be inevitably Circassian barring some revelation of competence on the part of Sumer. Unlike Scythia, Circassia has successfully broken out of their early game squeezebox and are now deftly imposing their will on their neighbors. Keep it up, Ismail!

36: Green Ukraine

NopeCopter:

Throughout this entire season thus far, I have been Green Ukraine’s number one believer. Not because I like them - quite the opposite, in fact - but because they just have SO MUCH ROOM to themselves and such a consistently competent AI that I genuinely believed that it was foolish to write them off even with their weak start. Recently, I even believed that we were starting to see the beginning of that turnaround - they began to settle heavily, they trapped the Itelmen by taking one of their cities, and they’d even declared war on Rouran.

And then the immediately ended that war to go attack the Tang, which resulted in the most pathetic bungling of a free win we’ve seen since Nivkh v. Goguryeo.

Green Ukraine’s military is rapidly shrinking, they look no closer to taking either of Tang’s undefended northern cities than they did at the start of the war, and it’s becoming increasingly apparent that they may, in fact, be trapped. The war isn’t over, so maybe they can get their act together, but if Green Ukraine can’t even take a single city off Tang here… well, they’re frauds, plain and simple.

37: Susquehannock

Reformer:

Susquehannock activity! We go to war! Relevant war! Oh, it’s against Anishinaabe. Well, I don’t see them sneaking an army through the gap between Onondaga and Karankawa, but maybe we can see that city in Quebec fall to Susq. That’d be pretty swag. For sure. Statistically speaking, Susq is one of those civs buoyed by military score; it’ll be nice to see them put that military to use. Even if that use is kinda fucking stupid, and potentially opens them up to an attack from Onondaga (who are not in any relevant wars). Well, this is life on the east side of North America, everyone’s kinda mid and hyper-militarized. Someone’s gotta start using that military score so we can eventually get somewhere. Ideally before someone from the western side of the continent starts steamrolling.

38: Umhaill

Shaggy:

Oof. What a whiff. Not only did Umhaill fail to make any gains in Iberia with their massive navy that they sailed down from the Emerald Isle, but it took them long enough to lose out on Porto that that very same armada is now a chewed up husk of itself floating off the coast of Lisbon. I give them credit for staying focused, Lisbon is the only true remaining Portuguese target for Umhaill, but I think they will need to return home and lick their wounds before they are able to mount an effective offensive against it. They also failed to be the first civ to settle Greenland, an ever-coveted title season to season, and instead opted to be the first civ to boast a transatlantic empire by settling in the New World. Let’s just celebrate that for now and deal with the fact that they settled a city in the middle of a coalition war later.

39: France

Msurdej:

Sacrebleu! Robespierre has managed to crack into the nut that is Portugal. Porto and Avero are both in French control, with the former likely to stay in Max's control. This is a great boon for France after their failure against Umhaill a few episodes earlier, but he must remain cautious. There's still plenty of land to be gained, and if Robespierre wants to truly be master of Europe, he'll have to capitalize on those gains. Can he take more off of the weakened Portugal? Can France march its armies east? Can they survive another invasion from the British Isles? I think we all know the answers to this one... MAYBE!

40: Rouran

Cloudy:

Rouran gains four ranks this week after settling several cities and signing white peace with a previously threatening Green Ukraine. And with Green Ukraine now attacking Tang, and Tang struggling in other ways too, now might be the ideal time to take back that city they so foolishly gave away. Will they? Probably not. But we can dream.

41: Potiguara

Shaggy:

Potiguara is once again attempting to take a chunk out of Xavante. They do sport a pretty large army and it is well-positioned to potentially threaten the Xavante capital. Xavante has also done them the favor of beginning to clearcut the Amazon within their borders, thus making it somewhat easier to surround their cities, and committing to their invasion of Yanomami, drawing their army to the other side of their small empire. I don’t think Potiguara has had a better shot at this so far this season, but I really hope they can pull it off.

42: Yanomami

Archimedes :

Look, it’s painful writing this recap. I’m an avid Teotihuacan fan, and this episode's back and forth conquest of Cholula was a nail-biter for me. Ultimately, it looks like the city is fairly firmly in the hands of Yanomami, and Xavante has been successfully fended off. Things have stabilized pretty well for the Yanomami, but is everything looking good under the hood?

The Yanomami are looking very well established on stats. With 10 cities established, their production is decidedly above average and their food is plentiful. Their raw science and technologies have been keeping pace with some of the top producers, and they are tied for second place with Pakistan on number of social policies, with only Chono’s absurd cultural output keeping them from a top spot. Their faith as well is through the roof, benefitting from their Unique Ability to generate faith from unimproved jungle tiles. But as they continue to improve their empire and their lands, that free faith, and free culture from their unique granary replacement, is dwindling with every rainforest tile they chop. It has allowed them to establish a solid policy base though, and Civilization is ultimately a game of early advantages.

Their military success has also been notable. Invasion after invasion, they’ve held their ground and defended their lands, with thick jungle and rivers providing a significant defensive advantage. Their military capture of Cholula is a marked improvement as well, providing the only canal access between the Pacific and Atlantic besides the extreme northern and southern passages. With Xavante now being backstabbed by Potiguara, the Yanomami may even have a chance to advance their war front into Xavante lands. They are even now fielding their Unique Unit, the chariot archer replacement the Curare Dartblower. This unit only has a 1 tile range, but has the woodsman promotion and removes defensive bonuses from units they attack, a powerful bonus in the jungles of the Amazon.

The Yanomami do have some faults however. Their faith and culture output is shrinking as they chop and improve their jungle tiles, and the defensive benefits as well. They have worn their military down significantly in defending themselves from Teotihuacan and Xavante, something that is recoverable but is notable. They do have some poorly defended cities in the Caribbean as well, with Yehiopateri and Nanimapuweteri having low city strength and plenty of coastal tiles to attack from. Both Teotihuacan and Xaragua have available fleets, and could swing in to take these cities, establishing potential beachheads for a proper mainland invasion. And the ever present Caral still lies to Yanomami’s south, a powerful contender to the region with a wide swath of production and food, as well as a growing science and culture base. The Yanomami find themselves in a great and growing position at the moment, but time will tell if they can capitalize on their crowning position, or if they end up losing any military gains they’ve made against fellow powerhouse Teotihuacan.

43: Scythia

Orange:

THE HORSEMEN AND GORYTOS ARCHERS ARE DOING IT. THEY ARE FUCKING DOING IT. NO ONE THOUGHT THAT AN ARMY OF JUST HORSES COULD TAKE A CITY IN AN ATTACK THAT DOES NOT TARGET A SINGLE CITY IN A SPREAD OUT ATTACK AND NORMALLY THEY WOULD BE RIGHT BUT NOT FOR SCYTHIA. SCYTHIA IS BUILT DIFFERENT.

44: Caral

Orange:

Look, Caral’s got real nice stats, and solidly defendable lands, and now they’re even at war with Teotihuacan. They probably won’t get any cities from it, but there’s always a chance. But more importantly, they still have full access to Polynesia. Rapa Nui never settled it and Chono, while trying to get in there, is blocked by that singular Rapa Nui city, so the islands are for the time being free clay for Caral and Caral alone.

45: Bangladesh

JDT: Statistical noise sets Bangladesh back one rank. Make no mistake though - they are very good. They have good stats across the board, rivaling Mysore in production and have arguably a better position with a better route of escape. And wouldn’t you look at that, they’re applying it right now with their joint beatdown of Pegu! While we doubt that they’ll be able to secure any mainland cities due to the Burmese mountains, Rew and Sadhuim are wide open for the taking, and hey, two free cities are two free cities. Of course, there's still the elephant in the room in the form of Mysore, who is just as big and has all but locked down mainland India. But due to how Bangladesh settled their cities, it's not unlikely that any Mysorian assault until the midgame will peter out due to the AI generally not knowing how to concentrate units. So for the foreseeable future, get ready to sing Joy Bangla for the Bengal boys as they hang about the high tiers.

Oh yeah and they just peaced out with Pakistan. Slideshow operator, please present that one Map Men meme.

46: Japan

Archimedes :

Japan hasn’t done anything too spectacular this episode, but they have been consistently working away at the core of their empire, and expanding their reach. They aren’t a top 10 civ by any stretch of the imagination, especially with Itelmen of all civs beating them to settling northern Japan, but they have been gaining a few small advantages that we haven’t missed over here in the Power Ranking team. Let’s break some of them down.

The first and of course most notable advantage comes with their Unique Pikeman replacement, the Ashigaru. The Ashigaru isn’t super outstanding, as it loses out on their bonus towards mounted units in exchange for a 10% cheaper production cost, a +1 combat strength bonus for each adjacent Ashigaru, and the ability to upgrade immediately into a Musketman when capturing a city. It’s interesting, it’s unique, and it’s flavourful, but it’s not what I’m here to talk about. The fact that Japan has specifically rushed for their unique unit means they have rushed Civil Service, and Civil Service comes with a few unique bonuses.

Japan now of course has access to their Unique Pikeman, as well as purchasing Landsknekt units. They also have access to open border treaties, and a few wonders such as Chichen Itza and Nan Modol, a custom wonder that adds +1 Food, Gold and Production from Sea Tiles worked by this city. They also have access to Medieval Era policies now, with the Commerce and Exploration trees becoming available. The biggest thing though that they’ve gained access to is the innate food bonus they’ve gained to farms on fresh water tiles. That +1 food is currently available to over 25 potential river tiles in Japan’s land, providing a potentially huge boost to food production. While they currently are at -2 unhappiness, that food bonus could soon be a great boon to their empire if or when they stabilize their happiness problems.

Although Japan has lost out on their Hokkaido settle, and did not manage to snag any of the remnants of Ryukyu, they have managed to place a city on both Korea and Mainland China, proving once and for all that Tang does not have the Mandate of Heaven. Standing strong with good stats, a new unique unit, and mainland beachheads to launch invasions from, Japan is sitting in a pretty decent spot. They have some problems sure, unhappiness and prickly neighbours being the glaring two, but it’s too early to give up hope on Japan being successful. We may see some big moves happening in the near future.

47: Vyatka

Archimedes :

Vyatka has had a rough go of it this episode, with a lot of combat, some threatened cities, and ultimately some ceded land to the Scythians. Their ranking has overall gone down in the eyes of the Power Ranking team, but that shouldn’t take away from their still dominant position. With infoaddicts stats they’ve overall maintained despite their tenuous war position, and a still dominant hold of the western russia region, Vyatka is not someone to be considered washed or out of the game.

The biggest takeaway from this episode of course is the few military disasters they’ve had. A war with Bactria ultimately ended up a moot point, with a fight over a desert city in a chokepoint against Bactria’s Elephantarchs being a lost cause to begin with. Then, in an inopportune time with their armies generally in the south, both Scythia and the Bjarmians decided they wanted a piece of the pie. Up until now, Scythia was in the top spot military strength wise, so an attack from them had terrifying implications. But, as noted throughout the slides, their invasion force consisted primarily of horsemen, something they flung headfirst at Vyatka’s fortified cities, -33% combat bonus and all. Though military gains have been made, with the overall capture of Nikulitsyn and the damaging of Kotelnich, Scythia has done more to reduce their unit counts than anything else. And, with Vyatka’s Unique Ability gaining culture on kills inside their territory, and gold on kills outside, this war has been a loss in territory but a gain in cultural output. Their northern cities besieged by the Bjarmians are also a concern, as the Bjarmians are fielding their unique Composite Bowman, but with their military history in Kalmar Union lands a point of contention, I feel like the chances of serious successes should be put into question.

Vyatka still boasts an impressive statline despite their defensive wars. Sitting 8th on the leaderboards, they still boast a comparable, if not slightly smaller, military to Scythia. Their city count of 14 and high production means they can output units quickly to replace any fallen soldiers, and their border cities host defensive walls that have helped keep both enemies' unique units at bay for the most part. Their science is not the strongest, but again by comparison to their neighbours, is better overall, and their population is unfortunately not their strongest suit due to a scattered amount of tundra cities to the north. Unfortunately for us we cannot see the exact amount of culture their gaining off of enemy kills, but even still their raw culture output is respectable, and they’ve managed to pick up a solid number of social policies.

The biggest existential threat to Vyatka at the moment is their eastern neighbour Ket, a civ that has slowly but surely crept into both the top 10 in stats and top 10 in opinion within the ranking team. Their religion has spread consistently, giving point after point to their city strength with the Guardian Spirits belief. In a region known for its wide and imposing competitors, Ket threatens to eclipse Vyatka as the overall bad boy of the Russian expanse. Though they’ve kept to themselves for now, Vyatka could have a new powerful neighbour knocking on their door. Vyatka continues churning out units for now though, defending their lands to the best of their ability, and profiting off of the kills they make with tapestries, scriptures, and other cultural conquests.

48: Pomo

Archimedes :

As a noted detractor of Pomo, I’d love more than anything to espouse on how awful they are, how much they’re losing out compared to their neighbours, and how we’ll be seeing them devolve into a rump state within the next few episodes. And while we didn’t see any spectacular moves or daring war declarations, it is undeniable that Pomo is both solid, steady, and still a strong contender in this game.

Taking a quick peek at the stats, Pomo has actually slid a bit in the statistical rating. While this likely is due to a lacking population score, it’s worth considering that a lot of their cities are quite newly settled, and still need to be developed. The deserts of Arizona, the tundra of the northwest territories, and the tropical islands of Hawaii are all areas of low population for this California based civ, representing just how far Pomo’s expansion has taken them. With their direct competitor to the north avoiding any inland locations, Pomo has been able to fill out the land and become the Bosnia and Herzegovina to Tlingit’s Croatia. Once these cities are up and running, Pomo is likely to see bolstered population scores, and consequently bolstered science and production scores as well.

That strong city count is also contributing to the vastness of their empire, a wide power base to project their influence from. While some of their neighbours share a similar vastness of cities, those empires have weaker holds on the ownership of their cities. Both of Pomo’s strongest neighbours, Tlingit and Teotihuacan, lost cities this episode to other neighbours, showing that while their empires may be wide and their army scores may be large, they have less tenable grasps on the control of their empires. And while Pomo as well has a city that’s being threatened, Kadi’u at the moment holds strong, and Pomo’s military stands at attention to defend their northern borders from any reprisal attacks from Anishinaabe.

Pomo stands as one of the great North American powers this season, alongside other powerful contenders for the Pan American crown. While some of their stats are lacking, notably of course their middling population, they hold strong potential with room to grow both into Northern Canada and into the new horizons of the Pacific. Their core is defendable, with the Rockies as a mighty shield, and their technologies have been well selected to keep them relevant in this game. And, as the co-author of this mod Orangechrisy has asked me to mention, they are orange. Which, I feel, is the straw that broke the camels back in confirming their qualities. Let’s see how things shake out for them in the future.

49: Seychelles

Archimedes : People tell me that Seychelles is cool. They tell me that this civ has so much potential, that they are the contender for African and Middle Eastern domination. I hear all the time how strong their Madagascan core is, and how tactically minded their military is. I’m here, dear reader, to tell you otherwise. To break the illusion, to pull back the curtain, to set the record straight. Let me tell you how bad the Seychelles really are.

The most damning evidence of course against Seychelles is their awful military strategy. Their coalition war against Maravi isn’t the only operation they’ve bungled of course. Previous invasions against Sumer have resulted in dwindling military forces in the face of overwhelmingly strong odds. The city of Ur of course still stands in the hands of Sumer, inscribed with tally counts of all the Seychelle soldiers that fell to a few Vulture warriors. The only military gains Seychelles managed was the weaker city of Eridu, a far flung settlement that Sumer could barely reinforce. Only by attacking with Triremes has Seychelles ever made any military success. Looking to the present of course, a middling military was sent to assault Maravi, and now a small allotment of triremes harass their coastline, yet city after city fall into the hands of Ethiopia, Luba, and Herero instead. Any gains they could have gotten through this coalition war have been dashed by their inept military operations, writing a poor picture of what the future may hold for wars the Seychelles launch at other, stronger targets.

Looking at their stats, their population of course stands impressively. A capital with all but 2 land tiles to work means a high population science center with little to no meaningful production capabilities. Their northern cities look even worse, settled on generally useless desert flatland with only a strategic importance, something that Seychelles has struggled to utilize. Their Madagascar cities of course look decent, contributing useful production that could be utilized. But their poor military outlooks has hampered any units they’ve constructed from their island fortress, while a smattering of boats sail uselessly around the waters of a slowly dying Maravi.

It’s true that Seychelles has maintained a scientific standing that overshadows their neighbours. They’ve kept pace with some of the strongest science competitors on the Cylinder, only being beat out by the science monster of Bunuba. Yet their science has been utilized haphazardly, with Horseback Riding, Code of Laws, and Drama and Poetry featuring as technologies not strongly implemented by this naval civ. While Civil Service is undeniably useful for bolstering their already high food output, giving +1 food on all of their Madagascar based fresh water farms, one must ask themselves at what point does a preference become an obsession. With a dwindling amount of happiness at only 9 points, at what point does your population become too much.

Seychelles has their work cut out for them as far as improving their position in this game goes. They are above average in stats, and hold an impressive number of cities. They have competitive science, a decent standing army, and some strategic positions allowing them access to weaker neighbours. They have a lot going for them, but they don’t have the willingness to go the distance. And for that, I’ll sit here, watching and waiting as time passes them by and their easy targets are gobbled up by the civs in the region that do have heart, guts, and the drive to want it all for themselves.

50: Anishinaabe

Leman:

Anishinaabe grabs a well deserved 5 ranks, as they end up just on the outside of the top ten. Part of it’s because they snapped up a city from the civ that's currently sitting [spoiler alert] second place. But argue that a bigger part of it is because Anishinaabe is just good. They’ve got great stats, a decent population, solid production and food and tech, a solid military, a lot of room to settle and a couple of weak neighbors like Ponca. Plus civs like Pomo, Tlingit, and now Umhaill keep settling cities on their Pontiac’s doorstep and far from their own core and Anishinaabe is clearly more than happy to snap them up. And it’s not like Anishinaabe is a bad settler by any means. Granted they still have a massive Tlingit shaped problem to the west, but that’s a future-Pontiac problem.

51: Teotihuacan

Archimedes :

This has been a frankly devastating episode to watch as a Teotihuacan supporter, with horrifying lows and exhilarating highs. The back and forth of Cholula has been a nail biter for sure, and while Teotihuacan is certainly dramatic, I think there’s still a case to be made that they remain as the dominant power in the region.

With still remarkably high stats, Teotihuacan boasts an impressive production score, allowing them to continue to replenish military units lost in their cage match with Yanomami. Some key technological developments have as well let them stabilize and redouble their empire, as currency has brought them into a remarkably positive 53 GPT. Their happiness has recovered well to 16, undoubtedly bolstered from the Obsidian Luxuries gained from their unique caravansary replacement. And with a strong food output and solid amount of population in their numerous cities, their land is being well utilized to bolster their overall growth. One thing to note still is their poor science, as while their gold has been brought into the positive, their raw science output still sits at only 73, a number that happens to sit below average compared to most other civs on the cylinder. Notably, Teotihuacan has yet to research the critical technology writing, instead focusing on military and production technologies on the bottom row. Their aversion to some of the lower cost technologies on the top of the tech tree has cost them a bit, but their researched technologies should be able to recover quickly once they decide to change their focus. And with libraries built in all their cities, their potential science looks to skyrocket up to a whopping 116.

Their war effort has not been the best looking, with the constant struggle between Yanomami for the crucially strategic settlement of Cholula. As the only Canal settlement in the area, controlling this city means controlling the access between the Pacific and the Atlantic, and this advantage currently lies in the hands of Yanomami. But the Yanomami are fighting on two fronts, and Teotihuacan still has the chance to flood down and take the city back. Their wars with Xaragua and Caral, as well, could be seen as both an obstacle or an opportunity. Xaragua has a military score half that of Teotihuacan, and may harass some of Teotihuacan’s Caribbean settlements but are unlikely to truly make gains that they can hold. Caral on the other hand has a comparable military, but are far flung and relegated to attacking strong, defensible Pacific cities. Their currently outdated triremes may not be up for the task, and any cities that do happen to be captured are likely to be flipped by Teotihuacan ground forces. This coalition against Teotihuacan may look perilous, but I’m hopeful that the war declarations are mainly in name and not in any amount of real action.

Teotihuacan stands in a solid position despite some military declarations. A recovered economy and a happy citizenry stand strong against those who may doubt their abilities. A new northern settlement stands as a defensive bulwark against any threatening neighbours, and while their south is harassed they will recover Cholula in due time. The completion of Iron Working spells the addition of Swordsmen to the army of Teotihuacan, an additional pawn in the masterful chess game we’ve seen so far. I have faith that Teotihuacan will conquer their neighbours, both through shrewd diplomacy and strong-willed warfare. It’s only a matter of the when, and the how.

And for the record, I like Cholula Chipotle better.

52: Ethiopia

NopeCopter:

Ethiopia drops a few places off the back of a failed invasion of another Maravi city, as well as rising sentiment in favor of other civs like the Ket. It is certainly true that Ethiopia isn’t exactly stacking up against other top-tiers in the way one might hope, for instance sitting at only eight cities. Civs that should be free food for Ethiopia, such as the Hyksos, Zazzau, and Luba, are also toughening up a bit and making life trickier for the East African power.

However, there’s still quite a bit to be optimistic about when it comes to Ethiopia’s position. For one, the Statue of Zeus is an excellent wonder, and it should make future city sieging just as feasible as these attacks on Maravi were. There’s also the lack of major threats nearby - the Aures and Seychelles both look strong, but neither can really invade Ethiopia as things stand right now, just due to geography. Heck, Ethiopia could probably deal a pretty nasty blow to the Aures if they invaded right now! Still, though, Ethiopia cannot afford to stagnate if they want to remain relevant, unlike the civs ranked above them. If they keep up their current momentum, expect them to rise again… and if they don’t, well, expect them to at least remain a thorn in the sides of the other regional powers.

53: Lanfang

Cloudy:

Lanfang is in a good position to take a city or two from Pegu, but so far, they remain untested in actual battle, with only one city capture that was a completely undefended colony 3 tiles from their capital. Taking Muttama from Pegu will be harder, but with only 12 defense strength, it’s far from impossible. Sadhuim could also be taken with a concentrated naval assault. So will Lanfang live up to the hype? This is a good time to find out.

54: Bunuba

ECH:

Mark down another one for the ‘Ranker who doubts civ gets given the writeup for why they’re so great’ tally! I have them 21st, the next lowest is 12th, and every other ranker has them in the top 10. Heck, even I can’t deny the solid reasoning of these ranks, it’s no mystery: Bunuba is increasing their science rate every episode at a faster rate than other leading civs, and they were already at the head of the pack to begin with. Science is a fundamental pillar of CBR victory, it’s why by the midgame we discount civs as contenders for even having middling tech counts; it’s why this very moment Wallachia, a top 5 military civ with theoretically aggressive AI, is dropping further down into the bottom 20. What’s more, science tends to snowball, and with the tech avenues Bunuba is going down they are almost certainly going to be the first civ to Education, and from there they can theoretically keep momentum to be the first to the next science boost tech, and the next, and so on. But of course, tech focused civs without the stats to back themselves up are like no name scientists in sci fi horror: cannon fodder. We wouldn’t be ranking a civ like that 8th, even if they had Bunuba’s science. No, Bunuba boasts 10 cities, an army consistently in the top quartiles, and currently the 5th most production to boot.

So what’s with the anti-Bunuba attitude, ECH, you malodorous dunghole?! Well, for starters, rude. But in seriousness, Bunuba has its problems… two to be precise, one on each side. My cynicism comes from the fact that I see Lanfang and especially New South Wales as even stronger contenders, with science that may not reach Bunuba’s heights but should keep in their shadow to the point the difference won’t matter in war. Speaking of war, my take is that Bunuba has been disastrous at combat so far - one of the worst performances by an objectively powerful contender I’ve seen - and I see no reason to think their biases causing that lack of skill are going to magically turn around with a new tech. I imagine Lanfang as the anvil to NSW’s hammer, but either way, I think Bunuba should avoid opening the champagne too fast, no matter how dry the outback gets.

55: Ket

NopeCopter:

The Ket rise a massive six ranks, jumping into the top 10, primarily just off of their incredibly solid position and slow and steady growth. The Ket’s stats are now in the top 10, they’re large, and their neighbors are mostly either weak or in serious danger. To top it all off, because of their incredibly strong religion that gives city defense from Faith, they’re going to be even MORE difficult to kill than previous central Siberian civs. Even if they literally never do anything (and there is precedent for that), expect this big gray blob to stick around for a long, long time.

56: Mysore

Orange:

In an episode full of top powers losing against weaker ones, Mysore finds themselves among that group, yet still going up quite a bit. Why? Well, despite losing one of their out there colonies, their stats have been growing incredibly. Lots of cities, fantastic production, and the largest army on the cylinder (at least in the place it can be used against their main rivals and not across the Himalayas). Though they don’t have great tech. But nonetheless, they are definitely one of the strongest South Asian civs we’ve had in a royale so far, maybe they will be able to be the ones to break out for real, I sure hope so.

CBR In-Game Screenshot of New South Wales

57: New South Wales

Orange:

Second most cities, second most production, but what’s the problem? Well as the person who does not put Aussie civs in the top 10 unless they have proven they can break out, that. But for everyone else, it’s cause their main rival blocking them off from greater expansion, who they have taken a city from, are only *barely* worse than them in stats, and the leader in technology by a fair margin. And that’s quite the roadblock for them from being at the top of the top.

And being stuck in Australia, that too. I’m not forgetting that.

58: Aures

ECH:

Yeppers, Aures still sure is still undeniably worthy of top 5. Still in the top 10 of just about every relevant CBR stat. Still placing down cities for the empire they expanded wide and fast, with tendrils reaching across the continent ensuring access to prime targets for the future. Still technically in a viable war with a viably weak neighbour in Zazzau… although that war sure is taking its time…

…

I’m just saying, it might be nice if this objectively pivotal civ could, you know, actually do something? Something to give them more than two mentions across an episode? Not asking for much.

59: Chono

ItsTruckMonth:Chono stays eerily quiet in this episode, with not a single mention (hell, not a single shot of Patagonia whatsoever this episode). That said, they remain in third for the fifth episode in a row, given they’re still top 10 in a variety of stats, and have some decent expansion opportunities in the form of Guaycuru and Rapa Nui.

That said, not all is peachy in Patagonia. Caral is slowly but surely positioning itself as a peer to Chono, sitting just behind or matching them in stats. Not only that, but there remain doubts as to whether they can fight wars good, given they have yet to either fight in a significant one or even take a city (cough cough Rapa Nui). Time will tell if they’re a legit threat or a paper… seal I guess?

60: Tlingit

Cloudy:

Lmao they lost a city in a war they declared and we almost raised them to first. Lmao. Lol.

(Let’s be real, the Tlingit still look great, very impressive stats, continued expansion options, all around a bright future. Don’t be shocked if we do actually raise them to first if some of our more dire predictions about Tang come to pass.)

In the meantime, lmao.

61: Tang

ItsTruckMonth:

Tang retains its coveted first-place spot for the sixth episode in a row, but simultaneously looks more vulnerable than ever.

On one hand, they still hold the most cities on the cylinder, and boast the highest crop yield on the cylinder, meaning that population is only going to continue to grow. Not only that, but they have helped send Ryukyu to Hell and back, keeping Naha as one of the spoils.

That said, not everything is sunshine and rainbows in China. Grukraine is sending forces onto a fairly undefended Tongchuan and Kaifeng, all while Japan decides that art imitates reality by settling on the now-referred-to-as Najima Peninsula. Plus, their stats have dropped considerably: eighth in production, seventh in science, and sixteenth in military size.

Tang’s not in any existential trouble right now whatsoever, but that podium at the top is looking miiiiiiiiighty shaky there, Taizong.

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