Episode 01: The Phantom Menace – S1

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. This is Coiot, your host for the first Episode of Season 1 of CBRX. On behalf of all Blue Cassette, we welcome you to the new Battle Royale. It has been some time since Mk2.1 ended in December 2018, and the team has been recording X1 since early March. The game is presently beyond T900+, but today we're going to go over the first 30 turns and give some quick introductions and some inside information from the results of our test runs of this setup.

OC of this Week goes to TopHat. Here we can see the dastardly Pedro the II scheme over his plans for CBRX. Pedro might have painted the submarine in his colors, but it is still going to be all unpredictable chaos from the start. We won't be seeing much more of him; although, Mini-Pedro will be live and active on the Discord as he will be announcing when the website has been updated with the images. For those that want a tiny head start (less than a minute), be sure to join the Discord as our bot will announce the second the website has the images, which will usually be a 20-30 seconds before midnight UTC time depending on the CDN caching time.

Erlen has a new updated tile accurate map for everyone. This time, he has painstakingly gone and placed ever river on the map to better help us locate the exact locations of each civ. It really does add another layer of context. For map lovers like us, we can also look forward to precisely accurate tile maps from here on out as the entire in-game map will be shown each week in our Director's Cut videos and albums.

Many in the community are already aware of our Patreon Page, which we‘ve setup to cover our server hosting, image hosting, and electricity bills which we accumulate from bringing you our content. We do not ask for much, and if the CBRX is something you come to regularly to enjoy, please do consider supporting us each month, even if it is for $1 USD.

We already provide a few cosmetic bonuses, and early access to our Director‘s Cut videos and albums, for our Patreons on Reddit and Discord, and I am planning to carry over some bonuses to donators on this new website as well. As always, no content will be locked behind a paywall, but having a little something to stand out or get content early is the least we can give back.

If for whatever reason you cannot give through Patreon, or prefer one-time donations as opposed to recurring ones, I have also setup a Ko-Fi Page where you can donate. I need all the help the community can send, and while we usually cover the website bills, we do not get anything in return for all the time and energy spent, and we do not come close to breaking even for what the four of us collectively do each week.

The Kazakhs remain the undisputed #1 choice for the Power Ranking (PR) team. Just by looking at the setup, it is easy to see why. We‘ll get to the Kazakhs a little later, but if you have not already read through the Episode 0 album, be sure to queue that up in your browser.

With the usual prelude images covered, let‘s move onto the screenshots.

Here we go. On to the first screenshot. All the screenshots from this episode, and some of the next up to T50, are all actually recorded from my own CBR-capable machine that I acquired earlier this year. I ran dozens of CBRX test runs, some of which were streamed live in my Twitch Channel, and the ‘final’ Season 1 run started off first in my machine before being handed over to Reon for the 24/7 video recording.

I‘ll take a little time here to note some of the format changes. We‘ve introduced a more consistent and thematically relevant naming convention for the albums. Each edition of CBRX will be a Season, with each album an Episode, and every image within a Scene. The Scene change in particular from the previous simple Slide catch-all for every image was to differentiate better the introductory images, the screenshots, the stats images, and the new intermediary info images that will appear within Episodes to provide summaries of notifications that do not always appear on the screen (like some wars, city flips, capital flips, and HRE leader changes). As viewers have begun to notice, even though this is Scene 6, it has its own title that is not simply Slide 6 or Screenshot 1. This way, when discussing images, it will be easy to refer to specific images without confusion over slide number and screen shot number. This also allows for narrators to introduce a little more creativity and flavor to their text by providing title names for the screenshots.

Something funny to mention here, and no doubt on your mind, is that the sub will not be visible at the start of the game. Furthermore, during my tests, I would not even be bothered to place the actual sub there, instead leaving our Brazil-themed Babylonian settler and accompanying units here in the Antarctic crater unrevealed. The sub is replaced later, but for now, it is actually our lightly-clothed little dudes huddled in the shadows of these mountains.

Let's cycle through our lineup. Starting off is Ragnar (Vikings) and Eadni (Sami) which are Scandinavian region representatives. As Yago has denounced on Reddit, the Vikings are sporting the more bright orange hued color scheme than their usual pink on black. The Sami are strong contenders, and the PR team has good faith in them. Faith in particular is the right word, as the Sami will attempt to establish their unique religion and begin to expand in the empty space between them and Muscovy.

Bombogor (Evenks) knows most of the community will be overlooking the Evenks. This space of mostly tundra on the upper edge of Siberia is all too-often overlooked in favor of the fan-favorites in more cozy East Asia. A quiet civ due to their starting location, but this is a civ that likes to settle cities, so be sure to not forget about them.

Yup‘ik are commonly compared with past Mk2 contestants the Inuit. However, Apaanugpak is not Ekeuhnick, even though both are legendary figures. For one, the Yup‘ik do not have as many tile bonuses as the Inuit in similar terrain, and they have more immediate neighbors in the Haida and the Métis. They do have their unique warrior here already, the Alutiiq Hunter, which can embark right away, settle cities, and provide a unique arctic luxury if they do so.

Our British Isles representatives are Illiam Dhone (Manx) and Robert the Bruce (Scotland). Robert the Bruce has transcended to Civ6, but returns here to lay claim to this corner of Europe. Challenging them will be the Manx, who start a bit flat-footed being on a one-tile island. Do not count them out just yet, but the first few parts will determine how long they can survive against the better positioned Scotland.

Shame about the recent name change, but here we have the glorious city of Astana, ruled over be Ablai Khan of the Kazakhs. Everyone has high expectations for the Kazakhs, and do not start off ranked at #1 for nothing. A good civ, with plenty of room, and a somewhat decent color scheme. I can taste the potassium already!

Fiona's feisty Khamug Khanate lead by Jamukha. A civ that like the Evenks just up north will be overlooked at the start of the game, but those that have seen multiple tests know that the Khamug will be raiding in all directions and can obtain big-boi status relatively quickly. A fine civ to be a fan of if you are not already decided.

Now here are the undisputed top-tier (no bias, I swear, really). The Haida led by Koyah. Former Buccaneer aficionados (like me) will find a lot to love with the Haida. The true pirates of this season (no joke). This is true thanks to their Unique Ability, Eagle and Raven, which allows for naval melee units to perform attacks on land, and embarked units can perform melee attacks on naval targets. They also love to spam their unique trireme, the War Canoe, so the entire coast lines from Kamchatka to Baja California are often under Haida control in test runs. Plus, their primary color is salmon.

Louis Riel leads the Métis and is our second Canadian representative after Canada itself. The Métis are a trade centered civ that like to bulk up and have good relations. The PR team has ranked them high for their relatively safe and stable position, but test runs tend to leave the Métis trapped in their comfort zone. A safe civ to bet on to survive long into the game. Although they have a strong rivalry with the Apache, so conflict is not something they avoid altogether.

For an even more intense North American rivalry, here are Lunar's Canada and Chrisy's modified Iroquois. Two civs this close were always going to be at each other's throats, and the Iroquois’ infamous aggression will be the start of many conflicts between these two. William Lyon Mackenzie King (Canada) has many production focused unique traits that can turn Canada into a continent sweeping monster, if they survive into the modern era to make use of them that is. Whichever one of these civs wins the duel of fates will easily go on to be a top contender.

Look at all this rightful HRE clay. Well it would be, but SabyZ's Czech Republic lead by Vaclav Havel stands in the way. Czechia is a fan favorite that is consistent in conquering vast swaths of Europe, and their unique paratrooper, the Vysakdar, can edge them on to have a big advantage later in the game. A potential Finland in the making. Lowly Prussia lead by Fredrick in the corner tends to settle well but has a notoriously weak AI. Prussia's focus on domination and military centered uniques are enough to ensure they at least won't go down without a fight. The big question mark is actually the Holy Roman Empire (HRE), which is a true wild card in every sense. They roll biases all over the place, and you never know how they will perform. This is in part due to their unique ability, Imperial Election, which randomly changes the leader of the civ upon every era. On the subbreddit will be an exhaustive list of possible leaders, including the Sith Lord Pedro the II himself. I can give you special insight though and reveal that the starting leader this run is Bismarck (how typical for our German civ).

Tomatekh's Goths lead by Alaric have an excellent AI and typically stand out in AI games. They like to fight hard, and fight often, so those that like to follow an aggressive civ should be comfortable supporting them. Their name and color scheme are sure to attract many, and the memes will be most delicious.

Further north is Muscovy lead by Ivan IV. Muscovy has all the right ingredients to be a regional power, and the mod's creator JFD has packed it with uniques that would allow Muscovy to really shine in a BR. For some reason though they are always middle of the pack contenders, but don't sleep on them.

Another Khan, but this great unifier Tokhtamysh, fearsome ruler over Tartar lands. Him and his civ's name Golden Horde (GH) are perhaps the most notable thing to say about them. Created by obscure modder Chaingunfighter1, GH was such an outdated mod that Lime had to reconstruct it from the ground up to be allowed into the competition. GH is rather divisive since it was a decrepit civ taking up a slot that could have gone to more favored civ to dominate the region. Saying that though, GH does have its chances, and tends to perform rather well despite the negative reception.

Even though the Qing are centered better in the next screenshot, let‘s talk about these three together. The three Chinese representatives, the Qin, Qing, and Xia all have something going for them.

The Xia are one the most interesting mod civs available. Their unique ability, Dynastic Cycle, grants them stacking bonuses each time they lose their capital, construct a courthouse in a conquered foreign capital, or complete a social policy tree. Upon each change, the name of their capital will change, as well as their dynasty name.

The Qing, lead by Cixi, have already established a reputation to dominate just like the Manchu's did IRL. It is typical in test runs to see them great large armies rapidly, and even when at a city disadvantage, often field a larger military than their opponents. Don't be surprised if the Qing win many wars, giving them a straight path to regional domination.

Captain's Qin are not favored by the community over the adored Xia or the ruthless Qing, but given they have much space to work with, it is no surprise they perform well in test runs. Their unique ability, the Great Unity, allows them to gain the unique traits of conquered civs when they control the defeated original capitals.

Senshidenshi's Joseon lead by Seonjo is our Korean representative. Seonjo brings with him many military focused uniques, with an emphasis on naval domination. Test runs show that they make great use of their naval power, and often have large over seas empires. Unlike vanilla Korea's Sejong, this civ will not be a science juggernaut, which means being trapped in the peninsula will not give them enough resources to turtle-up and fight when they have a tech advantage over their neighbors. The PR team ranked them in the bottom ten, but this seems like a rather big underestimation for the Koreans once again.

Shikoku is our Japanese representative and are lead by Sakamoto Ryoma. This civ comes from Japanese civ specialist Homusubi, but their pedigree does not come with much assurances that they will do well in the BR. While still ranked above Korea, Shikoku is very inconsistent in performance, and their uniques do not really offer much of an advantage over their immediate rivals. It will take a combination of several good fortunes for them to replicate the success they had in a test run where they owned most of the Pacific islands.

Uighur_Caesar's Apache are lead by the famous Geronimo. Their uniques give them good bonuses when raiding and pillaging, and past AI games show that the Apache AI will make good use of them. Even so, the fact that they have a good starting location with plenty of land to expand upon means that even with no bonuses the Apache would always perform well in this BR. It comes to no surprise that the PR team places them in the top 10.

Poverty Point on the face of it, has everything to be an entertaining civ, but whose AI more often than not leads to disappointment. The open land in North America available to them is a bit of a double-edged sword as Táhera, their leader, gets over excited and settles quickly, but often far apart, leading to over-extension which the Apache and the Iroquois are all too happy to exploit. They do have a wonderful unique ability which revolves around the choice of Spirit Guardians which grant them specific bonuses, but it seems to be beyond what the AI can comprehend how to effectively use. If they survive long enough, they could be a fun civ to follow.

Venice is another vanilla modified civ by Chrisy, and it is presently a very polarizing civ in Season 1's lineup. There are many worthy civs that Venice beat out in the voting and by the tiniest of margins, too. The leader remains the same, doge Enrico Dandolo, but this civ is allowed to build settlers. There is not much confidence in Venice given their crowded starting location, and very lackluster performances in test runs. Time could prove all the haters wrong though, and some fans might revel in that hope.

The Ottomans, lead by Mehmed II, is another JFD entry to the lineup, and a change in their starting location to Bosporus. Like other JFD civs in X1, this civ has great military options. The Bombard in particular, their cannon replacement, is a true monster. Unlocked at gunpowder, it provides -20% Combat Strength (11 vs 14), but +1 Range (3 vs 2) and +350% Combat bonus vs Cities (vs 200%). This extra reach and firepower, coupled with their Janissaries, might paint the cylinder in a new shade of green.

TarcisioCM's Parthia lead by Mithridates I is a mid-game optimized civ that wants to obtain as many horses as possible to spam their two unique units. A civ that could have had guaranteed regional victory if it was not for the immediate southern neighbor. But Parthia is still a very solid civ that can hold its own against the more favored Kazakhs and take the opportunities presented to them.

Prithvi Narayan (Nepal) and Indira Gandhi (India) are another sure-fire rivalry that will decide how this part of the map will be colored. Both civs seem equally matched at first, with test runs having them equally balanced in the early stages, but India has nuclear weapon uniques and a paratrooper unit that can give it a big advantage not just over Nepal, but any civ they decide to turn their attention to. This does not mean Nepal does not have its own advantages, as they have plenty of room to expand to if the Qin decide to focus more on China, leaving many mountain tiles available for them to exploit their unique bonuses on.

One of the two only pure vanilla civs in the game, the Aztecs already have fans with a year's worth of notoriety behind them for being shit-posting extraordinaries. The Aztecs tend to be average but safe choices to support. They have all of Mexico and Central America at their disposal, but test runs show that this AI does not like to settle as much as they really should. A rather bland civ that will most certainly be spiced up through community effort as opposed to in-game performance.

Abdelkader (Algeria) is a curious civ in that it is one of hte least inspiring choices in the whole region, but it has found its way into the BR. DJSHenninger has designed a good civ, with uniques that would favor a well rounded approach to doing well. Even if the AI may not know how to best use its uniques, Algeria certainly spams their unique unit, the Dey, which can build their unique citadels, the Ksars. Ksars deal more damage to surrounding troops than regular citadels, and Algeria has carpeted all of North Africa before in test runs with them. Not quite the Pholus Mutagen level of surrounding damage, but if they cover the desert with them, it will be difficult for any civ to invade them.

The Moors on the other hand, lead by Abd-ar Rahman III, are already well familiar with the CBR community. Having also been voted for entry into Mk3, the Moors are consistent well performers in AI games and test runs. If the Moors can survive until they can build their crossbowman replacement, the Granadine Cavalry, we might see the majority of Europe painted in their colors.

Omar Mukhtar (Libya) is Jmangelo's pride and joy, and was easily voted into Season 1. Libya is another citadel spamming Maghreb representative that in many ways is very similar to their close rival in Algeria. Libya has the advantage of having an AI that races to be amongst the first, if not the first, civ to always found a religion in test runs, and viewers can be assured that Sunni Islam will make an approach in Tripoli. Libya's position is not the most generous, and will have to wait for rare opportunities to expand beyond the coastline.

Minoa, lead by Minos, is another wild card that if it was not contained to this one-tile island start and crowded region would surely be in the top 10 in rankings instead of the bottom 10. This AI is incredibly good, and extremely aggressive. If Minoa are given an inch, they will take the region, and then some. Their success really comes down to where they settle first. They tend to favor the Nile Delta, which while a very attractive settlement between those river plains, nearby Nubia does not like strangers on their river.

Firebug's Palmyra lead by Zenobia already has plenty of fans in the community, and their start is just right to ensure they can build up to take the fight to their neighbors. Coupled with a wonderful color scheme, and a strong early game, this civ is known to easily be in the top half of civs, and the PR team has ranked them appropriately at 21.

But Alp Arslan (Seljuqs) is a pebble in the shoes of both Palmyra and Parthia. Nested in the middle of Persia, the Seljuqs have not much where to go, and it will take a while for them to have the means to really challenge anyone. On top of that, Oman likes to settle rather close to the areas most likely for them to want to build a defensive line around. It'll be tough being a Seljuq fan, but maybe some fans like cheering for a true underdog.

For those who wanted war elephants, well Bayinnaung (Taungoo) is all to happy to oblige. EmeraldRange's Taungoo might not even be registered in most viewers mind's as a contestant, and with their color scheme it sometimes is hard to even notice them in between all those jungle tiles. But the Taungoo are a dark horse, and not an underdog, with plenty of room to grow and some interesting uniques to bolster up South East Asia. In particular, their unique ability, Ahmudan Conscription, allows all of their puppeted cities to produce a free melee unit every 5 turns during golden ages. They gain golden age points for conquering cities, so the larger their empire grows, the larger their military can potentially become. They do not have many immediate neighbors to start conquering, but if they can get there, this civ will never be short of troops.

Scissor's second civ in Season 1, the Canton Pirates are lead by Ching Shih, and given their name, have attracted a number of Buccaneer fans ever since they were first up to voting for Mk3 back in 2016. It's been a while since then, but the Canton Pirates will finally be put to the test. On that note, test runs show that the Canton Pirates either do either very well or very poorly. They have plenty of room to grow, and no immediate threat, but they have to build along the coastline first before they terrorize the ocean.

Leugi's Haiti, lead by Toussaint Louverture, is the receiving end of most of the jokes and disaffection given their starting location and unbelievably unambitious AI. Haiti deserves much of the criticism it receives, but there have been highlights in test runs. Community member Waghlon says it best in stating that we should "Look on the bright side: They cant disappoint," which is entirely true. Anything that Haiti does well will be the cause of much celebration.

DMS‘s Venezula on the other hand is almost the exact opposite. This civ's starting rank is at #10 and test runs collaborate with this assessment. It is not endowed with the best of uniques, but the AI is quite strong and has rather tame neighbors to prevent them from bulking up. It is tempting to create a rivalry between them and Haiti given the positioning of this screenshot, but these two could be no further apart in their chances to succeed.

Our second and last vanilla civ is the Songhai. Between them and the Aztecs, the Songhai have the better odds, and they have all of West Africa to themselves. Test runs do show them fighting several wars early with their counterpart Benin, but Songhai is consistent in doing well, despite maybe losing a few cities early on. The PR team has high expectations of them, placing them at #24, but in my tests runs it seems like they might be the target of many invasions as all their neighbors want to claim their resource heavy domain. The Songhai have a decent chance to paint this part of the world in their colors for a very long time, but a single coalition while fighting war mad Benin could open it up for Libya or Algeria to swoop in.

Piye (Nubia) likes to build pyramids and archers. Not much else I can tell you about her. For me they are the early game jerks of the game because they like to bully Minoa from settling, but apart from that, you won't see much of them until the mid-game. With not many immediate threats, they will carve up their small slice of Africa and hold it down well. Not the most exciting civ, but one that will be safe and happy in mediocracy.

Saif bin Sultan (Oman) and Gudit (Beta Israel) are not in the most enviable of tiles, but will do well of establishing their own niches. Oman is a trade and gold centered civ, which usually expands quickly, despite lackluster desert tiles to the immediate access. In fact, they like to settle much closer to the Seljuqs, which can be to their benefit or doom depending on how the battles go. Beta Israel on the other hand focuses its attention on faith bonuses and doing well to be ignored until they can strike at Nubia. Beta Israel is not known for founding a religion, which makes its faith strategy rather mute. Both civs seem to be middle of the road competitors that have to wait for the right moment as opposed to taking the initiative.

The Maratha are our south Indian representatives and start the game immediately with a safe and clear position. All of their uniques come in the latter half of the mid-game, so they don‘t look to make use of them until then. In test runs, they like to stay in this cozy part of the world; however, they can become too comfortable, and it is common for them to lose Sri Lanka to Oman. Attention will surely be more up north, but if Maratha forward settles India, what is typically a fight mostly between India and Nepal can have Maratha coming in to steal the leftovers.

Cardboard‘s Sulu lead by Jamalul Kiram II are the highest ranked one-tile island civ, and even without knowing their strengths, a look at this screenshot shows why. The Sulu have no close threats, and are free in settling all their immediate territory. The only other civ that can contest them here early on is Papua, but Papua usually leaves Sulu alone. However, the opposite is not true, and Sulu likes to bully Papua and Canton around right from the start using their unique triremes the Proa. Their unique ability grants them faith upon kills, and sometimes in test runs, their early aggression pays off and they get to found a religion.

Anetü (Kuikuro) might have more options than Haiti, but this is an AI who prefers to be passive despite every opportunity to be a strong regional power. The Kuikuro may be the Tibet of this Season for the sole fact that their capital Kuhikugu is one of the most difficult cities to conquer given their unique ability that keeps jungle tiles intact even when building improvements. I've often seen the Kuikuro quickly reduced to this last city, but remain in the game will beyond T300. There is still a chance they that they can settle a few cities and survive along Northeastern Brazil, but the odds are against them.

Benin occupy the space the Ashanti did in Mark 2, but this is a civ that loves to declare war any chance it gets. They tend to forward settle civs around them, and produce large armies in favor of teching-up instead. It is common to see Benin hold a large empire in extended test runs, and sometimes are the African continent winners, but they need to pace themselves well as they are vulnerable to enemies on multiple fronts, and it is also common to see them be losing two front wars just like their Ashanti predecessors. Their unique ability grants citadels under their control to have ranged attacks each turn. Normally this would be unspectacular, but given that two of the neighbors spam citadels, if Benin takes they territory over, they gain a very strong defensive network.

Gedemo's Papua is heavily favored by the PR team with its top 20 ranking, and like the Sulu, start with embarkment so all of this territory is within their reach. Although, test runs show their AI to be a bit timid when it comes to settling, which could be early disaster for them. Even so, expect a few Papua cities in northern Australia before too long.

When is Tonga Time? Probably in the early late game, when Tonga‘s modern era bonuses push this civ into overdrive. ExplosiveWatermelon's Tonga is an enigma, going several test runs settling only one additional cities, or sometimes none at all, but then every 10 or so runs explode and have all of the south Pacific by T300. This is a bizarre civ, with a nice color scheme, and effortless memes. If this is one of those breakout runs, well be seeing Tonga as a top contender. Or perhaps eaten by New Zealand (again).

The Nazca are lead by Cahuachi, and like Benin, might be associated with the past edition's regional competitor‘s from their similar location. Nazca in many ways are like the Inca, probably more so than the connections between Benin and the Ashanti. It is a slightly different setup, though, and the Nazca have a little more breathing room, and perform while in war. They could pull off a surprising upset in the region, but it will take a fair amount of luck.

Nzinga returns to the CBR, this time leading the more appropriate civilization Ndongo, rather than Kongo. Unlike before, Nzinga this time comes equipped with many uniques they give her civilization several advantages in war. Rivers in particular will be important to Ndongo, and will look to settle along river fronts. Across test runs, Ndongo is the big African menace, and has a strong military to expand further northwards. This is the African civ to watch for those looking to support dominant civs.

Ranavalona I leads Madagascar (Imerina in-game) and by just looking at the geography seems destined to occupy this corner of the map and not much else. But test runs prove otherwise, and this is a civ that likes to pull off some surprises. They sometimes are religion founders, and spread their faith through trade all across the rim of the Indian Ocean.

Gambu Ganuurru is our Aboriginal Australian representative this Season and is the direct competitor with Australia for most of the continent. The Murri are not known to shy away from fighting, and will fight with Australia early and often as the two civs will jostle for the early advantage that will determine who survives. The Murri might have the advantage given their more favorable starting position, but they are also more open to attacks from other directions, so while optimistic, Murri fans should be cautious.

Technostar‘s Uruguay has been debated since the first AI games it appeared in. This is a civ that even without their bonuses do perform well given the present CBR circumstances. But it is no longer guaranteed victory for them, and the civ went through a long process and trails to scale back their code that allowed them to buy military units with their excess gold. This feature is now gone, but Uruguay still remains a favorite in the region despite all the adjustments. Be sure to look out for when the civ switches between its two political parties every 30 or so turns, as each one give Uruguay quite a different personality.

The late Bob Hawke (Australia) was still alive while the game was being recorded, but his spirit has moved on and his AI counterpart stands to live up to the name. Australia is the usual instant contender to win the game, but has to prove it can expand outside its region onto a mainland to succeed where Parkes failed.

Richard Seddon (New Zealand) on the other hand has everything to prove, but past AI games indicate that New Zealand will be an even more fearsome naval power than Australia. Test runs show a positive trend of early victories for New Zealand, and given that they only have an erratic Tonga as the closet true danger to a back door attack, New Zealand will be able to outshine the Maori from Mark 2.

And finally, to Grant‘s Selk‘nam, which is the most odd of civs, and definitely the strangest of Season 1. Their leader Xo'on Uhan-Té is as mysterious as they come, and the community has already taken to their strange aesthetics. The civ was nerfed after early tests had them easily conquer most of the continent, but since then have been content with focusing mostly on Patagonia. Selk‘nam are also the only non-island civ to start the game with the same sailing bonus as given other civs. During tests this had lead to them owning land far above in Northeastern Brazil and even in North America. It is rare, but they sometimes go even to the opposite pole to Greenland for some bizarre reason.

We are now past introductions and the competition has begun. We even went past T3, but this is because the civs just moved a couple of units around and we still have up to T30 to cover today. Expect a few quick turns to go by per screenshot during this album as all the competitors are still warming up.

We can see a few settlers moving already, and New Zealand benefits from its early embarkment buff to move its settler onto South Island.

The Goths make a statement and settle Gothiscandza next to GH's capital. Scandalouz, to be sure. Horde on the other hand move into the safe Caucasus mountains with Sarai Berke.

The Gorkhas have a mighty reputation, and the city of Gorkha is planted right at Indira‘s doorstep. Nepal could have settled in literally any other direction but has gone with the risky play.

A pair of safe settles for Nubia and Beta Israel. Nubia does not want any trouble and look to leave enough space for another city further south along the Nile in the future.

Both Scandinavians settle their second cities along the coasts. The Viking's Ribe looks to be a good settle, but the Sami's Guovdageaidnu looks to be the worst off of the two, and the Sami really could have settled in better tiles at the start.

The Qin forward settle Xia with Yongcheng, and quickly move all their troops to protect it. The Xia settler does not seem to mind and will be placing their city in the middle of Qin and Qing. The Q2 Attack strategy is never a good one for Xia.

Canada doing as it pleases, and settles Montréal all the way over in southern Lake Michigan. Not the most advisable of starts, but at least the Iroquois will not be too bothered about it.

Tonga settles early, which is always a cause of celebration. This is a good sign of things to come from the sometimes comatose civ.

Uruguay switches to the Colorado party, and gains a one time boost in Science and a temporary production bonus in their cities. On screen is a shot of the South Georgia islands, for reasons unknown (Ask Lime).

Burano, Brno, and Bursa all settled away from danger and all three civs are in a good start. Venice in particular looks set to prevent anyone from the continent from moving onto the Italian peninsula.

Our two Persian civs both settle to their respective eastern directions, but Hamadan looks quite vulnerable in the open plains. However, I suppose any settle looks dangerous for the Seljuqs.

It would not be a BR without scouts secretly rendezvousing above the Siberian arctic circle. Whatever mysterious power is here, only scouts and the Nenets will know (which btw Lime seems to have forgotten about and did not get an intro screenshot).

The Yup‘ik do not waste time, and have three cities already by T14. This bodes well for a civ that often waits to settle. Although, this seems to have come at the expense of any accompanying military units.

T20 and already we here in the Sub have entered a Golden Age. Mini-Pedro sure knows how to keep the good times going.

Songhai settles even closer to Benin with Djenné and Ewuare(Benin) has already sent troops to greet the new arrivals. This is not the way to play with Benin around.

Our three Mark 3 picks seem to be doing well for themselves. Prussia in particular has the making of a good core area already. Goths have decided to create an early strong army instead of settling again, and given that Muscovy has not dedicated as much in military, this seems to be best choice for them.

Askia (Songhai) is not satisfied just yet, and settles a fourth city further to the West with Bamako. Benin is starting its war machine and already has enough troops to take Songhai's early city lead away.

The Moors move into France, and given the lack of settlements in the area, this is a good early start for them. The Moors are favorites to win in Europe, and they are making good early moves.

Havel (Czechia) settles again in what appears to be a dagger pointed at the Ottomans. It might look bold, but given the lack of troops and the distance from possible reinforcements, while the Ottomans field a far number already, Ostrava might be green before too long.

Maratha settles northwards, while India goes West again. Allahbad looks very isolated here, and just offscreen in the North is Parthia. Indira has at least invested in a sizable military to accompany their settlements.

Ndongo and Zimbabwe settle away from the Jungles, but Zimbabwe's Dhlo-Dhlo does not appear to be so protected by the thick vegetation before too long. Ndongo settles predictably along the river front and is moving their next settler northwards to another river as well.

At the Info Slides already (yes). Now no moaning, everyone knows the civs take at least 30 turns to do much of anything, so we'll have to confirm to these introductions and the video posted on our Youtube Channel to see the map in full from every turn.

On the slide itself, we see that Ndongo's capital is ranked the highest, despite being not so high in population in comparison with the others. Sulu, Yup‘ik, and Haiti also sport good early capital cities.

A quick look at some of the Patheons. The civs that have reached here are a good indication of some of the religions to expect the next episode, but Desert Folklore and Dance of the Aurora going to the Seljuqs and the Evenks respectively are good picks given their locations. We can also see that Sunni has already been founded as our first religion, and you can probably guess correctly who was the civ responsible.

A few more names to look through, and more speculation. I cannot say this episode who are the final religion founders, but some of these names should give you confidence.

No surprise, it is Libya which establishes Sunni so early on in the game. Sunni will have an early start, as it usually does. As keen observers will notice, there are still 13 more religion slots available, and they should all be filled by Episode 3.

Now we could not leave the first episode without some juicy drama, right? Given we have most of the game already recorded, it would be silly ending the episode right before this turn. T31 and we have our first war, Qin declaring on Xia. As we saw earlier, Xia are really in a bad position, and worse still is their lack of a military. This scenario often plays out in test runs for Xia, and it almost never has an optimistic ending. But to find out, you will have to tune in next week for another episode of CBRX. For more updates, be sure to follow the Subreddit and Discord for all the banter and speculation.