Civ Battle Royale As Civs grow and develop, their wars with their near-equal neighbours settle into a brutal back and forth that leaves both sides not smiling and unsatisfied.
Gooooooood Morning CivBattleRoyale! (or evening or afternoon. I don’t know where you live) I’m /u/TheIpleJonesion, notable only for creating the second best Beta Israel civcube and trying to come up with an explanation as to how English could emerge simultaneously in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. I’m excited to narrate this part, so let’s dive in!
This is a fairly simple meme to start with, but I’m a sucker for Haiti memes, and I have been known to partake in a Tonga meme from time to time, so I had to go with this meme. Hopefully we’ll see some hot Tonga or Haiti action this part, both civs quickly becoming known for the dank OC and hot meta-memes, if not for their in game successes.
I also want to shout out the Hawai’i Battle Royale, by /u/MrKlonam, which isn’t in a format fit for presentation here, but that you should absolutely check out. Quality OC, the type I come to the sub for.
/u/Spherical_Melon, who’s made quality maps for as far back as I can remember, does not disappoint this week, with a beautiful map. Particularly note the rabid expansion of Uruguay and the Moors- two civs to watch out for, as they might have a tendency to start snowballing.
For our second map we have one from the incomparable /u/Vihreaa, in this case of East Asia. Still plenty of unsettled land here. It’s a region of vast potential, from the Thassolocracy of Shikoku, to the great hordes of the Khamungs, to the southern holds of Canton- to North American colonies here! I’m very excited to see what happens here this part.
I haven’t gotten the PR slides yet, so blind guess: It’s probably uruguayDawkinzz: And yet again Uruguay tops the PR rankings this week, making that 3 episodes in a row. As a fan of underdogs, I’m hoping that the Selk’nam and other Native Civs defeat this second coming of Mini-Pedro, but that might be wishful thinking. They are a real contender if they continue to play their cards right.
We open on the besieged city of Kangaba, surrounded by the remains of the Ndongolese armada. Askia seems to have reluctantly scrambled a task force of triremes near Ségou and Tlemcen, but they look unable to reach the city in time. However, Songhai has a few land melee units close enough to flip the city should it fall to Nzinga. Nearby, a Venetian scout chuckles at the sight of what these barbarians call naval warfare- insignificant in comparison to the glory of the Veneitan Navy.
We turn now to another naval front- Scotland. The viewer would be forgiven here if they believed that the Manx were once again at war with Scotland, but it’s just the Vikings and the Holy Roman Empire. The Vikings seem to have the better grasp of the siege of Stirling, setting up a catapult out of range of the city, and moving their unique Longships closer to the city. In defence, Scotland has produced two naval units, a work boat and a cargo ship. Additionally, they have moved most of their composite bowmen out of range down south. The welcome mat, I believe, is still on delivery from Edinburugh. Also of note are the two Manx settlers, and the Stone Town wonder built by Papua, giving two free trade routes and 50% longer naval trade routes. No doubt Rajapapua is trying to break into the Tongan market with his trademarked broken clocks, always set for Tonga Time.
If I’m not mistaken, I think I see what would account for ¼ of Askia’s navy to our north. Having failed at naval warfare, perhaps they’ve sent an observer up to see how it’s really done.
In the latest iteration of the War for the Sahel, Songhai moves closer to Tagdemt. Abdelkader, recognizing the threat, orders his finest generals, his Beys, to a strategy meeting in Algiers. In turn, these Beys call up their finest Beys, who, following good practice, call up their own. Lost in this brilliant chain of command are any actual military units. I count 23 Beys (a unique Great General replacement) and 12 military units, including just two land melee units.
To the north we see one of the scariest naval invasion forces I’ve seen in a long time. Al-Andalus has assembled a vast naval armada, multiple siege units, and in a breathtaking display of strategy, multiple melee units. Groundbreaking stuff here.
A civ that I desperately want to call the Inuit have sent a trireme down to watch the invasion, following Askia’s sound advice of avoiding domestic naval engagements in favor of lurking in foreign waters.
A terrible blow for Anetü, as he loses Hatskugi to the Nazca who then peace out before he can mount a counterattack or take Pulpa. On the upside, this leaves the Kuikuro with only one last enemy, Uruguay. Uruguay and its 13K army, of course, which is rightly worth three civs. The advance on their capital may be slow, but it will be thorough. Unless, of course, Uruguay peaces out for nothing, which can never be discounted.
Is that a Minoan scout in the middle of the two? They don’t have Astronomy yet, so that poor scout had to go all the way up through Europe, over the Arctic Ocean through Greenland, and then down into South America. It reminds me somehow of those migratory Arctic Terns, who fly 50,000 miles every year.
Did you know in 1606 Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed directly though the eponymous Torres Strait, between Australia and Indonesia, without spotting either island? It’s one of those freak chances of history that are sadly impossible to emulate in Civ V, as out Torres would have spotted the coastal waters and disembarked on to one of the islands.
We catch the city of Alice Springs in a state of limbo here, with their city icon switching to Australia while the colors stay Papuan. I believe that the Australians have just captured it from the Papuans, but the Papuans have a fleet of Carracks nearby to flip it back.
I think I spot a Selujik trireme stranded in a neutral spot of ocean. Presumably they’ve been sailing within 46 miles of Australia and failed to spot it yet, like Torres. Seriously, this has bugged me for years now, how do you miss a continent you’re 46 miles away from, especially when you’re a trained explorer?
As predicted, Kangaba falls to the Ndongo. Songhai could quickly flip it, but without a navy, Nzinga can just flip it back. The Veneitan scout leaves in a huff as she realizes the quality of these naval encounters will never hold a candle to her native land. Askia has yet to move those two trierimes next to Ségou, despite how necessary they are on the Kangaba front.
A wide shot of the North Sea here, where we can see the weakness of both invasions of Scotland. Both Edinburgh and Stirling have only one naval tile to attack from, yet the HRE and the Vikings both have primarily attacked with their fleets. In the absence of a landing force, neither should be able to flip a city. Both the HRE and the Manx are sending out more settlers.
That is an impressive core the Khamugs are sporting, with my one concern being that their melee component seems to be mainly warriors. By this stage, one would hope to have swordsmen, or at least spearmen. The Qing have, from what we can see, a solid core adjacent to the Khamugs if a bit more sparse, but are making up for that by viciously spreading their Confucion religion.
Towards the center of the screen we can see what I believe to be a Nenets Shaman Tadibya, which replaces the chariot archer and can “Culture bomb”. Why its down here and not culture bombing away to expand the Nenets is, sadly, beyond me. Maybe they’re here for the nice weather?
Five Korean cities in Japan, including three in Honshu. Shikoku has done an admirable job of politely sharing its core with the mainlanders. Most of these Korean cities look pretty new, too, sporting low population counts. Korea has a fairly well developed early navy here, so an immediate strike downward could work out well for them. On the other hand, after the last thousand year war where Pyongyang was flipped who knows how many times, perhaps they should let someone else deal with Shikoku.
Christ. Wow.
Uh, I thought I might have been hyping up the Moors a bit to much in the last slide we saw them, but this is beyond my hyperbole. With the exception of the new city of Chlef, every Algerian city is damaged. Given the positioning of the Moorish landing, it’s all too easy to imagine Annaba and Oran falling by the next slide we see, and Algiers being surrounded.
Abdelkader, with a firm grasp on the dire situation, produces several settlers and workers and focuses on spreading Nestorian missionaries.
Luckily for the Algerians, we can see that their precious Beys have been for the most part unharmed (I count 21, down two from the last slide.) If only that +15% combat modifier stacked, then their units would be indestructible.
The Palmyran advance into Rey seems invincible. Given the proximity of some Seljuk melee units, it seems good for a few flips, but flipping their largest, and only coastal, city, will be devastating for the Seljuks. Their core has enough units to slow the Palmyrans down enough to maybe hold out for a humiliating peace treaty, but keeping their tiny four city* core alive and well seems impossible, barring AI stupidity on a new level.
*I say this as a full proponent of the four city tradition game in single player
Askia fully commits to partitioning Algeria with the Moors, and seems on the verge of taking Tagdemt. With nary a melee unit in sight, Tagdemt, once flipped, looks like it will stay in Askia’s hands for good.
A Zimbabwein scout wonders why anyone would be fighting over such a miserable and inhospitable piece of land when there’s Ndongo for the taking. Little does he know that in a thousand years, those oil sands will be worth more than his whole hometown.
Askia takes Kangaba back with a pikeman. Now, Nzinga still has enough tririmes to flip it a few more times, but with the weight of part of the Songhai army shifted down, they can’t keep it without a well-timed peace treaty. If their goal was to distract Songhai from the war in Algeria, I suppose, they could be on to something. If their goal was to actually gain territory, this war is looking like a bust for both sides.
The Vikings, rather predictably, are able to keep Stirling in the green without actually putting it at risk of capture. Their navy seems a tiny bit sparser than it was a few turns ago, but I’m sure their strategy is paying off the big dividends.
Here’s the thing though. The Viking Longship, pictured here, can, according to the description, “Can spawn one Land Unit on the adjacent coast of a continent you have no cities on.” I’m not sure what this means, but if the Vikings have finished burning down St Andrews, I believe they might be able to use this mechanic to spawn a land invasion.
In other news, the Manx and the Marathans (I think) make peace, ending a long and devastating war that was caused by their relative alphabetical rankings.
The New Zealandish invasion of Tonga burns out, as their navy thins out. Tonga looks safe for now, if completely cut off from all other routes of expansion. The Tonga Time Timer Ticks Terrifyingly and Tantalizing Towards Total Terran Technological Transformation, a Technique Tried Terrifically Twice by Tasteful Tongan Tactics, Terribly Terminating in a Tricky Truce.
On the sideboard we see a new coalition against the Yup’ik- the Iroquois and Sulu. One of these is more relevant than the other, but only barely.
Oh, and the Canton Pirates jump in too! This would be relevant if not for the fact that the Canton Pirates are trapped in the South China Sea with two cities.
Shikoku, for all its failings, has done the impossible. They have captured Macao, held it, and pushed the Cantonese ground troops out of its reach. I’m not saying they’ll hold it. I’m saying that Canton failed at literally all steps related to its fall and potential reconquest.
Ocongalla seems like a nice place to live, most of the time. Nice beaches, more salt than a Boers fan, and the sight (but not control), of Potosi, the mountain that mints silver. It would be a nice place to live if it wasn’t surrounded by horrific, otherworldly cultists singing dread prayers to the Abyss and eagerly waiting to begin human sacrifice again. It’ll probably flip a few times before one side really controls it, too, which would bum me out if I lived there.
Uruguay continues its slow and steady march to the Kuikoro capital. Perhaps too slow and too steady, eh, Juan Antonio Lavalleja?
The Iroquois move closer to Ottawa. They have a large enough attack force that they might take it, or even flip it a few times, but knowing AI, they might peter out halfway through and decide to go home or attack three cities at once. The Canadian Army is, uh, not in the best of places. If they’re very, very, lucky they’ll all be immortalized as martyrs.
Uruguay produces the Alhambra, a solid military wonder that lets us know he’s reached Chivalry.
St. Andrews has indeed burned down, freeing up space in Britannia. Somehow, by some sheer fluke, Malaqah is in the yellow, from Manx ranged units that seem to have vanished. Both the Manx and the Moors have a decent force here, but remember, the Moors are also, simultaneously, curb-stomping Algeria while the Manx are in their core.
The Moors, however, seem to control the naval balance in the English Channel, so I would give them the edge here.
Sigh
Maybe I should just give up on predicting.
The Moors enormous invasion force, which I so hyped up, has evaporated. They might flip Oran, but it’ll flip back due to a melee army Algeria has conjured up out of nowhere. Maybe there was something to those Beys after all. Brilliant strategical minds, all of them.
Remarkably, Rey holds out another turn, and, indeed, I can’t see a Palmyran melee unit in range of the city. Is this the beginning of the #SeljukFightback? Probably not.
The Marathan invasion of Oman is larger than I would have expected, but doesn’t look to have the umph necessary to actually flip Muscat, much less hold it. It might be better focused against India or even try to snipe Rey.
As a Beta Israel supporter, this slide gives me great hope. The might of Zimbabwe has yet to actually touch Balankab, and Gudit even seems to be sending down reinforcements to save the city. That being said, the sheer amount of troops being directed against Balankab is frightening, and if Nyatsimba Mutota used them competently, they would probably be able to flip it.
Rey does not look to have flipped yet, and the Marathan invasion fleet looks to be winding down. Interestingly, there’s only one Omani melee unit even close to Muscat. If it flips, it might stay there. It probably won’t flip, of course.
Tagdemt falls to Askia, while the Moors, from what we can see, incompetently bungle their wonderful invasion. I don’t know about you guys, but there has to be something with those Beys. First the Venetian attack, then repelling Songhai, and now turning the Moors incompetant- what if they are master strategists after all?
Selk’nam captures Ocangalla and ritually sacrifices half of its inhabitants in bizarre and grotesque methods that defy human conception.
The advance of the unnatural appears to have been halted at Ocangalla, though, as the Nazca have a formidable navy beyond it, whereas Selk’nam seems to have run out of steam. A good shot here as well of Easter Island, which should make for a compelling spinoff for /u/MrKlonam’s Hawai’i Battle Royale.
Another turn, another “Let’s Find the Differences Between This Slide and the Last One”.
Yep, looks like the Vikings are still trying and failing here. HRE still has settlers out, now protected by a single boat. Manx is still bulking up.
The Iroquois are, uniquely for the AI, actually using their unique unit perfectly. The Tomahawk Raider, pictured here, is identical to the swordsman but requires no iron, ignores zone of control, and has a benefit in forests. This might grant them the decisive edge over the Canadians, who have all but ceded the southern half of Ottawa to them. The Canadian core is looking fairly sparse, so they might be in real trouble here.
Now, I’m not the greatest Civ V player in the world. I’ve been known to lose to the AI, and I always have trouble figuring out the right army comp for a seige. But I’m fairly sure- and don’t quote me on this- that it doesn’t matter how much you bombard a city, you need to send in melee troops to actually take it. I think I’m clear on level ground there.
The Evenks and the Nenets fight for more freezing real estate, but I don’t think the Nenets have it in them to take it, especially without ranged units. If that catapult makes it, then we might be talking.
Note that Songhai has declared war on the Manx, and the Golden Horde and the Muscuvy have made peace.
Ah, Europe. Packed with units and civs with no chance. Never change, Europe. Every city here looks safe and secure, and each civ has a solid carpet, even if Chzechia’s is made up of warriors.
Korea makes a half-hearted attempt at Sunud, while The Khamugs decide to strategically ignore it in favor of beefing up their core. Look to the top left and note the diversity of civ settling in Kamchatka- The Yup’ik, the Haida, and the Evenks Out of view are the two Qing colonies.
It looks like Shikoku is going for Taiwan here, with a settler in IRL Taipei. Canton could still make a push for the burnt out remains of Macao, but knowing them, they’re probably content to obsolescence, though they have settled in the Philippines.
Huh.
You know, this whole Moors-Algeria situation, maybe it, uh, just isn’t for me. Maybe I just, uh, have a blind spot for it. It must be the Bey related puns I keep making. Something about this always manages to both surprise and disappoint me.
Now, this, this never surprises me. In fact, if it weren’t for the Métis building Notre Dame, you could tell me this was an earlier slide and I would believe you. You could scramble the order of these slides and I couldn’t sort out which one came first, such is the unchanging nature of the Viking Raids on Scotland.
We finally turn to North America, for a look at the Apache core. Now, whenever I see this, I feel a slight irritation, blemishing their otherwise well put together carpet and capital city. Why?
The Grand Mesa, the natural wonder that gives three gold, two production, and is right next to the Apache capital is, in fact, not on the Eastern side of the Rockies, but on the Western side. To many this might be a minor issue, but it’s the largest Mesa in North America. It’s a seminal feature of Colorado.
Sometimes, you confidently make a prediction, and then that prediction turns out wrong, and you berate yourself for that. And then it turns out your prediction was right, but not in the way you thought it was. All in all, I’m very confused as to whether or not I’m right. I just know that Algeria is screwed.
There’s got to be some sort of mistake here. Is this a repeat slide? I think we just saw this one.
I have no idea how the Iroquois made it to London in Newfoundland, but they’ve captured it, and made no progress in the siege of Ottawa. I see, however, the Apache are making a bid with two settlers for northern Quebec, for reasons as mysterious as the blatantly false placement of the Grand Mesa.
Algeria seems on the verge of taking back Oran, but also on the verge of losing Algers. If the Moors can keep up the offensive, they will probably wind up with a bigger share of the territory formerly known as Algeria than Songhai. Venice looks envily on as the Moors successfully execute a naval invasion of Algeria.
Korea and the Khamugs peace out, without us finding out if Sunud fell or not.
Tuangoo has good control of southeast Asia. They could absolutely finish off Canton or push north and attack the Qin on equal footing. Don’t underestimate the possibility of a war to the east, into Maratha, either.
The Venezeulen core of Central America is very impressive. Good carpeting, good canal cities, and a strong navy. I’m not sure what’s going on with the additional production in the cities, it doesn’t seem to be part of Chavez’s UA.
I don’t want to comment on this. This physically repulses me. Korea was doing a good, solid, offensive campaign, and they trade away their third city in exchange for nothing? This is one of the most foolish self-owns I’ve ever seen from the AI since Maria in MK2.
I think I’ll just paraphrase Michael Scott here:
“Flip-flop, flip-flop, flip-flop! You have no idea the physical toll three city flips has on a nation!”
Quite a few wars break out here. Let’s see which one’s are relevant:
Turks-Minoa: Very relevant. The Turks have a plausible chance at eliminating the Minoans.
Nubia-Minoa: Very relevant. If the Turks can’t manage it, Nubia could. Either way, if Minoa performs well here, this could be their last shot at relevancy.
Shikoku-Papua: Eh. Maybe Papua can snipe Macao, if they’re lucky.
Shikoku-Murri: Fairly irrelevant, barring major moves by either side.
Bonus: Nubia-Libya peace: Very relevant, ending a major conflict for control of North Africa
Europe looks crowded and stable as usual.
And here we see that Nubia has kept Mankoura in their peace, a good victory. The Minoan snipe of Derna undoubtedly lead to the new war, and though it bears some defences, Minoa simply does not have the industrial capacity to bear up a sustained defence against Nubia, especially if the Turks attack as well.
Shikoku goes to war with Sulu as well. Are all the island nations teaming up against each other? This war is fairly irrelevant, unless those unique Sulun Proas (faster and cheaper than Triremes) turn out to be part of a larger fleet.
To add injury to the insult of these wars, Canton finally recaptures Macau, before Shikoku can settle Taiwan. They may still flip it back, and in either case, possession does not mean much- surely every building in the city is razed, every improvement pillaged. It is truly saddening to see how low Canton has fallen, that this should be considered a victory.
Maybe I missed a peace notification, but it certainly looks like Haida and the Yup’ik peaced out. The telltale sign is no Haida ships in Yup’ik waters. If they did, the Yup’ik are master negotiators here, as they probably saved their capital, which, last we saw, was looking dangerously close to flipping.
Selk’nam, the crazed worshippers of the Deep have Ocangalla, and can probably even hold it. But going further north seems to be a problem for them. Slow and steady wins the race though, and overall, this war has been a success for Those Who God Forgot. From what we can see, Uruguay seems to have made no progress against the Kuikuro.
Muscovy denounces the… Qin? Weren’t they eliminated?
The Qing declaring war on the Nazca may seem irrelevant, and it is, but it lets us know the extent of either Qing or Nazca exploration, which is now trans-Pacific.
And just like that Mehmed II, nice guy that he is, capitulates to the Minoans without ever really threatening them. The Nubians look to be going easy on them too, maybe focusing all their strength on Beta Israel or defending against Palmyra.
We can also see that the Goths and the Evenks make peace, which will not save either nation.
New turn, new declarations of war. Let’s see….Shikoku-Sami: eh.
Tonga-Evenks: Tonga Time, but eh.
Qing-Haida: Surprisingly relevant. Those Haidan Siberian Colonies are fair game for the Qing Siberian Colonies. Skedans better look out.
Muscovy-Goths: A war to consolidate Russia. Either side winning would be great news for them, but a stalemated war makes them all easy targets.
Onchan grows to three people, the sun rises and set, and the Vikings attack Scotland.
The Goths have the clear advantage here. A quick and directed attack could easily net them Vladimir and Suzdal’ before the Muscovites can withdraw their army or consolidate forces. Note that Ivan IV is using Warriors, while the Goths sport their fancy Gadrauht, which heal double from pillaging, has +15% strength in Rough Terrain, and replaces the swordsman. Not a good sign for Muscovy.
The Goths slowly begin to move into Muscovy, and Ivan IV, like the smart character in a horror movie, decides to split up his forces. Without the benefit of hordes of Beys to judge his strategy, methinks he’s not the brightest.
If I thought the AI was smart, I’d say the attack on Quebec City was an attempt to pin down reserve Canadian forces, to weaken Ottawa. But the AI isn’t smart. The Siege of Ottawa progresses, I guess, but it doesn’t look like it’s going places, at least not in the short term.
On the other hand, the Iroquois did manage to capture London, so maybe their naval attack on Quebec City could work. I didn’t remember they were at war with the Manx, and they might Port Erin, a good base against the Canadians. The Apache Settlers have not found a new home yet.
Beyond sniping across the Channel, neither the Manx nor the Moors seem to be committed here. If the Manx could get their navy over to Malaqah they could flip it, but the Moors look to have enough navy to flip it back.
Think of the poor Scottish troops stuck between Manx borders, unable to get home, having been thrown out of their Glasgow homes. Knowing Britain, it’s probably raining on them.
Wonder of wonders, Balankab looks still intact. Kilimanjaro must be protecting it from Zimbabwe. The attack of Palmyra and Madagascar isn’t that impressive either. Ranalova II has what appears to be an invasion force, but it seems fairly weak compared to the Beta Israelite carpet. Palmyra, on the other hand, still has to fight through Nubia to get to Beta Israel.
Finally.
After what seems like forever, Palmyra captures Rey, and, in their anger, burns down a choice port on the Gulf. There’s no accounting for taste. Thanks to that Seljuk trireme, it could be flipped once or twice before it’s gone, but that would only hasten its destruction. Thankfully for the Seljuks, the mountains should defend the rest of their homeland more readily now.
Actually, I don’t see any Palmyran melee units about. The Seljuks might hold it for a bit here, sparing Rey for a few turns.
Nubia seems to be focusing on Knossos, not Derna, and that will be the salvation of both cities. Minoa might actually walk away from this unscathed.
The Haida are aggressively campaigning in North America, easily protecting their now two cities and attacking Qing colonies. Victory here would be surprising but not unthinkable.
Same green health on both Scottish cities, same HRE settlers, same Viking tactics. Next slide.
The Gothic War on Muscovy continues slowly, and does not seem to be accomplishing much, but have faith. Victories are rarely immediately won, or obvious.
On the southern front of the war, Alaric and his Gothic forces seem to be making more progress, even if neither city is besieged yet.
The Iroquois attack on Port Erin and Quebec City fizzles out, leaving their ships stranded and their ground forces unreinforced.
Nine slides later, Balankab is damaged. Zimbabwe has an impressive force, with plenty of melee and seige units. He might be able to flip this city. On the other hand, Madagascar is being easily repelled by Gudit, and there seems to be no problem from Palmyra.
Rey flips again, but the Palmyran core looks incredibly sparse here. If it weren’t for the looming Zimbabwen threat to the south, Gudit could run wild through Hejaz and secure all of the Red Sea for herself. Tonga Time ends as Oman and Tonga, age-old rivals, make peace,
The city flips have saved Rey, however, at this time, Palmyra just puppets it. The once mighty 17-pop city is reduced to just two population. The Seljuks have no nearby melee units, so this time, it’ll stay Palmyrine.
And back it goes. That Canton can’t hold a city in its core is yet worse signs for this once top-tier contender. Additionally, I see barely any military units in Canton’s “core”, leaving them vulnerable to attack from any direction.
The sieges of Ottawa and Quebec City finally get into full steam, and the Iroquois now have a shot at both. If either city falls, Canada doesn’t have anywhere to retreat to. They won’t be immediately eliminated, but with a handful of single-digit-population cities, they’ll only fall further and further behind the rest of the world. As is they’re woefully backwards way of life.
Flip-flop fellow lurkers. Flip-flop.
Somehow, the Moors allow a single Manx ship to get past their blockade, and promptly lose Malaqah. While they’ll probably get it back, it’s brutal to lose a fairly major staging point city like that. This war has been a tragic failure for the Moors, and the Manx, who have yet to see a land invasion, have reaped the spoils of it.
Piye finally gets around to attacking Derna, and even tries to take Knossos. I don’t think they have the navy for the latter (they might even be outmatched by Minoa here), but they certainly have the force to flip Derna and hold it long enough for a peace. Koyah goes on a denouncing spree and attacks rivals on their same continent- isn’t it bizarre that Haida’s now an Asian nation?
Algeria makes peace with the Vikings (meh), and Maratha (meher). I hate to break this to Abdelkader, but he’s got more pressing wars. Two, to be exact.
The Haida’s invasion of the Qing looks fairly aggressive. Note the copious amounts of War Canoes, which replace the trireme, can move after attacking, and heal 10 points if they end their turn next to a forest, which you can see here. Thanks to the Haida unique ability, they can also perform melee attacks on land units. Also note the Korean settler in what I believe to be the Sakhlahains.
The Gothic attack on Muscovy is on all fronts, all the time. Here we see the distant northern front- Yaroslavl’, which has quite the attacking force for a one-population tundra city. At least it’s on a hill, and has some oil, though of course neither side knows that yet.
Ndongo makes peace with- the Yup’ik? Truly a global world already.
Look at Benin in her glory. Strong cities, a good carpet- but not enough of either. Look at her walls, however, a unique improvement built in between tiles. They provide defensive bonuses, HP to cities, (all stacking based on the number around the tile, of course) and Golden Age points for completing a chain of them. Incredible. What mods can do. Let’s all take a moment to thank out modding friends for these brilliant innovations.
Look past the wall, and note something far older than any mod. The first unique Songhai unit: the dreaded Makendekalu Cavalry.
Quebec City may flip by the end of the part, but I doubt that Ottawa will. The Iroquois seem to have made no progress whatsoever in attacking the city, beyond keeping it in the green. My applause for the proper use of their unique unit was apparently foolish and shortsighted. Canada has kept up a resounding defence, which, while ultimately doomed to failure, will ultimately be for naught. Sorry.
Tonga Time is rescheduled as Tonga makes the Totally Sane and Relevant play of declaring war on the Seljuks. More seriously, so does Palmyra.
Malaqah flips back to the Manx just as the Moors flip Oran. Now Abd-ar-Rahman III knows how it feels to see a city reduced to ashes by the constant flip-flop flip-flop.
New Zealand attack the Murri, in another war that will no doubt lead to nothing. New Zealand, at least in this shot of their core, does not have the naval capacity to launch an invasion of the heavily fortified Murri core as their recent disastrous war against Tonga demonstrates.
Unless I’ve been mistaken, it seems both Muscat and Rustaq have been either flipped by Maratha, or starved out by their naval attack. While Oman has pushed back the armada, the war has taken its toll: Oman’s two great cities now each have single digit populations in the early mid game. Bad news for them.
Rey, barren wasteland that it is, plays host to a Palmyrene invasion force of the Seljuks. The Seljuk homeland is rugged and mountainous, and they have enough troops to stall the invasion for now. In the long term, however, their non-Maldive holdings seemed doomed to fall.
The Khazak’s attack the newly founded Evenk city of Erema, and will probably be able to take this distant holding, though not after a fight.
During the course of this part, which it has been my everlasting privilege to narrate, we have seen maybe a half-dozen slides identical to this one. What is there to say? The same HRE settler floating around? The same Viking strategy?
I sort of had higher hopes for the Gothic invasion by this point. Maybe they’re too cautious, or maybe it’s too spread out to attack individual cities effectively. In any case, it’s been one of the greatest failures of this part, just like the Iroquois attack on Canada. Hopefully next part, they’ll have mustered together for a better strategy- or not, if your a Muscovy fan, as my sources assure me there are.
Here’s a war I’d forgotten about- flipping Alice Springs. Currently Aussie, looks like it could go to Papua next turn in any case. Papua definitely has the advantage army-wise, but Australia is defending and has shorter supply lines, a stronger industrial base to produce more troops, and better healing, so they’ll put up a stern fight.
We end on Malaqah, down eight population from the beginning of the part. I doubt the Manx will be able to flip it back, and Abd-ar-Rahman III seems to have learned his lesson, and will now station a generous army in Brittany. I’m /u/TheIpleJonesion, and it has been my honor to narrate this part for y’all. I hope you enjoyed it, and if not, hope you enjoyed the slides at least. Thank you to Reon, to Lunar, and to all you wonderful Mods, OC creators, and lurkers out there, for creating such an awesome community. See you next week.