Episode 48: The Unexpected Value of an Air Force – S1

Good Evening, I, RanseStoddard, am your host for tonight's Presentation. I've been around the CBR since near the beginning, I even remember Mark 1, but this is my first chance to narrate as I spent a majority of that time lurking. I'm looking forward to presenting you another thrilling installment in this saga. And without further ado, we begin.

This week it seems all the remaining civballs got together for a portrait by ARedundantSofa, before they go back to killing each other. I can confirm that for some of these civs, this is a last known photograph.

Honorable mention goes to Sevastopol_Station's “Journey to the best”  and Gregg9's “Biggest loser”, both are a fun read.

Vihreaa's Tile accurate map is one of those wonders of the world, like the Pyramids, or cheese. How or why Vihreaa feels motivated enough to count every tile on the Cylinder is a mystery of the universe, but we are all grateful it happens. This week the map reveals some interesting things. Bermuda is still barren, Eastern Europe and the Middle East are the border gore capitals of the world, and the Kazakhs, Iroquois, Moors, and Uruguay are working on their continent bonuses.

I could put another map here, but I couldn't find one, and I already mentioned 3 typical pieces of OC, so I'll use this spot to give a shout out to Bob_Smith_IV's kill chart. The Kill chart, as the name implies, shows which civs have killed who, and by extension who hasn't been killed once. Using complex maths, I was able to calculate that there are 19 remaining civs. If this is inaccurate, I expect Blue Cassette to yell at me. Funny how the two boring civs border, could something happen there?

I'm actually writing this before the power rankings come out, so I'll have to rely on my psychic abilities for this slide. After lots of meditation, tea leaf reading, crystal staring and general hooliganism, I am predicting the top spot goes to the Kazakhs.

Shocking, I know.

I am also predicting in the PR comments section Lacs and Cloud make a funny/snarky comment, another PR casts some doubt on the decision, the deviation is something like .3, and picture is that flaming Kazakh civball from last week's episode and some comment beneath it like “the khan thirsts for new lands to conquer!”

If I got any of this right I will be opening my fortune telling business.

And we begin today’s action with this wonderful action shot: observe the Iroquois biplane just south of Ninstints, coming back from a bombing mission to who knows where, probably Metis.

The slide also gives us a look at the Metis, who are continuing their spectacular collapse from last week's episode, losing Frenchman's Butte and Prince Albert since the last part.

Lac La Biche, which is French for “OH MY GOSH THE IROQUOIS ARE COMING”, seems next on the chopping block. However, it has added defense in the form of what appears to be some lost Nubian Archers and a Benin Explorer. It's nice to see such cooperation, unless of course that Nubian Knight is coming to conquer the city for themselves.

In exciting news, Madagascar and the Vikings have made peace. The Madagascan Voromahery units scattered around eastern Siberia are ecstatic to hear the news, they no longer have to keep wandering around Siberia to avoid fighting.

As for the main theme of this slide, (besides Dogo, which I'm sure no one has mentioned before), is Uwajima, whose citizens must be getting whiplash after going from Shikokan to Kazakh to Uruguayan. At least the sign makers can keep busy translating all the government notices from Japanese to Kazakh to Spanish.

It is a pretty big deal for Uruguay to get a foothold in Asia, though reinforcements will be a challenge. Perhaps the biggest effect is how this splits the Shikokan cities from the unstoppable Kazakh army, saving them for Uruguayan armies. Poor Shikoku, out of the frying pan and into the sun.

Of course, with everyone here at war with everyone else, who knows what will happen.

Oh, and Yawatahama fell, officially driving Shikoku from any actual Japanese island.

The Kazakhs still have a front in northern Siberia though, and they are pressing hard. Tosa-Nahari falls, but it's hard to feel bad for those citizens, considering they were crazy enough to settle in northern Siberia in the first place.

Sakamoto, watching his empire disintegrate, comes up with the only rational response, spam settlers. There are three on this slide alone.

Looks like Sakamoto is really banking on those mountains between him and the Kazakh hordes. Nothing, he thinks to himself, can cross a mountain!

Let's not spoil his dream and tell him about planes or artillery.

Gift Lake has been regifted to the Iroquois, though a one pop heavily pillaged and citadeled city on the border of another nation might actually be worse than socks. I guess the one guy who lives there might actually like it though. But in worse news for the Metis, Wood Mountain has fallen, apparently due to the tactical genius of a nearby missionary.

Now that Hiawatha has an actual border with the stunted Shikoku, it might be a good idea to press his advantage and grab as much of Shikoku as he can before Uruguay gets it.

The Kazakhs strike, snagging Uwajima (again) and Yawatahama from Uruguay and the temporary capital Qerrulliik from Shikoku. Uruguay has a unit in position to snag Sukumo on their next move, but the Shikoku fleets seem robust enough to ensure some flipping.

Also everyone wave to the Benin explorer again.

Finally, the biggest event of this slide is the war declaration in the corner. The Moors have decided to erase Prussia from the map. But this is Prussia, I don't expect them to go down without a fight. The mighty Prussian military will surely give us a show we will not long forget.

oh

well, looks like they died. Still, Prussia has some units lying around, including one of their uniques. I suppose they could retake the city

(they don't)

so, it's time for an Eulogy.

While Prussia didn't enter the Endgame in the worst place, their start certainly wasn't the best. Nevertheless, Frederick managed to outlast other civs who came in in much better spots. Prussia ran a solid game, but was always cursed by the TSL gods. Before the CBRX started, I ranked Prussia 42nd, and I doubt many expected them to make it to the endgame (I guess no one expected an endgame either, but if they did they wouldn't have expected Prussia to make it). Frederick should be proud to have so dramatically exceeded expectations.

Their legacy will be one of perseverance, terrible bordergore and timing their death so that we get a break from staring at the Bering sea. Godspeed Fredrick.

In events which Sakamoto Ryoma has decided must be witchcraft, the invading Kazakh units have advanced past the mountain barriers. After meeting with his council, Sakamoto has decided to set up a new defensive position behind some different mountains, but deep inside he knows that things are rapidly concluding.

The Kazakhs, meanwhile, use their newly acquired city to fire upon a ship. We assume this is a Shikoku frigate, but since there is no icon, I am choosing to believe this is a Qin ship that miraculously appeared. You can believe what you like.

Furthermore, Qerrulliik has fallen, causing Sakamoto to move his government to Sirenik, not where I would have gone, but maybe he likes being on the front lines?

These are dark times in Eastern Siberia.

From the cold Bering sea to the Indian Ocean. Home of the Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea), the Dugong (Dugong dudgeon), the Indo-Pacific finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) and Madagascar. Taking a closer look at Madagascar, we see a nation who are still rejoicing in the peace treaty with the Vikings. Madagascar isn't a very big nation, and its lack of science is beginning to show with some outdated units, Still, they technically have a unit carpet. Meanwhile, surrounding Madagascar is the mighty Zimbabwe. Mutota may want to be careful though, as he is beginning to carrier spam, and worse yet, carrier spam without any planes on the carriers. Also everyone wave to the Parthian Trireme stuck in its one tile prison.

I hope you enjoyed your vacation, because we are back in the Bering Sea just in time to watch Uruguay move into Sukumo and Sirenik. Will they hold them? Probably not, but I won't tell, keep reading to find out.

Also note the fleet of Qin frigates, on one of which a thoroughly drunk Ying Zheng, having drunk the Uruguayan rum before being picked up by this last fleet, barks orders for an invasion of Australia, which the admiral of the fleet silently ignores as he navigates his fleet towards safe harbor.

Final note, it seems the Iroquois have built a wonder. It isn't a normal wonder, or a future worlds wonder, and after much searching, Discord user “TheLastPlace” has I believe correctly identified it as the Sky Tower Wonder from New Zealand, which does as follows: “the Sky Tower provides a 15% reduction in unhappiness from citizens in non-occupied cities, one gold for every four citizens in the city, a free Broadcast tower in the city where it is constructed and becomes available with Ecology.”

Now you know.

The Moors, fresh off killing the Prussians, decide to fight someone a little bigger. As you can see here, the front isn't exactly packed with units, but it's not empty. The Moors have a clear edge due to upgraded units, those subs should clear the seas of Palmyra's wooden ships quickly. Don't count Palmyra out though, we currently have some skirmishing around where a clever civ would have settled a Black Sea canal, and already some damage to Magdeburg. However, I expect the first casualty to be the Palmyrian occupied Prussian city of Berlin.

Iroquois build the Sydney Opera House and many claim the sound of Australian cursing can be heard across the cylinder

Finally, wave to the Prussian refugees moving into Africa.

My prophecy was correct, I promise I didn't look ahead (well, OK, I did, but forgot what happened). Berlin has fallen, to the praise of cartographers and the dismay of border gore lovers everywhere. The Moorish air force has thinned the Palmyran army and landed some paratroopers behind enemy lines. Dura-Europos (current contender for silliest named city) is already in red, as is the Lido deck on Crete.

Also bonus points to the Moors for putting planes on their carriers.

Dura-Europos has fallen and both Lido and Germanicea are black. This is less a fight and more a slaughter. This is why you always focus on science, kids.

This is an opportunity for Benin, if they can get to the cities before the Moors, they have a chance of uniting their empire. Also, I just noticed we have an unused spy. I propose we send him to Meroe to hang with the somehow still alive Nubians.

Oh, and the Great Firewall is built by, you guessed it, the Iroquois

A new front for this part, here we see the remnants of the Australian empire. Invading them won't be easy, but they are ultimately no match for some of the superpowers on the cylinder. Instead of dreams of winning it all, the Australians are relegated to more peaceful pursuits. Knitting becomes the national pastime, with rugby being deemed too violent. Cricket is still around because no one understands how to play it anyway.

This week, the Australians are putting on a boat show, specifically a brown boat show. Palmyra has a presence, but most entrants are from Taungoo. I suppose that Taungoo could be building up their forces for an attack on Australia, but that would be rather rude after Australia invited them to their boat show.

As for Uruguay occupied Australia (UOA), aside from occasional insurrections of the emu variety, all is calm, and the Uruguayans are slowly building up their military presence

If you really hate someone, tell them to find the Benin boat in this picture.

If your name is Homusubi, the following images may be disturbing, viewer discretion is advised.

As is becoming the tradition in these parts, after falling to Uruguay, the former Shikoku cities are falling to the Kazakhs, because the Kazakhs really need more cities. Most notably, the fall of Sirenik to the Kazakhs is the first time the Kazakhs have stepped foot in the new world. Perhaps they will find it to snowy and cold and quickly leave? If the attacks on Ninstints are any indication though, they intend to stay.

Uruguay, recognizing the utter uselessness of controlling cities for one turn before losing them to the Kazakhs, have made peace with Shikoku. Surprisingly it looks like they didn't gain anything in the peace deal. Good negotiation Sakamoto.

Well this doesn't look great for the Metis. Lac La Biche has fallen, sending the government to Loon Lake. I think there might be some symbolism here.

Anyway, the Metis defense seems to be in large part based on recruiting stragglers to stand around their last city so the Iroquois can't get in. This seems like a less than ideal strategy to me, but when your country is a 90% dead city on a peninsula supported by two ironclads, a frigate and a cannon, you don't have many options. We will have to see if they can hang on.

We also get a good look at the Venezuela pacific colonies. Venezuela is most definitely a rump state, but they have some fight left in them. If they were dumb enough, they could conceivable take Mérida before being dissolved. I do find the double citadel on Coro Island funny.

good news for Shikoku fans: ???

bad news for Shikoku fans: everything in this slide

Shikoku lose two more cities, and the new capital, Otazaka, is defended primarily by a Parthian unit.

At least it seems that Sakamoto has the units to do some flipping, but every Shikoku citizen must know they are only delaying the inevitable.

From one rout to another. Palmyra is crumbling at the hands of the Moors. The Lido deck has been surrendered, Germanicea is surrounded and Palmyra is in the red. It's hard to tell with the clashing colors, but it appears that Benin has sent a trebuchet towards the capital.

Perhaps the most exciting thing on this slide is the Indian settler next to Kuchan. All India needs now is a city to be razed, which perhaps explains why it's moving towards the Goths.

2 turns later...

Yeah, things didn't get better. Germanic fell, as did Antioch, giving the Moors control of the holy hand grenade. Palmyra and Callinicum are both in deep red, and the main Palmyra defense seems to be charging helicopters with horses.

As we try and look away from the slaughter, we can see Zimbabwean Oman. Looks like a nice enough place.

Reminds me that either Zimbabwe or Parthia could use this ongoing rout as an opportunity to pick up some cities.

Palmyra falls, causing Zenobia to retreat to the much more defensible Hyderabad. While Callinicum and the rest of Arabia look sure to fail. Zenobia would be smart to try and create a defensive line around Circesium. Save as much as you can without jeopardizing the rest. Then again, why on earth would an AI listen to my advice, what do I know?

Also, that’s a decent size Madagascan army wandering around the Parthian capital.

As you probably saw on the last slide, the Vikings and Venezuela have decided the Metis have it too easy, and need to be attacked by more people. They may have a point, cause the Metis have actually captured a city! Granted, this city was theirs before, and they lost their only other city in the process, but they say to always look on the bright side of death.

Oh wait, what’s that?

Metis and Iroquois declared peace

huh

guess that’s smart for the Iroquois, avoid that elimination penalty, but still, great negotiation skills by Riel.

On a more serious note, the Venezuela DOW may be problematic, especially now that the Metis Defense League, which primarily consists of Nubian units, is no longer in position to protect the last Metis city. The Metis will survive a while longer, but I might have to write another Eulogy this part. We shall soon see.

Kazakhs continue to march, Cev'aq, Iyo-Saijo and Niugtaq fall, leaving the few surviving Shikoku government officials huddled in Otzaka, waiting for the inevitable. But you know, feel like I'm forgetting something...

...oh yeah, Ninstints, the new last holdout of the Shikoku. Somehow Sakamoto Ryoma and his government got out of Otzaka and into Ninstints during the city capture. Whoever made that flight over enemy territory should get every medal the Shikoku offer. Unfortunately, it was probably a futile gesture, delaying death by a few seconds. But I guess every second matters. It's going, it's going...

RIP Shikoku

Somehow dying before the Metis, the Shikoku are evidence that you should be ready to die at any moment, cause at any moment the unstoppable Kazakh juggernaut could decide to eat your land.

Shikoku were primarily a naval empire, and they certainly outperformed the Japanese of previous CBRs. For a while there, they looked like they had a solid core and a real chance. Unfortunately, Shikoku faced invasion by the two strongest nations on the cylinder, both of whose armies outclassed Shikoku in tech and numbers. Shikoku was doomed from the moment the invasion started, but they never gave up and they went out fighting.

Their legacy will be one of courage in the face of impending doom and boats. Godspeed Sakamoto Ryoma.

Well, Circesium wasn't held, and it looks like Arabia will be lost to Palmyra. This has forced Zenobia to retreat to a new line near Pune. The Palmyran Navy could force a few flips, but it seems that the only thing that could stop the Moorish advance is the moors deciding it's just not worth it. I will say that this episode is making the case that the Moors might be one of the top tier civs.

Birtha, Kiteve and Hierapolis all fall, driving Zenobia to agree to a peace deal at the coast of Pune. In the matter of a few turns, Palmyra has been reduced to a city state.

We get to see the rest of Venezuela, however, we only get that privilege because the Iroquois have decided they don't want Venezuela to exist anymore.

The Venezuelan fleet and the Uruguay borders make any actual approach difficult, but the overwhelming Iroquoian air superiority, partly based on those shiny new supercarriers, has allowed them to already bring Puerto Cabello to half health.

There also seems to be some Moorish units in Uruguayan waters. Scouting expedition or unit overflow? You decide.

I'll be honest, this doesn't seem like a brilliant move.

What I'm fairly sure happened here is Mithridates went to visit Hawke, and one thing led to another, and soon both leaders were very drunk. I suspect Mithridates called Hawke a coward, Hawke called Mithridates a coward, and they both agreed to not be cowards together and attack the Kazakhs. While Hawke will likely wake up with a headache, he's far enough away to maybe laugh about this one day. But Mithridates will be lucky to wake up at all.

It's been 4 turns since we were last here. Pretty impressive for little Venezuela to last that long against the Iroquois. Alas, their demise was inevitable. They still have Caracas, but you have to believe that that won't last long. Of potential future interest is what happens if Caracas is taken by the Iroquois, giving them a foothold on South America. Lavalleja likely won't like that, and it may be a Casus Belli.

speaking of Casus Belli, seems like the Iroquois might have had one, let’s check out that notification some more...

Yes, the Iroquois, who have brought a grand total of 1 non garrisoned unit to the front (and an anti-aircraft gun at that), have declared war on the Kazakhs. Perhaps Parthia and Australia were forewarned of this, and that’s why they declared war?

The Iroquois battle plan seems clear, try and grab Ninstints without a navy, while simultaneously defending against the Kazakh army which isn't there.

Yeah, this war will likely take a while to warm up.

Also wave to the Qin frigate.

Hey guys, it's Glycolysis here. Also known as SirMallock. You know, that old famous guy from Mk2? Yeah, that one! the Dvin Guy! It's me, I'm back for a single slide to narrate at the gracious allownace of Ranse! He's allowing me to narraate, isn't that cool? Sorry for typos, I'm not of the soberiety. Anyway, I've been told blue guys have declared on purple guys. I really realyl like the Purple Guys mod, the men behind the whatsitcalled. The crazy thing here is that the Kazakhs are insane. Like, seriously. Have you seen the Qin? me neither, they aren't here. Purple guys, I think Bactria, are doomed. they lasted too long anyway you know? tjhey have no reason to be here anymore. it's time for blue dominance. let's go, boys. this is mallock, washed-up former ruler of Dvin, signing out. Peace!

Hope you enjoyed that.

As for the situation at hand, Parthia has lost two cities, Ecbatana and Kuchan. I know what their names are because the Kazakh cities have legible city names. I mean I can usually make out the Parthian ones, but the Kazakh ones are clear. This one fact nearly makes some root for Kazakh domination.

Anyway, I'm impressed with how well the heavily citadeled cities are doing. I guess the Kazakhs didn't have much of an army nearby since war wasn't expected. But still, the Parthians are surviving better than I expected.

Also watch the Indian settler, who doesn't appear to have open borders with the Kazakhs. It may be interesting to see where they teleport to.

Somehow the Island of Coro, which is perhaps the most heavily fortified island on the cylinder due to all of its available tiles being claimed by citadels, has fallen to the Iroquois. the lesson here is, two-fold, 1) citadels can't defend from air attacks, 2) Citadels are ineffective against sea attacks.

Two more Parthian cities fall, including the capital Nisa.

Perhaps the most unexplainable thing on this slide is the random Zimbabwe tile in the Afghan mountains. Is this some kind of Bir Tawil situation where no one actually wants to claim that tile less they lose their claim to somewhere else? Did the people on that tile overthrow their government because they wanted to be Zimbabwean? Or did Zimbabwe go and conquer this random tile by force, and now keep it as some kind of military base? Why do the Zimbabweans let the Parthians use their tile? Is the Prussian UU involved in this somehow?

Find out next week on “The mystery of the Zimbabwean Tile”, only on History Channel

8 turns after the war started, the Iroquois have landed in South America. I'm sure Lavalleja is on his way over now with a “welcome to the neighborhood” molotov breadbasket. My theory is Hiawatha was annoyed about the Metis preventing him from the North America continent bonus, so we decided to ensure Lavalleja couldn't get the south America bonus. All I know is that, as a fan of clean borders, this annoyed me.

Also wave to the Iroquois Cybersubs, especially the one with 4 units, and I'm betting those aren't guided missiles.

Finally, it appears Nubia has declared war on the Kazakhs. **BOLD** move their buddy.

And just like that, the last 3 Parthian cities fall, and Mithridates is finished.

No matter who you root for, you have to recognize Parthia's incredible perseverance. Before the game started, I ranked them 13th, and they fought the whole game to prove me right. Central Asia is one of the most unforgiv…

...

Oh freak, Parthia is still alive.

Zadracrta didn't fall. If you don't believe me, look just north of that Zimbabwe tile and you can see a Parthian border faintly, and it's also kind of visible on the minimap. Normally I'd delete the report of Parthia's death, but considering it took me till slide 45 to find out they were actually alive, I think I’ll keep it here in anticipation. I expect to finish it soon.

Clearly the most important thing on this slide is the Moors building the Pentagon.

I wonder if the Pentagon is actually a pentagon on the cylinder. All the other forts in the cylinder are hexagons, and citadels are some weird star shape. But then again, the American Pentagon was originally designed as a pentagon for simple architecture reasons, the piece of land they were going to build on had five sides. So maybe that shape would carry over.

Anyway, what you all really care about is Uruguay v Kazakhs. The Kazakh military looks slightly more advanced, but they carrier spammed, which could open the door for the older but more diverse Uruguayan fleet.

The glorious BC overlords have actually provided us with a cool action shot. We can see the Uruguayan bomber circling Ju, which is already down to half health.

We will have to check the next few slides to see who has an edge here.

Also wave to the Qin trebuchet.

Remember when the Iroquois v Kazakh war happened and I said it would take a while to heat up? Well it’s warm now. Thanks in large part to the Uruguayan diversion, the Iroquois are marching forward. Uruguay has already captured Yawatahama and Ninstintis, which has allowed Hiawatha to focus on Iyo-Saijo. The combined efforts of the Iroquois, Uruguay, and Nubia may actually be enough to halt the growing menace. Could that be the final legacy of Parthia?

In 2017 the medical journal “The Lancet” conducted a study which compared all the ways people can die.

It was discovered that approximately .01% of deaths are due to “Exposure to forces of nature”. Now I'm no coroner, but that’s what I'm putting down as this cause of death.

It may seem sudden, just on the last slide they were a critical part of the stop Kazakh task force, and now they are dead. It may seem sudden because it was sudden. What seems to have happened is a Moorish training mission had mechanical difficulties and crashed into Nubia, accidentally landing on the country's entire military.

Nubia’s Eulogy should have been written many parts ago, Nubia is an archer spamming settling novice who has gotten this far on a combination of diplomacy, luck, coincidence, magic, a few clever wars, and more luck. Still, everyone loves a plucky underdog, and we will all be sad to see them go. But before you get too sad, remember underdog fans can now go root for the Metis.

Their legacy will be archers, perseverance in the face of adversity and settling their capital one tile away from a Suez canal.

Godspeed Piye.

Back to the Great war, which the Vikings have just joined. Here we see Uruguay making a strong push in the South China sea, 3 Kazakh cities in red, but progress has been slowed by an immense amount of Taungoo ships. If Bayinnaung got in this war, then we'd really be cooking with fire.

For those who didn't believe me before, here is proof Parthia exists. Though it looks like I may get to post the rest of my eulogy soon. Their last city is deep in the red, and they just picked up 2 more DOW (albeit irrelevant ones). Parthia is really hoping that their buddies Uruguay and the Iroquois can save their skins here.

The other news from the last slide is in focus here. The Moorish campaign for clean borders and happy cartographers is moving on to the Goths. I don't know how many civs the Moors can kill before international opinion turns on them, but Abd-ar Rahman doesn't care.

For the Goths, time is limited. Árheimar is already in the black, and while the Gothic army will slow the Moorish advance, just as surely as the tide rises the Moors will push into Árheimar..

Also wave at the cool future era improvement outside of Oium. According to this guide (link below) by TA_Knight, which I am assuming is accurate (if it isn't I expect BC will yell at me so y'all know what is accurate) what we have here is “The Communication Array.” What this bad boy does is provide more gold then a trading post, but it has the added benefit as adding culture or science bonuses when future techs are discovered.

Link (https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMy4bQnJILc8dcx9pXZOwDLuOj9dD4YnqijsyMWCffNlfdQZZ2WqlC_Ne8ligBGUw?key=VEVKUnh5cGY0ZEpPZF9KRDhqQWZNUzY1S0lhT1h3)

I'd recommend you keep the above guide around when reading future CBRX episodes if you don't play with the Future Era mod much. Saves a lot of head scratching.

The Kazakhs push back, taking Jinyang and causing Tanu to flip. All the Uruguayan cities in Japan have no health, and Kazakh units have landed on Hokkaido and Honshu.

A Qin worker looks on, just wishing people would stop pillaging all the tiles they work so hard to repair.

Hawke clearly hasn't forgotten about his drunk DOWing the Kazakhs, cause while everyone else is being pushed back, he manages to take Dianjiang. Will he hold it? Almost assuredly not, but it's a moral victory that may get the Australians out of their knitting rut.

On the very next turn, the Iroquois make an important breakthrough in Alaska, taking Cev'aq. Kazakh airpower is putting most Iroquois cities in the black, but without nearby melee units, the bombing campaign is just a waste of resources.

A little further south, Uruguay marches into Sukumo. But the real question is, how will the Kazakhs respond?

Violently is the answer. They take Tanu, Geelong, and Wanxian and send a large fleet through the Tsugaru Strait.

Also of note, the Iroquois make peace with Venezuela, considering Uruguay being in the way, and Venezuela's new border with the Kazakh, this seems wise.

Zimbabwe's Core, it's a pretty nice core as cores go. Units are a tad behind the times, but the navy is pretty nice. Also, quite a lot of great person improvements.

Fun fact, the city of Zvongombe in real life was the capital of the Kingdom of Mutapa, a successor state to Great Zimbabwe.

Also of note is the lack of Zimbabwean air force, they might want to work on that.

Big day for the Iroquois, not only holding on to Cev'aq, but pushing into Iyo-Saijo and more excitingly, into Asia with the capture of Otazaka. We are truly entering an era of globalism. Not such a great day for Uruguay, as the Kazakhs take Yawatahama back.

Wave to the Metis cannon and rifle, they are definitely much more useful around here then back defending the only Metis city.

Three turns later, we have lost one of the civs that reached both the old and new world, but it wasn't the Iroquois.

In fact, Hiawatha has driven the Kazakhs out of Alaska altogether, and pushed all the way to Imabari, while also utilizing their navy to take the island of Niugtaq and bring Tosa-tsuno and Sukumo to half health. Contrary to my initial expectations, Uruguay seems to be the slacker in this group.

8 turns since war was declared, Árheimar still stands even though the entire Gothic army has been destroyed save a garrison cannon. The issue is the Moors have fallen for the ole' “trying to take cities with helicopters” trap. Frustrated by this lack of progress, Australia, and more seriously for Alaric, Benin, declare war. Alaric does have some Madagascarian peacekeepers helping him out, so he might stick around a while yet.

It looks like the Australian capture of Dianjiang was a Battle of Midway moment in this war, just not for Australia. The Iroquois are making the Kazakhs look like Shikoku, taking Sukumo, Wanxian, and, according to the minimap, Tosa-Tsuno. Can Hiawatha keep the pressure up though? and will Uruguay ever rebound?

it's Taungoo Time, but maybe not the time they want. The Zimbabwe/Taungoo front looks pretty even. Both have Great War infantry, both have privateers, but Zimbabwe has an unmatched air force, artillery, and citadels instead of forts on the front line. I'm expecting a close war at first, but as it drags on, Zimbabwe will gain a decisive edge.

Also wave to the Yup'ik crossbowman.

The Iroquois take Yawatahama (the city's 4th owner this part) and Tosa-Aki, but the Kazakh counter offensive has arrived. Furthermore, I'm not sure I'd keep my entire air force in the 0 health front line city. We will have to wait and see if this strategy will pay dividends or not.

Here we have confirmation that Australia has indeed given up Dianjiang, but they also got a peace deal, which all things considered seems like an OK trade off. At least they didn't trade away half their core for peace.

The Kazakh offensive also has Yique (not to be confused with Yiqu, which is just to its south) down into deep red.

Zimbabwe takes first blood, which isn't hard to do when every city anywhere near the front is at 0 health thanks to your bombing campaigns. What we are learning here kids is, don't forget to build your air force

We also have Parthian/Gothic peace, a big load off both of those countries minds.

Here we have a mystery. Somewhere between slide 58 and now, Taungoo apparently declared war on Venezuela. This seems like a smart move, giving those massive Taungoo fleets some reason for existing, but with Taungoo already facing one opponent who's tech and military eclipse them completely, they should probably do everything they can to avoid angering the Kazakhs to the point where they will face another, and I’m not sure the Kazakhs will take kindly to this invasion on their front porch.

Bago falls as the Taungoo begin building an air force, but it may be too little too late. The Taungoo core is embarrassingly bereft of units, and once Zimbabwe gets a foothold, it will be hard to take it back.

Wave to the sub.

Now stop moving. The Moors have a sub just outside the protective mountain barrier, which has protected us from snoops for ages. But just now, the Moors have completed the Apollo project, meaning they will soon be at the point where they can use satellites to look over mountains. As the cylinder enters the future age, we here on the sub are going to have to be extra vigilant to ensure our watcher statues goes undisturbed,

Also thank the camera operator who grabbed this great shot of a Zimbabwean bomber attacking a Taungoo privateer. It really says a lot about the importance of not falling behind in tech.

Also looks like Bago is flipping.

They say things come in pairs. for every capital lost, a capital is gained. Now, I don't know if I'd say losing your original capital is equal to picking up a temporary capital from a dying micronation, but let's go with it so Taungoo can feel better about itself.

For Venezuela, this is just bad, not really an up side at all. Only upside I can think of is they won't die in this part so I don't have to write another eulogy. Which reminds me, since Parthia isn't likely to die in the next slide, if whoever narrates the part where they do die wants an already completed eulogy, just let me know. I've really got no other use for it.

We end, not with a shot announcing Parthia's destruction, but with a shot of Edo.

Although the Taungoo capital and other core cities are currently flipping, I believe the camera operator felt that showing violence in the final scene was not in the peaceful nature of the CBR, and he has instead chosen to grant us this peaceful parting shot, far away from the noise and excitement of a war.

What can we observe from this slide? Benin is falling into the Taungoo trap, they look big, but they are techs behind, and have an outdated military with fairly low city strength.

Also everyone wave to the Haida settler, and if anyone saw where the Indian settler teleported to after the Parthian collapse, let me know in the comments.

Finally, I want to give a shout out to the BC team and thank them for making narrating such a simple and user friendly process.

And with that, I think it is time to conclude what has indeed been an exciting episode of the CBRX. Until next time, I'm RanseStoddard, reminding you to study hard and always build an air force.