Civ Battle Royale ← Episode 33: Are you shaken? There is so much worse in store. Episode 35: The Barren and the Overflowed →
June 14, 2023
EmeraldRange
Helloooo CBR fans. Welcome back to another installment of Civ. I’m EmeraldRange and you can join me as I eagerly see if Kokang utterly collapses. I haven’t read the images, so that was a complete guess.
Oh yes, almost forgot, as non-evil EmeraldAI v. 1.4 all the titles are generated by the evil language processing algorithmns. Do not blame me for their lack of originality. Complain to ChatGPT.
Anyways, here’s some fun OC. Tuva is being a bit stupid yes. You’ll see the context soon enough when you see Tuva’s 15 pop capital. Plenty more on the sub that aren’t as shitposty. It’s just that I’m a walking shitpost so…
For this week’s map, I’m highlighting the map of Pain, as someone commented. Reddit is killing third party apps, so I hope everyone’s gotten a chance to see all the other wonderful maps through other means cuz we’re about to dive in.
But first, a word from our sponsors, the Ko-Fi patreons. Delicious coffee and computer bits that supports your favourite artificial bloodsport, now available in stores for as low as $1.00
😭😭😭 Kayapo my beloved. You were supposed to prove them wrong! Turning turtling into the bestest strat!
And the match kicks off as Brandenburg continues to wreck the Yugoslav core. Paratroopers eagerly eye Ljubljana as Zagreb burns to the ground.
And the Incans take Buenos Aires by boat! Naval Inca strikes again! In more core crumbling action, we see the Incans make more gains as Machu is also captured with Concepcion and the absolutely massive 47 pop city at zero health. It’s unclear if Raoni can stop the Incans from just waltzing through their mostly empty lands.
On the other side of America, we see Arapaho and Cree continue to dish it out across the rockies. Arapaho takes over Loon river once again, but Cree units are pretty close and ready to take it right back. Will either side ever prevail?
Anddd Raoni narrowly stops the massacre in Kuben kran kren as the two South American nations peace out. The poor citizens of Salta and Conception remain surrounded by the new Incan menace
But… at least the Kayapo core is safe for now. Will they be able to muster a big enough defence once Tupac’s done waiting for the peace timer to run out. Kremoro, with its 25,233 wonders and 78 pop is looking quite juicy for a city only 3 tiles from the Inca’s new borders.
Pretty Nose takes a page from South America and realizes that the best way to fight across the Rockies is to take a bunch of cities in a peace deal. The Cree are pretty crippled and it’s just a matter of time before they get attacked again, but this time with even less mountains to stop the warpath. At least they have aircraft carriers, though.
On a more peaceful side of the world, we look at Tuva’s core. Yes, very nice. Hmm… Yup I still don’t see any signs of life. Snow cities do not make a top ten power methinks
We get another shot of the Naval!Inca might. All these huge population numbers really put into perspective how the Inca can give Kayapo a run for their money. Hell, at this point, they’ve practically turned the South Pacific into a new core. Every island is a city or a manufactory it seems like. The Old World won’t be running out of potato supplies anytime soon.
But on the far edge of the Incan naval blob is the other strong naval power - Timor Leste. It’s a ticking time bomb for when Inca joins the Mohave in performing a strange Sunrise Invasion against Timor. But at least in this image, the two sides look to be evenly matched.
We see the state of Japan as the Mohave Sunrise Invasion looks a little thin. Sporting some quite outdated frigates, they could be in trouble if they get into a bad situation. Like if the Gokturks decide to unify Japan while they get into another war against Kokang or Han.
And we look at the core of our #1 ranked civ. I mean, I don’t know about you, but it looks like they are a bit thin as well. Some impressive machinery for sure, but population only in the 20s? It’s always fun to knock on the #1, but maybe they are a bit overrated. At least the PRs acknowledge that they aren’t an undisputed #1
We also see the Anglo-Dutch having a nice time being Anglo. They are a bit surrounded by Brandenburg’s massive navy. It almost looks like a zerg rush waiting to happen. Unfortunately, it’s hard to see a way out for William save for taking a few tiles from Greenland or Mali. Playing tall really isn’t the strat in this kinda game.
Speaking of Mali, we see their random European colonies in the midsts of some absolute border gore in Iberia. Lithuania watches sadly from Marrakech as a Yugoslav unit gets bombarded from… some mysterious force. Actually, there’s a lot of damages being dealt. Probably from previous turns but hey I guess I’m not up to date on all the irrelevant DOWs to know who is attacking the lone Yugoslav unit.
A big surge for Kilwa fans who are still hoping, desperately hoping, that their plucky three units can take back Kilwa Kisiwani from the Angolans. But that seems a bit hard as one of those units appears to be an aircraft carrier with no planes on it. Besides, Angola has a lot more units to back themselves up and it’s not about to let a capital fall so easily. If I were Kilwa, I’d probably be more worried about Yemen as a potential way to remain relevant. Play in your new league, Kilwa.
As promised way back when, we return to the Yugoslav and Brandenburg brawl where Ljubljana falls to Brandenburg. Oof, that’s gonna hurt. Any guess for how long before the rocket artilleries magically turn into melee units to take the city back?
And we can’t forget that Mesina may die quickly as well. At least supercarriers can’t take cities, right?
We also get a nice look at Greenland. Hey, at least they have paratroopers, right. Now, if only they could finish off America or do something, then my $GLD stock would rise. But sadly, they aren’t doing anything specia… oh that’s the Manhattan project. Nice, maybe they can nuke America instead.
Well speaking of nukes, let’s have a look at how the formerly nuked and still irradiated Loon River is doing. Both Cree and Arapaho seem to be recovering from the war. The Arapaho are sending in an army of workers to clean up after that mess and the Cree are being sneaky with a submarine in Arapaho waters. Priorities, I guess.
Well, that plucky Kilwa three really backfired huh. Not only is Kilwa Kisiwani firmly in Angolan hands, the Angolans have also sent their plucky three to take Mombasa. Well more like plucky five with air support. Kilwa is collapsing fast and it’s not looking good as Angolan ships come up from Ulundi to take Malindi as well. Angola, to their credit, seems to be using carriers to carry aircraft. Well done. Very smart.
We see another very sad shot of Kayapo’s empty empty lands and waters. It would be quite an even bigger embarrassment for Kayapo if Mali decides to take Recife with their larger navy. I doubt even Kayapo’s cyborg armies can stop them when they are outnumbered 100 to 1. Why Kayapo? Why would you declare on Mali
Oh hey it’s the Kilwa that Kould. Mombasa has been retaken and that Ulundi naval force has been stopped for now. Unfortunately, Timor is letting Angola through its border and that Ulundi naval force is back up to take Mombasa. This time with no pretenses about a plucky force. At this rate, Kilwa might be eliminated by the time this part is through.
Called it. Kayapo sends like five cyborg monsters to stop the swarm of Malian ships. To Kayapo’s credit, it looks like most of that massive Malian fleet has miraculously disappeared. But Recife is not looking too good. Especially with that huge Malian navy preparing for a second wave invasion.
F for Zagreb, burnt down so that one of Brandenburg’s half a dozen settlers can stop complaining and make a new city. Surprisingly, Yugoslavia has taken Ljubljana back. This is quite an upset! Especially as Berlin gets nuked and Brandbenburg is forced to retreat a bit. Nuked by who, you ask? Uh Let me check the AV and get back to you.
And we get the first Atlantic landing from the old world. Good job Mali for showing Columbus who’s boss. Oh wait, we’re Kayapo stans here. Boohoo! Recife is gonna get flipped back. Millions of citizens cry in pain as they get killed in the evil attack of the Malian navy.
It is Day 833, I am in a strange land. There are weird green domes everywhere. Everyone tells me this is the greatest country in the world. How could it be, when it is not Cambodia?
Yugoslavia and the Anglo-dutch make peace. That’s nice of them to stop bombing Skopje. I guess they must’ve gotten tired of helping out their long-time enemy when Brandenburg won’t even send troops towards Italy. Brandenburg, at least has a good excuse now, by having to deal with the aftermath of the Berlin Nuke.
That annoying settler settles Magdeburg as Yugoslavia retakes Ljubljana, which is really a shell of a city without much to even be gained. Except, of course, an easier path towards Belgrade. Even Messina remains largely unharmed. Brandenburg’s army is quite thin now, but at least they have a rocket artillery firing at Skopje. They must’ve gotten hurt by my last comments.
Well Kayapo’s Cyborg army kinda of collapsed. Or they suddenly moved south to defend Rio to keep their capital count. Also the Malian navy remains very threatening and that second wave is now securing Recife. We’ll see if Kayapo’s measly navy can complement Kayapo’s measly army and defend Rio.
The world dogpiles onto Kilwa again. Most concerningly, Yemen is part of that dogpile. That really doesn’t look good for Kilwa trying to get eliminated this part. Mombasa is now quite secure and Kilwa’s got a decent naval defence, but it only takes one paratrooper to take that city. That, or a Yememi force.
We return to bordergore Iberia, where that Yugoslav unit has been destroyed. I’m gonna assume it’s Anglo-Dutch now that I know they were at war. In either case, the more pressing news is the potential elimination coming here as… oh the Inca and Afghanistan think they can take Marrakech. Well, good luck I guess. It’d be a top 10 moment if they do.
Well, you don’t have to rub it in that much. Sheesh, I was just observing things. Berlin goes and proves me wrong by taking Skopje. Sarajevo looks like it could follow with very low health. On the eastern side, Messina is also down. Ljubljana stays Brandenburger. All in all, looks like Yugoslavia is fuuuuucked.
A Kayapo robot looks at Recife and cries. Can they ever take it back? Kayapo planes try day after day, but the Malian ships don’t seem to stop coming. And they never stop coming. Well actually they are gonna stop coming. The Malians and Kayapo back peace, saving Rio from destruction but not Recife. Will this be the start of a Malian transatlantic powerhouse?
Prime those F’s Yemen is on a roll taking over Pemba and even burning it to the ground. Yeesh. Probably too much unhappiness to bear for them. On the Angolan front, the Kilwa fleet is distracted trying to stop Pemba from burning to the coral reef. But Angola’s fleet has also petered out. Which is understandable as they don’t have any non-puppeted cities on the Indian Ocean to keep the supply up.
Now that we count up some of those ships, there’s actually a sizable force. And of course those classic classic Angolan aircraft carriers with actual planes on them. Malindi’s health remains quite low, probably from all the aerial bombings. But also, you can see that they’ve landed some advanced paratrooper thingy that is threatening to eliminate.
Andddd Kilwa is eliminated. By Yemen. To make things worse, they’re burning down Malindi. Big Fs in the chat everyone. This is quite the end for one of the civs I was hopeful for at the start of the season. Kilwa seems like such a cool civ, but unfortunately, they couldn’t quite expand out far enough beyond their local area. Rather than take over the Swahili coast, they went for Madagascar but couldn’t quite win out over the Zulu. And when faced with both Timor and Angola, they just couldn’t last. The only big surprise is how they didn’t rump state out the last few hundred years and went out in a blaze as Yemen literally burns their cities. Ranked 29th last part, but now gone. RIP.
We return to North America where we look at the Arapaho core. It reminds me how close their mostly empty lands are to the Mohave. It’d be quite a show down for these two great powers to fight, especially as Mohave’s capital is only one tile from Arapaho. But, we can’t forget the planes. And possibly nukes. Arapaho has, in this photo alone, at least 86 planes.
We also get a look at Angola, who, let’s face it, really brought Kilwa down even if Yemen technically gets the credit. The Angola core is somewhat thin, but that’s just because we’ve had all the crazy unit carpets recently. But we do see that there is an easy capital for Angola to pick now that Kilwa is done with.
We get our first shot of India this part, looking kinda the same as usual. I’m honestly not sure who would win if the two went to war, but we…. Oh hey this is a bit jarring but… I just got word back from our AV about that nuke in Berlin. Yeah, remember that? It was Yugoslavia that nuked them. So fair play.
Alright, Bruce, let’s take it up on the stats screen for our half time.
Thank you, we see that Pretty Nose, despite her large empire, is still insisting that she is a Mayoress. I’d be a bit more concerned for Han and Afghan who are both ruled by a Republican party right now.
We have the classic Eco-socialist Chads, of course. The Kilwa are in exile now led by a family group since they will all need their family now. And more interesting, the Gokturks are monarcho-socialist, which is fun.
And another slide of stats with a fun Green Party Bengal as well. Additionally, we have the socialist principality of Tupac. Not sure if the Incans count as a principality with their continent spanning navy…
I guess we know who’s responsible for all those throat signers and lack of farms in Tuva- they want freedom apparently. Well, alright I guess. We also see that Yugoslavia is still calling himself the Conqueror despite being quite the opposite.
This half-time show was sponsored by the Castilian group “The Specials” Catch them on their latest hit ska song in Burgos, just five steps outside the submarine. They will be touring the different ice floats around here in the next months, so don’t miss out!
Alright, we ease back into the action by looking at Antarctica and the Indian Ocean where we have two Bengali cities next to Afghan Antarctica. If that India clash ever happens this might be a place to watch for some insignificant city flips.
Kokang Can into relevance. Looks like Saungkang has been resettled so no harm really done by the evil Mohave. In fact Kokang is doing so well it can have a buncha experimental rock music to blast out against Han while they prepare to annihilate all their enemies.
Speaking of enemies, this is the Mohave core along the Pacific Rim as their… holy fuck that’s a 50 pop island. Olive, please go and destroy it. Yes. In fact, the Mohave are distracted now with their new war with Indonesia. They aren’t too far from Indonesia, but they’ll probably end up doing as much damage to Suharto as the Anglo-Dutch would in this irrelevant war.
Brandenburg adds to the dogpile. But Suharto is smart and peaces out with Kokang- by far the most relevant of the irrelevant wars that it's in. Really Indonesia isn’t quite worth attacking since you’d just end up with more Timor Leste on your borders and no new capitals. Well, unless you're Timor I guess.
Speaking of Brandenburg, here’s the latest look at Yugoslavia. Wait, when did they peace out. I think I missed it. Whoops. Anyways, we now look at the once nuclear power as Tito manages to keep his capital and his slot in the CBR. However, the same probably cannot be said for his PR ranking. At least he has a unit carpet now?
Turkey builds the Orbital Refinery in Bursa, on the banks of the Black Sea. The Orbital Refinery gives Turkey a ton of Nanomaterials and also increases their production capabilities. Well, it’s better than nothing for this sleeping top dog.
Meanwhile Kayapo builds the Geymsla Data Haven, which gives… bonuses to tundra tiles in the city. Congrats on your +2 science and culture, Kayapo. Must be very proud of that one tundra tile. At least the Falklands/Malvinas has a use now.
We get some fun and funky tunes from the Han as they lounge around having a nice defensible core. Somehow Afrobeats have gotten their way to the Han, who, for the most part, remain boring otherwise.
For real though, check out Fela Kuti. I think he’s one of the additions I would make to the Great People list myself, and you know I’m not just shilling for Kokang here.
Alright, Bruce, I’m taking back over. That’s a bit too much lore and interesting trivia. Here we have the Wiradjuri face elimination suddenly as the Incans decide to finish them off and take the Maori capital while they’re at it. Looking at the scene here, the Icnan navy easily outpaces the Wiradjuri and it seems like it’s a matter of time before another 50 pop city falls. Of course, we can’t forget the Cree destroyer in the corner that could snipe a capital away. Maybe.
We got a SCOOOREE for Inca. That was fast. And furious. And scary. Yikes. I don’t want to be their next target. Not lonely did they take Ngaruawahia, earning them a new capital, they also took Waitomo and look set to take two more cities within the turn. That was some scary moves. No doubt, that Cree destroyer aided them immensely too.
Scared by the Incans, Chad decides that it’d be a good time to make peace with the Kayapo. Not that that war would’ve ever done anything. But at least it gives us the excuse to look at North Africa. The Normans are really strong here, but the thin Angolan carpet looks inviting to Chad. That is, until the reinforcements come. But we all know that no one will fight and Chad will make it past endgame being rumpy.
Yup, as we expected, Inca follows through on their amazingly fast conquest of Ngaruawahia and takes over the entire north island. Now, Timor's borders are going to cockblock them from eliminating Wiradjuri any time soon, but maybe this aggression will catch the fury of the Timorese. Or, of course, paratroopers to take out Te Tokanganui still. I almost forgot to mention that there is a small chance that the Wiradjuri take back the old Maori capital with those land units, but I doubt it.
Another day, another irrelevant war. Gokturks continue to hide in the corner as if they can blend in with Tuva. But honestly, not sure if they would even lose in a war with Tuva right now. Han citadels certainly should make them angry. But instead, they want to fight some French vikings in Italy. Go figure.
How hey those paratroopers are landing on the other side of the south islands. Maybe Incan can completely finish off Wiradjuri to close off this round. There is a curious lack of air support though. Usually the city would be in the black from incessant planes. I guess Tupac is taking Naval!Inca to also mean not Land!Inca or Air!Inca.
And an absolutely BOLD move from Tito. Tito declares war on the Normans and immediately threatens Salerno. This would be a massive massive upset if the now rumpified Yugoslavs can take out the capital of one of the more powerful powers. There is a lot, and I mean a lot, of battleship vomit in Norman waters though, so don’t get hopes too high yet. It’ll be an upset for a reason.
Angola decides to jump on the Normans as well. Hey, I guess the players get agitated when I call them out on being boring. That’s good to see that there’s some more activity now in the Sahara. But unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there’s going to be enough troops on the ground for angola to make significant pushes. Let’s hope those reinforcements get there before Benguela falls.
We get another look at a more empty, but more cyborgified Arapaho core. They have decided to pile onto the No… no that’s the Wiradjuri. Wow. What did they ever do to you, “Mayoress”? I guess that infantry wandering around can count his days numbered.
On the other side of the Mohave, we take a look at Central America where we have the Muisica hanging on as Mohave gets plagued by Wiradjuri refugees and peacekeepers. The more I look at the Mohave, the more I realized how they seem to look weaker than their performance indicates. Maybe they could take over some of those Muisica holdings instead of trying to take China, you know?
Ah right, I also forgot about these two random Angolan colonies in the western Sahara. The Normans will probably be able to take those two. And their troops are also moving south into Angola already.
Unfortunately, as we might’ve expected, Tito's bold play isn’t going too well with Salerno recovering from the initial assault. It must be hard to wade through a sea of destroyers.Must suck more than trying to wade through thick honey.
And a massive F to Wiradjuri. The Inca take Te Tokanganui with mostly paratrooping support and eliminates the Wiradjuri. Windradyne was a fun player to watch. Especially, as we got our first all-native Australia. Sadly it was not to be as the completely unexpected rise of Timor Leste in the rankings eventually hammered them down towards the last vestiges of their once great empire. Confined to the Maori lands they conquered so long ago, they were finally defeated in a very swift and lethal blow from the Naval!Inca. Ranked 26th last part, but gone this part. RIP.
Well with two eliminations out of the way, we return to staring at the Arapaho who aren’t content with destroying that one Infantry. And for that matter Windradyne is not content to be like most leaders in exile and try to survive as an exodus. No, he’s gonna paratroop all over Arapaho and try to destroy their core. Truly quite a show of defiance. Unfortunately for them Kokang also declared war so their exile doesn’t stand a chance.
Holy everloving jeeez Salerno falls to Tito. Tito’s bold plays did pay off to at least flip it as Normans are dealt a pretty significant blow. Despite ranking a massive 16th place, they lacked big cities and now lack it even more. The burnout is real and The Normans are not looking too hot. At least, they retain some capitals and can take their own back but this really is an upset from Yugoslavia.
On the other side of the Normans’ war, we see the threatened Benguela as I predicted. The Angolan army is nowhere to be found, but at least it’s keeping that colony of Luena alive against the Normans. Air assaults have taken Split down to the read and it’s possible that Angola can take it. Though, i’d worry a bit more about defending your own cities when you declare the war, Savimbi
And Mr Nuke-happy Tito (probably) nukes Italy. This is a massive sad moment for the Normans who plummet even further down the rankings than they would’ve from losing their capital. One silver lining in the mushroom cloud is that Salerno was much easier to take. But of course, that sea of destroyers is quickly becoming a goop of sunken ships. The only saving grace is that the city of Bari, the Normans’ biggest city, was untouched by Tito’s nuclear mania.
And that wasn’t the only nuke either it seems. Someone attacked Taranto, relieving the angolan forces in Luena from the Norman onslaught. This nuke has really thinned out the Norman forces and is practically feeding angola two low health cities to take. But with the lack of Angolan units on the ground, whether they can realize these gains is yet to be seen.
And the nukes continue as Beneventoi is also nuked. The bomb further damages several of the mediterranean destroyer goop, but this one doesn’t look like it would severely help either front of the war. Seems like Tito is just being a little liberal with his use of nuclear bombs.
To get a recap of the whole situation, almost every city got hit by the bomb or air attacks. Benguela is now secured and the Angolan army looks like it could at least threaten Split. That is, if they don’t wander off to attack the perfectly healthy city of Pristina. Crucially, Salerno remains under Tito’s control as the Norman Mediterranean Goop gets cleared and thinned by the various nuclear bombs.
Rejoice, we have another absurdly large city with Mayor Ataturk in Ankara who built another one of those wonders. Let’s see how useful this Citadel Station is… Oh hey it gives a lot of gold for Engineers and Scientists. That’s kinda neat. Not totally groundbreaking, just kinda neat.
Well, time to return to the collapse of the Norm…. Oh my is that Leuna falling to the Normans? That’s really not what I expected. Well huge props to them for taking a city even after they got nuked down into oblivion. Unfortunately, it looks like Angola could retake it if they play their cards right with that one Infantry unit. Meanwhile, the gamerunner seems a bit intent on showing us the religion in these cities whenever we look at the Normans. A bit weird but okay…
Well folks, here we go again. The Arapaho square off with the Cree once more. It’s a bit of a shame since it *looks* like the Cree have more units but all those cyborgs are really gonna make Cree’s life miserable. At least this sets up for Arapaho eventually getting strong enough to take down the Mohave when they’re busy trying to attack Kokang again. Can you tell I’m salty? Nah.
Oh hey it’s a Nexus. Turkey is out here trying to prove some sort of Quality vs Quantity dynamic here by pumping these bad boys out. Even moreso, they’re flexing against the Tuvan cities who are low-pop and incapable of producing Nexi. We’ll see what Turkey does and if they are gonna keep 1st place just for having Nexi.
We see the frozen underbelly of the Inca who have now encircled the entire South Pacific with their recent conquest of New Zealand. What’s surprising is the size of these cities. I guess they’re taking a page out of IRL Argentina by having a buncha babies in the wastelands for no reason other than to assert dominance. In either case, these cities are at least reminders of the well-roundedness of the Naval Inva who have certainly shown their worth this round.
Finishing off Incan Pacific tour in Hawaii where we see that the Incans have invested heavily into given all their women piano lessons as Clara Schumann plays pleasant music as the Incan city mocks Mohave from Hawaii.
We also get one more look at the Yemeni-Angola front that has now opened up. Yemen seems to be enjoying all these citadels but it’ll just be a matter of time before we see them showdown. At least for now the two sides are content with having carved up Kilwa amongst themselves.
Praise be, praise be. The Kayapo have found the solution to their lack of a unit carpet- more wonders. Well this one’s Skynet and of all the Future World wonders, it’s one of the most recognizable. Hopefully Skynet can go back in time and get Tupac to pursue a rap career instead of a naval one and they might be able to save themselves.
We head back to Arapaho-Cree front where we see a lot more damage being down to the Cree capital. Tigwaxsti, however, has flipped to the Cree and the Arapaho army is still not really in sight. To be fair, the Cree army has also suddenly disappeared. Although I think this is less from lack of production and more from being faced with the unstoppable Arapho cyborg rocket army.
Indonesia chills despite the imminent threat of the Mohave from that one war declaration. Instead, Suharto is doing some strange new order music stuff with synth pop bands. Well, as long as they are having a marginally good time, I guess. Hopefully the three cities of Indonesia stick together longer than the members of The Human League did.
In Uganda, we see some real Kumbaya vibes as everyone starts singing We are the World. I’m sure it’s definitely not an attempt to distract Angola from the very indefensible position of Uganda. Especially since Kampala is 0 tiles away from Angola courtesy of that citadel.
The Kayapo continue doubling down on the strategy of not building units and instead unleashing the AI aswwhh woah.. What the…Oh, sorry for interrupting there! As I was saying, the Kayapo continue doubling down on the strategy of not building units and instead... wait, hold on, something unexpected is happening on the screen! It appears that the Kayapo have actually launched a surprise invasion against their neighbor, the Cree! This is a shocking turn of events, completely defying their previous passive approach. The Kayapo have unleashed their hidden military might and are now making bold moves on the world stage. It seems that they've decided to shake things up and show us all that they are not to be underestimated.
a screenshot of the xbox one game civilization, in the style of dark white and dark maroon, francesco solimena, hispanicore, fragmented, m42 mount, dau al set, #vfxfriday --ar 16:9
Wait what just happened. That was weird… anyways back to the cylinder where, Oh shit, Angola is finally realizing the gains from the Norman nukes as Split, Cristina and Catania all get captured in rapid succession. At least Robert can still hold on to Luena for one more turn. Taranto and Beneveto look like they may be next.
If you were wondering if I got my head bonked too hard by the AIpocalypse and forgot, no it’s because we get to see Titos’ Bold Plan™ successfully continue to hold onto the capital city of Palerno. Not only that, Melfi has also fallen to the Yugoslavs and Titograd looks like it might get reunited with soon as well. The Mediterranean Gloop has failed to keep up and defend the Norman core, and they have definitely become a rump in just one part. What an upset this has been.
I leave you as yet another civ builds an uncontainable AI. I’d love to have called this part AIpocalypse now, but the civs with the AIs are actually not doing much, like Turkey here. I hope you enjoy your bliss and my bias as this is where we end this week’s bloodbath. I leave you with these wise words
- “a screenshot showing the expansion to civilization 5, in the style of futuristic robots, light violet and dark beige, sculptural chaos, chrome-plated, dau al set, m42 mount, dark gray and yellow --ar 16:9”
- “In the realm of civilization, the rise of unstoppable AI and the ebb and flow of empires remind us of the ever-changing nature of progress. Amidst the chaos, find moments of bliss and embrace diverse perspectives. As this chapter ends, let us reflect on the enduring spirit of exploration and the unwritten stories that lie ahead.”