Episode 7: Let Slip the Dogs of War – S4

May 07, 2024

Semiconscious

Abstract

In war, civilizations’ new identities are forged, and cities are irrevocably lost. In peace, religions grow stronger and blank spots on the map are filled in. Whether it be under the sword or dove, for each civilization, the Cylinder continues turning.

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1: [Insert Previously-Unused Welcome Here]

Hello to all who dare enter the wacky, wild fields of the CBR! Welcome to Episode 7 of this already great CBR. We’ve seen early empires rise and fall, and civilizations once written off staging a Qarmback out of nowhere. What will this newest installment bring? We shall see…

If anyone’s wondering about the title, it’s a reference to Hamlet. Not that I’ve ever read Hamlet, I’ve just heard the saying a lot before to reference the beginning of a war or conflict.

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2: The Return of The Map

All Hail The Weekly-ish Map! But in reality, these maps are so very helpful to me as a narrator to see a nice overview of the map. What cities are new, and what were fit in at the end of last episode? How do frontlines we haven’t checked in on in a while actually look?

As for Sonicfan’s in particular, I like how it appears natural and hand-drawn, as well as the dots inside city centers to indicate the city’s original founder. The Qarmatian-conquered Afsharid cities are particularly visually striking, and almost look like eyes staring out of the image at me.

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3: Osage Love

I’m partial to the Osage, and I wanted to include this meme to show them some respect. They were beaten down by the early game, thrown into the thunderdome with the Shawnee, and came out the other side stronger than ever. They’d pushed back the Shawnee and stolen their second city. Yet with a masterful defense (and definitely not because Pueblo are incompetent), Osage have managed to maintain their great empire of…4 cities. Oh. Well then.

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4: I don’t like coffee, but I love Ko-Fi

Thank you, as always, to all of the donors who allow this show to keep running. You’re much appreciated by those of us who don’t donate for allowing us to enjoy this great battle. Thanks in particular to longtime donors, for sticking with the show for so long through thick and thin. (I really should get around to joining this slide…)

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5: Anti-Qocho

At the top, as it will be for quite a while, is still the Faroes. So this week, like last episode, I decided to highlight the biggest gainer: the Dzungars. I’ve been a big fan of them since campaigning (as a member of the Three Oirats) and they’re performing very admirably so far this CBR. Not only have they settled effectively, they’ve established themselves a nice core somewhat where the Avi Mota Empire formed at the end of the last CBR’s first cycle.

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6: Spot the Siamese Scout

We welcome you to the action with a shot of a couple of new Siberian cities. Minimap watchers would’ve noticed these at the end of last episode, and the PRs noted them in the Latvia slide, but they just show how even the frozen north is now appealing. Latvia now has Jekabpils and Ventspils, while Kazakhstan added Oskemen to their already-impressive empire. Both of these civs are considerably outperforming expectations largely due to scary neighbors failing miserably. It’ll be interesting to see how they develop into the mid game - and see which one kills Kazan.

Also, is it just me or is the White Sea a lot bigger this season than it was in X3? I remember Lithuania’s cities up this way were built on what was almost a network of lakes, while there is a legitimate sea up here this time around. That should make for some interesting combat later, and I spy an English trireme in the corner of the screen too.

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7: Gungnaem Style

The Korean-Japanese-and-also-southern-Chinese coalition finds its first successIn the battle against ‘traditional’ China, as Goguryeo takes Xinxiang from Shang in what I’ll call a battle of the UUs. Both the Goguryeo unique horseman and Shang unique spearman have been mentioned before, so I don’t feel the need to bring them up again. Descriptions of them are also on the X4 stats sheet if you’re interested.

As for the battle itself, the city could still flip but given it’s behind a river from the Shang capital it would be a difficult task. You never know, though, crazier things have happened. Also note that the coalition has covered most of the Yellow Sea in their triremes; I’m expecting Yanshi to become a land-sea flipfest before long.

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08: Singa-poor

Oh dear, it seems Singapore’s fallen for the standard AI trick of trying to attack a city one tile inland with melee boats. I’m not sure if Singapore declared this war thinking they could take Bac Giang, but one spearman against the large Dai Viet army massing definitely won’t do it. Maybe they find Thanh Hoa, which is currently less defended than Bac Giang, but I don’t think the AI will. Prove me wrong, Lee.

Also, where is that Siamese fleet going? They aren’t at war with anyone, but that is a fleet easily large enough to take a semi-defended city. I’d be scared if I was Koxinga or Kennyo here.

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09: Hawaiiiii

Ah, a nice calm shot of Hawaii. There’s nothing going on here yet, but I could, as always, see it becoming a major Pacific battleground. Or maybe Bora-Bora just settle the islands to block everyone else. I wouldn’t put it past them. I personally think Ikko-Ikki will do it in another one of their wacky settles this game (no matter what, they have a goal to never settle northern Honshu).

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10: The PRs stole my thunder - again!

We see the new Harappan cities that were mentioned in the Power Rankings, this time with an additional one on Sri Lanka. Vijayanagara is looking more and more boxed in by the Diamond Lords, although it does look like Krishnadevaraya (sorry DocIdo) has three settlers out (one’s hiding out in Vijayanagara city), including one heading towards the tip of South India. It will be an interesting battle to watch, to see how similar it is to Afghanistan vs. Pandya from last CBR.

I just have to ask one quick thing - where did the Siamese settlers go? Just two episodes ago, Siam had a legitimate expeditionary force down this way, but now it’s just gone. Disappeared. I think those are the two settlers you can scurrying their way back to Bangkok at the top right of the screen, but why weren’t they turned into cities? Was Rama V too scared of Sri Pada to take advantage? AIs gonna AI, I guess.

Nazarbayev and Nader Shah make peace, too, concluding our first irrelevant peace of this episode.

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11: Pretty in Teal

We use the settling of Otrar to take a peek back at Mongolia. Overall, a civ that’s been doing a whole lot of nothing. They’ve been mostly sitting back and letting others settle (relatively so for a Siberian civ), thus letting some interesting cities happen - not only the Dzungars’ Hami, but Goguryeo’s reach with Yodong and Baegam. And of course, the seemingly apathetic loss of Old Sarai to Shang. It’s also interesting that what remains of Mongolia’s very small army is massing on the Selkup border - perhaps an invasion is imminent?

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12: How the Tables Turn

Well this war has changed significantly since we last saw it. Rather than the English threatening to navally seize Amiens, now Burgundy is threatening England’s Norwich! The English navy is scattered and it would be very difficult to lose Amiens here from Burgundy’s perspective. However, at this point, Norwich is completely cut off from any land support from York. Even York itself seems to be the victim of a few probing attacks from passing Burgundian spearmen.

Also spot the English settler on Ireland - hopefully it stops there and doesn’t try to explore the Atlantic. The one in the North Sea is interesting too, though -- could that be headed for the northern Dutch coast? Not sure if it’s possible to settle there, though.

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13: Northern & Southern Dynasties

Zheng and Shang both realize they are Chinese, share the “eng” sound to end their names,  and don’t want outside invaders stealing too much of rightful Chinese land. It’s also probably the case that both realized they were never making it through the forest/jungle/marsh mix of Central China. They decide to put aside their differences - for now. I have a feeling this rivalry will continue to flame up throughout the CBR.

Meanwhile, Yanshi is in the black with an Ikko-Ikki trireme right next to the city. It would be hard pressed not to fall next turn. And yes, I’m getting to the war declarations.

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14: The Dogs of War, Pt. 1

It seems the Taíno have woken up - and forced Gregor to wake up with them. The Taíno have a scary military, so I’d be pretty terrified if I was Gregor. The thing is, the Taíno fleet is for the most part off the south coast of Xaymaca or surrounding the New Holland settler on the Turks & Caicos. So really, Floridas just need to prevent the Taíno troops, which are flooding the Cuban straits, from landing.  And Big River is here for moral support too, I guess.

Oh hey look! Osage got a new city in Engru-Scah-Op-Pa in the Mississippi-Louisiana-Arkansas area. Good for them.

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15: Lincoln Logs from Irish Forests

Indeed, the English did end up settling Ireland and not doing anything stupid. That’s always a good thing, when the AI makes the obvious right decision in front of them. The Faroese menace is still there, lurking, waiting. Skuvoy’s borders are already massive, and will only continue to encroach on England.

In the war, meanwhile, it seems the relief of Norwich has gone surprisingly well. England has managed to break the land siege with a spearman, though in return they fully withdrew from any attack on Amiens. Again, I’ll get over to the DOWs when they’re relevant to the slide.

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16: The Dogs of War, Pt. 2

And here we see the true impacts of this war declaration. Tehuelche, too, finally awakens from their long South American slumber on the tip. This is in fact their first war this game, coming from the same Bora-Borans who blocked both María’s expansion as well as made sure Tehuelche would be so difficult to kill. Oh and Mexico is on Bora-Bora’s side for moral support too I guess.

 

I’m not expecting this war to really go anywhere, and I have to wonder if this war was only declared to kill that scout off Patio.  I could see some skirmishes occurring along the river in the neutral zone between the two, but we shall see if I’m wrong and Patio or Caleufu falls.

 

María’s UU, which you can see clustered in the Caleufu-Comlel corridor, is the Bolas Thrower, an archer replacement which reduces the movement of attacked units. It could be useful to slow BB’s advance across the otherwise open Pampas, but other than that it’s just a cool icon.

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17: Stable Ukrainian Borders

The Kalmyk invasion of Makhnovia has…fizzled, to say the least, with a big reason being that Ayuka Khan is leaving at least 10 units in reserve south of the Don and only committing 5 or so units to the invasion. The sheer number of rivers in the area doesn’t help either, though. Perhaps the reason Ayuka’s not committing is that he’s too scared of Möxämmädämin coming again for Kalmykian cities.

 

In terms of the other invasions and wars on this slide, Makhnovia’s war with Latvia has predictably stalled south of Daugavpils. I don’t think either side has enough units or will to take a city, though if any city falls it would be Latvian. Royal Hungary in the west is also pushing back, and has a couple of units within the city borders of Latvia. If Makhno had gone west from Rezekne instead of north, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was talking about how Liepaja was about to fall. At least Makhno has stabilized his borders for the time being.

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18: Amazonian Apathy

The Ecuadorian wars continue roughly how we thought they would when they were declared: by nothing happening at all. The war with New Holland is, as we expected, just a few skirmishes in the Amazon basin outside of either civilization’s territory. Though I must say, that New Dutch settler north of Ibarra is extremely bold. Meanwhile, the war with Mexico is going nowhere, just as it has for the past 24 turns of its’ existence. San Luís Potosí was settled last episode with only 2 tiles of land access, and Ecuador has decided it’s too hard to invade the city.

 

Settlers from Mexico and New Holland also dot the Caribbean – it seems the Mexican one is heading for Jamaica, where the New Dutch one may also be going? That’s more in the open Caribbean though, so I’m not sure.

 

Huyustus has also discovered the best way to counter the inherent weakness of scouts: send them off in groups. That way, if one dies, the other three can run away and keep exploring! They currently have Scout Group 1 in the Gulf of Panama, while Scout Group 2 is right between a few Ecuadorian cities. The scouts near Cuenca and Quito have been petitioning the government to form Scout Group 3, but unsuccessfully so far.

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19: The Fall of Shandong

And Yanshi falls! Ikko-Ikki have brought up quite a few more of their triremes from the home islands and Nagashima, and seem poised as mentioned to turn this into a standard flipfest. We’ll see which side’s units last longer, and which side is more willing to fight. As for the Xinxiang front, Shang has effectively cleared out most of the Goguryean units and threaten the city, but I don’t think they brought up enough units of their own. It also seems Shang is following New Holland’s example and using the Brave Settler technique to inspire the armies.

 

The resistance is Anyang, which we saw was also in Banpo back on slide 7 and I just forgot to mention it, is just proof the Shang UA is working. Daji has murdered citizens in that city to spawn a luxury and generate culture in the capital, Zhaoge. What bloodthirsty actions from a ruler.

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20: “What Has Been Taken Shall Be Regained”

We check back in on the Afsharids, who are rebuilding nicely after their surprising loss of two cities to the Qarmback. Bushehr was just settled by Nader Shah, an interesting name to say the least, given how the city is staring down from the hills at the lost Bandar-e-Bushehr. I also count no less than four more settlers, but I’m not sure where they can even go at this point. I think the one in Turkmenistan might be able to fit a city in there, but that would be the only spot that I can see.

 

You can also see the unique Qarmatian Great General in Bandar-e-Bushehr (the camel icon) which can be expended for Gold and Production in the capital, as well as duplicating when capturing an enemy city and/or holy city.

 

In war news, Harappa continues throwing units at Balkh. Great job Went-Antu, you’ll definitely take the city at some point…right? You’ve only been trying for…12 turns. All good things come in time.

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21: Begging for Mercy

We move the camera slightly northeast to see that the Kazakhstani invasion of Bukhara is going quite well. Herat is already being damaged, with a few Composite Bowmen able to step forward and shoot the city as well. The Nivkh scout and Dzungar spearman are effectively blocking any attempt from Bukhara to outflank the Kazakhstani units, too. I wouldn’t be surprised if the city falls, though knowing the AI, I wouldn’t be surprised if it holds either.

 

Bukhara hopes they can rely on the services of Kuchkunchi Khan, one of their unique Begs. The Beg is another Great General replacement, which when leaving friendly territory grants all units a movement boost and combat bonus outside friendly lands. Ending the turn in a city under resistance consumes the unit to end resistance and boost production. Kuchkunchi in particular was the third ruler of Bukhara after Shaybani and Kuchkunchi’s uncle Suyunchkhodja Khan. He ruled for some 19 years and reformed the coinage. Very interesting stuff.

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22: WAH

We check back in on the Wahgi, in a brief respite and seeming ceasefire in their war with Maguindanao. And, wow are Wahgi devoid of naval units. There are 2 triremes up north off Ambang in what I think is Micronesia or the Marshall islands. And that’s it. Wahgi have as many CARGO SHIPS and EMBARKED WARRIORS as they do actual naval units. How are you this bad at judging your environment Bol’im? To be fair, they have quite a few spearmen and archers on New Guinea, but you don’t need land units when fighting enemies on other islands.

I will just note the general lack of naval units everywhere in this shot. There are 4 Maguindanao boats, with one each from Siam, Dai Viet, Ikko-Ikki, and Nivkh. And…that’s it.

Also, go check out Orange’s OC on the Wahgi. I’m not sure what characters they represent (perhaps Wario/Waluigi from one of the Mario games?) but it’s a very cool drawing and use of the face in the Wahgi icon either way.

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23: Yes, that is a Pontic scout in Ireland

Norwich is actually going to fall here. It’s already in the red, and the siege that I thought was broken just a few short slides ago is fully back up and running again, with two Burgundian horsemen in the English Channel for good measure. The city is in the red and probably poised to fall next turn. Could Burgundy march on York next? I doubt it, three archers is a tough stack to get through, but given how badly Henry bungled Norwich I wouldn’t put it out of the realm of possibility.

I have to ask what the heck Henry V is doing. You have 6 triremes. Why are they all up defending York from the North Sea, rather than garrisoning and strengthening Norwich or harrying Amiens? There are no Faroese units in that sea. You would be well informed of any attack. But nooooo, you have to defend just in case rather than helping in the ongoing war on your doorstep.

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24: Bornu Again

We use the settling of the new city of Bornu to check in on the eponymous empire of Kanem-Bornu. This empire looks relatively okay in paper, but their stats are in the dumpster. Their lack of military doesn’t help, with only about 2 defending each city. If Saba D’mt and the Alaouites were to start a coalition war, I could see K-B easily squeezed. Speaking of the Alaouites, the army outside of Fez that we’ve seen these last few episodes continues to grow. What could it be doing? Which one of Ismail ibn Sharif’s neighbors will feel the weight of his blade?

I laugh every time I see those crazy Sierra Leone Mediterranean cities. Thomas Peters, you insane man, I love you and your wacky AI.

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25: The Dogs of War, Pt. 3

The dogs of war are released once again, as the war hawks in Trajan’s Senate have urged him into yet another difficult war with a neighbor, this time Shajar al-Durr’s Mamlukean Egypt. They say it’s revenge for a ‘Cleopatra’ being an anti-Roman agent in their previous wars with Burgundy, the Visigoths, the Alaouites, and Sierra Leone.

Rome actually could take a city off of the Mamluks here, something I never thought I’d say about a Roman war. Good for them. Rashid is very exposed, with only a garrisoned warrior and three Mediterranean Sea tiles for the Roman navy to filter through. I don’t think the Romans will go much further, though; taking a Saharan city or Cairo would require a level of land unit investment I don’t think Rome can afford. Messalia’s also a canal city, so even if Port Loko grabs the next sea tile, Rome can still reinforce the Eastern Mediterranean.

Unique unit time again! Rome’s, which you can see embarked in the Strait of Messina and regularly in Greece,  is the Singulares, a Horseman replacement that gains benefits from disbanding in the capital (teleporting it and civilians to a faraway city) and from being near Barbarian encampments. I don’t think either of these will come into use in the CBR.

One more note - apparently Nicomedia, on Crete, is a new city too. Good for Trajan, finding more spots to settle to further dominate the Mediterranean just like every Italy we’ve seen before.

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26: Singa-rich

We use the settling of Little India to check in on both Singapore and Maguindanao. Both of these civilizations are developing quite well, Singapore especially given their last-ranked start. Remind me again why the PRs ranked a civ in Austronesia last? Did they forget what happened the last time they did that?

To be fair, though, I would begin to be worried if I was Lee Kuan Yew here. Maguindanao has a sizable army on Borneo threatening Chinatown, though neither side has much navy to speak of. Singapore’s still throwing all of theirs in the Very Useful ™ attack on one-tile-from-the-coast Bac Giang, while Maguindanao’s lack of one was talked about back on the Wahgi slide.

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27: Caribbean Conflicts

This slide gives us a nice overview of the happenings in the Caribbean, between the two wars and settler races for the islands. The Taíno have indeed brought around their navy that had been sitting south of Xaymaca and have damaged Fort San Carlos down into the green, but it seems like more than just initial probing attacks are coming soon. Ecuador, meanwhile, has also managed to knock San Luís Potosí into the green. The only difference between the two cities being that the fort is right in the enemy’s core, while San Luís Potosí is right next to Ecuador’s own core.

The settler races also continue. It seems the bold New Dutch settler outside of Ibarra escaped any damage and acquired an escort to…somewhere. There’s also a third New Dutch settler somehow, which has snuck through the Taíno and is headed for the Turks and Caicos. Meanwhile, the Mexican settler I thought was headed for Jamaica is not in fact going there, but there is one more in reserve perhaps to lock the island down.

Scout Group Update: Group 1 has headed north to explore the forbidden land called ‘Mexico’, Group 2 has also headed north to see the rumored conflict between Ecuador and this ‘Mexico’ (though one was left behind to explore Ecuadorian Latacunga), and Group 3 has broken up with two attempting to catch up with and join Group 1.

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28: Sault Ste. Baaxawuaashalíko

The Crow settle a new city at the junction between lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior with a name I struggle to spell, so I won’t. They look quite remilitarized after the near-disaster that was the Yellowknives war, and ready to push into either their old enemies or fight the Pueblo at the gates of their capital (another city whose name I don’t want to spell).

In the meanwhile, the Shawnee have a settler out! Time to party, everyone! It seems to be headed for a nice spot somewhere in Michigan, though its options have been quite limited by the new Crow city. And if Thule settles with the southern of two settlers we’ve been following (yes, these are the same that went up and over the Yellowknives), then I think the city is completely blocked. Which, honestly, would be about in line with Tecumseh’s luck this game.

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29: O man

What a bold, bold forward settle by Harappa. In the wake of their Sri Lanka and Maldives cities at the beginning of the episode, Went-Antu throws down Sutkagan-Dor right on the doorstep of al-Jannabi’s Qarmatians. Went-Antu is clearly aiming to have some dominance of the Arabian Sea with these cities, a bold play seeing he has no port cities in his core. As for the new one, the city is currently completely undefended, so if al-Jannabi seizes the opportunity, he could have a nice new Omani port.

What is with this episode and massive armies marching in weird directions? This time, Vijayanagara has marched a pretty big army, complete with siege equipment and a Great General, into the unclaimed land in the center of the Harappan core. There’s even a settler, partially hidden by the Roman-Mamluk declaration of war! It will be interesting to see what exactly this task force is doing and wherever it might be going.

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30: A True Ethiopian Empire

In a similar theme to many other slides this episode, we use the founding of a new city to check in on someone we haven’t seen in a while. Saba-D’mt is doing quite well for themselves at the moment, especially given their lack of settling in Episode 1. They’ve recovered all the way up to now seven cities with the settling of Qohaito. The Mamlukean forward settle we were so scared of now looks small and weak surrounded by Saban caravans and unique triremes. Those units are Badans, which gain experience from spending turns next to luxuries and can expend XP in foreign cities to gain gold and golden age points. Also, one of the more southern ones has a Great Engineer linked to it, the first sighting of that Great Person type this season.

Saba’s also technically still at war with Ndongo, but the entirety of the war consists of allowing Saba to sacrifice a few ranged units to Kindonga, while Ndongo gets to get in on the Brave Settler technique for war.

I guess I should mention the Mamlukean settlers on the Nile, too. Hopefully they actually decide to stay on the Nile and not wander off into the Sahara as so many have before. In other news, the Crow and Thule make some irrelevant peace dea-oh. Oh no. Oh, no no no.

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31: And the Dunce Award Goes To…

Why did you do this, Joe Medicine Crow? You were looking so good. You could have been someone. You could have actually lived up to the reputation the PRs gave you at the beginning of this season. Your settling of Baaxawuaashalíko towards Quebec almost confirmed that - despite your bad early game and near-boxing by Yellowknives and Pueblo, you were working your way out of that box. But no. After fighting so long and hard against the equally incompetent Yellowknives to keep your third city, you threw it all away in this free gift to Javraganak.

To be honest, we’ve seen the original civ get over city gifts like this before. Take Nestor Makhno’s gift of Ekaterinoslav to Latvia as an example. It doesn’t completely wreck a civ’s game, but does push it back quite far. I just find it funny that this is the city the Crow were defending so heavily but then just handed it over. The units strewn outside of the borders of the city should speak to its levels of defense.

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32: The Long Siege Ends

Norwich does indeed actually fall, as I predicted some eleven slides ago. It’s surprising that when a civ has a city surrounded and on very low health, the city might actually fall! I’m most surprised it took us this long to get back to it.

Not only that, but Emilia Plater’s next great plans are coming into focus: there will be a small sacrificial detachment sent to land on Britain to distract Henry V. That way, the still-strong Burgundian army can push through the units stacked around York. That would allow the Continent to be freed from Islander influence once and for all. In real life, Plater was a Polish-Lithuanian countess who fought against the Russians in the 1830 November uprising. She’s now a folk hero in both nations as well as Belarus, and has drawn comparisons to Joan of Arc. It’s fitting to see her channeling the spirit of her western counterpart in fighting the English here.

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33: The Great Wall of Pakistan

Went-Antu, to celebrate the success of his new maritime colonial possessions, orders the construction of a Great Wall to keep out any invaders who might use the opportunity to invade the homeland. It’s a pretty good wonder in any situation, making enemies spend extra movement to move through your territory until the discovery of Gunpowder. Given how much Harappa’s cleared out the rainforest in their eastern territory, it essentially serves the same purpose as replanting that rainforest, while making it harder to cross the many rivers in their homeland. I’m most surprised about this massive army Harappa is gathering; if this is all to attack Balkh I’d call it a bit of overkill.

Speaking of which, Balkh is still undamaged. Yes, Harappa and Bukhara are still at war. In other news, the Dzungars already have Lhasa (gifted from the Khoshuts last episode) unpuppeted, and the Vijayanagar task force I mentioned the last time we saw this area has disappeared.

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34: Kazakhstan has never Bem better

The Kazakhstani attack on Herat we saw earlier has completely withered away; it seems Kuchkunchi Khan did his job on the Bukharan side. Now, the Nivkh scout stuck on the battlefield is working in defense of the city, as Shaybani uses his superior movement and horses to harry Nazarbayev’s armies’ retreat.

To turn the tide, Nazarbayev has recruited Jozef Bem. Bem is another Polish folk hero involved in the 1830 revolution, commanding a section of the Polish army there before fleeing the country, only returning in 1848. After that revolution failed, too, he fled to the Ottoman Empire, converted to Islam, and served as the Pasha of Aleppo. …I’m not sure a failed revolutionary is someone you want leading your front line troops, but you do you Nazarbayev.

Kazan also ends a couple of meaningless wars with Bukhara and Selkups, the former of which a Kazan composite bowman and Bukharan spearman would argue was very important. I think they lost Elista in the early stages of the war, but the city has been Bukharan for long enough that I can’t be bothered to check.

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35: One Less War

Makhnovia makes peace with Pontus, in a war that really never went anywhere. Mithridates is mostly looking south into the Levant or northwest into the Balkans, not north across the Black Sea, while Makhno is far more worried about the two other ongoing wars he’s fighting across the forest and plains of Russia. Speaking of those, we can see two important things about the Makhnovian invasion of Daugavpils. First, the Latvian defenders of the city have moved to the Royal Hungarian front, leaving it open if Makhno commits to it. Secondarily, the city is in resistance, showing that Makhnovia’s UA (edited to be that cities have a chance to enter resistance when units are nearby) is in fact working.

As for the other wars in the region, Ayuka Khan is still struggling to even get within two tiles of Huliapole, as Makhno seems to have summoned more defenders from thin air. The Latvian-Royal Hungarian war has also devolved into a bloody stalemate on the Latvian border, and I can’t see either side breaking through there.

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36: The Doves of Peace

As peace is declared between Saba-D’mt and Ndongo-Matamba, we take a second to take stock of the postwar situation. Which is to say, nothing really happened and it’s a return to the status quo ante. It seemed Nzinga Mbande realized the Brave Settler strategy wasn’t the greatest idea, and Makeda was tired of fighting a war through the thick Congolese jungle. Mithridates also gets a couple of irrelevant wars with Kanem-Bornu and Ume-Sámi off his desk.

As a side note, you do realize it’s okay to produce something other than composite bowmen to protect your capital, right, Nzinga? Right?

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37: Prideful in Pink & Purple

We use the aforementioned Pontic peace treaties with irrelevant powers to check in on our Anatolian Agitator for this game, who so far hasn’t shown the aggression we saw from Turkey last season. The ineffective campaigns against the Kalmyks and Afsharids combine to make an iffy war record, made up for by Mithridates’s sheer military might. That is a lot of units with a pretty balanced composition (the unique units are Chariot Archer replacements) for whoever is on the receiving end of Mithridates’s wrath.

As for the Roman-Mamlukean war, the main target city of Rashid is offscreen to the west, but as expected Cairo is not under threat whatsoever.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

38: Welcome to the Flipfest!

In what I believe is a first for the season, I think Yanshi is going to be a CBR classic land-sea flipfest. In what I don’t believe is the first flip (remember it had 5 population after we saw Ikko-Ikki take it), Shang has used their Yue Axeman to retake the city from an Allied trireme. This is their second-to-last melee unit in the area, however, implying that this might be one of the last flips. The question now is whether Ikko-Ikki can take the city to catapult into a later invasion of central China, or Goguryeo can grab it to put further pressure on Shang from the north.

On the other two fronts of this war, it’s all bad news for Sheng. No less than four archers have found their way out of Yoshizaki Gobo, and might begin to threaten Anyang. The possible re-seizure of Xinxiang we saw the last time the camera took us to East Asia has fallen apart, with nothing but a composite bowman and a city in the yellow to show for it. To put it simply, Daji is just running out of units to throw at the front-line against two powers with a combined production one and a half times hers.

This is why Daji ordered her Brave Settler to continue advancing. It must continue to inspire the troops to fight and protect it! All of her advisors saying to protect the settler are wrong! The settler serves far more use patriotically marching against Yodong than it does to make new cities! (Shhh, don’t tell her Goguryeo can capture it with a composite bowman next turn)

CBR In-Game Screenshot

39: The Great Settler Quest

I can’t say I didn’t think this was a possibility. In a move that honestly serves more as a needless fuck-you to Shawnee than anything else, Thule do indeed order the settler to create a city right on the tile it was sitting on the last time we saw this region. That Shawnee settler now cannot create a city anywhere in Michigan, if my counting of the tiles and distances is correct. Instead, Pituffik will serve as the second southern Canadian exclave of Thule, to go along with the recently-handed-over Báhkisee.

Interestingly, though, the settler that created Pituffik isn’t even the craziest journey on this slide. Not only are there  fellow Thule settlers in northern Hudson Bay and Ontario, there is a Faroese settler seemingly coming over from Greenland and a Crow settler poised to head into the Atlantic. I was afraid at the end of the last episode that the Crow would settle in Quebec and block Seneca. Instead, the Crow are just continuing east, into parts unknown. I think Joe Medicine Crow heard of the Brave Settler strategy and didn’t realize it didn’t apply to exploration as well. Oh, yeah, and that Faroese settler is coming to expand their colony in northern Quebec, too. Amazing to see the runaway #1 continue to run away.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

40: SUCCESS!

For the first time this season, Shajar al-Durr has decided that she likes the Nile after all, settling Damanhur just to the south of her capital. Instead of being a relatively useless Sahara-with-ocean-access city (looking at you, the entire rest of the Mamluk empire), this one allows al-Durr to embrace her Egyptian heritage. The second settler, unfortunately, cannot settle on the banks of the Nile, but hopefully it will only be a tile or two away to still get the relative-to-desert useful yields.

It’s not all good news for al-Durr, however. The Romans seem to have mustered up a strike force, complete with a couple of land units, to attack the nine strength Rashid. I’d be writing that city off at this point as basically lost barring a miraculous peace deal. The Saban navy also continues staring menacingly at Damietta.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

41: The Dogs of War, Pt. 4

Australia erupts into chaos once again, as the Noongar decide to kick out the New Guinean invaders. It seems Bol’im’s unwillingness to build units is rapidly coming back as a recurring problem, both in the war against Maguindanao when he lost Kuno and almost Korn, and now when Minj is in big danger. There are as many workers in the city as military units. The Wahgi are outnumbered 12 to 2 when it comes to units within four tiles of Minj, let alone the waves of Noongar reinforcements beyond that limit. Like Rashid, even though the city has taken no damage left, it seems as good as gone. Yagan’s already pretty solid control over Down Under is poised to become nearly rock-hard after this, and if I was Tarenorerer, I would be immediately sending diplomats to Mount Hagen with proposals of an alliance.

Yes, I see those DOWs on the right, I’ll get to them in due time. Just you wait.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

42: The Dogs of War, Pt. 5

Saying the steppe erupted into conflict isn’t fair. That would imply the blitzkrieg, rush-deep-into-opponent-territory tactics we saw last season in the Permian war. Instead, here, Vonya snuck through the taiga, and struck to surround easy pickings: the Kazakhstani city of Aktobe. The city has legitimately zero defenders, and in a trend we’ve seen the past few slides, is already gone for all intents and purposes for Nazarbayev. Even then, the number of workers in the north hides the true dire nature of this war: there are only 4 Kazakhstani military units north of Shymkent. There is a real chance that these workers are simply scooped up and Pavlodar, Semey, and Karaganda all fall to the Selkups. If I remember correctly, there is also an offscreen northern snow city, which could be an interesting possible pickup as well. But that one’s pretty far to the west so I’m not sure the investment would be worth it.

The Dzungars joining in this war is also nothing to scoff at. There is a massive army around Uliastai, which could very easily come down from the hills to threaten Astana. At the very least, it means units will be spent defending the capital that could otherwise go to the northern front. It’s also funny because the Dzungars are still at war with Bukhara, so now there is a three way triangle of conflict on the Kazakh steppe.

As a side note, it’s shocking to me that both of these countries are still producing useful settlers. The Selkups’ are poised to head to the frozen north, while Kazakhstan’s were likely also going up to that area.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

43: The Frog Has Landed

I was waiting until this slide to talk about the notification, because I didn’t want it to take away from the insane war developing in the steppe. Anyway, the Taíno have actually managed to take Fort San Carlos and land on mainland North America using the military we’ve been seeing move up that way. The question now is if they can hold it, and given the sheer number of units Gregor Macgregor has in Fernandina I’m going to go with no. The question is whether it becomes a Yanshi 2.0, devastated down to one population, or one side simply gives up before going that far. The Taíno are also nearly out of triremes in the area, but have a lot of land combat units hoping to disembark onto the mainland. It is just a matter of flipping…and waiting.

Aww, the Osage and Seneca are still skirmishing near Kanawagas. That’s cute. Nothing will ever come of it, but at least you both can say you tried. A little.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

44: Siameh

As a break from all this war, the showrunners decide to give us a photo of Siam, a profoundly middle of the road civ. Seven cities is nothing to be unhappy about, but their avenues for expansion are decidedly limited. They just settled the Andaman Islands with Chanthaburi, but other than on one-tile-islands or indefensible forward-settles, that is their last settlement location. As for that second option, it looks like they might try and fit a city in the Burmese mountain, but Dai Viet could easily cut off reinforcement lines. Overall, Siam needs to have a breakout. And soon, before other civs consolidate around them. Their science should help with that, but it will take a while to really start to kick in. We’ll see which option Rama chooses: expansionism and breakout, or science turtling.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

45: Paradises Amid the Jungle

On that note, we take a look at another civ in a similar situation: Mexico. Their amazing start hasn’t led to very much as of yet, as they’ve gone for a turtling strategy outside of the San Luis Potosí forward-settle. Yet that can be the problem with the Mesoamerican start: civs are too willing to simply turtle up and let chaos unfold around them, and when the winner of that chaos comes knocking, it’s game over for the Mesoamerican. We’ve seen that with Rio Grande in X2, when Marajoara arrived; with the Mohave in X3, when Arapaho came knocking, and in both of those scenarios the power had significant amounts of North American land. I think Mexico, like Siam, needs to do something. What that is, I can’t say. It definitely isn’t declaring war on the far-off Yellowknives, however.

Tiwanaku’s Scout Group 1 has mostly landed on the Central American mainland at this point, though Scout 1.4 is struggling to make it through the Mexican mass. Meanwhile, the northern Tiwanaku scouts are petitioning to form a new Scout Group 3 after the failure of the last one.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

46: Archer Duel

The war between Bora-Bora and the Tehuelche is going exactly like I thought: skirmishes are occurring along the border river, and no cities are seriously being threatened. At this point, the war has progressed to a stage where really only archers are left on land, and each side seems to be bringing up more melee units from reserve. María has also apparently heard of the Brave Settler technique of Daji and Nzinga Mbande, as she’s sent an escorted settler to the west side of the frontline. Perhaps it may be settled and turned into a forward operating base, or perhaps not.

Benito, why are you sending a settler towards the Falklands? Don’t you know what happened the last time Argentina (or a version thereof) tried to seize those islands?

CBR In-Game Screenshot

47: The Kings of North America

We check in on the PR leaders of North America by a full 10 ranks, the Pueblo. And they’re doing…fine. They’re sitting on eight cities, all above 4 population, all developing well. They just haven’t done much since the failed invasion of Osage, and it almost feels as if they’ve entered the stage that Mexico and Siam are in, just from a higher level of that metaphorical pyramid. They’re powerful, but that rarely means you can just sit around and do nothing, especially now in the still early game. Science turtling? Not possible when your Effective Science is below “powers” like England, Dai Viet, and the aforementioned Mexico. Instead, while they wait, Pueblo have opted to reform their religion of Kachina. Hopefully the belief actually does something.

Also, there are some irrelevant war declarations. al-Jannabi hears Pontus made peace with Makhnovia and decides to take Mithridates’ place at the war table, while Tecumseh screams insults all around North America for blocking his settler. Apparently the one he yelled at Akaitcho translated to “I declare war!” Bukhara also signs a peace deal with the Finns in another episode of “A War I Didn’t Realize Was Happening”.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

48: The Disappearance of Armies

We come back to the chaos of Eastern Europe, where it feels like everyone’s at war with everyone else at this point. The Makhnovian assault on Daugavpils has completely collapsed, with the army splitting up. I think a part pulled back to Mariupol to fight the single Latvian spearman there, while the rest went over to defend Rezekne. The only real conflict in this war, as it will probably be until peace, are the skirmishes near Jelgava.

The Kalmyk assault on Huliapole, if you can even call it that, has similarly fallen apart. Only 2 Kalmyk units remain west of the Don, with the rest withdrawing for literally no reason. Nobody else is at war with them, I will remind you. And yet Ayuka Khan decided defending the homeland against a nonexistent enemy is a better idea than pushing on a distracted Makhnovia.

As for the third war in frame, nothing much has changed. Latvia now employs swordsmen on the front line, but Royal Hungary has nonetheless managed to push that line one more tile back towards Liepaja. Both sides are considerably lower on units than they were just a few short turns ago, though.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

49: The Dogs of War, Pt. 6

It had been going so well for Charles the Bold. Norwich had fallen, York was at least threatened, and concessions were going to be so easily extracted from the English at the peace table. But Leovigild had to stab him in the back, as he announced in Toledo the campaign ‘to retake rightfully Visigothic Asturica and Autun’. It seems Charles’s “Great” General was only great at fighting against the English, not defending against the Visigoths.

In reality, it seems quite grim for Asturica. With only three units defending it and Visigothic units pouring through and around the Pyrenees, I think the city will be liberated before long. More importantly, this war after Asturica falls will serve as another drain on Burgundian resources. They can’t just leave Autun completely undefended, and that might let the English back into Norwich if Burgundy isn’t careful. In the paraphrased words of a quote I remember from last season, a human could handle this two front war. But can an AI?

CBR In-Game Screenshot

50: Overkill

It seems as if Shajar al-Durr agreed with my analysis that Rashid was indefensible, and pulled back the only unit defending the city proper to save it, too, from capture and destruction. The Romans responded to that withdrawal by bringing even more triremes in. As well as even more ground support. Mind you, after what I think is one turn of attacks, the city is already on half health. These forces are completely unnecessary, but Trajan needs this to be a convincing victory to show his power over the Mediterranean.

After this, given the train of units coming over from Greece, there is a nonzero chance Rome tries to take Mansoura. I would give them considerably worse odds of taking that city than Rashid, but it’s not impossible. Again, like Rashid, the city is undefended and on 9 strength.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

51: The Expansion of Religions

We use this slide to explain what reformation belief Pueblo got just a few short slides ago. It seems to be Merit and Endowment, allowing the AI to use faith to purchase science buildings. This would be a really good belief to have, especially given Pueblo’s +10 faith in cities with 10 followers and 135 total faith per turn. Just one issue…the AI does not know how to use the purchase mechanic. Welp, looks like another religious belief down the drain. The rest of the religion also looks subpar, giving culture, production, and faith from quarries, gold from cities and allowing the AI to purchase culture-giving Madrassas. There also seems to be a bit of an issue with the Altars belief, but I can’t imagine it would add anything to seriously improve the very situational religion. Shawnee’s nearby Lutheranism is far better, if only for the Defender of the Faith bonus.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

52: The Leaning Citadel of Pisa

Ouch. This just hurts. In what can only be described as an extremely nasty citadel, Bavaria has stolen at least 2 and perhaps 3-4 tiles off of Carthago and Rome. The citadel also just makes the city of Carthago look ugly. It’s now a misshapen mess with a bite taken out of it. All so Ludwig can have a couple tiles of sea access for an inland city. A Mad King indeed.

There’s really not that much else to say about this slide other than that nasty citadel. All the cities here are pretty well garrisoned, and we can’t get a peek into the developing Visigothic-Burgundian war.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

53: Split 2.0

Just like in the last season of CBR, we have a random European civ settling a desert city in the Sahara to begin sand production. Instead of Yugoslavia settling Split and Pristina, now it’s Burgundy dropping Nevers between three Alaouite and one Sierra Leone city. The city really only exists for the meme value, as it’s a flat desert city with a mountain and a couple of sources of perhaps silver or gypsum? Either way, I can’t see the city being all that valuable to its homeland, especially given the ongoing two-front war.

The Sierra Leone cities on the Mediterranean still crack me up, just thinking about the insane journey past Alaouite lines that they would’ve had to take. And Nevers actually makes Waterloo marginally more defensible, by giving the Alaouites another easy target in the area as well as breaking the Alaouite encirclement.

Rashid also hasn’t changed health since the last time we saw it, which makes sense as the turn hasn’t rolled over yet.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

54: The

Looking back at the Qarmatians fully after an episode of ignoring them, it’s difficult to not be impressed by their comeback. They had been sitting uselessly on two cities since literally the first 10 turns of the game. And out of absolutely nowhere, they attacked the PR #2 in the entire cylinder and won. Handily. At this point, I think al-Jannabi might just be saving up and waiting for Round 2 with Nader Shah, or perhaps a strike at undefended Saba-D’mt-owned Tamna or Pontic Eupatoria. And yes, they may have lost out on Oman to Harappa of all civs.

But honestly, the fact that the Qarmatians are still in this game is a testament to how well the Qarmback was timed and executed. Al-Jannabi struck right when the Afsharids were at the top and feeling cocky, as if they were impossible to defeat. And yet, they were fallible just like everyone else. As for wars here, Balkh, the one city actually being warred over near this image, is just offscreen. We are thus sadly unable to check in on that very important front of this world at war.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

55: “The forests spoke Selkup”

The Selkup attack on Aktobe has begun in earnest as Kazakhstan begins to really feel the pressure of this 3-way coalition war. While at the moment, only horsemen are actually attacking the city, there are no less than five spearmen advancing through the woods. And the Selkups have smartly cut off the road that would allow for reinforcements to the city. In other words, nothing has changed, Aktobe is doomed.

As for the other fronts, the Dzungars still haven’t really come down from the mountains. I think they’ve started moving towards Astana, but I’m not sure how many units, if any, actually moved west last turn. The warrior currently sitting next to the city’s borders may have been the forward scout party sent to examine Astana’s defenses.

Bukhara, meanwhile, has been the greatest beneficiary of the coalition war at the moment. They were already well on their way to lifting the attack on Herat, but it is now officially not under threat and instead Kazakhstani Taraz is in the yellow. In fact, that city might fall even before Aktobe, in what is a very good reflection of Muhammad Shaybani’s ability to conduct the war. While Bukhara may not have the greatest stats, their AI has shown they know how to fight wars well.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

56: The Frozen North, Eastern Edition

We look a bit to the north of the front line to check in on the settlers we saw in the area upon the declaration of war. Indeed, two of them have created new cities in Kazakhstani Atyrau and Selkup Karganak. Vonya also has two more settlers about ready to grab up more of Siberia, hoping they can create cities before the Mongolian settler on the Arctic Ocean. The lack of military units up here also implies that Vonya will probably only take Aktobe, maybe Semey, and maybe some southern cities, probably leaving Pavlodar and the trans-Uralic ports for some other time.

Also, because I checked the minimap for other Arctic settlements, I think the Brave Settler strategy from Daji (Shang) actually worked, somehow. The settler seems to have escaped all the way north to the ice cap, where it has plopped down a Shang outpost. Why is that useful? I’m not sure.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

57: Central African Enhancement

As Kanem-Bornu enhances their religion, we use the opportunity to take a look at their empire. And it’s just a nice 8-city empire in the Sahel, nothing to be too proud of or unhappy about. They might manage to fit one final city in the northeast of this shot, but we shall see who wins that settler race between K-B and the Mamluks.

I would say the same thing as I said to the American powers when it comes to doing nothing, but Idris Alawma did just expend a good portion of his military to take Bo last episode. So, he gets a pass. And in fact, given that their best invasion target is either the Alaouites or Saba-D’mt, it would be an actively bad idea to invade. The army in Fez hanging like a sword of Damocles over Sierra Leone and Kanem-Bornu ensures peace on that front, while a good portion of the Saban army is still on the Ndongo front after the end of that war.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

58: Mu’tazilan Might

And here we can see the belief that Kanem-Bornu just added to their religion, that being Reliquary. Gaining faith when a Great Person is expended is a good bonus, but I’m not sure whether it works with their faith-reliant UA (Connected cities inflict damage based on faith output). Is the faith output faith per turn, or just faith generated on that turn? If it’s the second, this belief gives Kanem-Bornu a lighting bolt of damage on all enemies in case a city is threatened. Which would be scary, to say the least.

The rest of the religion isn’t too impressive, giving a bit of production from the Worship building, pastures (pantheon), and maybe holy sites (Follower), as well as gold from cities and holy sites. None of the best beliefs, but we’ll see if K-B can use Reliquary effectively.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

59: The Dogs of War, Pt. 7

As if this theater of war couldn’t get any crazier. Rumor has it the war started because Elizabeth Báthory thought Makhno wasn’t contributing enough to the Liepaja shared front line with Latvia and sent him a strongly worded diplomatic letter to that effect. Makhno was of course insulted by this and, egged on by William Slim, declared war on the Royal Hungarians. In real life, Slim was a World War I officer serving in Gallipoli and Mesopotamia and the commander of the Burma campaign in World War II. He later became the Governor-General of Australia.

In game, the newest front in the Eastern European clusterfuck looks like an immediate regret for Makhnovia, as Hungarian units around Kassa could threaten Mariupol. I don’t think the city is that threatened by the assault, especially given Latvian units could also attack the Hungarian spearmen. But I’ve been wrong before.

As for the other ongoing wars, Latvia-Makhnovia is basically in a state of ceasefire at this point, with one Latvian swordsman perhaps fighting a couple of Makhnovian spearmen. In the west, Latvia has pushed the front line one tile back towards Komaróm. Congratulations, five units sacrificed for two tiles of territory liberated. Meanwhile, Ayuka Khan has continued withdrawing from the aborted assault on Huliapole. If Makhno were to then attack, he would get hit with a hornet’s nest of archers and chariot archers, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Makhnovia-Kalmyks II devolves into a stalemate as well.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

60: A Shocking Development

Wow, Rashid actually fell! I’m shocked! It’s not like I’ve been saying that’s probably what will occur since this war was declared. I can’t see Shajar al-Durr flipping the city given the lack of units around it; as mentioned before, the city was permanently lost when war was declared.

However, in good news for the Mamluks: based on the deployment of Roman troops (or in reality lack thereof), I can’t see them pushing through to Mansoura. Nor would I think Trajan want to, given its isolation in the middle of the Sahara. So I think this war, like Makhnovia-Latvia, is essentially over and we now just wait for the peace treaty.

It also looks like Pontus is at war with the Mamluks, given the attack on and damaged units in Cairo. That war has apparently been going on for twelve turns at this point, which is surprising given I didn’t even realize it was happening,

CBR In-Game Screenshot

61: Flipping and Flopping

The land-sea flipping of Yanshi continues, as both Ikko-Ikki and Shang are almost out of units. Shang’s nearest melee unit is over in Anyang and on near-zero health, while Ikko-Ikki has one trireme and then a few damaged ones near Nagashima. The question is whether Kennyo can manage one more flip, because I don’t think Daji can.

As for the other fronts in this war, Daji has completely given up on any hope of retaking Xinxiang at this point, and Gwanggaeto isn’t pushing anymore on northern China. Meanwhile, the four archer army in Yoshizaki Gobo has combined with the first swordsman in Asia in what may just be an Ikko-Ikki push on Anyang. I’m not sure anything will come of it given the rough terrain, but it is definitely something to watch if this war continues.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

62: Flipping and Flopping (America’s Version)

Wow. The Florida peninsula has been completely devastated, as the mass of armies and fleets we saw has been completely destroyed by the constant flipping of Fort San Carlos. The city, at this point, has fallen all the way down to one population. It now becomes a question of attrition - which side will give up last, or which side has more units to force the other one to back down. At the moment, it seems Agüeybaná is launching a diversionary attack on Fernandina in an attempt to bring around the first eventuality. We’ll see if that works.

I haven’t been talking about it much, because I didn’t think anything would come of it, but the Osage have been at war with the Seneca for quite a few turns now. It seems Pawhuska finally decided to do something about the source of the constant skirmishing, and sent a well-equipped force to deal with Kanawagas. The city has already fallen well into the green, and while there are three horsemen (famously bad at attacking cities) around the port, I still think there is a good chance of an Osage capture.

Say hello to all the Tiwanaku scouts everyone! These ones left too early from the homeland to be included in Scout Groups.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

63: The “Dogs” of “War”

Could I have gotten away with calling this war between the Khoshuts and Vijayanagara a true war? Sure, they’re technically neighbors and might see a few skirmishes, so it would probably count. But do I think more than a couple of units will die? No. This war is contained to the very small two-tile passage between Siam’s northwestern colony and as such, nothing much will really come of it. Both Chandragiri and Dege are well enough defended as to not be in danger, and the narrowness of the pass means not many units can be shot at or attacked by either side.

I will apologize to Siam, I didn’t realize Ayutthaya could be settled there. I called any settlement in that area “indefensible” with “easily cut off reinforcement lines” but Ayutthaya is actually a pretty good city. It blocks the pass through the mountains, and can be reinforced easily from the coast as well as Nakhon Ratchasima.

Harappa and Dai Viet also acquire Swordsmen. The science smarties are quickly showing their separation from those lacking the brains.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

64: The Dogs of War, Pt. 8

As promised at previous times, I always make sure to get to the sidebar war declarations when they’re relevant. And hoo boy, is the declaration on Goguryeo by Nivkh relevant now. While some of these cities are pretty well defended (given their 3-5 population status), Pyongyang is most definitely not. All of the units defending that city were sent south to the existing war front. And yet even Gaemo, in the north, is under threat with multiple Kakh Tu unique archers bearing down on the city. It’s really only the thick forest and scattered mountains defending the Goguryean empire.

We can actually spot the first couple of Kakh Mu we’ve seen this game off the coast of Ngyl’vo and Tyr. They generate food on sea resources and are the boat version of the Kakh Tu which dot the taiga.

Also Honsho-Ji exists lmao

CBR In-Game Screenshot

65: Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken

Tecumseh knew what people would think of him after his earlier outburst at the combined leaders of North America. He’d just gotten word back from Thule, as well as the Tiwanaku scout acting as plenipotentiary for their government, that the insults he’d hurled their way were unacceptable and war was required to hash out the details. But he knew something they didn’t. His settler could continue traveling, even if it couldn’t stop in the Great Peninsula. He could show Thule how important he was by taking Pituffik, and he could kill that rude Tiwanaku scout. He’d show them all.

In reality, I think the only consequence of these war declarations is that Thule might capture the Shawnee settlers. I don’t see a naval invasion of Pituffik as too likely. The slide also showcases just how stupid the Báhkisee cession was, as well as how small Shawnee really is on this map.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

66: The Dogs of War, Pt. 9

Koxinga decided he wanted some more of this Dai Viet cake after failing to capture any the last time around. Thus, given the failure of the first war, he decided to take a page out of Singapore’s book and attack navally. It makes sense, as I definitely can’t see the land attack going anywhere, given the thick jungle and numerous rivers between Anping and Thang Long. The triremes, however, have a very slim chance at grabbing Thanh Hoa. Given, however, that two of the five are already at half health and the city is still in the green, I think this war will go the same way as the first: sunk in the rivers and seas of South China.

I also have to apologize again to Siam, I didn’t realize they in fact now have nine cities, as I forgot about the one on Luzon. Their fleet also continues going north to nowhere, now being almost all the way at the Japanese colony on mainland China. Where it’s going, nobody knows.

Shang also settled a new city of Qiangliangang in Yunnan, and I’m not sure if Xixiahou was here either when we last saw the area. Zheng is also poised to drop a city on Okinawa.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

67: Rare Mogadishu Sighting

In what is a first in a very long time, we get a good look at the Mogadishiwi empire after the founding of Merca on Madagascar. And it seems Abu Bakr ibn Umar decided to lean into the historial roleplay a bit too much, as he’s gone for what looks like an old trading empire. There are a few outposts scattered over huge areas of nothingness, open ocean and land just waiting to be colonized. One thing you can’t say is that Mogadishu is lacking for space; I count 6-7 more city locations solely on what’s in frame. One thing you can say is that they’re lacking the will to settle it. And if they won’t, perhaps hostile powers who’ve shown their expansionism, like Harappa and Noongar, may settle the Indian Ocean instead. Time will only tell if this currently low-ranked tall power will play a bit wider in the future.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

68: The Counterattack

The Kazakhstani wars rage on, in what is about the same level of confusion as the Makhnovian wars a bit to the west. The allies are definitely more successful than the anti-Makhnovia alliance, as Taraz is in the yellow and Aktobe…is still in the green. You’re seriously telling me that the city the Selkups are throwing the majority of their army at has more health than the one Shaybani is attacking with two horsemen, an archer, and a composite bowman? Vonya, what are you DOING? Though I will say, this attack on Taraz is only adding to my already-high opinion of Shaybani’s ability to conduct wars.

Meanwhile, the Dzungars are attacking…Bukhara. This is your reminder that originally, Kazakhstan declared a joint war on Bukhara with the Dzungars. Then, later, the Dzungars stabbed Kazakhstan in the back and declared a joint war on them with the Selkups. But instead of attacking their new enemy, Galdan Khan has decided that his ancient hatred of Bukhara overpowers his ability to (if he commits his army) march on and take the Kazakhstani capital. No, instead, Dzungar troops will skirmish with Bukharans closer to Uliastai than any Bukharan city.

Went-Antu also screams at Nestor Makhno that Harappa’s the only civ allowed to use the colors black and near-white on the cylinder, and declares an irrelevant war on the anarchists.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

69: A Tale of Two Cities

One was bathed in red, the other in cream and maroon. One was in the green with nearly no health taken off it. The other was in the red, with nearly no health left. Such is the tale of York and Norwich, as Burgundy abandons any attempt to defend the latter in a goal to take the former. Yet Charles the Bold has decided the best way to do this is by sending units to encircle York like he did Norwich. Just one problem: York is considerably better defended, and thus, I can’t see the encirclement (and thus the attack) succeeding. Meanwhile, there is a chance a single English trireme could flip Norwich back to the English colors. If that does happen, the nearest non-engaged Burgundian melee unit is the warrior down in Autun.

Speaking of Autun, while we can’t see that front, it’s clear Burgundy took the threat seriously given the number of units headed south. I hope we can check in on the invasion of Asturica itself on a later slide.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

70: “One must think like one’s enemy”

After the abject failure of the naval attack, with one boat dead, another almost there, and the city barely damaged, Koxinga has returned to the drawing board on how to best go about this war. A land war it would have to be. So, to understand better if a land conquest of Thang Long is actually possible, or if suing for peace is a better idea, Koxinga recruits Rani Durgavati to scout the Dai Viet defenses. Durgavati in real life was a regent of a small Indian princely state which fought against the Mughals, so another warrior woman to add to the list of those we’ve seen so far. Her expertise in jungle warfare lead to her recruitment, and that same expertise will be tested if Koxinga decides to continue the war.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

71: A Concentrated Assault

Ecuador has decided to recommit to the attack on San Luis Potosí, as they throw multiple composite bowmen, horsemen, and a scattering of other units at the city in an attempt to take it from Mexico once and for all. And in my mind, they probably will. Mexico has all of one chariot archer defending the city currently, and perhaps another archer to come up and reinforce it. But given its standing on the edge of the peninsula, one can never be sure.

On other areas of the screen, it seems the Taíno are currently in control of Fort San Carlos, but it could flip back at any time. There are also now ten Tiwanaku scouts in the area, with the ones on Central America I believe being Scout Group 1 and the ones in the Caribbean near the Mexican settler being Scout Group 2. Speaking of which, there are three Mexican settlers in this frame to replace San Luis Potosí. I think Mexico will be just fine if they lose the city.  

CBR In-Game Screenshot

72: Flipping and Flopping: Goguryeo Edition

Yanshi has, shockingly, flipped yet again in this seemingly permanent flipfest. This time, however, Goguryeo was the one to steal it out from under the noses of Ikko-Ikki. And given the lack of Ikko-Ikki boats (only two, both at half health, in the Yellow Sea), if a Coalition partner will hold Yanshi, it will almost certainly be the Koreans. Meanwhile Shang, at this point, is having to actively pull units away from other fronts to sustain the permanent flipping. Emblematic of this is the undefended Anyang, where a single Yue Axeman and Archer are using some kind of magic tricks to prevent Ikko-Ikki from running in and easily taking the city. I don’t know why Kennyo hasn’t attacked with the entire force yet.

In the north, meanwhile, Shang at some point settled Xiaotun to replace Xinxiang in their empire. More cities for the current leader in city count on the cylinder. In bad news, however, the Goguryean army is threatening to catch up with the navy’s southward progress as they march into the borders of Zhaoge for the first time. The seemingly unstoppable Goguryeo steamroller continues moving southwards.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

73: Okinawaaaaa

Indeed, as I mentioned the last time we were in this area, Zheng has settled what I believe to be Okinawa with the new city of Chaozhou. There’s not that much on this slide that hasn’t been said before: Ikko-Ikki continue to exist, with their unique worker, the Siamese fleet is still going north, and Koxinga’s army is still in the south. Koxinga is now incredibly boxed in given the Shang settles, however, with a similar situation to Siam: where to expand next. We shall see if that inevitable breakout attempt comes in the form of another attack towards Dai Viet, or a turn back north towards Ikko-Ikki or Shang again.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

74: Forward settles are still a thing?

We check back in on the Bora-Bora-Tehuelche war and indeed, María got a bit too scared of committing to Brave Settler and instead dropped down a forward base of Maguinchao. That now becomes a very flippable city for Bora-Bora, as they have units literally at the gates of the new settlement. Logically, therefore, Tehuelche has begun rushing their unique archers north as reinforcements to guard the city. The suicidal warrior charge across what can now only be described as the River of Blood also serves to slow down the BB attack on the new city. We’ll see how well it goes, but I think (especially given it’s on the south side of the river) the city will most likely hold.

While these two minor players are duking it out, other civs are coming in to steal territory around. Big River has (as expected) settled Pelotas on the Islas Malvinas; with so few naval units on this side of the South Atlantic the city would be difficult to take. Tiwanaku, meanwhile, has a settler on the coast south of Atacama which may settle, as well as another just behind it. That could lock Bora-Boran South America out of any contact with the home islands, as well as blocking any settlement expansion of the colony. And while it isn’t another power, Tehuelche also settled Cona Niyeu on one of the Chilean islands to get up to six cities, which is pretty impressive given their start to this game.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

75: In other settling news…

Mexico actually starts dropping cities down in the Caribbean where we’ve been seeing their settlers recently. La Puebla is newly created in Cuba, while Oaxaca is on Jamaica. There are still 2 more settlers headed west to the spice islands. Perhaps most surprisingly, though, these cities are actually defensible. The Taíno navy is for the most part either still near Boriken or sunk off the coast of Fort San Carlos. Meanwhile Mexico has three triremes amid the colonies and three more just outside of the Monterrey port.

In the Taíno-Floridas war, just as in the East Asian flipfest, nothing really has changed. The Taíno continue taking the city with embarked units or triremes, and Gregor Macgregor continues taking it back with units marched south from Fernandina. The diversionary attack on Fernandina was either destroyed or pushed back, as expected, leaving the Taíno barely holding on to Fort San Carlos.

Say hello everyone to the three New Dutch settlers, all of whom are going somewhere, I’m not sure where exactly. Also say hi to the ELEVEN Tiwanaku scouts, of at least two different Scout Groups and likely the remains of the original attempted Scout Group 3. Kanawagas also falls into the yellow in the corner from Osage attacks.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

76: The Hooks of Death

This slide is here to showcase the unique Faroese work boats, the Grindadráp, as well as our first sighting of Pilot Whales. The Grindadráp is more expensive than the work boat and takes a few turns to complete improvements, but is not expended and claims adjacent neutral tiles, explaining the sheer number of tiles owned by Vestmanna in Hudson Bay. As for the Pilot Whales, they are a unique resource that temporarily appear in Faroese territory and can be seen just to the left of the island, I believe.

There are some other interesting notes on this slide, however. Thule is poised to settle Baffin Island, as well as perhaps add another city to their eastern Canadian colony. On that note, what’s with random civs and having colonies in eastern Canada? The Faroes, Thule, perhaps Crow…who’s next? They also seem profoundly uninterested in the Shawnee settler, perhaps letting Tecumseh actually get another city down for real this time. Vijayanagara and Kazan also make peace in this episode of “A War I Didn’t Realize Was Ever Happening”.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

77: A Very Relevant War & Peace

In what can only be anger after losing Rashid, the Mamluks declare war on Kanem-Bornu, giving us our third, or maybe fourth, shot of this area this episode. I’ve lost track. This war doesn’t really seem like it will go anywhere, in all honesty. Only if Kanem-Bornu actually bothers to care about a useless Sahara city will it go anywhere, and I don’t think they will. Even then, the loss of another desert city doesn’t really hurt Shajar al-Durr that much. Overall, a pretty “meh, whatever” kind of war declaration for neighbors on the map. If anything, the war might bring K-B units away from the western frontline in the event of an Alaouite or Sierra Leone invasion

In other news, the Afsharids make peace with the Finns. Wow. Amazing. How interesting.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

78: More Screams Into Darkness

We use a useless declaration of war on Osage to check in on the Thule core, something we really haven’t seen a great shot of this game. The UU scattered around (that looks interestingly quite like a spearman) is a composite bowman replacement which can move through ice, after combat, and automatically damages units when moving next to them. In terms of how their core actually looks, this is a pretty solid six-city empire. That’s the problem though. With so much empty land nearby, closer towards the Yellowknives, the Thule still have only 7 cities (reminder of Pituffik on the Great Lakes). So they just really need to make more settlers, and send them a little closer to home next time rather than on a Comanche-style journey.

Some more irrelevant wars are declared as al-Jannabi joins the anti-Kazakhstan “coalition”. I have to wonder, why did all of the irrelevant wars and peace deals for this episode come all at once? Is there an unknown disease infecting these leaders known as “Declare War On Turn 103?” One wonders…

CBR In-Game Screenshot

79: The Changing of the Guard

Singapore makes peace with Dai Viet as they realize something that hasn’t quite gotten through Koxinga’s head yet: Thanh Hoa is really, really hard to take with just triremes. So Lee Kuan Yew willingly accepts the peace deal offered by Tran Thanh Tong, just as more Zheng triremes show up to the party. I guess Rani Durgavati cautioned against the jungle invasion, but Koxinga still wants to hurt Dai Viet in any way possible. Even if it’s by just pushing Thanh Hoa into the green at the cost of five top triremes, it still is worth it.

Also, wow, Dai Viet has a lot of missionaries. The religion is successfully spreading throughout East Asia; we’ll see if they ever declare any offensive wars where the new Holy Wars mod comes into play.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

80: A New Entrant Joins the Fray

Möxämmädämin decides it’s about time to declare another war that he wants to start, and chooses to join in the Kazakhstani wars. Kazan could be a great help in the ongoing attack on Taraz…or they could struggle getting through the Urals and have their army dissipate into nothingness. I’m leaning towards the second; the Urals are a fearsome mountain range. Even if they don’t contribute to the war, though, they can at least have the victory that they settled Cheboksary as their fifth city. Aw, that’s so cute, says Kazakhstan who’s all the way up at 10.

Speaking of which, what is Vonya doing? I would’ve expected the Selkup army to have easily taken Aktobe by this point, but instead, the city is not only standing, it’s in the green! Semey, a city with zero defenders when the war started, now has four units blocking an attack. Karaganda has three, and Pavlodar even has two units. The workers no longer outnumber the units up in the north! At this point, I’m wondering if Aktobe is as much of a write-off for Kazakhstan as I thought it was.

The Bukharan assault on Taraz has also fallen apart, with the death of both horsemen attackers. The city has regrown up to the green, and I can’t see it falling anytime soon to either Bukhara or Kazan. It looks like Kazakhstan has weathered the worst of the storm at this point, and now has a chance to get out of this coalition war intact if Kazan doesn’t make too much of an impact

CBR In-Game Screenshot

81: Mongolia Once Again

We return again in the closing few slides of this episode to Mongolia after their stray war declaration against Bukhara. Again, just like the other ones a couple slides ago, it seems like an irrelevant war, cast like so many others into the “Nothing will ever happen in it” bin. As for Mongolia itself, they are rapidly heading towards that bin as well. With just seven cities sat on the edge of the taiga and with middle-of-the-pack science and production, they risk falling into the depths of mediocrity just as so many Karakorum-centered civs have before them. To avoid this, Sorghagtani has decided to send her entire army…north to the Arctic to escort a single settler to its new city location. Maybe the army is going somewhere, possibly to attack the Selkups from behind, but it was at the same location at the beginning of the episode so I’m disinclined to think so. Perhaps it’s meant to be like the Alaouite army in Fez, created to hang as a threat over any other civs nearby who may think about invading. I think we’ll find out soon enough.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

82: The Underbelly of the Subcontinent

Vijayanagara settles Mangalapura at the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent, emblematic of where the civ as a whole is standing right now. They’re by far the bottom dog in India, well below Harappa and Siam and significantly lower than the Khoshuts in both Power Ranking and overall situation. With just 5 cities and very few expansion options, the dream of a powerful southern Indian empire is rapidly looking like it will not be fulfilled in X4.

As for the war declarations and peace treaties…Rama V declares war and joins the Kazakhstan coalition. How interesting. The Mamluks finally manage to make peace with Pontus and stop the random attacks and pillages into Cairo. Good for them. And…oh. The Sword of Damocles has come crashing down on Idris Alawma’s head. The Alaouite army in Fez is marching on Kanem-Bornu. We won’t actually see the outcome of the invasion this episode (why I’m okay mentioning it here) but it’s definitely something to be excited about for next week.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

83: The End of Attrition

The War for Fort San Carlos seems to be coming to an end, as both sides run out of units. Gregor Macgregor is down to just three warriors near Fernandina and a trireme in the Bahamas, while the Taíno have two triremes, one attempting to flip back the city for a final time and one locked in battle with its Floridian counterpart. At this point, I’m inclined to believe Gregor will hold on to his (very devastated) city at the cost of most of his military. I can’t see the Taíno mustering up enough forces to retake the city again, as even if the boat next to the city can flip it, the Floridian trireme will arrive to continue the cycle one more time.

I think Fort San Carlos was Agüeybaná’s gambit to get back into this game, and it just barely didn’t work. At this point, I think him and his civ will be stuck on Caribbean islands, waiting for a bigger fish to come around and swallow them up.

Kanawagas also seems to have been successfully saved by Seneca, as Osage at this point is only able to pepper the city with archer shots, not really decrease its health below the yellow. So close and yet so far for the Osage.

Say hello to the now twelve Tiwanaku scouts this time!

CBR In-Game Screenshot

84: I’m Back…Back Again

Maguindanao are back for what seems to be the umpteenth time in an attempt to capture Korn. It was apparently flipped offscreen numerous times last episode, though Mag left it alone for most of this one. I don’t really think three triremes will be enough to take and hold the city, given the forces we saw in the Yanshi and Fort San Carlos battles. Ultimately, it might just be an attempt to extract a better peace treaty out of Bol’im, but I guess we’ll see.

Uh, Yagan…why hasn’t Minj been captured? The Wahgi have one trireme and one catapult in the city and your forces have managed to put as much of a dent in the city as Vonya’s have to Aktobe. I thought you could be marginally more competent, with your actual melee units and not just horsemen, but no, Wahgi is just as impenetrable as Kazakhstan. I won’t even chalk this up to a bad war record - the Noongar effectively destroyed Palawan hope at being the sole rulers of Australia just a couple of episodes ago. It’s just that for whatever reason this episode (outside of the Roman capture of Rashid), the easiest cities to capture have turned into the hardest of eggs to crack.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

85: Like the Sands of the Sahara

The Mamluks make peace with the Rozvi, a war neither of them needed and thought about committing to even less, and we take the chance to check in on our favorite Egyptian girlboss. Somehow, the war Shajar declared on Kanem-Bornu might actually go somewhere as Idris Alawma sends a detachment to actually seize Minya. I expect this city, given its undefendedness and eight combat strength, to fall as easily as Rashid. I’m not sure why K-B aren’t using these units in the west against the Alaouites, but I guess we’ll never know.

If the city falls, the Mamluks will be left on very few cities and even less hope. They’ll have just four cities, no army, and surrounded by hungry neighbors like the Alaouites, Rome, Pontus, and Saba-D’mt, it doesn’t look too good for the future. Their stats also won’t help carry them out of the irrelevance bin, as they’re in 56th place with 31 effective science (The Taíno, for example, have 51). So perhaps the Rozvi peace deal was an acknowledgement that Shajar al-Durr too is condemned to the same situation Changamire Dombo finds himself in: nothing but an afterthought.

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86: Feeling a Little Orange

We return to South America to check in on the Tiwanaku, who we haven’t seen too much of this episode. They’re doing quite well for themselves, with the recent settle of Atacama I mentioned back on the most recent Tehuelche-Bora-Bora war slide. They also have the settler out to the south, poised to expand their city count to 10 very productive and well-defended mainland cities. Overall, an empire from the Andes that looks very powerful and easily able to carry this power over to the midgame. Though I must say, why are they building so many scouts? You can see Scout Group 4 beginning to form north of Ojjo. Why? Why do you need four whole Scout Groups if they’re all going in somewhat similar directions, Huyustus?

Big River also makes an appearance on this slide, with their little three city empire. Wow, do they look small when compared to either New Holland or Tiwanaku. Any invaders would have a hornet’s nest of units to get through, but there are simply so few cities that I think Big River would still quickly lose any war they got into.

CBR In-Game Screenshot

87: Sad Medicine Crow

As the penultimate slide of this episode, we return to the source of its greatest mistake: the Crow, gifting the city of Báhkisee to the Thule for absolutely nothing. The Crow thus became nothing more than a line of a civilization, with barely enough units to defend their capital and second city. A stark juxtaposition exists between them and the Yellowknives, who currently own most of the Canadian north sweeping into the US Pacific Northwest and sit on eight cities in frame alone. This is your reminder that the Crow were actually winning a war against the Yellowknives just a few short episodes ago before giving up on taking Ti Cho.

Other than the showcase of how far the Crow have fallen and Yellowknives have risen, I guess this slide also shows a DOW on the Osage from the Yellowknives for approximately no reason. The Pueblo and Crow serve as buffers between the two North American civs. However, the Thule also declared war on the Osage a few short slides ago. Could these war declarations signal the start of a second anti-Osage coalition?

CBR In-Game Screenshot

88: Balkhing at the Opportunity

We end the episode on another shot of a civilization ineptly trying to take a city: this time it’s Harappa, who tried for the entire episode to take the basically undefended Bukharan city of Balkh. They never could, as shown here. In fact, I think this push down into the green is the most damage Harappa has done to the city all episode. Hopefully Andreas Prokop can help Went-Antu break through. Prokop might be Prokop the Great of Bohemia, a Hussite general who led a portion of the army during invasions of Saxony, Plžen, and Nuremberg. Or he might just be a cell researcher. You take your pick.

That concludes this episode of the CBRX Season 4. Thank you so much for reading my rambling, often strange and long-winded narration. I hope it allowed you to understand the slides in a somewhat comprehensible way. Have fun, good luck, and live your best life until the next episode of the CBRX Season 4…next week!