Civ Battle Royale May 22, 2024
PorkBean
As dawn breaks in the Common Era, battles become all-out wars as ferocious sieges lay ruin to cities all across the cylinder. Rivals are made into enemies in this exciting installment of the CBRX4.
Hello all and welcome back to the fourth edition of the CBRX. I’m PorkBean and I’ll be narrating through this action-packed episode. The game has just entered year 1 and many empires are making their way towards Medieval Era technology, so we’ll see which cunning leaders can use these new developments to make breakthroughs on their respective fronts.
u/sonicfan0511’s map at the end of Episode 8 shows us the blossoming borders of the cylinder, with much of the map now snapped up by ambitious civs. Expansion by other means will quickly become the only way for our competitors to secure their places in history.
A painting by artist u/3the1orange6, depicting the historic warlord Moreno of the Ecuadorian Horde at camp, oil on MSPaint. The future conqueror of South America’s contemplative expression shows a complex understanding of the responsibility weighing on his shoulders.
Thanks as always to our generous Ko-fi patrons. You’ll always be welcome in the sub’s mess hall, where the finest Babylonian beans are crushed into caffeine juice for your enjoyment.
I’m writing this before seeing the PR slides so I’ve no idea who’s top this week, but I’m guessing it’s Rio Grande. Bento Gonçalves has played an utterly dominating game so far and hasn’t even needed to settle more than five cities, win any wars, or build much of an army. Just in case the Faroes hold their position, though, I’d say they’re lucky to be so far from South America and better not set foot in Bento’s turf.
We pick up along the chaotic Burgundian coast, where England has once again prised Norwich out of Charles’s grasp. The European Yanshi remains surrounded by Burgundian troops, however, and without a peace agreement there’s no sign of this flipfest coming to an end anytime soon.
In more bad news for Charles, the Faroese fleet has arrived in greater numbers and is hammering the coastal defenses of Amiens. Without a plan to draw at least some of these conflicts to a close, there's little hope of Burgundy coming out in a favourable position - but Charles seems intent on picking even more fights around the globe, expressing his displeasure with Kazakhstan.
And as the notification tells us that Norwich has indeed once again changed hands, we pan over to the end of the Zheng-Dai Viet conflict. Tran has managed to successfully repel each of Koxinga’s advances so successfully that the mighty king has finally decided to call it quits.
Qarmatian units close in on Dioscurias, a horrifying ordeal for the two surviving citizens cowering behind the walls. Mithridates’ army is vast but thinly-spread, and his mounted unit scissors are being expertly countered by the Qarm’s spearman rock. Abu Tahir has also landed a horseman outside the burning Harappan city of Sutkagan-dor, meaning he finally has a chance to put an end to Went-Antu’s Arabian colony.
Orders from High Priest Kennyo down to the unruly peasants are treated more like guidelines, as the edict “Go and settle northern Honshu” is ignored once again. Hokkaido is a near enough approximation, however, and Yamashina offers a little bit of security to the Ikko-ikki’s far-flung meme-colony in Kamchatka.
Open warfare erupts in the South East Asian seas, with peace between Zheng and Dai Viet leaving the latter free to set their sights on Maguindanao. The only thing Tran is missing in this epic naval conflict is a navy, like the one quickly engulfing his undefended island city of Thai Nguyen. Given the land/sea disparity between the militaries of these two powers, I foresee a lot of coastal city flips if this becomes a prolonged conflict.
Roman Legions sweep through the city of Mansoura unopposed, all part of the plan to encircle the prize of the Nile - Cairo. The Mamluks are in ruins - no army, no navy, half their cities without Walls and huge regional powers breathing down their neck on all sides. It’ll be a shame to see them go, but mainly because all their neighbours fly purple banners and the colour clash is going to be horrible.
Long a major flashpoint in the eastern hemicylinder, the remaining people of Yanshi enjoy a brief respite as Kennyo pulls out of the War of the Four Kingdoms - leaving the city momentarily in Shang hands. Two Kingdoms remain at arms, however, as Daji desperately marches to recapture the city of Xinxiang from Goguryeo. While the Ikko-ikki might not have left this conflict with any gain in cities, their resultant military buildup on the mainland means that Yoshizaki Gobo should be a secure hold for now.
The walls of Dioscurias crack. Half its citizens are immediately put to the sword, while the other is left to tremble under the Qarmatian boot. Sutkagan-dor is guaranteed to fall in turn, leaving the only things standing between Abu Tahir and the unification of Arabia are two undefended Pontic cities and a pesky Saba-Dm’t outpost hiding behind some rocks. Mithridates has finally launched a counter-offensive in the north at the city of Bandar-e-bushehr, hoping to use notifications as cover to sack the city undetected.
And those notifications lead us to the burning city of Aktobe, reeling from its recent conquest by the Selkups. Though it might seem like a waste to throw back such a juicy catch, Vonya is better off getting rid of it and settling along the river himself to trigger his fish-producing UA.
Meanwhile, the sidebar notifications reveal a three-way coalition war being declared against Mexico.
It escapes me what Maximillian did to earn the ire of his co-continentals, but the Pueblo, the Floridas and the Crow have all decided they just Plain Don’t Like Him and team up to take the Mexicans down. The Pueblo army is quite mighty but concentrated along their northern border, which will give Max time to move his own units up to secure his numerous chokepoints. This war will either be a meat grinder, or a pre-ground nothingburger.
Norwich (King Henry V) has been captured by Burgundy!!! I’m not sure how many exclamation points that event merits but three is definitely too many. What does get some !s out of me though is the retreat of the Faroese Armada from what looked like an easy capture. York is also under serious threat from a renewed Burgundian advance, Charles having managed to wheel two catapults within range of the city’s walls. All potential melee units nearby are severely damaged, however, meaning that if Henry can focus his fire strategically the city should remain in English hands.
Win or lose, this war will still have devastated Burgundy. Bavaria could blitz across their eastern border virtually whenever they like, and with what little remains of their army Burgundy could do little to resist. They are also still at war with the Visigoths, who are stuck south of the Pyrenees for now but if they ever open up that southern front we could see Burgundy quickly collapsing on all sides.
Panning down to West Africa, Sierra Leone’s Saharan holdings in Kenema are reduced to rubble by a very archer-dominated Alouite army. Ismail ibn Sharif has brought four melee units along for the ride, though they are mostly meek and outdated warriors - careful targeting of the nearest military units by Thomas Peters and his composite bowmen could delay the loss of this city despite the desperate circumstances. Once it’s gone, however, it’s gone - Sierra Leone has no melee units of its own in the area either.
Tróndur í Gøtu executes stage two of his planned unification of Scandinavia: a trireme-heavy invasion of Mother Norway. This puts the cities of Jokkmove, Piteje, Vittangi and Likssjuo in peril as the Ume-Sami have only a measly four ships to Tróndur’s twenty-six in this slide. The Faroese will need land units to push further in, however, especially if they hope to march towards the inland capital.
It’s worth mentioning that despite relenting in the blockade of Amiens, the Faroes remain at war with Burgundy and the capture of Arras would be an incredibly trivial side-quest for the fleet if they decide they want an easy beachhead.
Saba advances on the city of Bornu, hoping to leave Kanem-Bornu as merely Kanem as the war progresses. Idris’s cities can deal passive damage based on their faith output but only if connected to the capital, which it looks like they have mostly failed to do. Ndongo’s conflict with Sierra Leone is ongoing but they are still yet to construct any ships, meaning all the two sides can do for now is take pot shots at each other across the gulf.
Over in North America we get a shot of the bulk of the Yellowknife army, stationed in the city of Ndilo. These forces would probably be better deployed helping their southern ally Pueblo in the fight against Mexico, but you can never be too careful around the Thule.
The Faroese colonization of the Americas is a largely civilian-led expedition, with a truly vast number of unique work boats patrolling the icy waters in search of pilot whales. It will take a war with a competent naval foe to clear out all this flotsam, as these naval workers never obsolete and aren’t consumed when they construct an improvement.
Mindful of their new European neighbours, the Seneca send out settlement parties to carve out at least some of the remaining land for themselves.
Kazakhstan decides upon a Horde form of government, taking notes from the Selkups currently stomping one of their cities into ash. I count a whole one mounted units among the newly-formed Kazakh Horde, which is really not keeping in the spirit of things.
In more urgent news for the Kazakhs, they’re still at war with six civilizations, three of whom are their direct neighbours and one of whom is Kazan, which has just parked their own army right outside the city of Taraz. Once it falls, the path to the Kazakh core will be completely open on all sides.
The Harappans are booted from the Arabian Peninsula, over which the Qarmatians are tightening their grasp. With pressing issues in the south dealt with, Abu Tahir would be wise to start hauling his units north as quickly as possible to meet the Pontic counteroffensive on Bandar. The Qarmatian army is far superior to Mithridates’ forces, but that won’t matter if they don’t arrive on time.
Nothing bad ever happens in the lands of the Palawa. Sure, they got bullied a bit that one time by Noongar, but now Noongar is ferociously squabbling with Wahgi over some random city in the Top End. Wahgi themselves are stagnating in a war with Maguindanao. Life is good. All Tarenorerer has to do is wait, build a customs house, settle random islands, and watch as her neighbours desperately try to learn war. You’ll take that top Oceania spot in the PRs yet, champ.
With the Pontic European Army consisting of two guys in a field outside Amastris, Elizabeth Bathory commits her forces to attempt a capture of Gaziura. Mithridates’ tech disadvantage is really going to hurt here, and he could be kicked to the other side of the Bosphorus in relatively short order. In typical fashion, however, Royal Hungary has deployed disappointingly few melee units to the front lines, so this could either be an exciting new front or a disappointing dud.
Whatever the Alouites are doing to Sierra Leone, Kanem-Bornu has decided to do to the Alouite city of Salé. Yes, you can overwhelm the city with the might of the archer Spam strategy, but a half-dead horseman is not suitable melee support for a siege.
Speaking of Sierra Leone, they’re trying to patch things up in their newly captured city of Tétouan. The Visigoth fleet has arrived at Waterloo, however, meeting little resistance. Thomas Peters’s Berber holdings might not hold for very long.
In the least committal conflict ever, neither Nivkh nor Goguryeo have really felt the need to do more than pillage a handful of tiles on each other’s border. While Nivkh might look stronger in this shot with its high number of unique units, those are more or less just regular archers with no combat bonuses and a fancy naval unit alternative form. If they want to make any inroads into Korean territory they had better take the opportunity now, while Gwanggaeto’s main force is tangled up further south with Shang.
A setback for the Qarmatians as they fail to reinforce Bandar in time, which falls to Pontus. Burning the city might be a critical mistake by Mithridates, however, as the fire fuels the flame of the last days by supercharging Qarmatian units with infinite movement. The charred ashes of Bandar could just as easily be a springboard for Abu Tahir’s invasion of Anatolia as it could be a morale boost for the Pontic people.
As ever, bad things are happening in the land of the Palawa. Controlling most of Australia’s iron mines, the Noongar have brought their shiny new swordsmen to the border and launched an incursion near Nipaluna. The Palawan land forces are for the most part only able to field spearmen, however they do have a naval ace up their sleeve with which they could attack Yagan’s coastal cities.
Norwich (King Henry V) has been captured by Burgundy!!! Again!! I didn’t even notice it had changed hands before it unchanged hands, but there you are. Burgundy is throwing everything they have at pushing the English out of the continent, with York’s position weakening without naval support. Henry is down to his last trireme, so this grueling conflict might just end in Charles’s favour.
Kazan seizes Taraz from Kazakhstan, securing an open-terrain border and road with the core Kazakh city of Almaty. Nazarbayev could really do with a peace deal with someone who isn’t the Qarmatians, or his actually relevant conflicts are going to end with his capitulation.
Tran Thanh Tong predictably loses the city of Thai Nguyen to the Maguindanaoan fleet, which has secured the island effortlessly with just a token force. Kudarat is much more interested in the Siamese city of Ubon Ratchathani, which King Rama also has no hope of holding on to. Mag has become largely unchallenged on the seas, with no single naval force able to stand up to their prowess. A mainland invasion of Vietnam seems unlikely, however, as Dai Viet now has only one coastal port at Thanh Hoa and it is reasonably well-defended.
While ne’er-do-wells in the seedy gambling halls of the CBR Discord server take bets on who might beat Ikko-ikki to northern Honshu, Kennyo takes the initiative and - surprise! - finally settles it himself. There’s even another settler on the way up, so we might see Japan unified by a Japanese power for the first time in basically forever. Nivkh may be poking around with a couple of exploratory units, but any attempt to squeeze a forward-settle in at this point would be risky at best.
Tarenorerer dispatches her navy to assault Pinjarra as Noongar units tiptoe towards Nipaluna. The Noongar have the opposite problem to most militaries on the cylinder, being a mostly melee force supported by very few ranged units. Nipaluna has no walls, so the city is still in jeopardy, but securing its capture could be very coastal for Yagan.
Holiday postcard of the beautiful Bora-bora archipelago. They might be technically at war with some upstart South American power, but you certainly wouldn’t know it from their peaceful home. A small portion of the domestic fleet could be peeling off east towards the Tehuelche city of Koluel Kayke, but it’s difficult to tell.
North America! The Osage Casus Belli of “border contiguousness” is one I will always support, so I welcome their invasion of the disconnected Seneca city of Kanawagas. This cuts the Seneca off from any meaningful participation in the war against Mexico, but that was never going to happen anyway.
Osage are also at war with the Floridas, but don’t seem to be paying them any serious attention. Gregor MacGregor might have an advantage with composite bowmen but he has a disadvantage with literally everything else, so he really shouldn’t be trying to draw attention to his little rump empire.
A Faroese sailor sneezes on the way past Arras, accidentally letting loose an arrow and shattering the city’s defenses. “Might as well take it now” figures the captain, rallying a handful of ships for the errand. Piteje is also taking damage and spearmen have begun to set sail from Klaksvik, hopefully to reinforce their new holdings once the triremes are done with them.
As we all know the Zheng Dynasty fled to Taiwan following the fall of the Ming dynasty to the Qing, founding the Kingdom of Tungning and hoping to one day restore the Ming to power from their island fortress. How shocked Koxinga must have been when Qing founder Nurhaci showed up on his shoreline offering his services in their new war against Siam. Civ 5 really knows how to pick them.
Nurhaci had better be quick if he hopes to unify Luzon for his new allies, however, as the Maguindanao assault on Siam’s outpost is already almost over.
And just like that it is over, with Maguindanao seizing and burning the city of Ubon Ratchathani. If they burn it down completely it would clear the way for Zheng’s settler currently hanging out in Anping, which doesn’t seem to have any other plans.
This could be the end of Mag’s expansion for the time being, with no secure supply lines to the Siamese mainland and not enough of a balanced force to attempt an amphibious assault on Dai Viet. They remain in a stagnant war with Wahgi, so there could be potential developments there once their navy is freed up.
New Holland goes to war with the Taino, swiftly encircling the island of Ayiti. This has likely doomed their settler on Hispanola and possibly put their other settlers traveling through the region in serious danger, however if Johan Maurits’s navy can make any significant captures then it may be worth the trade. As another fan of ranged units, Agueybana is going to have a difficult time re-flipping coastal cities if the New Dutch start gaining momentum.
Rome takes Damanhur, isolating Minya and surrounding the city of Cairo. As the weakest civ in the most immediate peril right now, the Mamluks are looking like a strong candidate for our first elimination of the game. Rome has no other enemies and is well-positioned to take the capital, and I doubt Saba-D’mt will be able to resist mopping up any of the southern cities they miss.
Sierra Leone has managed to win their EU4-style siege race by capturing Salé, while the Alouites still struggle to pierce the last of the defenses in Kenema. The Visigoths are also yet to even scratch Waterloo, possibly fearing the omens of doom that a city with such a name commands. It’s not all good news for Thomas Peters, however, as there is little standing between a predatory Pontic patrol fleet and the open gates of Port Loko.
Cool as it is for the Alouites to have Apache heavyweight Cochise on their side, he still isn’t a melee unit and still can’t take the city of Kenema. The concentrated fire of five composite bowmen is easily enough to take out that warrior as it attempts to break through from the south, so we’re likely left waiting for those spearmen to hobble into the fray before any progress is made here.
Zheng’s war plan against Siam backfires somewhat as even though the latter has lost their city on Luzon, their navy still roams the East China Sea and has settled on Chaozhou as an easy target. Zheng is still at war with Dai Viet and can’t afford to recall their fleet from Anping, so the loss of Okinawa is probably a given here.
A quick shot of the Mogadishu Coast, including a truly terrifying Saba-Da’amat towering over their shoulder. Mog is perfectly safe for now though given the roughness of the terrain between these two kingdoms, with only their lack of naval defenses being a cause for concern.
The Battle of Burgundy rages as York falls this time, with Norwich on zero HP and certain to follow in turn. Henry has virtually exhausted his melee and naval units in this fight, so if I were Tito I would be advising my new employer to finish up with these cities and seek an immediate peace agreement. Burgundy might just come out of this on top (or at least not totally ruined) after all.
They do still lose their city in Scandinavia, however, as the Faroes establish their control over both sides of the Skagerrak strait. Jokkmove and Piteje are sure to follow, turning the North Sea into more or less a Faroese lake.
Shang loses Yanshi and Xinxiang to Goguryeo, after briefly enjoying control of both of these major conflict zones. These two cities have been utterly devastated by the war, both down to just one population each. Daji might yet retake them as her unique spearmen are well-positioned to counter Gwanggaeto’s unique horsemen, but is there even anything left worth retaking? Daji needs citizens to execute for luxury resources, after all.
Nazarbayev is obviously a fan of the CBR, and knows to start settling worthless snow islands as insurance in case he gets conquered. It remains to be seen if Kostanay or Oral is the future Kazakh capital, but I suspect at least one of them will be eventually.
Mithridates celebrates his capture of Port Loko by burning it. He’s got problems elsewhere, and the last thing he needs is to have to babysit some random African outpost with only a couple of resources. This was a purely spiteful exercise, to show those Sierra Leonese that they’re not the only ones that don’t know how to prioritize. The Visigoth bombardment of Waterloo has begun.
Peace in southern South America as Bora-Bora and Tehuelche put down their arms. This is probably good news overall for Puni, as he has yet to really reinforce his continental holdings with enough of a defensive force. Teheulche expansion has really ground to a halt, as they don’t have any settlers or really any good targets for conquest other than Bora-Bora.
A battle happens in the Pueblo-Mexico war! It seems so, at least, Santa Fé was certainly damaged from somewhere. The Pueblo seems to be slowly stumbling with their army down through the desert, but the awful terrain means that at this level of technology neither side can really make any significant moves.
Noongar units break through to Nipaluna as Gertrudis Bocanegra is called up to lead its defence. Unable to convincingly counterattack on land, the Palawa have instead begun hammering at the gates of Pinjarra with their navy and look like they could potentially swipe it out of Noongar hands.
Kanem-Bornu is looking shockingly empty of units, using what few soldiers they have to cause trouble in Fez instead of rushing to relieve the siege of Bornu. Sierra Leone has successfully eliminated the Alouite warrior and is also now strategically pressuring Fez, hoping to draw the heat away from Kenema and give the desert city a chance to cool down.
Maguindanano halts the burning of Ubon Ratchathani, meaning Mag and Zheng will have to share Luzon for now. Despite its successes the Maguindanao navy has lost cohesion somewhat, with ships variously committed to defending their new captures; still though they remain unmatched by any of their nearby rivals.
Hail falls on the dome of the newly constructed Hagia Sophia, pride of the Faroese Empire in Iceland. After Paro Takstang this is the second Medieval Era wonder to be constructed, both of them faith-focused and both of them built by the Faroes which lack a religion.
Taking advantage of Maguindanao’s momentary disorientation, a single Singaporean trireme darts through the Maguindanao fleet positions and captures the city of Thai Nguyen! Lee Kuan Yew’s sudden intervention might just tip the balance away from Mag’s naval dominance, as the Singaporean fleet may have overtaken them in ship numbers and has moved to harass embarked units around Ubon Ratchathani.
Chaozhou falls to Siam. I doubt Rama has the available logistics to hold it for very long, but if a peace is reached with it still in their hands then I could see this island becoming a future naval flashpoint between Zheng and the Ikko-ikki. With the Zheng fleet engaged elsewhere, it looks like Chaozhou will safely remain a Siamese colony for the moment.
Noongar forces begin to pour into Palawan territory, threatening to encircle Nipaluna. Tarenorerer responds with her navy, however, dealing almost equal damage to the barely-defended city of Pinjarra and blockading the northern city of Ballardong. The unification of Australia is still a long way off, but this war is a chance for both sides to put themselves in the best position possible.
Jokkmove enjoys one turn as a Faroese territory before being set ablaze. Piteje is barely accessible by land, meaning that once it falls the Ume-Sami will have no hope of retaking it from the east. Coastal Scandinavia looks certain to fall under Trøndur’s control.
Kudarat is clearly utterly incensed by Singapore’s sneak attack, ordering the recapture of Thai Nguyen and immediately putting it to the torch. It’s unclear what Singapore’s response will be but given their decent navy and ability to attack from land, T’bok looks like a tempting target if they can break through the jungles of Borneo.
Bornu falls just as Kanem units begin to arrive. Both sides are still equipped with only archers, so retaking the city wouldn’t be impossible especially if Idris focuses on Makeda’s weakened melee units. Roman divisions have begun to damage Minya.
Elizabeth Bathory struggles to maneuver melee units to the front line in preparation of Gaziura’s capture. The Hungarian army is big but clumsy, mostly stuck in the hills and woods surrounding the capital. Taking advantage of this, Mithridates has sailed his fleet into the Adriatic and blockaded the city of Gyor while a token Latvian raiding party causes trouble in Komarom.
Free from their conflict with Bora-Bora, the Tehuelche are free to join the Osage in a war against Rio Grande. Maria’s lack of a navy will severely hinder any attempts to take the Falklands, but if she can secure military access through her former enemy then she might be able to cause headaches for Bento Gonçalves’s southern flank.
Things get worse for Bento offscreen as the Crow and the Pueblo join the growing coalition against him. In Asia, Lee Kuan Yew’s fleet begins to move out towards Thai Nguyen while it still exists. Swordsmen from Chinatown make the trek through the jungle to draw fire from T’Bok, which is only lightly defended on land by spearmen and outdated archers.
The Seneca also join in the dogpile against Rio Grande, while in their own neighbourhood Tecumseh is attempting to double his remaining territory with an amphibious assault on the Thule across Lake Huron. Settlers are what are really needed here as the Seneca well know, with ample territory between the Great Lakes still up for grabs.
The main show begins as the Tiwanaku Empire enters the fight against Rio Grande. Alegrete has only units for defense with no lakes, hills or rough terrain to impede a potential encirclement. Bento’s forces will have to fight hard to repel the push when it comes, with spearmen desperately rushing to meet Hyustus’s army before it groups up.
New Holland have upgraded their forces to pikemen, meaning they must have joined the Faroes in the Medieval era. The Dutch could take Porto Allegre with ease if they felt compelled to join the coalition.
Burgundy sues for peace, leaving Norwich and York as English possessions and rendering this whole endeavour completely pointless. Charles has also peaced out with the Visigoths, and just in time too as their unique Gardingos had finally made it through the Pyrenees and could have potentially encircled Asturica.
Both sides here will need to use this precious peace to rebuild their forces, Burgundy more urgently as an attack from Bavaria would be utterly devastating. England should by no means feel victorious, however, with their navy in tatters and the world’s foremost maritime empire located just to their north.
Ecuador and Bora-Bora join the coalition against Rio Grande, meaning Bento is now at war with most of the Americas. Ecuador will make little difference with no easy access to their new foe, but at least they get to say they joined in. Bora-Bora however shares a direct land border with Rio Grande, which gives them ample opportunity to use this to expand their South American holdings.
A sea of numbers shrouds the intense combat underway as New Holland continues to bombard Ayiti.
The assault on Kanawagas seems to have stalled, with much of the Osage army redirected early towards Genundowa, though the city remains in jeopardy with no available defenders. The Taino armed forces seem especially land-heavy for such a maritime empire.
Concentrated fire rains down on Piteje from the entire Faroese fleet, now fully committed to the naval blockade. Trøndur has a few options after this - he could sail north and take Vittangi, which is undefended, although attempting to seize Malage by sea could be a mistake as only one ship at a time would be able to attack. Otherwise the fleet could be directed through the straits towards Likssjuo, but would likely come under bombardment from land-based composite bowmen as they attempt to navigate the narrow passages.
Kanem-Bornu recaptures the latter half of their name. Extinguishing Makeda’s damaged horseman will buy the city some time to regroup and rebuild defences. Fez looks set to fall to Sierra Leone.
Qarmatian soldiers move to respond to Mithridates’ pushback, which has quickly collapsed. Eupatoria is sure to fall on the way up to retake Bandar-e-bushehr, and Makeda has begun moving land units towards Trapezus to join their fleet in an attack. Pontic Anatolia is better defended than Pontic Arabia, given their effective early access to pikemen through their unique unit, but Mithridates is still relying on archers against the Qarmatian’s composite bowmen.
Mexico chips in against Rio Grande, but more critically so does New Holland, meaning Bento is now at war with all three of his immediate neighbours. Forget what I said about Mamluks, Rio Grande is now in the most immediate danger of being CBRX4’s first elimination. Surprisingly, enemy units are still yet to enter Riograndese territory and they are even seeing some small initial successes outside Pokotia, but Bento doesn’t have the manpower to outlast his numerous opponents. The pieces are all in place.
Hungary makes peace with Makhnovia, not that much was happening along that front. It does free up some units to funnel south, however, as the Hungarian army continues to fumble what should be a fairly straightforward capture. Composite bowmen arrive to defend Gyor.
Kanem loses Bornu once again, having failed to snipe Makeda off her horse and leaving the city wide open. Kanem has only one remaining spearman in the city, giving Saba a chance to build strength here for a campaign north to Agadir or even west to the Kanem capital.
Excuse me, is that an Eswatini city? On MOGagascar? With two more settlers on the way, Labotsibeni might edge out Abu Bakr in the scramble for the remaining Malagasy territory. Both sides will need much more of a navy if they want to settle the island’s final status.
Peace erupts in Australia, saving the cities of Nipaluna and Pinjarra from any exchange of ownership. Tarenorerer redirects her disappointed navy towards Harappa, possibly hoping to seize their colony in distant Sri Lanka.
Chichen Itza is completed by the Wahgi, a great wonder for happiness and golden ages. More and more civilizations are entering the Medieval Era.
The Harappan core looks safe from the Palawan declaration of war, having only one coastal city. They also look relatively safe from the Selkups who have also drawn plans against them, despite having no border and no access to their lands. Meanwhile, Vijayanagara enhance their religion.
Vaishnavism is enhanced with Religious Texts and Religious Community, useful beliefs for spreading the good word.
And spread they should, given the enormous headstart their rival Dai Viet has had at spreading Mahayana Buddhism. The Ikko-ikki’s Jodo Shinshu has begun to make inroads into mainland Asia, but doesn’t yet seem to have triggered its culture/faith tile flipping ability.
The Faroes have a considerable, but not insurmountable lead in technology, being just two techs ahead of their nearest contender and both of them having come from Ancient Ruins. The snowball is still small for now, but who knows when it will pick up speed.
Hoping to become the cultural capital of the world, the Visigoths hoard great works for themselves. Most civs haven’t bothered yet.
Saba-Da’amat’s bonkers unique ability gives them free trade routes just from settling next to luxuries, giving them vastly more than anybody else. Half of that juicy gold income gets funneled straight into food and production during a golden age, and don’t forget their neighbour Mog provides gold bonuses to trade routes making this already strong ability even more powerful. It’s Makeda’s continent, everyone else is just borrowing it for now.
A shot of Goguryeo reveals just how deceptively vast the Korean empire is, despite having again lost Xinxiang to Shang. Yanshi holds, however, and yet more settlers make the trek north into Siberia.
Panasonic founder Matsushita Konosuke offers his services to the Wahgi, bolstering their industrial base. Bol’im’s economy is in good shape but his people are miserable, so hopefully the 3rd century equivalent of TVs and cassette players will cheer them up a bit.
Less fancy than the beautiful OC maps, but still very cool to look at is the political map overlay. Much of the world is filled in by now, with civs hopefully training a few more settlers to fill out those last gaps.
A number of civs have been declaring on Harappa over the last few slides, beginning with the Palawa and including the Selkups, Vijayanagara and now Eswatini. Vijayanagara is the only one that might realistically make any moves, but they’re not in this slide so let’s chat about Eswatini.
The Blue Boys of Big Bend have obviously suffered over the first few episodes, losing cities to both Ndongo and Rozvi, and are struggling to find a place for themselves among the greater powers of the continent. It seems they’ve decided that place is Madagascar, but in my view a reconquest of Lobamba would be a much wiser path given the similarly poor state of the Rozvi Empire.
The Qarmatian campaign up Arabia continues surprisingly slowly. Eupatoria and Bandar-e-Bushrehr are still largely abandoned, with the former expected to capitulate soon, but the Qarms really ought to move those catapults up north if they want to speed things up.
Kazan captures Taraz after it briefly flipped back to Kazakhstan. Nazarbayev has plenty of composite bowmen trained on the city though so I expect it to flip again a few more times before this war ends. Möxämmädämin is attempting to expand in two directions with his simultaneous siege on the Kalmyk city of Samara.
It’s been a quiet episode for the Dzungars, who have moved a quite immense army to the border with Kazakhstan but haven’t really decided to make use of it. Safely protected by the mountains to the south, Galdan Khan really has all the chance to expand that he wants if only he would take it.
Mongolia would also be a straightforward target with intelligent use of the Dzungar paradrop ability, although that might be asking a little too much of the AI. A bolder Mongolia could attempt to snipe the undefended Selkup settlements to their north while Vonya’s hordes are nowhere to be seen.
Daji and Rama declare on Dai Viet, with Rama being the more immediate threat from the south. The rough terrain makes this area a nightmare for capturing cities, but Rama has worked in secret to rebuild the Siamese navy hiding just on the other side of the Malay Peninsula. Only Than Hoa is coastal, but its capture would split Dai Viet’s territory in two.
The Ikko-ikki recruit Sargon, presumably from a Social Policy or a Faith purchase as the recent peace with Shang has left Kennyo without any immediate enemies. It is lucky that Sargon landed in the cramped city of Nagashima, which will make him implicitly useful in any future conflict with Goguryeo. The Ikki have also begun deploying their unique Sohei units, pikeman replacements that can enter the territory of civs following their religion.
“Where do you want the main army, chief?” “Just fucking everywhere” replies Akaitcho, as Yellowknife soldiers of all types wander about aimlessly in the tundra. There’s a little bit of land left up here and five settlers in this slide, all variously belonging to the Yellowknives, the Thule and the Crow.
Rama declares war on the Khoshuts just as the Khoshuts declare war on Rama’s enemy Dai Viet, which must have been very awkward when all the war declarations were exchanged. All three of these powers are now entangled in a war triangle and all share borders, so expect a stalemate as this showdown gets started.
The Qarmatians finally manage to rout the defenders of Eupatoria, and the city falls. The attackers are already on their way to Bandar, after which the way to Themiscyra will finally be clear.
The Pueblo break their stalemate by capturing Santa Fé, which, while not on the mainland, at least means something has changed along this frontline. Both sides are still unwilling to commit to an advance along each other’s borders, but neither side has enough of a navy for an amphibious flank.
We end this episode with a shot of southern India, where some skirmishes are taking place around the Harappan island colonies. This may just be a distraction by Krishnadevaraya as further north, a much larger Vijayanagaran fleet is bearing down on Mehrgarh. Harappa has plenty of enemies but Vijayanagara is the only one that matters, so it’ll be interesting to see the outcome of this conflict in the episodes to come.
I hope you enjoyed watching the conflicts brew in this episode. This is PorkBean, signing off, and we’ll see you in the next one!