Episode 21: Last Stand of the Triremes – S5

June 23, 2026

NopeCopter

Abstract

Death and destruction on the high seas! As the cylinder erupts into chaos, great powers begin to get colonial while underdogs make final desperate maneuvers toward relevance.

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Hello and welcome one and all to another episode of the Civ Battle Royale! I’m your narrator for this episode, NopeCopter (aka u/daXfactorz), newish Power Ranker, Popularity Poll overseer, and creator (or co-creator) of Wassoulou, Zazzau, the Kipchaks, Cebu, the Ponca, and Xaragua. We’ve got a short but very sweet episode ahead of us, so be sure to grab some popcorn, get comfortable, and buckle in!

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I’m a firm believer that the best way to start an episode is with a good map, and thanks to u/Sonicfan0511, we can do just that! Keep an extra close eye on the Zazzau-Ethiopia border, the Seychelles-Phoenicia-Sumer borders, and the Cebu-Japan-Lanfang borders, because odds are they’ll be changing quite a bit.

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We also have a lovely comic by u/Orangechrisy, co-author of the Pomo, whose works are always a highlight of my week. Perhaps it’s unfair for such a weak civ as the Ponca to outlive one as powerful as the Pomo. But I, for one, hope the Ponca continue to evade death forever. For no reason in particular, of course.

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As always, this series would not be possible without the generous donations we receive via Ko-Fi - a massive, massive thank-you to everybody who helps us keep the lights on. (All those default Pomo roles sure do feel weird now that they’re gone, though…)

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For this week’s PR highlight, I of course have to give it to Orangechrisy’s wonderful eulogy for the Pomo, complete with a brand-new ghostball. The CBR always has a few strong civs which just kind of get screwed over, and the Pomo are one of the strongest examples of that to date, so at least they’ve gotten a proper send-off.

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Kicking things off, let’s take another look at the Anishinaabe now that the Pomo have been wiped off the map. Their military is looking… acceptable, if a bit thin on the ground and heavy on the ranged units. Maybe if they stopped building ships in the Great Lakes they’d have time to make a better carpet. The Anishinaabe military UU, the Ogichida, is also on full display, but the fact that it’s weaker than a normal Musketman while the Tlingit already have Line Infantry is a bit concerning.

Meanwhile, to the east, the Onondaga military looks pretty intimidating… until you realize it’s all Knights, which aren’t great against cities and are becoming outdated fast. The Anishinaabe, even with their smaller military, probably don’t have much to fear. In the south, the Ponca fortress city of Wáin-Xude has begun adopting Musketmen, though their brothers in Húbdon are still relying on Swordsmen, clinging to the comforts of familiarity.

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Cebu does it again, baby! After bombarding Shuri to half health and reaching a stalemate in Hawaii, the Japanese get cold feet and agree to a white peace. This is in spite of a pretty overwhelming firepower difference, too - Shuri doesn’t even have any Galleons left as protection. Calling it quits here is a sizable blow to Japan’s future prospects, since Cebu is decidedly their weakest neighbor with a coastline and this was a perfect opportunity to knock them down. Perhaps the ghost of Ryukyu scared them off? Nobody wants haunted real estate.

On the other hand, this would be a PERFECT opportunity for Tang to take their revenge on Cebu, if they so desired. Shuri is weakened and its defenses are thin, and there are several Tang Frigates lurking just outside. Alternatively, they could instead go after Japan - a better chance to knock a rival off the list of relevant threats might not come for some time.

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Circassia and Scythia make peace… again. And once again, no cities have changed hands, or even really taken damage. The Circassian Knight on the front lines with about 1 HP breathes a sigh of relief and prepares to return to his waiting family.

Unlike last time, this peace deal was probably a good call on Circassia’s part. Scythia’s front line looks pretty rock-solid, and while nothing was in danger of flipping, continuing the war would have been a massive resource drain for two civs that cannot afford that kind of commitment. They both have much better targets if they want to expand. But, speaking of expansion: Circassia has a Settler in Anatolia that they can use to build a new city, thanks to a well-placed Citadel! Will they make it happen?

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Zazzau is absolutely trampling Ethiopia’s defenses right now, with both Mek’ele and Gondar almost completely surrounded. Gondar does have a pretty massive city defense stat, but with that many Trebuchets nearby, it might not even matter. In a desperate attempt to hold the line, the Ethiopians call upon one of their old emperors: Gelawdewos, who fought the Somali conqueror Ahmad Gurey. In our world, Gelawdewos was constantly on the back foot, only narrowly defeating Gurey with the help of the Portuguese and some good luck. Perhaps this experience with narrow, come-from-behind victories will help him repeat the same trick here?

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Sidangoli flips to Lanfang control once again, and this time it looks like it’s going to burn to the ground. This war has been a bit of a disaster for Cebu - they’ve been holding the line admirably, but they’re still slowly losing cities, and Lanfang just will not let up. On the other hand, Lanfang is also completely wasting this opportunity for growth by razing their gains rather than consolidating control. They have Nakijin under siege right now, but who’s to say they won’t burn it as well?

Things have just gotten a whole lot worse for Lanfang, too - not only has Japan pulled out from the war, leaving Lanfang to bear the full front of Cebu’s forces, but just north of Singhapala and Lulutan there’s a bit of a surprise. Yes, Cebu has Frigates! If they can get those to the front line, we could possibly even see the tides of the war shift completely!

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New South Wales is on a mission to clean up all of Mysore’s little Indian Ocean colonies, starting with Madikeri right to the southwest of Australia. This might seem like a pretty minor war, but South Asia’s geography means that Mysore’s only real opportunity to break out is by sea - if they lose enough islands here, they’re even more screwed than they already were. On the other hand, New South Wales has a lot to gain by establishing a clear presence in the Indian Ocean. Sure, the Seychelles, Pakistan, and Lanfang are all tough, but New South Wales is ahead of them stats-wise, and controlling the waters here would be an excellent first step in properly breaking out of Australia. It looks like they have a real nice armada of Galleons heading north, too, which is a good sign that they’re serious about this.

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Ahh, Luba, the brick wall of Africa. Their military has certainly seen better days, hasn’t it? Almost the entirety of their land forces are in the east, trying and failing to attack Maravi. They should really count their lucky stars Zazzau is busy with Ethiopia, or Kitabi at least would be a free meal. Their navy is admittedly looking alright, but it’s all Carracks, which are rapidly becoming outdated. Their geography is good enough to keep them safe for now, but they’re effectively out of this game now.

Maybe their carpet is so sparse because of their new Great Merchant, one Nolan Bushnell! Considered a founding father of the video game industry, he founded both Atari and Chuck E. Cheese. Perhaps the Luba people are just busy gaming?

Oh, and it’s easy to miss, but look up in the top-right corner: the Seychelles have bombarded Manhiyat into the red. Have they finally gotten their act together?

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Hansa has successfully burned their free city, demonstrating once again that they really don’t deserve all the nice things they get. Come on, Turnu is almost completely cut off from the rest of Wallachia, it would have been such an easy capture! To celebrate their “win”, they even get to host the Great Musician Beyonce, who in our world is an incredibly popular singer-songwriter who shaped the pop scene. I bet the Hanseatic people don’t know how good they have it.

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The Tlingit-Anishinaabe border actually looks pretty nice - it follows the path of the lakes in the region, and it has a cute little arc to it. Militarily, nobody here really has the upper hand, at least not decisively. The Tlingit certainly have the tech advantage (check out those Cuirassiers near Taakwaani and Shanel), but they’re more focused on building ships in Great Bear Lake than reinforcing the border. The Anishinaabe do have Lancers, though, for whatever that’s worth.

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Enraged at their government’s inability to actually make meaningful progress… anywhere, an extremist group rises up in the frozen purple north: the Bjarbarians! No doubt they were funded by the Estonians in an effort to drive attention away from their own incompetence. The Bjarmians, despite their reputation for inactivity, are certainly stubborn for a civ with such poor tech. Their UU is a Composite Bowman replacement, for god’s sake! On the other hand, Estonia’s sailing Frigates on their seas, so maybe they can finally actually win a proper war… if they can find somebody to use them on.

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Circassia is rebuilding their military fairly well after their reasonable success against Phoenicia, and they’ve even settled Lebap to bulk out their core a bit further. What’s more, now that they have a (very small) Mediterranean port, they have even more opportunities for their next war with Phoenicia! When they decide the time is right for that, they’ll have the help of Thomas Cochrane, a highly successful British Admiral during the Napoleonic Wars who later went on to support Brazil, Chile, Peru, and even Greece in their wars of independence. If anybody could pull off a naval victory with two tiles of coastline, it’d be him.

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Moving south, we finally get another proper shot of Arabia and the Red Sea, and Manhiyat has… healed since we last saw it. That said, Phoenicia’s Red Sea navy is also rapidly thinning, so it seems like this is working out for the Seychelles overall? It’s just really embarrassing that it’s taking them this long with their technological supremacy. It’s not as embarrassing as the war with Sumer, though! The Sumerian forces stand no chance at actually taking a city here, but they’ve been driving the Seychelles units down the peninsula shockingly well. Maybe the true greatest power in the CBR was love all along.

wait is that a Sumerian Frigate next to Uruk

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The Potiguara continue to inexplicably fail to make any sort of progress against the Guaycuru city of Catu, despite their overwhelming manpower advantage. Even worse, it doesn’t seem like they’ve realized this, because they’ve already started moving units away from Catu and toward Sombrero Negro! Maybe Al-Harith ibn Jabalah, the new Potiguara Great General, can help set things back on track. As a king of the Ghassanids, an Arab Christian kingdom, he worked alongside the Byzantines against the Sassanids during their long and grueling wars. That said, the Guaycuru have Musketmen now, and I feel like those are more valuable than any one Great General.

Meanwhile, the Xavante troops continue to tickle Caral’s border in Huaricanga, but with their outdated tech and thinning carpet they’re probably not going to be able to make any gains.

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You may remember last episode that our lovely spy Peshgaldaramesh (Pesh-gal-dar-a-mesh) reported a Tlingit plot to invade Teotihuacan. Well, it turns out that some rumors can be trusted after all, because we! Have! WAR! Greedy for more Pomo scraps, the Tlingit launch an invasion southward mere turns after eliminating their southern rival. They do have a decisive tech advantage here, sporting Line Infantry and Skirmishers, but the same terrain which hampered Teotihuacan in the past should now  serve to protect them from Tlingit advances. Ironically, Teotihuacan’s failure to capture Bida’miwina might actually help them out, too - with Cebu in the way, the Tlingit will struggle to make good use of their navy in this war, and it’s clear that’s the Tlingit military’s better half.

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An inexplicable war declaration against Vyatka gives us an excuse to peek at the Yanomami core, which is… fine? Their army isn’t completely gone, but it’s not exactly in position to launch any sort of invasion right now, either. Their tech level seems pretty on par with Caral, with the notable addition of Cannons, which Caral at the very least hasn’t bothered building on the mainland. The real stars of the show are those Frigates, but they just got out of a pretty embarrassing war with Xaragua, so maybe now isn’t the best time to use them. With that all being said, though, the Xavante (weak as they are) have been slowly wearing down Caral’s military… If they can just get their troops in position, the Yanomami might have a perfect chance to put a rival in the dirt permanently.

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The Rouran build Torre del Oro, a military watchtower which in our world was built by Almohad Morocco in Seville and was used as a prison in medieval Spain. This is, by my count, the first Enlightenment Era Wonder we’ve seen this game! However, it’s also… not very good. It mostly just buffs the length and Gold output of Naval Trade Routes. They built it on Lake Baikal. There is nobody else to trade with on Lake Baikal. The Rouran just wanted to be very, very sure of that, evidently. At least it provides Great Merchant Points???

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Cebu finally makes peace with the fact that they’re not going to be eliminating Ternate right now, and in doing so, they make peace with Ternate. It might not be the same kind of miraculous defense they’ve had in the past, but Ternate has survived the odds once more! This was probably a good call by Cebu, too, because things are continuing to go poorly in the west. Sidangoli has been completely destroyed, and now Nakijin is beginning to be surrounded. Cebu still has a decent carpet, but it’s mostly made up of Timawa, which are a Pikeman replacement rather than a proper naval unit. Hey, actually, Ternate still has another Settler. Perhaps they could re-found Sidangoli in the midst of all this chaos?

In the meantime, Caral is absolutely battering Shangluo in the upper-right, and around Kiyosu in the north… are those Itelmen Triremes? Have they just not been able to get back home to upgrade yet?

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To nobody’s surprise, Vyatka vs. Half of Bjarmia is going nowhere. Vyatka has a decisive numbers advantage on both land and sea, but the problem is their techs are abysmal. They don’t even seem to have unlocked Longswordsmen yet! With such a large disparity, maybe the Ket could actually make something happen with a war declaration. (Also, I can never get used to seeing the city defense on those Ket cities - Glazov has 84 defense!)

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The Seychelles have finally, finally locked in on the Phoenician phront, and their ships have just barely managed to take Manhiyat… only for France-Albert René to promptly burn it down. The Phoenicians are in position to retake it, so it should be safe for now, but come on! At the very least, the Seychellois land forces have regrouped in Arabia, and Sumer’s defenses are dwindling. Clearly the Seychelles are somehow more competent by land than by sea (looking at the Ethiopian war, at least), so perhaps they can finally break the Sumerian lines and open a second front with Phoenicia that way?

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Last episode, New South Wales captured the Mysorean city of Dharwad off the coast of Sumatra. Now, that victory is paying dividends: the city is acting as a jumping-off point for a fleet headed toward Mysore’s heartland. Whether this will work, I have no idea. New South Wales does have a critical advantage in the form of their Frigates, but Mysore is nearly equal in technological prowess, and being on the defensive means they have their entire core’s worth of units to hold the line with.

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Taking another peek at the Anishinaabe, we can see that they… really haven’t built any more units, have they? Sure, it’s only been a couple of turns, but they really shouldn’t use the Tlingit-Teotihuacan War as an excuse to slack off on their defenses. This is a vicious, vicious continent. Meanwhile, the people of Húbdon still adamantly refuse to adopt the technology of their westerly siblings, which is a shame, because the Anishinaabe southern border is so undefended that the Ponca could genuinely threaten a couple of city captures if they just finished modernizing.

Speaking of the Tlingit-Teo War, though, we can see a quick glimpse of it in the bottom-left corner. Seems like a bit of a stalemate so far, but it has only been like one turn.

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Ahh, Estonia, perhaps the most almost-decent civ in the game. Their society is highly advanced (and they have great taste in color schemes, to boot), but they just cannot start a war without fumbling it somehow. Fighting Hansa? They give away a city for no reason. Fighting Bjarmia? It’s a stalemate. Taking a free city off Kalmar? They manage to get a core city demolished. Maybe they could stage a comeback against Scythia, but they just don’t have the unit density for it. At least their silly lake fleets can be moved to the sea instead of being trapped forever.

Not helping Estonia’s almost-good status is their latest Great General, Manfred von Richthofen, aka the Red Baron. A World War I German flying ace, Richthofen is said to have won a whopping 80 air engagements during his career! This would be very nice for Estonia if they’d thought of inventing planes before requesting his services.

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Caral is keeping the pressure on Tang in their war for the Pacific, knocking Shangluo into the red. A number of Tang ships have come to the city’s defense, but Caral is just able to reinforce the front so much easier. It’s also worth noting that both civs here have access to Privateers, meaning they can steal each other’s ships! Loyalty does tend to run low in frontier zones like this… though after what the Chono did, maybe this will end up being Caral’s new core.

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Any hopes of the Potiguara stepping up their game have been dashed once more as they seem to have actually LOST progress against the undefended city of Catu. Sombrero Negro is also looking plenty reinforced these days with their shiny new guns, so the Guaycuru should be fine unless the Potiguara finally figure out that units can attack cities.

Meanwhile, while the Xavante haven’t exactly been making much progress in their war either, they do at least have Daniel Auber to cheer them up. A French composer who in our world wrote the first French grand opera, he seems very insistent about his job (I think the repeated “Great Musician” label might be a consequence of the unit being captured). The Xavante might be about to see a turn in their fortunes, though - a coalition is brewing against Caral, with even the Pomo feeling bold enough to declare war. If the Yanomami or Chono get in on this, things could get nasty.

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Our trusty spy Peshgaldaramesh informs us that Martin Olleta of the Chono is plotting a war against the Bunuba. The power of the Chono is impressive, no doubt, but I do have to wonder if they can beat the Bunuba with two Privateers and a dream. I suppose the Bunuba certainly have seen better days, though. Remember when they were at the forefront of science? Now they’re fielding Longswordsmen while New South Wales is sporting Line Infantry right across the border.

Meanwhile, in the west, Cebu and Lanfang continue to struggle. Things still seem to be leaning slightly in Lanfang’s favor, but not decisively.

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The Seychelles have lost control of Manhiyat again, and Phoenicia’s Red Sea fleet is beginning to replenish itself. In Arabia, while Sumer’s troops continue to dwindle, the Seychellois advance has been scared right back to their own borders (not that they tried pushing very far anyways). And what the hell, is Sumer sporting Privateers? The Seychelles better thank their lucky stars this isn’t a naval war, because apparently the Sumerians are better shipbuilders than the island civ! There is some progress being made in Ethiopia, though, no matter how slight. Several Seychellois Great Generals are on their way to secure the border and open up some new routes further into Africa.

On the whole, this is a pretty sorry state of affairs for a civ as powerful as the Seychelles. The Seychellois High Command sees only one solution: declare war on Caral, too. Clearly the problem was not fighting enough wars.

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Man, the Itelmen really need to up their naval game. Even Green Ukraine has Frigates now, and they’re still fielding Carracks? This should not be a front they have to worry about! Any of their neighbors could demolish their fleet right now. To be fair, they do have some solid land units, but even then their carpet is looking pretty thin. Ibn Battuta, the prolific medieval Moroccan traveler who recorded an incredible store of information on Africa, Asia, and Iberia, has been hired by the Itelmen to go out into the world and discover the secrets of building a decent military.

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Teotihuacan joins the war on Caral, ignoring the Tlingit invasion to vie for Polynesian supremacy! There’s just one problem: they forgot to send any boats. Their island cities are almost completely empty. Luckily for them, Mataveri doesn’t have any ships defending it either, but Caral can reinforce this front much more easily from the mainland.

Now, if the Chono got involved here, they could absolutely demolish whoever they pleased, but they’re busy with a much more important target: Ternate. They do have a bit of presence in the area… could we see Ternate eliminated this episode after all?

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Bangladesh, Pegu, and Yunnan put aside their differences to tell Caral to go die. Beautiful. This does provide a nice opportunity to see how things are going in this part of the world, though! Poor Bangladesh has so, so many Settlers they can’t really use, but their military (while kind of thin) is more than enough to defend the land they do have when paired with the terrain. Yunnan, meanwhile, is currently invading Lanfang. This will not net them a city, but my, how embarrassing for Lanfang! It’s the Seychelles all over again.

In the corner of the image, though, there’s some very exciting news. Can you see it? That’s right, Mysore has finally unlocked their UU! The Cushoon is a Line Infantry replacement which not only instills fear in nearby enemies, but also comes equipped with two Cushoon Rockets - and yes, those are missiles. Extra effective against cities, too, so if Mysore can sort themselves out enough to declare a land war on a neighbor, this would be a good time to do it.

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The Herero decide the time has come for another war against Maravi. This time, thanks to all their Citadels, their units are right at the gates of Sena and Quilemane, right out of the gate. The mountains are still a pretty major issue, though, as are all those Maravi Triremes. Sure, they’re Triremes, but they dramatically outnumber the Herero Carracks. It’s not exactly an easy invasion plan, especially when 95% of the Herero land forces are Knights.

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Japan joins the war on Caral, aiming to unite the Marianas! Unfortunately, they have also forgotten to build any naval units here, while Caral has a whole fleet of Frigates lurking just to the west of Kagoshima. Japan shouldn’t be losing any cities, not when Caral lacks melee ships, but this might still end up being kind of embarrassing.

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Rather than using the Herero declaration of war as an opportunity to redouble their efforts against Maravi, Luba opts to just make peace and move on - not that the terrain was ever going to let Luba make any progress. Not gonna lie, I forgot this war was even taking place.

In the north, meanwhile, it seems Zazzau has already sent their vanguard toward Addis Ababa. Looking at the minimap over the last few slides, it seems like Zazzau flipped Gondar at some point, but it’s since flipped back. I’d be surprised if Ethiopia is able to keep contesting the city for much longer, though.

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Cebu seems to have evened out the front with Lanfang, mostly securing Nakijin and driving the Lanfang navy away from Parlan. Now, if those Galleasses approaching Pamangkat were Frigates, we might start seeing a reversal of fortunes here, but as-is I kind of doubt they’ll make much of a dent. Lanfang’s ground forces have just gotten a massive upgrade with the introduction of Line Infantry and Skirmishers, but I’m not sure they’ll be able to make any progress with the terrain on the front lines. Maybe Cebu’s new Great Admiral, Calonymus of Alexandria, can turn the tides - he was an Egyptian admiral who served the Byzantines during the Vandalic War, ferrying Belisarius’s troops across the Mediterranean (and looting the Vandal capital against orders).

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Another update on the Sumerian-Seychellois War reveals that the military the Seychelles had amassed has now completely collapsed. Seriously, it looks like at least half the units that were around English River are just gone now! Sumer is definitely running out of steam, but they’re also launching one more offensive just for the hell of it. Good on them.

Now, that’s fun and all, but the focus of this slide is on Pakistan, so let’s talk about Pakistan. The first thing you’ll notice about Pakistan is their military is obscenely large, that’s basically a full carpet. The second thing you’ll notice is that all these units are about as good as Sumer’s. Pikemen and Crossbowmen aren’t all they used to be, they don’t even seem to have any standard melee units (Longswordsmen or Musketmen), and their entire navy is Carracks. They have Lancers, but that’s about it. Not a good sign. The Carracks are at least good enough to host a cool boat concert, though, starring none other than American indie rock star Jeff Magnum!

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Somehow, a Caral Explorer and Fisher have found themselves garrisoning the Susquehannock city-state of Copano. I don’t think units should be allowed to enter the city tiles of other civs, or at least I’ve practically never seen this happen (though you can see glimpses of it throughout the episode), so we can only guess as to why they’re here. Perhaps they’re mercenaries guarding the city for a bit of pay? Or perhaps they’re asylum seekers fleeing the various wars plaguing their homeland? Personally I’d like to believe they’re scammers looking to sucker their way into their own personal city-state.

Oh, but speaking of the anti-Caral coalition, you may have noticed some big news on the sidebar already…

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New South Wales has declared war on Caral, meaning there’s now a genuine threat to the South American’s Pacific holdings! Carreteria is the obvious first target for the Australian giant (if Teotihuacan doesn’t get to it first, that is), but there is a distinct lack of New South Welsh ships in New Zealand at the moment. Well, until those Frigates east of Sydney and Newcastle make their way over, that is. On the other hand, Caral looks like they have the city locked down decently well… until you realize most of those units are their civilian Fisher UUs. I count a Frigate and a Cannon currently defending the city. It’s boned.

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On the other hand, we have the Antarctic colonies of New South Wales just off the coast of South America. These isolated, undefended, tiny cities look like they’d be an easy free meal for Caral, but it seems like something recently happened which crippled their navy or something. Weird. Now, the Chono would demolish these cities, of course. Just look at those units! They’ve got Privateers, Frigates, Skirmishers… oh, and one single Spearman, for good luck.

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It looks like the Rockies aren’t as impenetrable as they seemed, because E’lem has fallen to the Tlingit! It’ll probably flip back, but this isn’t exactly a good sign for the Masters of Mesoamerica. Worse yet, in their hubris, it seems most of the units they’ve built in Dali and Tat’em are siege units! Great on offense, less so on defense. For now, Tat’em is holding strong, but they’d better send some reinforcements up north in case something flips. As for the naval side of the war, Teotihuacan’s Galleons are holding the line against the odd Caral-Tlingit joint fleet admirably, taking advantage of the narrow strait created by Cebu’s sea borders.

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The Herero are very, very slowly chipping away at Sena, but the progress is less than one might have hoped for. Mounted units in this kind of terrain just don’t seem to be cutting it, and the Herero carpet is thinning out fast. Maravi’s Trireme armada is also beginning to thin, but for now it’s still more than enough to keep the Herero ships at bay (heh). The forces around Manthimba and Quelimane are doing even worse, failing to even put a scratch on the northern Maravi holdings. This is why you don’t just build mounted units!

Hey wait, what’s that on the sidebar?

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Ohh boy, Cebu has decided that Lanfang just isn’t enough of a challenge and has joined the anti-Caral coalition. For once, though, Cebu is NOT the most insane thing on the screenshot, because it seems like the ones most likely to capture Sampalu are a flotilla of Itelmen Triremes! The city is already in the red despite a Frigate and Crossbowman defending it, and while Japan and Bangladesh are both also in position to snipe the capture, the Itelmen also seem to have some Caravels moving down to the site for backup.

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E’lem has indeed been retaken by Teotihuacan, but with only a couple of weakened Knights around to defend it, this probably won’t last long. If only they could reinforce the city by sea… maybe Cebu being in the way isn’t entirely a good thing for them after all. That being said, the pressure on Tat’em is pretty low, and the Tlingit forces are beginning to thin - they might get one or two cities here, but I doubt they’ll have the steam to push very deep.

In the lands of the Ponca, meanwhile, one brave soul attempts to mend the severed ties between the gun-toters of Wáin-Xude and the sword-bearers of Húbdon by taking the middle approach and becoming a Longswordsman.

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Wallachia may be broke as hell entirely by their own hand, but they’re not stupid. Learning from the Wassoulou School of City Gifting, they’ve rebuilt Bucharest right where Hansa burned the city down, effectively undoing all consequences of their terrible decision. Besides, you know, all the time and production that had gone into building up the original Bucharest.

Meanwhile, France and Hansa are now packing Cannons! This is a pretty big step up from the Trebuchets we last saw them using. Maybe now we can finally see some actual progress being made in Europe haha no I’m just kidding. Seriously, though, it is nice to see them keeping up with the times.

We also have a mystery afoot: someone damaged Benevento! I’d bet it was one of those filthy goat cheese purists vandalizing the wall of a local Cheese Church. A Church, if you will (Cheese + Church).

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It’s actually happening. Through some arcane magic and/or incredible military prowess, the Xavante have brought Huaricanga to half health. But it gets better: Huaricanga’s defense force is almost entirely Crossbowmen (meaning just one flip could be enough to secure the city permanently), and outside of that defense force, Caral only has like five military units on the mainland to fight back with! The rest are all Fishers! And the Xavante carpet is still holding strong! This is incredible!

Well, it’s not incredible for Caral, of course. If the Yanomami or Chono invaded right now, they’d be toast (not that either is in position anyways, mind you). Teotihuacan is sending a token fleet to threaten Caral’s shores, but they’re in no position to actually take anything with so few ships.

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Mek’ele and Gondar both fall to Zazzau, and by the looks of their population scores, they’ve been flipping for a while now. It does seem like Zazzau might finally be on the verge of securing the area, though, which means they can start thinking about pushing onward. The question now is… can they go any further? Harar is the most obvious next target, but it has a pretty monstrous 56 city defense. Debre Berhan is a bit further and also has a mountain in the way, which could be trouble. Both cities also have pretty solid unit carpets, too. It’ll be tough to make more gains here right now, but Zazzau might just be up to the task with such a healthy looking invasion force.

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The Bunuba, eager to regain some of their lost pride, decide they can at least try and get some revenge on Ternate. This will not go as well as they’re hoping it will. The Bunuba have a decent-enough fleet, but they can only reach Soahsio by land, and their ground forces on Papua are laughably thin even discounting the treacherous mountainous terrain they’d have to march through. Despite the coalition growing against them right now, Ternate really doesn’t seem like they need to be afraid. Sure they’re pretty weak, but who the heck is going to eliminate them? The Chono certainly aren’t trying very hard.

Elsewhere, Shangluo appears to be on its last legs as it fights to weather Caral’s invasion, and Cebu continues to keep Lanfang away from Nakijin.

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They’ve done it! The Itelmen Trireme fleet has taken Sampalu, without a single Caral melee unit in sight to contest it! These ancient, isolated ships have proven that what they lack in firepower they make up for in spirit - those Itelmen Caravels are going to be stunned when they finally arrive. Anybody who’s said the Itelmen are only succeeding because of the Science bonus from the Tlingit religion will be asked to fill out the official Itelmen Apology Form shortly.

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We actually have back-to-back impressive city captures here, because the Xavante have managed to flip Huaricanga even despite their tech disadvantage! There is still one Caral Musketman in position to retake the city, but if the Xavante can just kill it, Caral will be entirely out of melee units in the area. Just one more push and victory is theirs.

I may be imagining it, but it also feels like Yanomami units are starting to congregate a bit more near the Caral border. Could they be planning something…?

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Nobody has dared to claim eastern Cuba since the burning of Gonaibo. A few adventurous Yanomami souls wander the ruins, but that’s as far as they go. The many Yanomami Settlers on the mainland refuse to set foot on the island, believing it to be cursed. Funnily enough, the Xaragua could easily just reclaim their lost city with a Settler of their own, but they seem to have a spot in mind already.

While we’re here, though, we might as well peruse the civs of the Caribbean. The Xaragua are as bizarre as ever, pairing Frigates and now Cuirassiers with Longswordsmen. The Yanomami, on the other hand, have a really solid navy packed full of Frigates and even Privateers, but they just don’t have a lot of good targets, do they? We’ve seen how a Yanomami-Xaragua war would go. Teotihuacan’s Caribbean fleet (while lacking Frigates) is as impressive as ever, but it might actually be even more trapped. If only they still held Cholula, they could use all those boats against the Tlingit or even Caral, which would be a massive advantage. The Susquehannock seem to be finally upgrading from Carracks to Galleons, which should at least keep them from being sitting ducks in a proper naval war, but then again we did just see a city taken by Triremes.

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Our trusty informant Peshgaldaramesh has some juicy info for us this time, claiming that the Onondaga are plotting to invade Scotland! This would be a massive shock if true, since right now the two seem to have open borders. Just looking at the troop densities, the Onondaga could probably take Ayr and Dingwall with little issue - Scotland’s Greenlandic holdings are completely cut off by a cheeky Hanseatic settle until they finally make the jump to deep-sea sailing (have they really not done that yet?), and the cities’ defenses are pretty much nonexistent. On the other hand, Scotland does have gunpowder weapons and not, well, Swordsmen, so maybe they’d be fine.

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A quick look at Patagonia confirms that, yes, the Chono are still an absolute powerhouse. Their military is state-of-the-art (except, oddly, their Musketmen), their carpet is solid on both land and sea, and their capital has a casual 36 population. Of course, the one problem they face is the giant Guaycuru exclaves scattered about their empire, which are now well-defended enough to at least cause a bit of a hassle if the Chono were to invade. That’s a bit troublesome, because as things stand the Chono can’t actually navigate their fleet around the Strait of Magellan, meaning that in the worst case half of their navy might end up being useless in a war.

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In a shocking turn of events, the Tlingit have begun to actually settle cities inland! Their military forces, disgusted and betrayed, have left Alaska in droves. The lack of units here is definitely concerning, and more cities will make it harder for each one to grow, but long-term this is an excellent sign. More cities means more production capability and a core that’s easier to reinforce.

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Perhaps the northern Tlingit lands are just empty because the military is so busy in the south - E’lem once again flips to their control. The city seems pretty much secure, but Teotihuacan is holding on much, much better in the north. All those ranged units plus the difficult terrain seem to be making the approach difficult - maybe the Cannons were a fine idea after all. Honestly, the Tlingit really should start pumping out units to reinforce their front lines here. Teotihuacan seems to have much better unit density, and the Tlingit military is thinning at an alarming rate.

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Lanfang sues for peace with Yunnan, failing to even scratch their cities. This is a bad sign for any future attempts by Lanfang to break into mainland Asia, but it does at least mean they can focus their efforts on Cebu. Cebu’s military presence in Vietnam is pretty sparse, with only a couple of Frigates defending the area… but then Lanfang doesn’t have that many land units nearby, either, and there are some inconveniently-placed mountains in the way, too. Maybe those Cannons could soften things up enough for a ship or two to sneak in?

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Woah, never mind, those Cannons don’t seem necessary after all! Lanfang launches a renewed naval push toward Parlan, completely surrounding the city before Cebu can react. At the helm of this operation is Andrea Doria, a Genoese admiral who served as the Holy Roman Empire’s grant admiral of the Mediterranean (and also as a privateer). On the other hand, the Nakijin front has been mostly abandoned, with Cebu in no position to take advantage.

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Suddenly, Luba declares war on Zazzau! This is a very well-timed war, and the Luba carpet in the west is suddenly looking very nice, but I’m just not certain they have the manpower to make gains. Zazzau is a bit low on units, but the Luba military is pretty far behind technologically, and Kushaka is very well-defended by land. Perhaps their navy could make something happen, but Zazzau’s fleet looks about even… except I spy one solitary Luba Galleon on the outskirts of their territory, which might just be enough to give them the edge. This is Luba’s last real chance at relevance unless the Herero really throw, so they’d better go all-in.

Even if Luba falters, though, this war declaration might save Ethiopia. They’ve organized a renewed push toward Mek’ele and Gondar, and if Zazzau has to split their forces, they might not be able to keep up. It would certainly be tragic to see Zazzau falter after all the work they’ve put in to make their comeback, but you do need to admire Ethiopia’s tenacity, at least.

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Carreteria has, as expected, fallen to New South Wales. It has also immediately been burned, which doesn’t bode well for their other active fronts. Perhaps this was the work of some rogue drunkard getting careless during the celebrations. Losing this city doesn’t really matter for New South Wales, though, and they don’t currently seem all that interested in pushing further into Polynesia, either.

On another note, New South Wales is packing Field Guns now! You can see one just north of Carreteria. It’s an upgrade to the Cannon, which should make their future conquests that much easier.

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At long last, we have what appears to be the first Ideology of the game! Tang adopts Autocracy (not very surprising), which should provide major bonuses to their military capabilities. And oh boy do they need those bonuses. Where are their units? Their land forces are looking practically nonexistent here. Do they even have a single siege unit?

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The Aures declare war on the Kalmar Union, which at least implies they proooobably aren’t interested in picking on Zazzau at the moment. It also gives us a chance to look at good ol’ Kalmar. They look… fine, I guess, but not nearly strong enough to break through Scotland or Hansa with any certainty. The borders up here are weird enough that Estonia isn’t much of a threat, and they’re roughly on par with every other neighbor they have technologically, but man, what do they even do now? Perhaps they could wear down Rakvere or recapture Bergen, but that only gives them more of a border with Estonia for not much gain.

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Hansa declares war on Scythia! The fact that the front lines here look remotely even is a scathing indictment of Scythia and how far their military has fallen. Still, despite the Cannons, Hansa doesn’t seem like they’ll be able to make much progress here. They just don’t have the manpower, especially not in the east. Unless somebody mobilizes, this is probably going to end up being another stalemate, and Hansa’s going to end up getting away with it… again.

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Or perhaps Hansa might actually have a chance at success after all, because the Kipchaks (and the Ket) have also declared war on Scythia! The relative lack of gunpowder units and over-emphasis on Knights sucks, since that’ll make actually taking any cities difficult, but the Kipchaks just have so many units that they might still be able to make some magic happen through the Urals. (Sadly, those Kipchak Knights don’t keep the city attack bonus of the Tarkhan, otherwise Scythia would be in serious trouble.) This war will, of course, thin out the Kipchak carpet, which will make them much more vulnerable to the Ket, but the only real alternative for the Kipchaks was waiting around for the Ket to outscale them militarily anyways.

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Sam Edye oversees the continued reconstruction of the Circassian lands as they (hopefully) prepare for their next conquest. A Norwegian engineer and industrialist, Edye founded Norsk Hydro and Elkem (a chemical company which makes silicone). Circassia has also finished upgrading their Trebuchets into Cannons, so now would be a great time for Circassia to go pick on just about any of their neighbors…

Also of note: An Estonian Privateer has ended up very lost and is now taking refuge in a Circassian Citadel south of Lebap.

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Huaricanga’s final melee defender has been slain, meaning the city is now decisively under Xavante control! They’ve finally redeemed themselves after that premature peace deal a few episodes back! This is, of course, a massive embarrassment for Caral, who now have half the cities on mainland South America as the Xavante. None are more embarrassed than Calvert Vaux, an English-American architect and landscape designer who designed Central Park alongside various other parks in the state of New York. He had some REALLY good ideas for beautifying Huaricanga, and now they’ve all gone to waste.

Meanwhile, Teotihuacan sends a new fleet of ships to harass Caral. However, they’re mostly Galleasses, so odds are they’ll do about as well as the first fleet.

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Scotland joins the war on Scythia (mostly for diplomatic clout), which gives a fine excuse to look at their core. It seems they’ve finally unlocked Caravels, which is… nice, I suppose, but this is far too late for the supposed “strongest western European civ” to be researching basic deep-sea navigation. They look disturbingly even with Umhaill and Kalmar both in terms of military size and tech, with their only real advantages being Cannons and Caravels. They’d better use those fast, because if they keep stagnating, they could very easily see their future prospects plummet to the level of the rest of Europe.

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Well… Manhiyat has burned to the ground. It seems the Seychelles retook the city once again, and this time Phoenicia just couldn’t save it. The Seychelles have just thrown away a perfectly good beachhead against both Phoenicia and Ethiopia, and worse yet, the Phoenician Red Sea navy looks as well-stocked as it ever has. Hell, they can’t even hope to resettle their own city in the same spot, because Ethiopia just dropped a Citadel right next to the ruins! All this is happening while the Arabian campaign continues to stagnate and the Seychelles fail to drop even a single Citadel on the Ethiopian front lines. At this point I don’t even know what they’re hoping to achieve.

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E’lem returns to Teotihuacano hands, and miraculously, it seems the Tlingit don’t have any melee units in the immediate vicinity to retake it. There is a Xáa fairly close, but it’ll need to maneuver past all those ranged units, which should give Teotihuacan some much-needed time to regroup and reinforce the city. And reinforcements are definitely something Teotihuacan needs - looking to the south, it seems their carpet is starting to thin out, while the Tlingit have more troops on the way from the north.

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The New South Welsh campaign in South Asia has begun in earnest, as the city of Hassan is bombarded from all sides. New South Wales doesn’t have a ton of units here, but what they do have is excellent - two Cannons, three Frigates, and some Line Infantry to clean up. Just about a flawless unit composition. Mysore has Frigates of their own now, but it might be too little, too late. New South Wales might not quite have enough units to completely lock down the city here (although Mysore is looking pretty low on melee units…), but if they can secure Hassan, that would be an excellent jumping-off point for further East India Company roleplay.

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It seems the Chono have finally figured out how to maneuver a few ships through the maze of the Pacific, because Soahsio is beginning to take damage! With two Frigates and a Galleon already on the attack, plus a couple more boats on the way, Ternate might actually be in danger of elimination if the Chono can use their troops wisely. There’s even some Line Infantry in Quellón that can march in from the south if needed.

Meanwhile in the west, Sampalu has been secured and reinforced by the Itelmen Caravel fleet, rapidly developing the island into a new naval outpost. Tang has also managed to fend off the Caral attacks on Shangluo, and now the city is looking as well-defended as Potao and Hanga Piko combined, ending any dreams of further Caral expansion in the region for now.

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The Herero have done it! They’ve captured Sena! Celebrating such a minor capture might seem a bit overkill, given the power imbalance at play in this war, but Sena is in a very difficult spot to assail (see: Ndongo v. Eswatini last season). The fact that the Herero made it work with only mounted units is genuinely kind of impressive. That said, there are more than enough Maravi ships nearby to flip the city back again, and the Herero navy is still being kept far from the front lines. Still, at this rate the Herero should be able to claim the city in the end if they just stick with it. Maravi is holding out much better in their other cities for now, and they’re even starting to build a few more Carracks.

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Despite everything, Sumer is still looking mostly untouched, and they still have better naval tech than anybody else in the region. Their land forces continue to dwindle, but that hasn’t stopped them from launching yet another incursion into Seychellois territory just to flex. Cheering them on is Dexys Midnight Runners, an English pop rock band known for songs such as “Come on Eileen”.

To the west, Phoenicia and the Hyksos both look decent in terms of unit count right now, but I’m not exactly sure whether they have enough juice to launch any invasions. Maybe Phoenicia could throw their lot in against Sumer, but given the grit on display here, I’m doubtful it’d work.

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Mysore’s colonies in the western Indian Ocean have been mostly safe from invaders so far (minus some rogue ship that apparently crashed into Bekala), but New South Welsh Galleons are slowly approaching from the north and east. Without many defenses of their own, these island cities are in serious trouble - and if New South Wales garrisons them properly, this could end up being bad news for the Seychelles, as well. (Side note, but I had no idea Mysore had settled this many island cities! Maybe I was underestimating their naval potential?)

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On the other hand, the Antarctic Mysorean colony of Madikeri is still standing strong despite being located right next to Australia. This city was under siege 65 whole slides ago, and New South Wales has plenty of ships nearby, so I’m shocked. Perhaps its survival can be attributed to Mysorean Great Admiral and CBR veteran Koxinga, a Ming-era official who bitterly fought against Qing ascendancy and ultimately established the Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan after ousting the Dutch. Nonetheless, plenty of Explorers travel out from the colony to seek help from the homeland or anybody else sympathetic to their cause.

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Lanfang has suddenly experienced a surge in military competence, allowing them to finally surround and capture Parlan! …They then proceed to burn the city down. Seriously, Luo Fangbo, if you don’t want the cities, stop trying to take them! Nakijin is also under pressure, and Cebu is looking pretty low on ships right now… could we be seeing the tragic end of Cebu’s miracle run unfolding? (And if so, can we execute Lanfang for their crimes?)

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Zazzau is put on the back foot as Luba brings more Galleons to the front lines, easily shattering Zazzau’s eastern fleet. Kufena and Kushaka remain unharmed for now, and Luba’s ground forces have been rendered completely unable to advance, but Luba has a whole lot more boats in reserve. Meanwhile in the east, Ethiopia is rallying around Gondar, putting heavy pressure onto the city. They look all but guaranteed to push Zazzau back to where the war started at this rate, which would be a tragedy for people who were excited for things to happen in central Africa.

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The Chono assault on Saohsio has ramped up dramatically, and the city is now barely clinging to life as more and more ships circle the carcass. Ternate has a few Longswordsmen ready to make a last stand once the city inevitably flips, but they’re almost certainly not making it out of this war alive.

Meanwhile, the Itelmen Triremes finally start getting upgrades in honor of their service, an enterprising Tang Privateer harasses Potao, and Cebu absolutely pumps out Frigates to try and turn their war around.

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Oh my goodness, it’s happening, everybody hold onto your seats, Qara-Khitai just declared a relevant war - BAAHAHAHAHAHA no I’m just kidding. While Qara-Khitai v. Bactria might LOOK exciting, the unfortunate reality is that, thanks to a well-placed Kipchak city, the border between the two civs is only a single tile wide. No matter how strong those Ordo Cavalry are, they’re not taking any cities through that corridor. Maybe they should have thought about inviting Pakistan or the Kipchaks.

Speaking of the Kipchaks, though, it seems their war against Scythia isn’t going too hot. The Scythians have scrounged up enough of a defense force to easily hold the line, and the Kipchaks seem hesitant to fully commit. Seems like Bactria would’ve been the better target after all. I wonder if Hansa’s having better luck…?

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No, no they are not. It seems Scythia’s finally gotten their act together, because they’re easily holding the line and even have reinforcements moving in from around Kam’yanka. The Hanseatic forces are trying to rally, but they seem too afraid to actually engage (except for those lunatics up in Rakvere). Worse yet, though, is that Estonia’s coming back for round three, and this time they’re more than prepared. They’ve got Frigates and even Privateers, they’ve got open borders with Scythia, and of course, they’ve got an ally helping them press their advantage. In response, Hansa has paid a few desperate Wallachian Carracks to sit in the Baltic Sea and block sea traffic.

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Hassan has been knocked into the red, and Chitradurga to the southwest is also being absolutely bombarded right now. However, Mysore might at least be able to save the former - New South Wales is running low on melee units in the region, and there are a few Mysorean reinforcements at least trying to stem the bleeding. It’s hard to say where the city’s going to end up long-term, but if New South Wales can properly commit, Mysore is still in deep, deep trouble.

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Speaking of which, a look at Australia shows that New South Wales really is committing fully to their colonial wars. Their core has been left absolutely barren, at least on land. It seems they’ve decided that, rather than trying to break the outdated but endlessly stubborn Bunuba, their efforts would be better spent going around their old rivals. This strategy appears to have been masterminded by Fyodor Ushakov, a Russian admiral who fought Napoleon and was said to have never lost a single ship or battle in 43 engagements. The New South Welsh can totally get away with it given their tech level, but it’s still a bit unnerving to look at.

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The Chono continue to be the only civ in the Pacific who actually care about arming their colonies, which would be a huge deal if they could bother to fight a single war in the area. Particularly impressive is the fleet around Kurnangki, commanded by Themistocles, an Athenian general and politician who masterminded the victory at the Battle of Salamis against Persia. He was known to be very adamant about increasing his own state’s naval power in our world, so perhaps he’s the one behind the Chono naval policy here.

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Speaking of Chono naval supremacy, Soahsio has fallen! Ternate is now bleeding out - they have three melee units left to contest the city before they’re gone for good (unless they can use that Settler of theirs, of course). Even if they do manage to flip it back and kill the Chono Galleon, though, it’s pretty clear the Chono are committed to seeing this through to the bitter end. Prime your F keys, folks.

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The Itelmen have squeezed another city onto Hokkaido, but that’s not especially exciting news given it seems like their navy has actually gotten worse since we last saw it. Where did all their ships go? Did they all get upgraded to Caravels that just… sailed away? Are they all out celebrating the victorious Triremes in Sampalu? Whatever it is, they’d better get back soon, because right now Japan or even Green Ukraine look like they could demolish their southern holdings without much worry of retribution.

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Cebu has finally rallied another wave of defenders, but things are looking dire. Parlan has been completely razed, Nakijin is under attack by land, and Lanfang has plenty more ships in reserve. If Cebu wants to lock in and use some of those protagonist powers, now would be an excellent time, because as-is it’s looking like only a matter of time before Lanfang captures and burns another city.

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Soahsio is recaptured by Ternate as they buckle down for their last stand! Vincent Van Gogh, the famous Dutch post-impressionist painter, captures the triumphant scene. The Chono only have one half-strength Galleon to capture the city with right now, so they just might be able to weather the storm, but it’s really hard to say. Will Ternate escape death one final time?

Meanwhile, Potao begins to take damage from a squadron of Galleons. While they might look like New South Wales’s ships at first, a closer inspection reveals they’re… Japanese, I think? Japan could definitely use a win right now.

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Karankawa’s terrible Greenlandic colony of Ebahamo is eking out a modest existence with its perpetual 1 population. It’s never going to grow or achieve much of anything, but it’s also going to be a massive pain to capture thanks to the mountains surrounding it and the ice sheet which completely prevents all ship movement nearby. That same ice, though, has also unfortunately trapped that shiny new Karankawa Carrack (Karrack?) in the city center for all eternity. It’s a cute town mascot, at least!

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Soahsio is retaken by the Chono for what might be the final time. Ternate does have one more Longswordsman, and the Chono Galleon seems to have been killed, but even if Ternate retakes the city, that Chono Line Infantry in Quellón could still do them in. I’d say it’s safe to press your F keys now, everyone, and we’ll handle any miraculous revival next episode if/when it happens.

I’ll save the eulogy for the Power Rankings, but Ternate was a stubborn and gritty civilization that just had the misfortune of being overshadowed by their much more exciting neighbors both in game and in the eyes of the fans. Nobody really expected them to do well, and they didn’t, but at least they beat the odds and survived many life-threatening wars on their way to the bottom of the sea. F.

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Maravi recaptures Sena from the Herero, using - what else - a Trireme. Their fleet is beginning to noticeably thin, but the Herero are almost out of units, and they’ve almost completely let up on pressuring Sena. Can Maravi hold the (very literal) line after all?

Side note, but this would have been an excellent time for Luba or the Seychelles to attack if they weren’t busy destroying other, much cooler civs. Shame.

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Speaking of which, Zazzau is suddenly in a whole lot of trouble! They’ve got some naval reinforcements on the way, but Luba’s superior shipbuilding has allowed them to bombard Kushaka into the yellow. I’d be surprised if it didn’t end up flipping at this rate. Meanwhile, up north, Ethiopia’s seemingly-endless wall of defenders is still pushing against Mekele and Gondar, where Zazzau is very quickly running out of units. Amina had better sue for peace fast, or she’s being dragged right back down into the crab bucket of Africa.

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E’lem is currently back in Tlingit hands, and it seems pretty secure at the moment. There’s a Teotihuacano Musketman nearby, but on the whole Teotihuacan seems to be more interested in defending Ta’tem than continuing to flip a city that keeps slipping away from them. The holes in their carpet are continuing to show, which is very bad news for them long-term - the Tlingit seem hesitant to commit further to the E’lem front, but they suddenly have plenty of troops up north that could easily overwhelm their foes if they wanted to commit. Worse yet, though, the Tlingit have reached the Industrial Era! It’s hard to say exactly what tech got them there, but whichever one they picked up, it’s probably bad news for Teotihuacan.

Also, apparently Cebu has Lancers now??? I mean, sure, I guess…

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Unfortunately, the final fate of E’lem will have to wait until next week, because we have reached the end of the episode! Thankfully, though, we have one last thing to analyze: a big ol’ minimap. Let’s take stock of some highlights:

- The Hanseatic-Scythian-Estonian front remains stable for now, at least de jure.- The Seychelles still haven’t achieved anything in the Middle East.

- Zazzau hasn’t lost any cities to Ethiopia or Luba just yet.

- Maravi remains in control of Sena.

- The Kipchaks haven’t made any progress against Scythia.

- Mysore’s island cities are still holding out against New South Wales.

- Cebu hasn’t lost anything else to Lanfang.

- Ternate is still dead. (RIP)

- Potao is safely in Caral hands.

- The Tlingit control E’lem.

- The Xavante still own Huaricanga.

That should be everything, but expect all of that to change in the next episode! Until then, I’ve been NopeCopter, and I’ll be waiting impatiently alongside you for next week’s showing. Thanks for reading, and take care!

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