ThyReformer: Minoa's situation can be condensed in three simple words: Death is inevitable. Nubia and Turks have decided to band together, but instead of attacking a common strong enemy, the duo has decided that Minoa needs to die. While the Turks are hardly trying, Nubia has opted to throw practically everything it has at poor Minos. Right after we got hyped about Minoa capturing Derna, too. Minos' best bet right now is taking advantage of the sub-standard invasion forces the two civs are throwing into the sea around his capital, and hoping Derna is enough to satisfy Nubia. Should Nubia accept a peace, the Turks would be far easier to hold back, seeing as their strategy is to funnel three triremes at a time at Knossos. But if you are pessimistic at all, you have probably already given your goodbyes to Minos the Mad...

LonelyRollingStar: The Czech Republic is moving up in the world! Through no fault of their own, I assure you. If anything, the Czech two-city-state has been actively trying to throw their own empire under the bus ever since the game began, with the forfeit of Brno being the coup de grace. Despite the constant, never-ending battle of the minds between Vaclav Havel and his own country’s armed forces, the Czechs have managed to scrape out of the bottom, just this once. Why? Well, despite Havel’s stubborn refusal to make any scientific advancements, he, at the very least, has a capital not under siege and a number of military units that can’t be counted with two hands. Lucky him. When the Germans, other Germans, or whoever else eventually conquer the two halves of the Czech Republic, spare a thought for the populace. Their jubilance at being governed by a competent ruler ought not to be ignored.

Gragg: Well at least Scotland's last stand will be in their rightful homeland, and quite a last stand it will be. With the great wall and their defensible corner of the island, it may be quite a while before Scotland joins Xia on the sub. With some extraordinary luck they could make an attempt at Glasgow or settle a city on one of the few remaining islands... I'm really reaching for silver linings on this one. Perhaps a more realistic best case scenario is that Scotland goes down in a blaze of glory.

Doom: Canton holds steady at 57th this week. Although this was a bad part for them it seems they have no lower to fall for now. While it's unlikely that Shikoku will be able to eliminate Canton in the near future if the Sulu sent another fleet it's doubtful that Canton could throw a defense together in time. Similarly, Qin could eliminate them with ease.

Gragg: Imagine my excitement when I found out I could do a writeup on Canada, the gold-standard of trash civs and highest ranked civ that start with the letter C. Maybe I need a new hobby... In all seriousness though Canada has defended about as well as anyone could expect them to against the Iroquois. This is by no means a comeback, but it does buy Canada a little bit of time. When you're rank 56 that's about all you can ask for. Now they just need to hope Iroquois peaces out early and before they took.

Bors: Well this is unfortunate. Poor Alp Arslan can never seem to catch a break. I mean, the guy hasn’t even made the worst decisions as leader, and yet he seems totally screwed. First Parthia attacked, then India, then Palmyra, and now it’s both Parthia and Palmyra! With their combined army of 19,300 to Alp’s 1,500, there is absolutely no way that the Seljuqs bounce back from this without MAJOR losses. They do, however, have their island city of Kermanshah to fall back on. It seems like a nice relaxing place to settle down, live out a full life, enjoy being a rump state, you know? So maybe it’s not all bad for Arslan.

ThyReformer: If you asked me to explain what Poverty Point did this part, I'd have some difficulty answering before checking if they maybe made an effigy mound, before realizing that that wouldn't amount to much. Surrounded by Apache and...well, mostly Apache, and also bordering the Iroquois, Poverty Point ran out of options a while ago. Maybe they'll settle a city off somewhere far away and survive unnaturally long, and make themselves memorable that way. Or maybe they'll continue to live on as what is practically Apache's vassal. Though, considering the two civs have citadel'd each other by now, peace is unlikely to last much longer...

Msurdej: Abdelkader's rocky road keeps getting worse. While he was able to make peace with the Songhai, The Moors were able to capture Oran and put Algers on the ropes. With his nation bisected, Abdelkader's chances of lasting much longer are starting to look even worse. Oran was one of Algeria's best cities, and the loss has driven his already low scores into the bottom 5 in nearly every major category. Even if he manages to retake the city, it does't seem likely that Algeria will be lasting much longer.

Homusubi: Saif is like an Arabic Havel. I'm not sure how much else there is to say, really. Oman isn't exactly bad at warfare, with the notable exception of peace treaties, a field in which they have been humiliated twice. They now stand, like their European spiritual cousins, in the unenviable position of having a decent carpet but being markedly smaller than all of their neighbours. This has also contributed to them slowly falling behind in tech, to the extent that they're one of only nine civs whose number of techs researched still begins with a one. Can't fault them for trying – nobody can call them sleepy – but they're just not very good at what they do, and will likely remain an oddity confined almost to IRL Oman for the foreseeable future.

Aaron: Libya sinks into the bottom 10 by giving away Mankoura to Nubia for no apparent reason. To think just 3 parts ago, the war against Nubia was going so well that Libya had even taken Nuri. They even beat Songhai! But apparently Omar prefers to join the terrible-peace-deal-club instead of showing any sign of competence. Libya are now down to 3 desert cities and not much in the way of hope. At least they're doing better than their western neighbour... If Libya is careful, they might be able to snipe Algers away from the Moors, though it's a long shot.

Cloudberg: Hear that sound? It's Mehmed II desperately trying to claw his way out of the bottom 10! This part the Ottomans declared a war against a neighbour, which honestly is a triumph in and of itself if you've been rooting for them. There's a chance Mehmed could end the next part in possession of the Minoan capital. It could be—nah, let's not kid ourselves, Nubia is taking it. Mehmed gets an A for effort though.

ThyReformer: The second New Zealand-Murri war is upon us. Last time the two civs were at war, Murri gave away its second city in a peace deal, for which New Zealand showed their gratefulness by burning down the city. Now, at the eve of the second Coral War, Murri stands at a distinct disadvantage, as New Zealand's Medieval navy prepares to clash with Murri's fleet of triremes. The odds are not quite as insanely stacked against Murri as one might think, however, as New Zealand has not bothered to invest much in numbers. Triremes will without a doubt melt when faced with carracks and galleasses, but will Seddon's polished but meager fleet actually get anywhere? Regardless of success or lack thereof, Murri seem to jump from trouble to trouble, war to war - not a good sign for future endeavours.

Bors: As Seddon and Siaosi proudly proclaim their new peace treaty, fans observing from the submarine let out a collective groan. Tonga Time™ is over. It may have been short lived, but it was glorious. The small, 3-city wide nation of Tonga overcame the relative titan that is New Zealand, and gracefully managed to capture Palmerston-north. Now that peace has been declared and Tonga time is over, people are wondering, when will Siaosi get another chance to pounce? There are still many islands left for Tonga to settle, but they’ve shown no interest in spreading wide, and as far as conquest goes, Palmerston-north is about as far as they can truly go. Perhaps they will pull a Haiti, and only expand whenever other civs settle cities for them, but that is an inconsistent and unreliable method for expansion. Sadly, I fear that it is only a matter of time before Tonga finds themselves overwhelmed by a much larger foe, but if they can finally crank out settlers there remains the smallest shred of hope.

LonelyRollingStar: Having a front line of composite bowmen and a jungle core is, as it turns out, only a problem if you expect to take cities. With the fall of Hatsikugi, their city that got closest to achieving some heretofore undiscovered brand of normalcy that involves swapping moist forest for the peculiar, strange, and exotic tastes of dry forest, the Kuikuro now find their reputation as the toughest nut to crack in the game on the line against the mighty Uruguayans. With one island city besieged by Uruguayan triremes, embarked units, and confused settlers, and the other already staked out as the site of Anetü’s house arrest, all that’s left are three inland cities, their joint status as Kuikuro’s bleeding body supported by the nigh-bulletproof vest that is the Amazon jungle. Unfortunately, Uruguay will probably be the first civ to research gunpowder. Kuikuro’s fate is out of their hands, with their continued almost-relevance entirely dependent on Uruguay growing bored with them before their cities are burned. Either way, though, the damage has been done: Kuikuro’s days as anything other than a laughingstock are almost certainly over.

Lordie: The Nenets are like, doing something?! Whaaat! That's not allowed! But it is, and the Nenets horde, well, fleet? It's more of a troop than anything. Some Nenets ships are poking at an Evenk city which is refreshing to see, it's not always that we get Siberian and Saharan Slapfights in the same game. That was about all they did this part.

Cloudberg:

Apaanugpak finds himself rising eight spots this part because... he didn't die, I guess? That's worth something anyway. The peace treaty with Haida, although not shown on screen, was probably critical to Yup'ik's short term survival, but in the long term the most likely outcome for the bootleg Inuit is a few more parts of isolation followed by assimilation into the pink blob. On the upside though, they founded a new city!

Lordie: The end times appeared to be somewhat night for Ivan, as the Goths finally redeclared war on him, with the intent to kill, and pillage, and killage. At the outbreak, Vladimir, Suzdal and Moscow all appeared undefended but somehow the Goths have been unable to make progress, even against tiny cities such as Yaroslavl. Regardless, we haven't lost all faith in Ivan yet (what little we had left, anyway), and it may be possible that he perpetuates this inexplicable stalemate. That, or crumples like wet cardboard and is comprehensively run over by the Goths, Sami and even the Nenets. The Muscovite stats really aren't amazing, and on paper the Goths should have killed them last part. The fact that they haven't is testament to the Goth's incompet- I mean, incomprehension of the sheer power of russian fighting spirit.

Doom: The Horde continues to climb back through the rankings although this is entirely due to other civs failures. The Golden Horde are completely encircled by top 10 civs they have no way of defending against let alone taking cities from. As one of the very few civs that can't even hope to capture a city, they have no future, no possible path to victory. If we're lucky the Kazakhs or Goths will be merciful and put them out of their misery sooner rather than later.

Lordie: Quiet part for Haiti, all in all- so much so that they weren't mentioned outside of the OC snapshot. They're wise to rebuild and resolidify, but where do they go from here? Aside from a few island settles they've got nowhere to go, which is why many of the PRs have them fairly low. Poverty Point, the weakest nation in sight, don't even have coast! Disaster! It seems like Toussaint will have to scrap for anything and everything, and if he's lucky, he might snipe something of value.

Gragg: The Aztec’s rank movement is about as exciting as the Aztecs in game. (You can send hate mail to my inbox). In my defense, the Aztecs weren’t mentioned in this episode and only two of their cities appeared at the edge of the slides. In summation: Their stats are bad enough to leave them behind all of their neighbors. Montezuma needs to awaken and put his great plan into motion lest his followers start to doubt him.

Doom: Disaster strikes as Korea gives away Daegu for no reason. They rightfully fall 9 places this week and look set to keep dropping as soon as Shikoku or Qing decide to attack. Previously Korea were close to reaching the top 30 on the basis that the Qing would remain disinterested and that shikoku would be distracted by more southern civs, allowing them to settle in peace and giving them time to build up their core. Seonjo does not want to take this opportunity and would rather offer up cities without a fight. In fairness Qing still show no signs of waking up and shikoku are still fighting canton so it is theoretically possible for Korea to return from this. Although after Daegu no one has faith in Seonjo actually recovering.

Cloudberg: Madagascar holds steady in 39th for the third part in a row after Ranavalona's spectacular failed invasion of Beta Israel. Gudit rebuffed Madagascar's attack almost immediately despite her island adversary's attempt to use Brazil's unit teleporting tactics. However, it is those same tactics that prevent Madagascar from falling in the rankings. Ranavalona is notorious for building so many of her unique units that they overflow her territory, and indeed, it's already happening. Imerina units are showing up in Arabia, Sri Lanka, and even Indonesia. The question is this: is Madagascar more like Brazil, or more like Hawaii? Will these units be used for to keep the peace or to prosecute war? Only time will tell.

Aaron: Nubia boost through the rankings back to where they were before all the losses. And it's easy to see why - They just recovered an equal number of cities back. Nuri was retaken. Gournia was exchanged for Mankoura. Now Nubia is going to repeat the thing that caused the giant African coalition against them in the first place - taking a Minoan city (maybe even the capital this time?). If they are succesful, they'll have an OK little empire. Once Minoa is dealt with, (and assuming this does not cause another giant African coalition against them), Libya is also looking pretty weak and could be an expansion opportunity.

Gragg: Well they have a lot of cities...so there’s that. The Evenks are mostly known for being Asia’s punching bag. They’re not a runt civ by any means but their stats certainly look like it if you ignore their city count. Including the cities count their infoaddict rank has them at 38th. So 37 seems like a pretty good rank for them until they do something other than beat up on the Nenets. Do they Nenets even exist? Is that just a story the Evenks scribes made up to make it sound like they were doing something?

Gragg: Minor upward movement for New Zealand as other civs fall below them. New Zealand hasn’t done much to earn the ranks this part other than not lose another war against the Tonga. The war the part against the Murri hasn’t been awe-inspiring either. The reason they aren’t much lower in the ranks is mainly thanks to their weak neighbors: Tonga and Murri. The very distracted Australia isn’t likely to declare soon either. While they may have failed in that past couple wars they will likely get another chance eventually. Until then they will be known as the sole victim of Tonga-Time™.

Gragg: Benin was one of the two civs in Africa not involved in a war this part. So why the steep drop in rankings? Because you don't win by only defending well and Benin's neighbors are growing stronger. Songhai is taking cities off of Algeria, and Beta Israel is now being recognized as the potential power it is, not to mention Zimbabwe. Things aren't all bleak for Benin though, as they still have far better stats than Algeria, Libya, Nubia, and even slightly better than Ndongo (According to InfoAddict anyway). Their showing against Songhai many parts ago was impressive, but they need to go on the offensive if they ever hope to move up in the rankings. Inaction will be Benin's biggest enemy.

ThyReformer: Around the Holy Roman Empire, everyone else is waging a war, even if some of those wars are barely relevant. Venetians are attacking the Czechs, Prussians are attacking the Turks, Vikings are raiding the Scots, and Moors plunged willfully into a two-front war. What exactly is Suryavarman waiting for? With any luck and/or competence, Prague would be his in a part or two, while the distracted Moors could easily allow Cologne to be retaken. So what's the big deal? Why stagnate to death while your neighbors are at least trying? With every part that passes, the Empire's stats slowly become worse and worse compared to the civs around it. Maybe they're just preparing. Or, at least, so one would hope.

Aaron: A pretty good part for Nazca. Though they lost Ocongalla to the Selk'nam, they made up for it by capturing an "invincible" Kuikuro city. But even better: the Kuikuro thought that Paradones smelt funny or something and decided to give it back for free! Alongside a few settles, this means that the Nazca have finally overtaken Venezuela in the city count! Though the rest of their stats are still lagging behind. Of course, the big scary civ of the continent is not Venezuela but Uruguay - who they now share a significant border with. The Nazca do not have any kind of plan for dealing with Uruguay and thus despite their sizeable empire, are probably doomed to be eaten.

Doom: Ndongo continue their slow descent through the ranks as their embarrassing war record continues. Throwing away resources for pointless city flips will only hurt them in the long run. With Zimbabwe waking up and Beta Israel suddenly strong there's no good options left for Nzinga. Benin easily held off the last attack, Songhai and Nubia are too powerful and the other African civs are out of reach. Ndongos abysmal performance so far does not inspire confidence. War with Zimbabwe is inevitable and they remain woefully inadequate. Beta Israels newfound production power will certainly delay Zimbabwe but it will not be for long enough to save Nzinga.

LonelyRollingStar: It’s been said before, but it bears repeating: few civs have as few opportunities for expansion as Nepal. The mountainous civ has found itself trapped in a den of mountain lions—India, the only neighbor who they could possibly beat in a one-on-one fight, has the almost mythic ability to turn normally fun wars into dreadfully dull stalemates, and every other neighbor Prithvi Narayan has is a world power. For most nations this high up, there is at least some chance for expansion in the form of a nearby rump state. Nepal doesn’t have one, and that, most of all, is what dooms them. Forced to watch as any chances of seizing lands turned to dust following wasted war after wasted war with India, the mountaineers now simply have no chance of taking anything unless one of the goliaths around them crumbles in truly epic fashion. Nepal is, to put it simply, fucked no matter what they do. Then again, I suppose that comes naturally for an empire still reliant on warriors.

Gragg: Despite Korea's misstep this week, Shikoku dips down 4 spots. That's, in part, due to them struggling to keep the Canton city that they originally took last part. Part of the blame also falls on some new power ranker being pessimistic about them coughmecough. Rank 30 is still very respectable for their starting position and original rank of 46. They've taken more cities than most civs but make up for that by bad settling (though they do have one settler near their new canton settlements). The major factor holding them back is their reliance on their navy to expand against their rivals. Right now they simply can't win a straight land war against any of their neighbors. Their mainland settlements are weak, especially against the neighboring Qin. If they continue to take cities though, perhaps they can carve a place for themselves. Caption: Good progress so far but how much further into Asia can Shikoku get?

Gragg: The debate rages on among the power rankers over who’s better, Nepal or India. That question will be asked until they both end up in the sub. India wins out this week though as they are ahead in nearly every stat. Contrarians point to India less defensible terrain and potentially worse diplomatic position. Though until one takes a massive stat lead or gets coalition, these two are going to stay within spitting distance of each other on the rankings. The thing I think we all agree on is that the standoff will end when one of the two is coalitioned. Or perhaps they’ll grow old together and die in eachothers arms nuclear fire.

Gragg: A slip of 3 ranks for floundering against a basement tier civ. In their defense Scotland does have a good defensive position. That doesn’t change the fact that the Vikings are wasting their narrow window of opportunity where they have near complete naval control. Their longboats are only useful for so long though as other European civs will begin to mass the more powerful galleases. Without more successful naval invasions, they will struggle to find relevance in a crowded Europe. There is no shortage of potential targets in the area though so don’t write off the Vikings quite yet.

Lordie: Yea, so what if Sulu's rightful Indonesian clay has been claimed by Taungoo and Australia, and even Maratha? We still have the Phillipp- oh wait. Even Canton is comfortable forward settling Jamalul. God damn. I'll be frank- I'm amazed they're top half, it seems like all that's keeping them there is their high science and potential to knife Papua. Even that potential is diminishing though, as Papua are starting to rebuild, and their relatively low production and city count might come back to bite them. If Sulu can do something to the struggling cantonese, maybe their rank is justified, although with some rankers having them higher than Qing, maybe the rest of us are missing something. Or the insistence that Sulu are going to get their AMAZING RELIGION TM has got to them.

Homusubi: What a pleasant surprise! A civ which only occasionally reminded us that it existed for most of the game up to now, is currently just about managing to hold off the all-too-great Zimbabwe, and so has shot up the rankings this part. Although some of this can probably be explained away as the fault of an incompetent Mutota, not all of it can. For a start, Beto Israel has a very high production stat, although still nowhere near as high as Zimbabwe. Furthermore, defensively, Gudit is holding all the cards bar the one corresponding to raw endurance. The Zimbabwean army is mostly melee units, which find it hard to attack over the river bend that Balankab is nestled in. Gudit's composite UU, while weaker than a regular composite, can heal after attacking in some circumstances and has extra range, making it even harder for the Zimbabweans to get through. Oh, and did I mention that Ambober is as strong defensively as Balankab is, if the first line fails? Godspeed.



Oh, and they have a nonzero chance of taking a city from a solidly top-ten civ on the other side of their domain. Obviously.

LonelyRollingStar: Every major civilization has some form of kryptonite. For Zimbabwe, it’s Beta Israel. Palmyra, the Seljuqs. The Turks, Ostrava. And for the green and gold Aussies, no nation has matched them quite like Papua, who look set to retake Alice Springs and continue their campaign of minor inconvenience against the Australian fleets. Unfortunately for Papua, so far, that’s been their sole claim to fame. They’ve only settled four cities, and have the truly dreadful production levels to show for it. Even if they retake Alice Springs and never lose it again, the city has already been sapped of any value it may have once had, and the Papuans will still have stalled out. With Australia and Sulu around them snowballing in terms of power, Papua’s seemingly uncaring attitude towards self-improvement has started to show. Papua once had a legitimate claim for being the most powerful nation in Oceania. Now they’re on the verge of slipping into third, and it hardly feels like anything has changed on their front.

Technostar: After dropping sharply last week as a result of botching their North African invasions, Venice rebounds this week to the mid-20s. Frankly, this spot suits Venice well, as it's right about where Venice falls in the stats sheet. And while Venice is not currently involved in any wars that they could capitalize on (they're at war with the Czechs, but the border between them is too small for an invasion), most Venetian neighbors are far outclassed by the Merchant Republic. Any war that Venice could find themselves in would be at worst a stalemate (such as in the case of a Moorish conflict) or at best an opportunity for the Venetian navy to exceed our expectations. That being said, Venice is still far outclassed by the high tiers, but for the time being, none of those powerhouses actually can threaten them.

Gragg: The same old story with an extra twist this part. The Qing continue to lag behind their top-10-ranked neighbors. This part was especially bad for two reasons. 1) The Haida invasion of their colonies near the Kamchatka peninsula. It looks likely that Qing will lose the city of Fuzhou but not much more this war. The remaining cities in the north will become nearly irrelevant though as they become harder to defend. 2) Perhaps an even more alarming development was Korea’s ceding of Daegu to the much scarier Khamugs. This leaves the Qing without a neighbor they can overpower on their own. The best expansion opportunity may be the Korean capital, and we know what taking capitals gets you in Asia.

Shaggy: The eldritch horrors capturing Ocangalla have given Selk’nam a bit of a bump in the rankings this part. With Kuikuro slowing down Uruguay’s slow takeover of South America, the race to be the major South American force against them is still very much up in the air. The mountains and enemies around them make it an uphill climb from here on out; it might take some power from the deep to give Selk’nam the edge they need.

Msurdej: Remember how in the first part the Manx were rated 60 back in Part 1? Well now they're a top 20 civ. Don't we all feel foolish.

Yes, Dhone's managed to eke his way into the Top 20, after a plucky war with the Moors saw the city of Malaqah flip several times. And while the part ended with the city in Moor hands, the city could still theoretically go to Manx. But Dhone must also be careful. The recent wars have drained his military immensely, and further attacks could his army collapse. Still a good showing from a civ we all thought very little of.

Technostar: Prussia's had a rather quiet part, only really being shown in the sidelines as a result of the Gothic "invasion" of Muscovy. And while strong stats have kept Prussia in the high 20s, the opportunity for Prussian dominance is at risk of closing. Muscovy is really the only opportunity for rapid Prussian expansion at this point, as the rest of Prussia's neighbors are either too strong to invade or protected behind chokepoints. Should the Goths actually take out Muscovy, Prussia will lose their only real shot at expansion. But if there's any good news for the goose step, the Goths have historically shown themselves to be incapable of launching a proper invasion. Prussia's only good move right now would be to join the invasion of Muscovy, but if the Goths continue to botch their invasion, Prussia can hope for another opportunity.

Ludi: Hugo rises two spots in the rankings, mainly due to poor showings from Papua and Qing this episode. But behind the scenes Hugo has also put in some impressive work, almost doubling the size of his military and increasing his population and production by a decent amount. Hugo still has a lot to do if he wants to catch up to the main players of the cylinder, but if he can keep up this growth and find a suitable target for expansion he may one day be a worthy rival to Juan’s Uruguay.

Gragg: I won’t lie, the first few slides of the Moorish invasion into Algeria was my favorite moment of CBRX so far. It’s too bad the momentum didn’t continue but the damage to Algeria was certainly done and it’s not over yet. The Moors are now inter-continental civ. In the North the Manx war was similarly back and forth. They weren’t able to hold onto their excellent citadel on the isles, but they were able to repel the Manx invaders from mainland Europe. Not before their city of Malaqah was flipped. As you can see, the consensus is a net loss for the Moors. That is largely due to a few rankers putting them in the low 20’s or 30’s. But hey, they are certainly in the top 5 most entertaining civs this part.

Technostar: If you want any indication of our confidence in the Goths to wage war, look no further than their stagnating rank. Despite declaring war on perhaps the juiciest target out of their neighbors, the Goths have not risen in rank, as their invasion of Muscovy appears to have run into a similar problem to the Gothic invasion of the Golden Horde. Even with the Goths' massive numerical superiority, fielding an army nearly four times as large as Ivan's, the Goths have still failed to commit to any one city. Whether the Goths will overcome this strategic failure is a question for next part, but for now, we don't see the Goths actually capitalizing on this war.

LonelyRollingStar: It might be hard to find a continent with more relative parity than North America. Four civs all stand a fighting chance, and the arguably weakest among them (these guys!) just held the strongest to a draw. Yet still the Apache find themselves unchanged in their relative rank, bottom of the top of the totem pole with only marginal improvements compared to the field. An up-to-date carpet, decent hammer rate, and high population won’t solve their biggest problems – they’re hemmed in. Sharing a border or being one abandoned Aztec outpost in Washington away from it with all their neighbors, their relative passivity in settling early in the game has led to some issues with their slightly scarier neighbors. They were able to survive a war against one just fine, sure, but even then all they could do was survive. A two-front war may prove fatal to the perhaps aptly named Geronimo, and though weak targets do exist, a lack of melee units and warmonger penalties have a way of escalating situations. The Apache still certainly have a path to victory in North America, but with so many others reaching for the grail, one has to wonder.

Bors: Once renowned for their inactivity and small nation, the Haidan empire has developed into perhaps the first transcontinental power. Though the Haida only have two cities in Asia at present, they make up for it with their relatively strong navy in the region, and statistical prowess relative to their Asian rivals. Speaking of Asian rivals, Koyah is currently at war with the Qing, a washed up Chinese nation whose best days are past them. The Qing offer a great chance for the Haidan empire to expand its influence into the Kamchatkan region, with a few cities looking ripe for the picking. Should this conflict turn in the favor of Koyah’s armies, Haida is sure to rise even farther, potentially looking towards a future top 10 spot.

Lacs: Getting a little comfy at 14, it's Australia. As usual, a mixed part: they managed to finish the episode holding on to Alice Springs, but the city still has a few flips left in it before we know who's keeping it. This is also the first part in living memory that Australia didn't settle a city, instead letting the Murri sneak Beerwah into the outback. Still, their production sits just shy of 300, so their position is as secure as ever... right? Well, I wonder if this little Alice Springs flipfest is indicative of a a larger problem: despite Australia's overwhelming production, they aren't churning out many naval units. In Mk 2, Australia's Wobbegong Armada was both its security blanket and its sole offensive force, to a fault: Parkes could never hold onto anything in Asia or America. Hawke's paratrooper replacement might be a better bet for foreign invasion, but if Papua and potentially Sulu continue to run rings around Australia's coastal cities, who knows - they might never get to use them.

ThyReformer: This part, Mithridates has gotten back to his old antics. That is, he has declared war on the down-trodden Seljuqs again, with the massive Parthian army acting as the hammer to the Palmyrene anvil that has already softened up the Seljuqs. Concern is on the horizon, however, as Mithridates' army consists largely of ranged units, with melee units at best sprinkled in. If it's any consolation, said melee units are at least pikemen, meaning they won't suffer too much until they decide to butt heads with the Seljuq cities. As it stands, Parthia is in a rather unique position: their efforts to capture Seljuq cities might be simply let Palmyra sneak in and snatch the cities off of Mithridates' hands. That is, if he can't keep his few melee units alive. And we all know how great the AI is at keeping its melee units alive.



Homusubi: aungoo, by all rights, should be crushing it. Statistically, they are pretty much neck and neck with the behemoth that is Palmyra. They haven't neglected any aspect of their empire, settling the entire Indochinese core while also building up a decent carpet. The two proper conflicts they were in resulted in them coming out on top of rather tricky siege situations as the attacker and the defender respectively. What's more, their clearest immediate threat, Maratha, appear to be so much of a paper tiger that the denizens of the sub recently had to check for advanced origami books in the vicinity of Pedro's desk. Hence the more than respectable rank.



On the other hand... they haven't tried to do anything for some time. Their offensive presence has been limited to the capture of one Cantonese forward settle many parts ago. This sort of behaviour has been observed with Taungoo before; a very decent power that just decides to sit there instead of doing anything. Will they wake up all of a sudden, like Haida before them, and show their true top-twenty colours? Or will we have to wait for a few more parts and the accompanying threat of a Qin carpet emerging before that happens?

Gragg: The Iroquois stumble up one spot this week. Their slow gains against Canada are still gains, which is better than other North American civs this part. With Canada’s largest two cities on low hp, next part holds a lot of potential for the Iroquois. They wield the largest military in North America. Even larger than Metis who have much more area to defend. The trouble Iroquois has had against the far inferior Canada is enough cause for concern to keep them out of the top 10 this week though. If they take 2 more Canadian cities before ending the war and manage to keep London, expect that to change.

Gragg: Not the most exciting part for Maratha. A naval invasion of Oman that went about as well as expected. They did damage a few cities to half health off-camera though. They also continue to settle on islands throughout the Indian ocean which could be useful in the future. Their stats continue to be quite strong, above Palmyra's and the Khamug’s. If they don’t find a way to break either Nepal or India though, they may miss out on their opportunity to capitalize on that.

LonelyRollingStar: Well, that’s certainly one way to deal with a foe. Seonjo evidently forgot which papers he was signing when it came time to discuss peace terms, and now Daegu is a valuable (albeit isolated) Khamug outpost smack in the middle of Korea’s core. Victory over Korea still hasn’t improved the horde’s chances, however, as they slip even further this part, a hair’s breadth away from falling out of the top ten. The reason behind that is simple: the Khamugs’ area has never been more competitive. With most civs in the region powers in their own right, the Khamugs could see whatever edge they have in North Asia evaporate in just a few parts. Bonkers stats mean little when everyone has them, after all, and their Yakutia-esque sleepiness and antiquated army has been doing them no favors. Korea never should have been able to push at all into Khamug lands, but they still managed to menace Sunud and came a melee unit or two away from fully seizing the city, a loss superpowers aren’t expected to take. The Khamugs are definitely still a part of the lead pack, and can turn their fate around with one successful war. But given their passivity in all respects but settling, such a war may never come.

Lacs: In, out. Bam. There's the Songhai we were looking for, the Songhai we were missing in the Libyan Farce. Songhai grab Tagdemt and then make peace (offscreen), and while it is a relief to see Askia win an easy war for once, there is a part of me that wonders if they chickened out a little early - after all, the Moors are doing a great job at softening up Algeria's core without being able to hold the cities for more than a couple of turns. Then again, there was that affair with Ndongo, which they were able to brush off after diverting a few troops to the south, so maybe after their menagerie of tactical blunders they figured they'd play this one safe. Songhai aren't burnt out - they still have 9.9k military, on par with perennially peaceful Taungoo - so perhaps now's a good time to make amends and finish off Libya. Get Nubia to help. Just in case, you know?

Ludi: Once more, for the fourth time in a row, we find Ablai Khan as number seven in the rankings and that’s mostly because not much has changed for him since the last part. The war against the Evenks barely has enough action to be classified as a relevant one and somehow the Kazakh army still managed to decrease in size compared to the last part. The Kazakhs are still one of the strongest civs on the cylinder but if Ablai continues to stall in wars against civs like the Nenets and Evenks, he should not be surprised when he drops down from his beloved seventh place.

Aaron: Qin lose their place in the top 5 to Palmyra. They haven't really done anything recently so a small slide in rankings is to be expected. And they don't appear to be planning anything either - they have slightly less military than any of their neighbours except Shikoku. What they do have is lots of production (something Qing and Shikoku lack) and a lot of science (something the Khamugs lack). At the moment it is probably not worth trying to invade any of their neighbours - they're all still too even and it would probably result in a stalemate and achieve nothing but weakening them. Even Shikoku is probably not worth it as, with only a single blocked off coastal city to Shikoku's 6, Shikoku have enough of a naval advantage to continue flipping coastal cities for ever. Canton is of course free cities whenever Qin wants them. The best option at the moment for Qin is probably to try and create some sort of coalition against their neighbours, because that 1) has a lot more chance to succeed 2) will decrease the chance for Qin to be the target of a coalition.



Lacs: Slip-sliding back into the top 5, it's Zenobia and her densely-packed empire - she has nineteen cities now, the same as Uruguay. It was a solid part for Palmyra, as with the fall of Rey they finally consolidated their control over all of Mesopotamia. Pressing further into the Seljuq Empire is a trickier ask, as Alp Arslan had the gall to settle his other cities behind a bunch of dumb mountains, instead of on the inviting Tigris floodplains. As with the other top 5 civs, Zenobia is hardly out of other options - Oman, the Golden Horde, that one Parthian city - but I find myself coming back to the Seljuqs, as the bulk of the Parthian army is now squeezing them from the other side. If Palmyra let Parthia scoop up the remaining cities, they'll be bordering their first true threat - and one who'll have the high ground.

ThyReformer: A quiet part for the beast of Europe. Towards the end of the part, however, an opportunity has cropped up in the form of an even weaker Muscovy. With the Goths hammering into the pitiful Russian civ from one side, the Sami would benefit considerably from striking now, or at least very soon. Bordering the Goths instead of the Muscovites would make for a noticeably tougher border, even if the Goths have become somewhat infamous for not fighting wars good. The Sami retain a great position in stats, passing the Métis in production and still retaining the second biggest military on the cylinder, only behind Uruguay. Such a mighty civ should have a bright future, but how will they achieve that future?

Bors: There are certain civs in the game that can get away with simply lying in wait, and perhaps the Metis are the embodiment of this. The Metis have gotten away with a single city capture all game, and are still ranked as a top 5 civ, and it’s understandable why. The Metis are the most expansive civ in the game by a longshot, with 26 cities in their empire, and their other stats are quite terrifying as well, with top of the line production, technology, and crop yield. There is, however, one shortcoming of this vast empire, and it’s their army. It’s not exactly pitiful, still being in the 80th percentile, but when you consider how spread out it is over their enormous empire, it starts to become a problem. Add to this that the Apache actually have a bigger army and more aggressive tendencies and you start to see where the Metis might have troubles. Despite this, through sheer statistical domination, Louis Riel has a bit of a grace period before he needs to truly kick into high gear.

Cloudberg: This week's revelations about Beta Israel only seem to confirm what some of us already suspected: Zimbabwe is wasting its time trying to capture Balankab. But really, as someone who is on the "anyone but Zimbabwe" bandwagon, I couldn't be happier. The longer Nyatsimba Mutota throws his units hopelessly into the maw of Beta Israel's extra range bowmen, Defender of the Faith bonus, and amped up production, the more likely it is he'll run out of steam and other civs like Madagascar might just be able to grab a foothold. But currently Zimbabwe is still sitting at second or third in most of the stats, so if there's a drop coming, it's not here yet.

Msurdej: Lavajella remains on top this week, but the deviation grows slightly from last part.Their invasion of the Kuikuro is slowed to a grinding halt, as the reach the Amazon rainforest outside of the city. This limits their movement and allows for Kuikuro archers to pick off the slow moving enemy bit by bit. But eventuallly, that massive army that Urugauy has will eventually reach the gates of Kuhikugu, and when that happens, Uruguay will show the cylinder why they are #1.

