Part of the campaign:

Welcome back everyone! Last week, Brazil won round 4, presumably on the heels of their incredible performance in the CBR. Now, this week's episode is a real nailbiter, so let's get started!

A few civs choose new spots for their second cities, most notably Bulgaria, while it seems Scotland has returned to its usual wandering ways.

The first war is an unusual one, as the Almohads and Dervishes team up on the Kulin.

Scotland finally settles, at the end of a peninsula in flat land where it's virtually impossible to defend, especially against naval attacks.

Meanwhile, the Papal States and Portugal begin a much more effective war against Polynesia, which has once again become the first civ to found four cities.

The Papal States quickly capture Samoa, while Portugal struggles to damage Nuku Hiva without any ships.

The Aztecs attack Brazil, seeking to take out their unusual settle of Salvador.

But instead, Pedro negotiates peace in exchange for Teotihuacan, which he promptly burns to the ground.

In what I shall call the first Celtic war, the Isle of Man attacks Scotland!

Nearby, Poverty Point declares war on the Dervishes, who have a decent sized army but much less production.

And the first Celtic War ends as Scotland hands over Glasgow to the Manx in a peace treaty.

Meanwhile, the Papal States move against the Aztecs, who are still reeling from the destruction of Teotihuacan.

And, having researched sailing and built a trireme, Portugal finally manages to capture and raze Nuku Hiva.

Finally, something happens on the subcontinent, as the Buccaneers declare war on Tunis!

And that war ends with yet another peace treaty. Abu Zakariya gives away Kairouan, which would have been quite difficult to capture if he didn't, you know, just give it the fuck away.

Meanwhile in the war between Poverty Point and the Dervishes, Táhera is finally starting to make some progress with the capture of Buuhoodle!

As Taleh falls to yellow, Poverty Point chooses the Spirit Guardian that allows them to make peace with the barbarians. If only there were actually some barbarians to be at peace with...

Brazil builds the great wall, just like last round. That doesn't bode well for... oh, right, the Boers aren't in this game.

But anyway, it's now turn 100, so it's time for the stats. Brazil has the largest army at the moment, with a pretty large lead over the Buccaneers and the Netherlands, who are nearly tied in second.

Those same two civs are neck in neck for first in crop yield, while Brazil is all the way down in 5th.

And the Netherlands have a large lead in production, while Poverty Point also comes in well ahead of Brazil.

On returning to the action, we see that the Papal States have at last managed to take something from the Aztecs (who have, by the way, rebuilt Tlatelolco where Teotihuacan once stood)—only it's not Tenochtitlan, it's the new Teotihuacan, which is on the other side of Tenochtitlan. And they've taken it with nothing but three triremes.

And Poverty Point finally captures Taleh, eliminating Mohammed Hassan of the Dervishes in 21st place.

Polynesia, having researched construction and thus unlocked composite bowmen, decides it's time to retake Samoa.

And Kamehameha does, in fact, retake Samoa.

Meanwhile, Turkey attacks Bulgaria in order to capture the worthless snow city of Tarnovo. Capturing this might actually make Ataturk's empire worse.

Whoa, what? All of a sudden, it seems that the Papal States have turned the tide against Polynesia, not only retaking Samoa but capturing Honolulu as well!

The Aztecs give away Tlatelolco to Serer for some reason. At the same time, Serer attacks Portugal, which has composite bowmen, while Ama Joof does not.

As Honolulu flips in the background, Greece attacks Milan! As so often seems to happen, Milan's cities aren't connected to one another and should prove to be easy pickings for Eleftherios Venizelos.

Portugal manages to filter enough units through its one-tile passage to Tlatelolco that it's able to take the city. Incredible.

Táhera suddenly realizes that Scotland is still alive and decides to deal with this accordingly.

What? After damaging Brescia but not capturing anything, Greece peaces out with Milan. But never fear, Milan-haters, for Andorra has declared war in Greece's stead.

Krum makes peace with Ataturk and gives away Preslav, leaving Bulgaria crippled as usual.

And Poverty Point takes Edinburgh, eliminating Robert the Bruce of Scotland in 20th place. Poverty Point has eliminated both civs so far.

Suddenly, Brazil attacks Portugal! Tlatelolco is not likely to last long.

Polynesia—which rebuilt Nuku Hiva after it was razed—joins the war on Brazil's side.

Tlatelolco is quickly assimilated, but pushing farther may be a challenge.

The Papal States manage to snag Nuku Hiva, as a Manx fleet encroaches in Lisbon in the background.

But first, Illiam Dhone captures Sintra to clear the way for his land units as well.

Greece attacks Milan again. Also worth noting is that Andorra captured Brescia and I forgot to take a picture.

And the Manx capture Lisbon! Only Porto remains...

And Porto falls to Brazil, eliminating Pombal of Portugal in 19th place.

Poverty Point suddenly attacks the Manx! Glasgow is utterly fucked; I can't really say what fate the rest of their cities might endure.

Sure enough, Glasgow falls on the second turn of the war.

Brazil moves on its next target: Serer. It really looks like Pedro is trying to win this again.

Two wars have broken out in this picture: Turkey attacks the Almohads, and Poverty Point declares war on the Kulin. Both wars will be tough for the aggressors due to geography, but there's still a chance they could overwhelm their foes.

Well, that's one way to do it. Turkey peaces out with the Almohads and receives Marrakech.

Turkey attacks Bulgaria again, though Krum seems to have prepared well, surrounding his capital with several layers of units.

Poverty Point makes peace with the Isle of Man and receives Castletown. It's a big blow for the manx, and a great windfall for Poverty Point.

Time for the turn 200 stats! Poverty Point has a significant lead in military, with the Netherlands and Brazil in second and third respectively.

The Netherlands and Poverty Point are tied for the lead in technologies, with Brazil and the Buccaneers tied two techs behind them.

And Poverty Point has a significant production lead, with 65 more hammers than second place Brazil.

Brazil begins to eat into Serer, taking Kahone.

And Madagascar joins Turkey's attack on Bulgaria, all but ensuring that Krum is eliminated.

But will the Papal States kill Polynesia first? They might, as war has just broken out between these two eternal enemies.

And indeed, Tonga falls, eliminating Kamehameha of Polynesia in 18th place.

Literally seconds later (I had to rush to get the previous screenshot before this one), Turkey takes Pliska, eliminating Krum of Bulgaria in 17th place.

And five turns later, Brazil takes Diakhao, eliminating Ama Joof of Serer in 16th place.

Brazil then decides it would be a great idea to attack the Netherlands.

William quickly responds by... making peace and giving away Utrecht.

The Manx and Brazil then team up to attack Poverty Point, even though Pedro is not going to be able to do much.

Ataturk grows restless and decides to attack the Almohads again.

Meanwhile, the Buccaneers declare war on the Kulin and immediately begin damaging Corranderrk.

The Manx decide that being at war with Poverty Point and Brazil at the same time is a good idea.

But wait... there seems to be a pattern. The Aztecs have also declared war on Brazil.

And so does Madagascar! Very interesting indeed!

And then the Buccaneers capture Corranderrk, leaving the Kulin with two cities that barely have any land.

Turkey captures Fes—yet another useless snow city. Ataturk seems to have an affinity for this.

The Papal States attack the Aztecs, seeking to grab Tenochtitlan before Brazil gets its army together.

And then Turkey takes Tinmel, eliminating Abd al-Mu'min of the Almohads in 15th place.

On the next turn, Greece takes Milan, eliminating Gian Galeazzo of Milan in 14th place.

And five turns after that, the Papal States capture Tenochtitlan, eliminating Montezuma of the Aztecs in 13th place.

Brazil, meanwhile, is pushing back against the Manx attack, capturing Lisbon.

Sintra also falls to Brazil as Poverty Point approaches Douglas itself.

And Táhera takes Douglas, eliminating Illiam Dhone of the Isle of Man in 12th place.

Brazil and Poverty Point then team up against the Netherlands, who have a strong army but not strong enough to hold off two superpowers.

Turkey, meanwhile, attacks Madagascar, which is still at war with Brazil.

This allows Turkey to swiftly capture—and raze—Toliara.

The Kulin and the Buccaneers join the war against Poverty Point. Táhera may be in a spot of bother here.

Brazil takes Amsterdam, but not its salt tile, which Táhera has already stolen for herself.

Poverty Point then takes Rotterdam, cutting off Brazil from any further conquests.

And Táhera captures Groningen as well, eliminating William of the Netherlands in 11th place.

But the Buccaneers are beginning to wreak havoc on her west coast, capturing Glasgow. Told you it was vulnerable to naval attacks!

Anyway, time for more stats. Poverty Point has the largest army now, despite being involve in so many wars, but Brazil is very close behind.

Poverty Point and Brazil are also tied in technologies.

But Poverty point maintains its significant production lead, which seems good for their long-term prospects.

Oh, wow. Madagascar makes peace with Brazil and gives away Mahajanga and Faradofay... which is all of its non-capital cities. Also of note, Toliara flipped, and Turkey decided not to raze it this time.

Then Brazil suddenly attacks the Papal States! The second largest army is up against the third largest army, and I would say this is a tossup if it weren't for the fact that Brazil has built several citadels next to Rome and Benevento.

The Buccaneers make peace with Poverty Point and give away Coranderrk. Táhera maintains control over Glasgow as well. That couldn't have turned out better for Poverty Point.

This allows for Poverty Point to focus on their last remaining foe: the Kulin. Greece takes Mooroolbark, but Barere Barere Balug looks like it will go to Táhera.

Sure enough, Poverty Point captures Barere Barere Balug, eliminating William Barak of the Kulin in 10th place.

Táhera then attacks her next target: Turkey! Táhera is proving to be extremely competent so far.

Brazil makes its first move against the Papal States by capturing Rome. Ouch.

Poverty Point, meanwhile, manages to take Marrakesh.

Some time later, Innocent III seems to have recovered Rome, and both sides are almost out of units.

Despite his war with Poverty Point, Ataturk finds time to capture Antananarivo, eliminating Ranavalona I of Madagascar in 9th place.

But on the west coast, Turkey is still taking heavy losses, as Poverty Point captures Tinmel.

Fes falls as well, although it should flip a lot, as will Tinmel.

Brazil begins to make additional progress against the Papal States, capturing Teotihuacan. The minimap tells me that they've retaken Rome as well.

Tenochtitlan falls. The Papal States are definitely in full retreat now.

Nuku Hiva is captured, and it's clear that Innocent III is almost out of troops.

Andorra attacks Greece! If anything proves decisive in this war, it'll probably be Andorra's superior naval technology.

After Samoa and Benevento are both captured, the pope calls it quits and makes peace, giving away everything except Honolulu.

As Andorra begins to beat down Athens, Eleftherios Venizelos does the only thing he can: capture Brescia.

WHAT! God, the stupidity. Andorra makes peace with Greece at the worst possible moment: just before taking Athens, and while Brescia is in enemy hands. This is just catastrophic.

Brazil attacks Turkey! Fearing for his survival, Ataturk makes peace with Poverty Point, keeping Fes but not Tinmel.

Antananarivo quickly falls, although this was a foregone conclusion.

Poverty Point attacks the Buccaneers, but this strikes me as a bad idea, considering that Henry Morgan has near complete naval dominance over this region.

In fact, that naval might proves sufficient to capture Beau Rivage.

Now, it's time for the turn 400 stats. Brazil has the largest army now by a decent margin.

Brazil has also developed a tech lead, albeit a very small one.

And furthermore, Brazil has taken the lead in production but an enormous 324 hammers. That's over 50% more than Poverty Point, who were head of them just 100 turns ago.

The Buccaneers deal another humiliating blow to Poverty Point, capturing Coranderrk.

Brazil continues to push through Turkey's long line of eastern cities, capturing Toliara.

Pliska is next... but now is when the flipping begins.

21 turns later, after flipping Pliska endlessly, Turkey makes peace with Brazil and gives away Preslav, Istnabul, and Tarnovo.

OH SHIT, THIS IS IT! Brazil has declared war on Poverty Point! This is the moment of truth: can Táhera save us from a second Brazilian victory? Her army is quite clearly smaller, but her units appear to be more advanced, so that's something at least.

Earlier, Poverty Point managed to take back both Coranderrk and Beau Rivage. In response to the Brazilian attack, they end the war with the Buccaneers and receive Kairouan and Puerto Cabello.

Brazil immediately pushes hard against Poverty Point, capturing Douglas and damaging Castletown. This looks pretty bad for Táhera so far...

As if to add insult to injury, Brazil wins the world's fair.

Pedro takes Castletown, but Táhera's navy keeps flipping Douglas with her navy.

And sometimes she'll even recover both of them at the same time.

Turn 500 arrives, and both civs' militaries have grown significantly since turn 400, but Brazil's has grown more.

But Poverty Point has overtaken Brazil in tech by a slim margin. If Táhera can unlock artillery first, she may turn the tide.

And Brazil continues to have a large lead in production. Thanks to the cities Táhera has lost, the margin is even wider than before.

Meanwhile, the Buccaneers attack the Papal States. (Greece joins a couple turns later, but I forgot to screenshot that.)

Meanwhile, Brazil has unlocked Pracinhas and is using them to great effect, capturing Rotterdam. Somehow, Douglas keeps flipping.

Táhera retakes Rotterdam but loses Groningen.

Oh... whoops. Greece captures Honolulu, eliminating Innocent III of the Papal States in 8th place.

Poverty Point, now armed with artillery, has retaken Groningen and Rotterdam but the front line is reminiscent of the worst years of World War I.

But she manages to retake Castletown as well. And she has unlocked anti-aircraft guns, which is just what she needs to counter the aircraft that Brazil has begun to deploy.

Poverty Point retakes Douglas but loses Castletown...

Eight turns later, Brazil has retaken Castletown and Groningen, but Táhera has unlocked rocket artillery and mobile SAMs.

The Buccaneers and Greece, meanwhile, decide that it's time to finish off Tunis, something that really should have been done ages ago.

Oh, and guess who won the international games. At least it was closer this time.

And the Buccaneers capture Tunis, eliminating Abu Zakariya of Tunis in 7th place.

Meanwhile, Poverty Point—now sporting paratroopers—has retaken Groningen and Castletown and pushed all the way into Amsterdam!

And then Táhera retakes Douglas as well, putting her at a net gain of one city.

But then Brazil retakes Amsterdam and Douglas and makes peace, meaning the war is technically a loss for Poverty Point. Had the war continued, however, it seems likely that Táhera could have won a decisive victory with her insane technological advantage.

In an unexpected move, Andorra attacks the Buccaneers! Roger Bernard is fielding a surprisingly powerful force, and it looks like Tunis could fall.

Brazil, meanwhile, attacks Turkey again.

Fes falls, but looks set to flip.

It does flip, first to Turkey, then to Greece.

Andorra manages to take Tunis, but Roger Bernard's army has been so depleted that Henry Morgan's appears larger.

And Brazil captures Ankara, eliminating Mustafa Kemal Ataturk of Turkey in 6th place.

Brazil immediately turns and targets Greece, capturing Fes on the first turn of the war.

Honolulu follows shortly thereafter.

The turn 600 stats have an interesting surprise for us: despite all of Brazil's gains, Poverty Point has the largest army, and it only seems to be growing, as they assemble a carpet of paratroopers and rocket artillery and mobile SAMs.

Poverty Point also leads by two technologies whereas they led by one before.

And Brazil leads in production by 700 hammers, which as a percentage of Poverty Point's production is not as much as before. So Brazil gained more total production, but Poverty Point has proportionally gained more.

But Brazil is about to get even more, because Pedro has taken Athens, triggering Greece to make peace and give away Heraklion and Mooroolbark.

Brazil then attacks Andorra, capturing Engordany right off the bat.

Greece joins the war on Brazil's side, hoping to take advantage of all the citadels they've built next to Andorra la Vella.

Sure enough, Greece manages to take the Andorran capital!

But Andorra flips it back and promptly loses it to Brazil.

The Buccaneers join the war for some last minute action as well.

Greece takes Escaldes, while Tunis is on the ropes...

Brazil takes Tunis while Andorra recovers Escaldes...

And then Brazil takes Escaldes as well, eliminating Roger Bernard III of Andorra in 5th place.

Some 29 turns later, an interesting thing seems to be happening: Poverty Point has open borders with Brazil and is filling their borders with units. Where have I seen this before? Only, something was different that time...

Brazil's borders are full of units over here too.

And a shot of Brazil's core reveals that while it is not full of Poverty Point units, Pedro's army consists almost entirely of landships.

43 turns after that, we have the turn 700 stats. Poverty Point now leads Brazil in military by over 1 million troops, which is absolutely insane.

Their science lead holds firm at two techs.

And Brazil has slightly less than twice as much production as Poverty Point.

Since no wars had been declared since turn 623, and I was getting rather bored, I decide to declare world war right at turn 700. The question is: can Poverty Point's huge military advantage last long enough to overcome Brazil's huge production advantage? Let's find out!

Here's a shot of the other main arena, just for good measure.

On the first turn of fighting, Brazil bombards the Greek cities of Brescia and Thessaloniki down to red, allowing Poverty Point to capture both of them. Táhera also takes Escaldes from Brazil.

On the eastern front, she quickly moves into Brazilian territory, capturing Amsterdam.

And down here, where Brazilian units are almost non-existant, she has captured Istanbul and Tarnovo.

And down here, Poverty Point has taken Heraklion but lost Brescia.

On the next turn, Poverty Point captures Tortuga from the Buccaneers...

And Fes from Brazil.

Another turn, and Poverty Point has captured Athens and Mooroolbark.

And up here, Táhera has at last recaptured Douglas.

And down here, she's taken Ankara. Could she actually pull this off? Her military isn't looking sparse at all!

Next turn, she takes both Tunis and Port Royal in one fell swoop, but loses Tortuga.

...And somehow captures Toliara before Pliska and Preslav.

Another turn, and Brescia and Tortuga are both back in Táhera's hands.

And Preslav and Pliska have been captured at the cost of Toliara, which she wans't going to hold anyway.

A massive grind fest begins in the northern part of the continent, as Poverty Point takes Manaus but is faced with a huge wall of tanks.

On the subcontinent, Brazil retakes some cities, most notably Athens and Port Royal, as well as Petit-Goave from the Buccaneers.

But Poverty Point strikes back and retakes Port Royal, along with Nassau and Milan. Eleftherios Venizelos of Greece and Henry Morgan of the Buccaneers are simultaneously eliminated in 4th place, or third, I still don't know how /u/TheSpecialize counts this stuff.

Then Táhera makes one big push and unites the subcontinent with the captures of Petit-Goave and Andorra la Vella.

She can now focus her full might on the eastern front, where she has broken through and taken Utrecht.

Another turn, and Poverty Point captures Fortaleza but loses Utrecht.

Four turns later, Brazil makes a push, retaking Pliska, Fortaleza, and Manaus.

But that won't stop Poverty Point from mopping up Engordany.

And Táhera then retakes Fortaleza, Manaus, and Utrecht, and captures Sintra as well.

Brazil retakes Sintra but loses Diakhao, while Rio de Janeiro has been nuked. I'd say any hope of Brazil turning this around again is now gone.

Brazil recovers Diakhao but loses Lisbon...

A stray destroyer briefly swoops in and takes Brasilia.

But some more stray units arrive and take Toliara, Recife, and Faradofay as well.

Poverty Point captures Kahone but loses Lisbon...

Poverty Point takes Antananarivo but appears to have lost Brasilia, Recife, and Faradofay.

But Táhera is pushing forward up north, taking Lisbon and Salvador.

Two turns later, Poverty Point absolutely devastates Brazil, taking Mahajanga, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, and Porto!

Another turn, and Rome and Nuku Hiva are captured...

Another turn, and Tlatelolco and Samoa both fall...

Then Honolulu, Tonga, and Sao Paulo...

Brazil recovers Honolulu but loses Benevento and Tenochtitlan...

And just like that, it's over. Poverty Point has used Brazil's own strategy against them to win the round against all odds! Treasure this moment—it is very rare for a civ to overcome such a deficit in production, and Táhera played her cards perfectly to defeat a civ that easily could have won the round—and with it, perhaps, the game.

The score now stands as follows:



Polynesia: 1

Poverty Point: 1

Brazil: 1

Madagascar: 1



Thanks for reading, and I'll be back next week!