Doom: Well that couldn't really have gone worse. With no lower to go it's a question of how long will Canada survive. The only saving grace is that Metis have misfired and turned on the Iroquois which will buy Canada some time to prepare and saves Winnipeg from certain death. The last land available for Canada to settle is mostly tundra so there really is nowhere for King to go now that he's lost all southern cities. Hopes of canifest destiny 3 have been dashed.

ThyReformer: Catastrophe has struck the Minoans. A self-created catastrophe, sure, but a catastrophe all the same. Peace has at last come to Minoa, but at what cost? The loss of Gournia, if not a death sentence, almost certainly ruins any chance of long-term power Minos might have been dreaming about. Now down to two cities, there is at least a silver lining, as they can finally start making an army since Nubia is no longer bombarding their embarked units to dust the moment they are produced. And, hey, at least their capital is really big, right?

Bors: Well the Murri aren’t exactly in a great spot right now, but hey think positively! If all goes well the Murri will no longer be mediocre! They’ll just be bad! I mean yeah it’s not great but it’s not dead. On a more serious note, the Murri are now at war with their two closest neighbors, and the conflict is not looking up for them. With the single smallest military on the planet, most foes would roll over the Murri in a few turns. Fortunately for them, Australia is not most foes- as they boast one of the weakest armies of any civilization, falling in the bottom 12 in that particular stat. Terrain is also on Ganuuru’s side. I might actually be more concerned with New Zealand, a top 10 Civilization in terms of military manpower, and a formidable naval foe. Murri’s best chance of surviving there is that triremes, which make up Sedon’s navy, are rather weak and have a hard time damaging cities. All in all, the Murri could survive this conflict relatively unscathed, but it seems unlikely.

Msurdej: We didn't see much of Papua this part, so everything from last time still applies. Only three poorly defended cities, Australia and Sulu doing much better, putting their science eggs into philosophy, etc. The list of bad things about Papua is numerous, but he's not currently burning soo.... up a rank.

Lacsirax Ariscal: Oh no oh no oh no. Tonga, are you about to do what we think you're about to do? There's a cruel irony here: we've obviously been encouraging Tonga to settle more cities, but in our heads it would either be a comfortable homeland core or a quiet part of Australia to slowly grow from. But a more obvious and easy forward settle was always available for them - settle near New Zealand. And while we usually like the moxie of civs that settle so aggressively, this is like poking a bee's nest while slathered in honey. New Zealand's far superior navy will quickly deal with the forward settle - and who's to say where it would stop?

Msurdej: The Nenets go up a rank this week, and you might reasonably be thinking...WHY? Vauli has the 5th smallest military, the 2nd least production, and unlinke Canada or Minoa, their 2 city situation isnt due to foreign powers. So why are they going up? Well, its becuase they don't have a huge amount of threats. The Kazhaks have been failing to invade the Nenets for a while now, and besides that, who else will attack them? The Evenks? Muscovy? The Nenets may not ever break out of the bottom ten, but they aren't gonig away anytime soon either.



Homusubi: Poor Canton are in something of a unique situation, as the only civ that is already crippled while not seeming particularly incompetent (at anything but peace deals). They're not afraid to attempt to snipe targets, always important, and don't have quite as bad a settling record as quite a few other civs so far. Indeed, there still is a pathway to a Cantonese victory, albeit an unlikely one, focusing on the sea and taking advantage of a disorganised Taungoo rather than poking the nest of giant monster hornets that most of China has become. The trouble is, Ching doesn't realise this, and despite having pirates in the name of her civ, has focused heavily on land military. This, more than her behaviour, perhaps even more than the loss of Hong Kong, might well be the deciding factor that ultimately dooms Canton, locking them into a region that they can't win rather than one that they can. One current bright spot can be found in the currently successful defence of Sum Chen, where three archers, a scout, and a lot of miscellaneous foliage are repelling the spread-out Taungoo attack. Nonetheless, Ching probably needs more than that for her to prove us Wong Fei Wrong about her empire's fate.

Andy: Abdelkader is a fucking madlad. With the third lowest Infoaddict score on the Cylinder, ahead of the two-city challenge Nenets and the dying Canadians, Abdelkader moves to refound the formerly burned out ruins of Tlemcen, this time on the far side of Songhai. We, the PR team, reward such madladdery with a six rank boost to his position, propelling him out of "third most likely to die, and that's counting the Shang". On a more serious note, Algeria is doing remarkably well for its predicament. Despite having lost Mascara to the Songhai in an idiotic peace deal, Algeria quickly moved to settle Morocco, founding Annaba, and built what frankly must either be a red herring or an escape hatch. In other words, Abdelkader doubled his city count in a part. Pity he didn't go and do that before the whole "war with Songhai" thing. While the Algerians are going to be going nowhere in the long run, in the short run, they're at peace with the one power that has the ability to finish them off, and their neighbours are either also peaced out, or care more about happenings roughly around IRL Lyon.

Aaron: Mehmed gives up their war against Ostrava for a second time, almost as soon as it started, to much disappointment from Turkish fans and dropping them through the ranks. The reason for this truce is a new coalition war against Palmyra, who have just settled Herapolis on the Ottoman's doorstep. However, most of the coalition (Prussia, Manx, Goths, Evenks) can't reach Palmyra, so it's really just Golden Horde with them. Mehmed's army is completely out of position for this war, still surrounding Ostrava with a settler on the front lines instead. Palmyra has a smaller army than the Ottomans but has a lot more production. Meanwhile the Horde is extremely large and might distract Palmyra long enough for the Ottomans to actually get their army into position and take a city. Will this be the war where Mehmed finally shows why he is known as the Conqueror? Probably not: if the past is any indication, he will peace out before anything interesting happens and will eventually go on to become the rump of Europe.

Bors: It feels morally wrong to put Libya over Algeria given I started off as an Algeria fan but here we are now. Mukhtar managed to protect the city of Benghazi (although how much of that was his own strategy and not just Abdelkader’s idiocy is up for debate), and now they look to be in less imminent danger. As far as positivity goes, that’s about as far as you can go, though, as Libya refuses to expand and chooses instead to stay with 3 very mediocre cities. To an optimist’s eye there might still be hope, however, as the Sahara is among the most wide open places left in the world, and should they kick into high gear late there would still be room to expand, although how much good it would do them is questionable. Either way, Mukhtar has a lot of happiness and he needs to take advantage of that soon.

Msurdej: Вот дерьмо! While the part started well for Ivan, with the capture of Danzig, the end of this part showed a much more dire picture for Ivan. Prussia was back in control of Danzig, his armies were begginning to assualt Vladimir. Meanwhile, the army of Muscovy had all but evaporated. Many of the allies against Prussia have made peace, and it would be wise for Ivan to follow suit, lest he lose more cities.

LunarNeedle: This was not a great part for the purple perfection that is Venice, as an opportunistic war from the Moors dumped a rather competent army on Murano's doorstep. While this is a huge army, there's still a small chance that Murano can remain Venician. To do so would require a huge amount of technical knowhow, and absolute full mobilization, both of which the rich lad Enrico Dandolo would rather not think about. I mean, units cost gold to maintain? Preposterous! Elsewise around the cylinder we see a lot of power that Venice is acquiring for itself, and with the Italian peninsula soon going to be in his grasp, it's very possible we could be seeing a bit of purple in Europe for the foreseeable future. Thus the mild, but well deserved drop off for Venice.

Msurdej: For the first time in CBRX, Scotland claws its way out of the Bottom 10. But make no mistake Scots, you're not doing well. Robert the Bruce barely showed up in this part, and the Manx have far more active than him. If these shadows remain unchanged, I envision the Manx taking over Scotland for control of the islands and losing it to a mainland civ

Aaron: Good news for Korea this part: they made peace with Shikoku and managed to keep Pyongyang. Now that the war is over, they can concentrate on settling again, and in particular connecting their northern cities to their core. Qing has just marched a settler through the gap which is a sure indicator it needs to be plugged. Though things are better for Korea than last part, the war was pretty devastating for Korea and they are still in terrible shape. Korea is near the bottom of the stats (only Canada, Nenets and Oman have less production than they do), while their neighbour Qing has the largest army of the entire cylinder... best hope the Khamugs and Qin distract them... Still, Korea do still have a lot of land they can settle so are not completely out yet.

Bors: Alp Arslan is in a tough spot. After losing several wars early on, the Seljuqs are now completely boxed in on all sides. Perhaps the first civilization in the game to completely run out of room for expansion, the Seljuqs will need to turn to war soon enough, but before then they’ll need to really improve their core, as Arslan ranks in the bottom ten of many statistical categories. After that? Well the Seljuqs could still conceivably make some kind of come back, but it would be mightily impressive.

Bors: 3-city island nations do not a champion make. Listen- Toussaint- buddy- I like you. I even have a little bit of faith in you, more than most people, that’s for sure, but you gotta help me out here mate, you gotta settle a little man, or maybe use that surprisingly big military of yours for good. I mean Poverty Point are sitting ducks, especially with that war of theirs against Hiawatha, you could go after them! Or- or Hugo Chaves! I mean- I know that you already tried that but you could have made it work if you hadn’t got bored. All I’m saying is to be careful, because the grace period for island civs is running out.

Technostar: As the Venezuela-Kuikuro war comes to an end, I find myself completely unsurprised by the outcome: a complete stalemate. A quick look at the Kuikuro's terrain reveals why. There is absolutely no way for any foe to traverse the dense jungles that the Kuikuro inhabit. At least, that is the case as long as the jungles remain intact. And in terms of that, the recent Nazca forward settle appears at first glance to be a major threat for Kuikuro survival. So if that's the case, then why have the Kuikuro risen in rank? The answer is simple: The Nazca city does not threaten any of the crucial jungle walls that surround each city. While jungle does inhibit enemy troop movement, troop movement alone is not what Kuikuro defenses rely on. The important aspect of Kuikuro defensiveness is that their cities, especially their capital, cannot be reached by most ranged attacks unless they come from right next to the city or from one of the very few nearby hills. This inner ring of jungle tiles is completely intact and will continue to protect the Kuikuro throughout the early eras, allowing them to outlast many other similar-strength civilizations.

Msurdej: The Haida haven't been seen in a couple of parts, so its ok if you forgot they exist. And while Yu'pik scouts and settlers have ben running around the continent, Koyah's forces have been silent, despite his army being comparable to that of Geronimo's. Northern Canada might not be the most interesting place (it's probably why the Yu'pik are trying to leave it.), but hopefully we'll see what Haida's been up to in Part 6.

Doom: With most of Europe embroiled in wars the Czech republic stays quiet. The Turks failed yet again but the rough terrain between Ostrava and Constantinople would hinder any counterattack. Venice is weak enough but well defended by the Alps. By themselves they aren't strong enough to take on either the HRE or Prussia which rules out most possible targets. At this stage their best chance is to get lucky in a coalition war against another European power and steal a few cities. As with most of their neighbours they're looking increasingly boxed in so it's hard to be optimistic.

Msurdej: Oman spends most of this part trying to desperately re-take control of Nakhal, and failing. It's also easy to see why; their army is pathetic, and their production is one of the worst in the cylinder. The wars against Palmyra by the Goths, Golden horde and Turks might put Palmyra off balance, but it almost certianly won't be enough to make Nakhal any easier to take

Cloudberg: Benin is in an odd position this part: everyone was expecting them to declare war on Songhai, but instead Songhai has declared war on them! Benin drops four places as a result, even though Songhai’s army really only seems better on paper. Benin is a defensive beast, with special long-ranged attacks against cities, walls between tiles that slow enemy movement, and a carpet of composite bowmen going up against Songhai’s archers. Songhai is probably too strong for Benin to counterattack, but if Askia wants to take any cities from Benin, then he’s in for the fight of his life.



Note that Benin's colours were changed from purple to brown for CBRX.

Bors: Ahhhh, the Yu’pik, a civilization who’s entire claim to fame right now is having a settler that loves to surf. Statistically speaking, the Yu’pik don’t have anything super impressive going for them, their main deal is a lack of competition and having open space still available to them. The longer they maintain mediocrity and fail to fill in land, however, the further they slide down the rankings, which explains their drop this week, as they have failed to improve their nation in any noteworthy way. If the Haida also decide to start existing again they might pose a problem to the Yu’pik, as they are better in every single stat with even easier access to the west coast of IRL America.

Msurdej: Were you expecting the Manx to take over the HRE? Well tough luck reader! The Isle failed to do anything spectacular except troops in Vienna. Meanwhile, their true greatest rival, Scotland has begun to claw themselves up in the rankings. However, the Manx still have the advantage in manpower and production over Robert, meaning if Dhone strikes soon, the British Isles could be his.

Doom: From newly ascendant power to dissapointing island civ #567. A pointless peace deal leaves Shikokoof back where they started. In even more worrying news the Qing are starting to send settlers further out and are already settling kamchatka. On the other hand it's not all bad news. Shikokoof has a comfortable lead over both Korea and Canton in the demographics.

Bors: Of all the island civs, Madagascar was one of the few that seemed to have a decent start, due to starting on the largest inhabited island. This strong start has allowed Madagascar to establish a strong core, with top 20 stats almost across the board. Their grace period is running out, however, as land is quickly getting grabbed up and only islands are left for Ranavalona to settle. This means that Madagascar needs to start building a military, and fast, otherwise their ambitions of a strong placing will be crushed.

Bors: Well after a very slow start for Beta Israel, Gudit has realized how fun it is to own a lot of shit, and has ordered her people to go out and own a lot of shit. So infatuated is she with owning a lot of shit that 2 more settlers have been produced and are now on their way to presumably the horn of Africa, where there is free shit to be owned. While her expansion gives a lot of room for optimism, her cities have yet to catch up with rapid border growth, and she lacks a strong core and military. In fact, her cities are so weak, that with a total population of 410,000, Beta Israel is the least populated civ in the game. Behind even Canada and Minoa, each at 2 cities. Should Beta Israel take time to improve her already existing cities, they should see a continuous rise in the ranks, otherwise they will always be held back from greatness.

Aaron: Ashurbidal is no more! After usurping Bismarck, declaring war against his Prussian ally, the HRE was in a state of political turmoil, with the generals refusing to fight Prussia, refusing to train more troops, and general disfunction. Ashurbidal took as long as he possibly could to reach the classical era (not researching any classical techs or writing for as long as he could), but, inevitably, elections happened and William of the Netherlands took over. Almost immediately after the elections, things started going a lot better for the HRE. They have gained 9 population since last week, which has led to vast stat increases across the board, now putting them first in overall stats in Europe! Last week their military was quite a bit smaller than the Moors, this week it's quite a bit higher. Their science is particularly impressive, almost doubling to reach 70, which is 5th in the entire cylinder! A good move here would be to join the war against Venice and see if they can snag a few cities before the Moors get to them.

Msurdej: New Zealand started off this part floundering after their last failed invasion of the Murri, with Christchurch being attacked. But by part's end, they managed to have a small navy attacking Cavanbah. It's possible that Seddon, currently having an army greater than both the Murri AND Australia, could take the city. The biggest threat won't be Murri trying to retake it, but from Australia sniping the city after New Zealand does all the work.

Bors: Nepal hasn’t made a huge splash in this game, but with a new war against India they have taken the spotlight. While on paper this war looks interesting, the terrain of the region makes it a very hard place to wage war. The terrain here is actually a positive for Nepal, as their military is pretty badly outnumbered by India. In the end, this war will likely do nothing but stall and further stunt the growth of an already small nation. Nepal needs to exit this war as soon as possible and attempt to settle to their East, where there is plenty of space remaining.

Doom: The horde continue to have a good army but no good targets. The Goths are just better, the kazakhs are a bit far away, Palmyra and Parthia have a huge terrain advantage over any would be golden invaders and gothic expansion has blocked off Muscovy entirely. The horde still desperately needs more settlers if they want to keep up and survive into the mid or late game. The kazakhs incompetence will certainly help in that regard but will it be enough?

Homusubi: Another week, another part, another island civ which started off with an impressive growth spurt revealed to have done nothing since. Sulu turned heads in the opening scenes of CBRX by settling two extra cities, no mean feat for an island civ, and subsequently building a rather fearsome army featuring their trademark UU spam. However, despite having at least one obvious target if not two, they have failed to use that army for anything, much less settle a fifth city, preferring instead to... um... garrison their one-tile-island capital with horsemen. Some say they're putting too much effort into propagating their weird Christian offshoot religion, which admittedly is a pretty good one what with all those science bonuses. I would still argue, though, that if they were truly serious about spreading the good word of Bogomilism, they might want to consider turning a certain lime green civ's citizens into science-giving devoted subjects to the Sulu crown.

Andy: The Evenks have been remarkably quiet this part, settling no cities. However, the Evenks rise four ranks anyway. This is in part due to the Khamugs looking weaker relative to their other neighbours, in part due to the Evenks getting no worse while other civs have their opportunities crash and burn, and in part due to the Evenks continuing to stay reasonably alive. They've also pumped out two settlers, which is pretty great. Other than that, there's really not a tonne to say here. While the Evenks have successfully produced two settlers, they'll want to get those guys moving, before the Khamugs and Kazakhs take the rest of the good spots. To the north lies snow and uranium, to the east now lies a Khamug city, and to the west lies a Kazakh settler. Will Bombogor make this move in time? Find out next time, on CBRX!

Lacsirax Ariscal: Are Poverty Point the first civ outside Europe to have gone to war with three of their neighbours? I'm sure someone will correct me on that, but the fact is Tahera has now waged war in every direction but south (and you can't fight the sea without at least a coastal city). That's pretty bloodthirsty! Granted, it's probably one of the contributing factors to their appalling expansion, as one of the few civs left that have not yet founded a third city, an honour shared with the Nenets. And on top of that, the woody terrain and general army balance points to their invasion of the Iroquois resembling their Apache war more than their Canadian one. For her future prospects, it would be nice if she could at least push them back to the Appalachians - taking that Ohio city and plonking her settler down in Tennessee/Kentucky would give her a much promising core to build up from.

Lacsirax Ariscal: Oh god, this is one civ that I dreaded being lumped on me. Not because they're boring - they're not exactly Haiti levels of hype, but they do what they do. No, it's because I have no personal idea where to rank them. I actually put them 27th, which wound up being their overall rank too, so it feels like I should be most qualified, but heavens, I feel like I ranked them both way too high and criminally low. On the one hand, they could die to Zimbabwe in a literal instant, if Mutota seized the initiative. It's very tempting to call them Kongo 2.0 and be done with it. And yet... that river hopping UA makes their chunky army completely unpredictable, veering from their homeland to the Nile and back in half a part. And Zimbabwe still seem to be living up to their usual BFG AI. As much as I wish it was that easy... you can't count Nzinga out yet.

Msurdej: Nubia rises a few ranks this week, as many of the coalition members end their war with Piye. Better still, Nubia takes Gournia from Minoa, adding to their empire . But things are not all great in Nubialand; their science is still poor, and their military leaves a lot to be desired. Worse, they now border Palmyra, who are expanding at a rapid rate. Piye is gonna have to keep expanding east into the Sahara if he wants to stay in the top half od the rankings.

Lacsirax Ariscal: Hey you. Yeah, you. Off the top of your head, who do you think has the biggest military in South America? Uruguay? Venezuela? Nope, not close. Haiti? Haiti are third, which is honestly still pretty incredible. The biggest military in South America belongs to... the Selk'nam. Oh. But second place is the Nazca! This is despite their production being second lowest, with the Kuikuro of course propping the table up at the bottom. Usually, if a civ expends a huge proportion of its production into military, it's a sign of an imminent declaration of war. We've always held the Nazca to be the least aggressive of the continent's major players, but all civs declare war at some point. My tip would be an attempted invasion of Venezuela, though the terrain would probably inhibit any real progress; I'd rather see them suddenly storm Uruguay in a shock twist, but we'll have to wait and see.

Lacsirax Ariscal: One of the longest wars on the cylinder so far comes to an end, as Venezuela make peace with the Kuikuro. And what to do they have to show for it? A lost settler, and many lost soldiers. Resources spent on a never-ending meatgrinder, with the state neglecting production and science as a result. Whatever the terms of the peace treaty was, the history books will chalk this down as a loss for Venezuela, setting them centuries behind their increasingly sturdy neighbours. That said, there are some blessings to consider; the rough terrain that halted any advances against the Kuikuro will also serve as a handy defence from any land-based attacks. They've also managed to keep up with the settling game, squeezing Barquisemeto into Costa Rica this part, with another settler hovering in the Amazon. Chávez is down, but far from out.

Lacsirax Ariscal: Few people expected the first Viking war would see them attacked at sea - that's Ragnar's thing, after all! But these are strange times we live in, where Haiti can win a naval war against Venezuela, and the most fearsome navies on the Cylinder belong to the Manx and Sulu. The point I'm making is that when it comes to the high seas, most civs have only just figured out which bit of the boat goes in the water and which bit goes in the air. Ragnar has only just teched sailing, but he's yet to build a trireme - if all his coastal cities were working on one, though, the tide of war would turn very suddenly. Even so, Bergen falling would be a minor hindrance - he's settled very well, and can easily reclaim the territory at a later date.

Doom: Taungoo finally seem ready to take the initiative in what should be a fairly easy war against a dying Canton. With no Cantonese military to speak of, all Bayinnaung has to do is move units to Sum Chen. It's a low risk, low reward war but it's a solid start for a civ in the infamously quiet Burmese region. The main question for Taungoo now is where to go next. Nepal's defenses outclass the taungoo army and they have no navy to speak of. Unfortunately, this may be the last easy conquest for Taungoo.

Doom: The apache continue to exist just outside of the top 20 after another uneventful part. The Iroquois and Metis are pulling further and further ahead of the apache and Geronimo doesn't seem to care. That said, the Apache are still the wild card of NA. A disturbing lack of settlers is made up for by the fact that they're in North America where most civs are settling poorly, especially their main rival Poverty Point. Looking south, the Aztecs have also been unusually docile although their most recent city is too close for comfort. Perhaps this will finally force Geronimo into action.

Technostar: After a near-disaster during Part 4 in Danzig, Prussia's chances are now on the upswing. Muscovy has proven themselves to be as incompetent as we had expected, granting Prussia the upper hand in what was supposed to be a devastating coalition war. Now, not only has Danzig been recaptured, but Vladimir is taking damage and two Prussian settlers are on the lookout for any free land to claim. If the Prussians can continue to goose-step their way into the European steppe, perhaps they can keep their place in the top 20 in the long-run.

Andy: Montezuma springs into action, with two new cities settled this part towards the north. This naturally results in an eight rank boost for the Aztecs. Monty's opportunities are rich here, with the Apache concentrating their forces up north, the resources of Western North America unsettled, and in general holding a reasonably secure position against invasion from the north or south, with mountains and jungles defending their lands. That being said, Monty's not out of the hot water yet. While he's certainly well positions in terms of settling the very resource rich regions of California and Arizona, the Apache are also sending settlers to the area, and Monty only has the one settler at his capital. If the Aztecs are to really maintain their current position, they need to be fast and aggressive with settling the opportunities available to them.

Cloudberg: Selk’nam don’t change rankings at all this part, which seems reasonable considering they did literally nothing. They have very strong stats, which holds them in the top 20 for now, but they do need to act soon if they want to remain there. Uruguay is going on a settling spree, and Xo’on Uhan-te needs to muster his forces to stop them before Lavalleja can simply outproduce any army that Selk’nam throws at him. Selk’nam also needs to settle more cities: five just isn’t enough by this point in the game if you want to be a top contender.

Aaron: India returns to their first conflict, against Nepal. The last time these two were at war, they were almost exactly even in almost every single stat. The two civs realised this, and decided instead to (unsuccessfully) team up against Maratha. Now that the Marathan war is over, it's back to Nepal! The difference, is that while the Marathan war was going on, India was settling and beefing up their stats, while Nepal... didn't. Though the first war was completely even between the two powers, this one is decideably in India's favour, both in terms of military and production. It remains to be seen if India can translate this advantage into actual cities, or whether this conflict will do nothing but weaken the two. In the meantime, India has two settlers which they should continue to use to increase their territory, including the critical Indus valley so that Hyderabad isn't isolated (a location which India previously sent a settler away from for some stupid reason, allowing Maratha to settle Sinhagad on the coast).

Cloudberg: Maratha nearly holds steady this part, gaining a single place—hardly more than just noise at this point in the game. However, their placement in 15th does strongly indicate that the power rankers believe Maratha to be in the best position to win the Indian Subcontinent. With Nepal still sitting on three cities, India running out of space, and both of its rivals at war, Maratha is indeed in a good position to keep building up a strong base of many cities and claim the lion’s share of the subcontinent for itself.

Cloudberg: Despite losing a city and nearly losing another this part, the Kazakhs only drop one place. This is because it was obvious last week that Ablai Khan would lose these cities, and we all dropped the Kazakhs then. That said, they’re still in the top 20, because they have more room to expand than just about any other civ, they build plenty of settlers, and their AI is at least aggressive (looking at you, Zimbabwe). Even if the Kazakhs lose all three of their Parthian forward settles, it really wouldn’t be too hard for Ablai to pick up the pieces and settle his way back up in the rankings again.

Msurdej: Hiawatha remains in 14 after a mixed part. On one hand, Hiawatha has continued to expand his empire, settling new cities and conquering Canadian ones. however, this has also gained him the ire of the Metis and Poverty Point, who have declared war on the Iroquois. While Riel's armies might be to far away/behind a Canadian buffer zone to do anything, Táhera's armies are much closer and more powerful than the Iroquois. No matter what, expect episode 6 to feature some more North American battlefields.

Msurdej: While the Moors might hold their place in the rankings, they certainly arent staying idle on the cylinder. They recently began a war against Venice, perhaps one of the smartest moves they could've made at this time, and it seems to be going well. Murano will almost certainly fall by next part, with Burano being a possible next target. Its unsure how much the Moors can rise, given their low production and the average tech, but this is good indication of Abd-ar Rahman being in it to win it.

ThyReformer: Not much has changed for the Goths. Large army? Check. Mediocre city count? Check. A bunch of settlers heading out? Check. Two neighbors, one with an army and one without an army? Check. Shoddy tech? Check. And the lack of change in their rank reflects this: nothing has changed for the Goths. Indeed, the world remains open for the Goths, as they can either choose to attack the squishy underbelly of a Muscovy distracted by some Prussians, or they can go and continue to expand peacefully, all the while maintaining an army more than capable of protecting their new settles. And arguably the latter is a better option, as war could always go poorly or drag on unnecessarily, which could attract a surprise invasion from their other neighbor - you know, the one with an actual army. As it stands, Alaric is taking the safe option, but one could imagine that Alaric won't want to sit around for too long...

Technostar: The Purple Powerhouse takes a slide out of the top 10, but they retain the "Powerhouse" designation for a good reason. Palmyra's main troubles stem from two factors: First, they are at war with almost all of their neighbors. Such a situation is never a favorable one, so their rank has dropped as a result of this coalition. In addition, Palmyra's fundamental stats, especially in production and military, are far lower than their ranking would suggest. But Palmyra has one key strength: they are not significantly threatened by any of these neighbors. The Goths and the Golden Horde are both safely locked behind the towering Caucasus mountains. The Turks are across the Strait of Bosporus, limiting their routes east. And Oman should be worried about Palmyra, not the other way around. Even with this coalition, Palmyra may still come out victorious.

Msurdej: Parthia rises into the Top 10 for the first time, and its clear why. Their war with the the Kazahks have proven to be fruitful; taking one city and bringing another to its knees. Their other neighbors are either fighting other wars, or are the Seljuqs, giving Mithridates time to focus on his own war. the only problem is that Parthia's northern army is severely lacking in melee units, which could mean Ablai khan holds onto his cities for a little longer.

Doom: The Sami are now in serious danger of losing their top 10 placement to the Goths. They have been settling well and certainly aren't falling behind in important demographics so you might wonder why they're currently sliding down the rankings. Unlike most of the other top 10 civs, the Sami have not shown any initiative yet. While there's certainly no imminent danger, the current trend of inactivity bodes poorly for the future. Perhaps Eadni is preparing for the inevitable war with the Vikings or even a more ambitious strike at Muscovy before the Goths secure the area completely.

Magdeburg looks quite vulnerable to naval attacks. Or at least it would if the Sami had any boats.

Lacsirax Ariscal: Ah. The Métis are going to be one of those civs, then. A civ that forever grows in power, making ample use of their space and building a decent military to defend it, but only declares war on distant lands; too powerful for their neighbours to pick a fight with, too scared to pick a fight with their neighbours. Yakutia Syndrome. While that particular ailment is a great way to kick off the game - hell, why fight civs if you can simply take land with settlers? - it's a worrying portent of things to come. Still, it's way too soon to write the Métis off yet, and at least they declared a war this part, though it was probably just a ploy to keep the Iroquois and Poverty Point in check by squaring them against each other.

ThyReformer: At the end of Part 5, Qing remains in a strange position. With stats and cities still worthy of their top 10 position, and even the world's largest army for the time being, one would easily believe that Qing has all options open to them, but a quick look to their neighbors shows that this is not quite true. In Qin and Khamugs, Qing find fellow civs of the top 10 kind, and while the Khamugs especially are slightly overextended, Qing are not exactly in a position to effectively attack either, as the borders in Northern China are extremely militarized. Qing's best chance would be to attack either of the two with the help of the other, and with Qin and Qing's past of cooperation in mind, this is not entirely impossible, while still improbable. In search of squishier neighbors, one might quickly note Korea - but all the same, attacking Korea would open up Qing's backside to either of Qing's militarized neighbors. Perhaps it would be best for Qing to simply bide their time, and settle the Eastern Siberia available to them.

Doom: Hawke turns the tables on the Murri and with help from Seddon it seems that victory is inevitable. The next few turns could be crucial to the fate of the continent as this is Australia's best chance to create a unified front against New Zealand, the only Pacific civ that's trying this game. If the kiwis manage to establish a foothold on the mainland through the currently defenceless Murri cities Hawke will have a much tougher game in the long run. Regardless of which nation claims the spoils it's clear the Murri are finished as a contender leaving Hawke with an unrivalled amount of space.

Lacsirax Ariscal: Qin hold fast in 5th, despite falling behind in science and military this week - at least compared to nightmare neighbours the Qing, who now field the largest army, even though to the naked eye it doesn't look that big. Still, there are solid reasons to keep Qin firmly in the top tier: firstly, the Qing may be scary long-term, but any war between them now would be the stalest of all mates. And now they've comprehensively neutered Canton, their only other major border is a thin strip of Khamug cities that sit virtually undefended. With all that said, there's a reason Xia died first - they were caught in the middle between larger powers, and unless Qin Shi Huang declares a positive war against Jamukha, or expands quickly into Southeast Asia, there's every chance he could find himself in that position eventually.

Msurdej: The Colorados are back in power for Uruguay, and they maintain their spot in 4th place. The east coast of South America is slowly being claimed by Lavalleja, moving up the ocast into IRL Fortaleza. Overall, their stats make for a good regional power. The only thing that could stop them at this point is a coalition war. But considering the Kuikuro and Nazca's penchant for war, and the cutthroat AI of Uruguay, they should be more than able to hold off the Selk'nam

Homusubi: Askia, sitting pretty in third place in this week's rankings, is looking increasingly like he has nothing to worry about for the entirety of the early game. Firstly, he has proven that he can win a war, and take advantage of other civs' peace treaty problems rather than create his own. Second, the one thing that his neighbours had to their advantage, the Beninese army camped on the border, has now largely dissipated, and Songhai has about one and a half times Benin's statistical military. Add in a strong expansionist streak and the recent ending of the Songhai's most pointless war, and the odds of making it through the absolute mess that is the Sahara do seem to be in Askia's favour, notwithstanding a happiness issue implying that at some point he'll make like his leaderhead and set fire to a few cities. The main issue Songhai has is Ethiopia Syndrome: however strong they might get, they still share a continent with an even stronger power and Boer analogue, namely Zimbabwe. But that will come many parts in the future, so for now, Askia can safely put his feet up by the fire for a while. Which is probably made of cities.

Technostar: Continuing with their weekly shuffle, the Khamugs have returned to second place, but as it has been in the past, the race for first is still as tight as ever. The Khamug Khanate leads the pack in number of cities, becoming the first-ever civilization to break the 10-city mark. Their stats cannot be ignored either, as they rank second in production and field a strong military. However, the Khamugs have two things keeping them down that have left them slightly behind for this part. First, their land is poor in quality, especially their most recent desert settles that have given them a distinctive snakelike shape. This has given them a low population for a civ their size, hampering their scientific ability somewhat. Second, as opposed to many of the other high-ranked players, the Khamugs have powerful neighbors. The Qing and Qin are both not to be underestimated, as both field larger militaries than the Khamugs. But these are obstacles the Khamugs can overcome, as settling an obscene amount of cities appears to be the most viable strategy for the Khamugs to pursue in the near future, and the Khamugs love doing exactly that.

Andy: Nyatsimba Mutota rises two ranks to reclaim his first-place position, once again at the top. At the end of the day, regardless of Zimbabwe's dallying on a war with the Ndongo, or their farcical war against the Nubians, the fact of the matter is that between a new city settled and three more on the way, coupled with the willing or otherwise cooperation of what was once the Free Independent State of Epulu, topped off with the highest production in game, Zimbabwe is building up to steamroll. Of the other African civilizations, Zimbabwe has no relevant competition until they physically are in reach of the Songhai. The Ndongo, once possessing an army dwarfing the Zimbabwean army in size, is behind Zimbabwe in all relevant metrics. The settling of Chitekete capped off the Malagasy at the knees. Beta Israel is tied for fewest techs researched on the cylinder. The other African civs are either behind in technology (Benin and Algeria), also kneecapped (Algeria), or just too damn far away (Nubia, Libya, Algeria, etc).