Welcome back to AI Middle East! Last part, we saw Saudi Arabia finally succumb to an invasion from Achaemenid Persia. Iran, Palmyra, and the UAE also fell. Now, it is time to continue to the next stage of the game, as the remaining civs move into the medieval era.



After last part's strawpoll, 8 of the 22 votes went to Parthia, while Byzantium received 6 and Oman received 5.



We open with Jerusalem making peace with the Achaemenids.

Immediately, the action resumes, as Saif bin Sultan declares war on Cyrus! It's a bold move, but it's one Oman needs to make in order to break out of its corner.

But Oman has help in the form of Parthia! With Cyrus already at war with the Kurds as of last part, this may be it for the Achaemenids.

Hejaz joins the war as well, racing Oman to get its share of what used to be Saudi Arabia.

A siege of Riyadh begins as both Oman and Hejaz bombard the city into the yellow. Both of melee uits nearby, so this may come down to who moves first.

Hejaz actually moves before Oman, but nevertheless, Saif bin Sultan has taken the city! Both civs attempted to take it numerous times when it belonged to Saudi Arabia, and all of them failed. Hussein bin Ali must go home disappointed once again.

The Kurds capture Ur, but for some reason most of the Kurdish army is holding well back from the city, allowing Cyrus to position his forces for an easy recapture.

Hejaz does get a small piece of the pie with the capture of Buraydah, so I guess not all is lost.

The Achaemenids retake Ur, and so far it doesn't seem that the Kurds are making much of an attempt to take it back.

But soon the Kurds move forward again, and at the same time, Parthia begins attacking Pasargadae. Note that Oman is the first civ to build musketmen.

The Kurds take Ur a second time as Hejaz approaches Uruk, which is the red.

Hejaz takes Uruk, momentarily expelling the Achaemenids from the Arabian peninsula.

The Achaemenids retake Uruk, but now the Kurds have crossbowmen! Major technological changes are happening everywhere, it seems.

Hejaz flips Uruk again, while Ur continues to stand.

Mustafa Barzani ends a fruitless war with Justinian, a war that really shouldn't happen until after someone kills Turkey.

The Achaemenids flip Uruk yet again, and somehow negotiate peace with the Kurds without losing any territory.

Oman is the next to back out of the war, as Saif bin Sultan is satisfied with his acquisition of Riyadh.

Oman also makes peace with the Rashidun, who are in a really shitty situation. Their one city has only 8 pop and a lot of its land has been stolen. Their once mighty army has been scattered to the four winds. And to make matters worse, it looks as though Umar is at war with Jerusalem.

Suddenly, a major new war breaks out as the Kurds declare war on Jerusalem! Baldwin III will need to immediately withdraw from the Rashidun Caliphate or risk serious damage.



On the side, Hejaz appears to have retaken Uruk and made peace with the Achaemenids.

Instead, he doubles down, dropping Medina into the yellow!

And as a consquence, Mustafa Barzani lays siege to Jerusalem itself!

Armenia declares war on Parthia, a move that strikes me as questionable. It is hard to see Parthia breaking through those mountains, however, especially without crossbowmen.

Surprise! Oman declares war on Jerusalem and Parthia on the same turn, in a show of support for both Armenia and the Kurds. Saif bin Sultan is going straight for Taif.

But Baldwin is a dedicated man, and before responding he makes sure to take Medina, eliminating Umar of the Rashidun in 14th place. Despite conquering Jerusalem itself in the test round, the Rashidun did nothing of note in this game.

Suddenly, Byzantium joins the war against Jerusalem! It's a free-for-all in the Holy Land!

Armenia seems to have caught up with the Kurds in technologies, while neither has gained anything on Oman and Byzantium since last part.

Hejaz declares war on the Achamenids again, alongside Kurdistan! This seems like a surefire way to lose Uruk.

After fighting for over 200 turns, Armenia finally ends a war that it started in part 1 by capturing Istanbul. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk of Turkey is eliminated in 13th place. Turkey's most notable achievement was eliminating Palmyra, which ultimately amounted to nothing as Jerusalem declared war and took the city on the next turn.

Sure enough, the Achaemenids strike back at Hejaz, recapturing Uruk.

Jerusalem falls to red as both attackers struggle to get melee units near the city.

Things suddenly get more... complicated as Byzantium declares war on Kurdistan! The two civs laying siege to Jerusalem are now at war with each other as well!

The Kurds make their move, capturing Jerusalem, but now Byzantium will threaten their hold over the city.

Indeed, Byzantium immediately captures Jerusalem, and there isn't a single Kurdish melee unit nearby! Byzantium now holds a contiguous strip of territory almost all the way around the eastern Mediterranean.

Oman takes Taif, but our spy in Muscat informs us that Saif bin Sultan is interested in a juicier target: Hejaz.

Two turns later, Oman teams up with Azerbaijan to attack Hejaz! This will be a complex war, as both civs' armies and cities are tangled up together.

Meanwhile, Egypt is finally making some progress against the Ayyubids and is damaging Cairo!

Hejaz retakes Uruk and the Kurds capture Ur! It seems that the Achaemenids are finally being beaten back.

Oman advances on two distinct fronts, bombarding Medina into the red while simultaneously pushing against Buraydah.

On the following turn, Oman takes both Buraydah and Medina, carving out a huge swathe of territory right across the Arabian Peninsula!

Hejaz fails to recapture its lost city, but does manage to take Taif instead.

Cairo is down to red with just two composite bowmen defending it and plenty of Egyptian melee units nearby. This looks like it's over.

But first, Oman accepts Jerusalem's peace offer in order to ensure that they keep Medina.

And Egypt captures Cairo, eliminating Saladin of the Ayyubids in 12th place. Saladin never really did anything of note after forward settling his African neighbours and losing the city to Nubia.

Parthia is the only remaining member of the first coalition against the Achaemenids, and still Mithridates hasn't made any real progress against Pasargadae.

Oman continues its rout of Hejaz, taking Uruk and recapturing Buraydah.

Saif bin Sultan recovers Taif as well and pushes the last remaining Hejazi troops in eastern Arabia up against the Kurdish border to be destroyed.

Parthia backs out of two wars, but not the one against the Achaemenids, even though it is clearly going nowhere.

Byzantium and the Kurds continue to fight as Barzani retakes Jerusalem.

Egypt declares war to finish off what is really just the Kingdom of Acre now. Geography won't make it easy, however.

The Kurds have the most wonders, followed by Oman.

In a shocking twist, Jerusalem—still at war with both Byzantium and the Kurds—recaptures its capital! It can't last, but it's the best ending Jerusalem could hope for at this point.

Shortly thereafter, the Kurds recapture Jerusalem and make peace with Byzantium, ensuring that they will hold the Holy Land for now.

Jerusalem also makes peace with the Kurds, leaving each to focus on its own wars elsewhere.

And it's clear that Barzani needed to do so, because the Achaemenids have momentarily flipped Ur.

And they take it again! The Kurds seem incapable of holding their only seaport.

In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Egypt is successfully attacking Acre, bringing the city down to yellow with a horde of attacking units. In the background, Armenia becomes even more impenetrable with the construction of the Red Fort.

The Kurds retake Ur for what may be the last time, as the Achaemenids don't apear to have any more melee units.

And Egypt takes Acre, eliminating Baldwin III of Jerusalem in 11th place. Jerusalem had an okay start, taking the capitals of two other civs, but it proved to be a paper tiger when faced with a coalition.

The Kurds found the world congress, which is pretty funny considering they're the only civ here that never had an actual state.

Oman declares another war against the Achaemenids without even making peace with Hejaz first. Saif bin Sultan really is confident.

Byzantium, having failed to gain anything meaningful from its venture in the Holy Land, decides to go after the breadbasket of Rome instead. The attack looks well-planned; can Egypt hold out?

In a shocking and brutal turn of events, the Achaemenids make peace with the Kurds and give away Susa, only for Barzani to raze the 15-pop city to the ground.

With no cities left to give away, Cyrus then signs white peace with Parthia.

Two major wars suddenly break out at the same time as Byzantium teams up with Parthia against Armenia, only to receive a declaration of war from the Kurds! Already embroiled in Egypt, Justinian might now be facing more than he can hope to handle.

But Justinian really likes playing the war card, so he throws in his support behind a Nubian-led attack on Hejaz.

Justinian actually has the largest army, but it's a whole 20 troops bigger than Barzani's. Oman and Parthia are not far behind either.

Oman makes peace with Hejaz after failing to penetrate their mountain strongholds of Mecca and Jeddah.

Justinian wisely makes peace with the Kurds before the fighting ever really began. Still, fighting both Armenia and Egypt at the same time isn't going to be easy.

Justinian clearly realizes this and signs white peace with Egypt.

And with all those wars out of the way, he does manage to capture Yervandashat from Armenia.

But Armenia flips it back. Tigranes does not give in so easily.

Byzantium retakes the city...

And Armenia takes it back again. This could go on for a while.

Mustafa Barzani, having given up on his Byzantine adventure, declares war on Egypt instead.

Armenia makes peace with Parthia, having successfully defended its mountainous empire once again.

Nubia ends its futile war with Hejaz, while the world congress gets right to work banning luxuries.

Suddenly, Egypt and Parthia both declare war on Oman! This will without a doubt be Saif bin Sultan's first real test, but his troops are looking pretty sparse at the moment.

Ramesses makes peace with the Kurds to make sure nothing will distract him from his invasion of Oman. This really looks like it will end badly for our fan favourite.

Hejaz joins the war against Oman, and at the moment, Oman isn't in any position to kill them. Egypt has already surrounded Medina and will most likely capture it soon.

But we'll have to find out where this goes next time, because it's time for our end-of-part stats. Byzantium has the largest army by a decent margin, followed by Parthia and then Armenia. Oman has fallen to fifth.

Armenia has taken the lead in technologies, with a one-tech lead over the Kurds. Oman is starting to fall behind and is now four techs behind Armenia instead of two.

Byzantium has the most production, but Oman has risen into a solid second, despite its terrible terrain.

Oman and Byzantium are tied in city count, but it's clear whose cities are better based on the production stats.