Part of the campaign:

Welcome back to AI Middle East, where we are down to the last four major contenders! When we left off, Byzantium and Parthia were engaged in a huge war, while Oman gathered its troops near the borders with both. As a result, just over half of the record-breaking 30 votes went to Oman.



In this slide, Parthia flips Artashat, as the war begins to turn into an indecisive stalemate.

AND IT'S ON! OMAN HAS DECLARED WAR ON PARTHIA! Mithridates is totally unprepared, and his cities are already taking massive damage. Weirdly, this is kind of a repeat of early Islamic history, where Byzantium was engaged in a long-running war with Sassanian Persia when a newly united Arabia emerged and defeated both in the years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.

But before Oman can move again, Byzantium retakes Artashat. For now.

Oman makes its first advance, taking Dihok, while Azerbaijan and Nubia also declare war on Parthia. Mithridates is now at war with everyone except Hussein bin Ali, who only has one city.

Parthia retakes Artashat from Byzantium but loses Kerkuk to Oman. Saif bin Sultan has troops outside Assur as well, ready to storm the city.

Mithridates gives everything to the fight, retaking Kerkuk and capturing Silemani.

But Oman strikes back, taking Kerkuk and Assur!

Byzantium recaptures its lost city of Laodicea. Parthia is now on the defensive on all fronts.

Nevertheless, they retake Assur and Laodicea, at least momentarily.

Neither lasts; both cities are captured again.

Boethius informs us that Oman leads in technologies, while Byzantium and Parthia are tied in a close second.

Oman pushes all the way up the Tigris, capturing Hewler! Is Byzantium even going to walk away with anything?

Justinian bows out of the war with a net loss of one city to Parthia. This seems like a terrible decision, but for Saif bin Sultan, it's great news: it means more cities left over for him.

Three turns later, Oman has completely secured the fertile crescent and is beginning to push onto the Iranian plateau, starting with an attack on Mashhad.

Oman pushes into Silemani as Mashhad falls to red.

Pasargadae is also captured! Oman is putting the pressure on Parthia on every front.

Mashhad falls, splitting off Parthian Armenia from the rest of the empire.

But Mithridates retakes Pasargadae, with few Omani land units nearby.

Mashhad is also recaptured. Both sides are looking low on troops.

Nevertheless, Said bin Sultan gathers enough infantry together to storm Artashat, the Armenian capital.

Mashhad falls again, but is poised to flip.

And flip it does. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan is completely failing to get a melee unit into Armavir.

And it's too late for Rasulzade as Oman takes Armavir, cutting off Azerbaijan from any potential gains.

Oman seems to be building more troops, and some of them have been put to use retaking Pasargadae. Meanwhile, stacks of planes bombard Isfahan into the red.

Parthia makes peace with Azerbaijan (truly a terrifying foe) as Oman retakes Mashhad and prepares for a push into the heart of Iran.

But Mithridates doesn't stop trying. He flips Pasargadae, and it holds for a turn.

Oman recaptures Pasargadae but seems to have lost its advantageous position around Isfahan.

Time for a fun sideshow! Byzantium declares war on Nubia in an attempt to gain some land while they still can. Nubia, which doesn't even have artillery yet, is the obvious target. (Meanwhile, Oman gets the bomb.)

Parthia has retaken Pasargadae yet again, while still hanging on top Isfahan.

But then Oman retakes Pasargadae and captures Isfahan! Bombing runs begin on Tehran as well, dropping the city into the red.

Byzantium strikes hard and fast against Nubia, taking Cairo!

Parthia recaptures Pasargadae and Isfahan. If Oman can't gain an overwhelming advantage, this could turn into a stalemate to rival the Iran-Iraq war.

But it doesn't, and Oman pushes through into Tehran! Saif bin Sultan also retakes Pasargadae, but not Isfahan.

Byzantium has cleared out the last of the resistance around Cairo and is beginning the next phase of the campaign against Memphis.

Oman takes Isfahan again, and the bombers start focusing on Tabriz.

Parthia retakes Isfahan and Tehran, but it's clear that Oman has the overwhelming advantage now.

Both cities flip back to Oman as more and more troops make their way onto the Iranian Plateau.

Mithridates does not give up; he just keeps flipping Isfahan. It makes him feel good about himself I guess? idk.

Oman retakes Isfahan, probably for the last time.

Byzantium takes Memphis, but resistance is stiffening, as Piye has finally upgraded all his field guns.

Nubia retakes Memphis as Byzantine ships, sent through the Suez Canal, harass the Egyptian coast.

Byzantium captures Memphis and Heliopolis, but without reinforcements on land, neither will last.

Meanwhile, Oman, is rapidly closing in on what little remains of Parthia, capturing Tabriz.

Nubia retakes Heliopolis, while a huge contingent of artillery approaches Cairo.

Mithridates retakes Tabriz with a lone cavalry as some kind of Hail Mary.

Justinian pushes the enemy away from Cairo and captures Heliopolis again. Land units are now coming ashore on the Red Sea coast, damaging Dvin.

Tabriz flips back to Oman, this time for good. Mithridates spits out a single paratrooper in defiance.

Azerbaijan, Nubia, and Hejaz all attack Parthia, but it's much too late even for Rasulzade to gain any cities.

...Especially considering that Oman has made peace with Parthia, leaving Mithridates to focus on the less advanced armies of Azerbaijan.

Nubia has retaken Memphis and Heliopolis while Byzantium struggles to push up the Nile toward Thebes.

OH MY GOD! Oman declares war on Byzantium! This is it folks—if Byzantium can't hold off Oman, this game is over!

After the first turn, it's chaos on all fronts, as Nubia bombs Cairo to red and Oman damages Jerusalem, Palmyra, and Laodicea.

Laodicea falls as Justinian struggles to get all his paratroopers onto the front lines.

Oh shit! Justinian reaches deep into his reserves and manages to turn the tide a little, retaking Laodicea and capturing Kerkuk as well.

Oman retakes both cities, but is still bogged down by the paratroopers. Saif bin Sultan's air force is busily bombing Byzantine cities, but if units can't get to them, it's no use.

Byzantium retakes Memphis, Laodicea, and Kerkuk! Acre and Thebes are taking damage!

But all three cities are soon retaken, and Justinian's army seems to be thinning fast.

But that won't stop him from retaking Memphis, Laodicea and Kerkuk a second time!

Oman then strikes back, taking all three cities! Piye can't be happy about this.

But Justinian still manages to retake all three again. This is unbelievable.

Nubia retakes Memphis and Oman retakes Kerkuk, but Byzantium captures Acre.

Acre won't be good enough, however, as Oman surges across the Euphrates to take both Laodicea and Palmyra.

Justinian retakes Palmyra, and his army seems to be growing again.

Justinian holds all his cities and captures Memphis. Could he actually come out of this ahead?

Oman sneaks a unit into Tigranakert, but paratroopers stand ready to take it back.

Indeed, Byzantium retakes Tigranakert, Laodicea, and Kerkuk!

...Only for Oman to flip all three cities again. The Omani air force is really pulling its weight here—note the number of damaged Byzantine cities versus the number of damaged Omani cities.

But Justinian just doesn't give up, and he recaptures Tigranakert and Laodicea.

Instead of retaking those cities again, Saif bin Sultan orders his infantry deep behind enemy lines to capture Istanbul.

But, unsurprisingly, the city flips back.

Azerbaijan makes peace with Parthia, giving away Ganja in the process. Mithridates probably feels pleased with himself.

The stalemate on the Byzantine border drags on as Oman retakes Laodicea, but makes not progress elsewhere.

Byzantium renews its push against Laodicea and retakes Memphis as well. Oman is now fielding a significant amount of paratroopers, however—could this turn the tide?

Maybe! Oman captures Laodicea, Istanbul, and Tigranakert! Offscreen, Nubia retakes Memphis.

Byzantium retakes Memphis, Laodicea, and Istanbul. Justinian is throwing everything he has at this war.

Oman continues to lead by two techs over Byzantium. A narrow advantage, to be sure—but it could prove decisive.

Byzantium loses Memphis and Laodicea again. Nubia is embargoed.



But I will have to leave off there for now, as it's time for the stats. A strawpoll link can be found on the last slide.

Oman has the largest army, while Parthia—thanks to a full paratrooper carpet—has overtaken Byzantium.

Oman also leads in production, for obvious reasons. However, despite controlling 53% of the map tiles, Oman only has 45% of the total hammers.