Groundhog Day Mk. X - Round 1

Weeeeelcome back everyone, it's Groundhog Day again! After a long hiatus due to life™ and various technical difficulties, Groundhog Day is back, now with the long-awaited first round of Mk. 10. First things first: let's meet the civs.

In the west, we have Sancho III of Navarre in Pamplona; Pachacuti of the Inca in Cusco; Skanderbeg of Albania in Tirana; Bokassa I of the Central African Empire in Bangui; Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan in Tashkent; Yulya Tymoshenko of Ukraine in Kyiv; Agugux of the Aleuts in Anangula; Indira Gandhi of India in Delhi; and Massinissa of the Numidians in Cirta.

Moving east and south, we see Enomoto Takeaki of the Ezo Republic in Hakodate; Henri Dufour of Switzerland in Bern; Ying Zheng of Qin in Xianyang; Crowfoot of the Blackfoot in Siksikawa; and the Trung Sisters of Vietnam in Hanoi.

And finally, in the far east, we have Edward Morris of Newfoundland in St. John's; William Walker of Sonora in La Paz; Duttabaung of Thayae Khittaya in Thayae Khittaya; Beowulf of the Geats in Skara; Ashoka of Maurya in Pataliputra; Rajapapua of Papua in Hanuabada; and Roymata of Vanuatu in Teouma.

The second cities roll out, giving me the opportunity to mention that the Central African Empire is a hilarious (and also not hilarious at all) bit of history, and Jean-Bedel Bokassa (a.k.a. Emperor Bokassa I) was absolutely, mind-blowingly insane. He was also a cannibal. Allegedly.

Here are more second cities. Now here's a fun fact about Switzerland: their UA makes it so that settled cities act as city-states that other civs can invest in to get bonuses, and I believe Switzerland gets the gold.

And here are the last of the second cities. These won't be the same every round, but some of them might be.

The first wars break out around turn 37, when The Numidians declare war on Albania and India attacks the Aleuts (which they can't really reach).

Maurya attacks the Geats a few turns later. So far, Maurya, Albania, Newfoundland, and Vanuatu are the first civs with three cities.

Bokassa declares war on Ezo, which might mean that the republic is as short-lived as in real life.

Beowulf makes peace with Maurya, and in an uncharacteristically submissive move, gives away Lödöse.

Rajapapua strikes at Ashoka to try to stop him from snowballing.

Meanwhile, we have our first capital capture of Mk. 10, as the CAE takes Hakodate! However, Takeaki still has two more cities that will be hard for Bokassa to reach.

Papua screws the pooch big time and gives away Boera to Maurya in a peace treaty. Ashoka razes the city.

Meanwhile, a war between the Inca and Albania ends with Machu being handed to Skanderbeg in the peace treaty.

Thayae Khittaya ends an otherwise uneventful war with Sonora by giving away Hanlin. Seems like civs are just giving away cities left and right in this round.

Turn 100 arrives, which means it's time for the first round of stats of Mk. 10! Note that all the civs still alive. Newfoundland has the largest army so far, although they've yet to use it.

Maurya has the highest crop yield, which makes sense given that they are tied for the most cities.

And Newfoundland also has the most production. Are they a sleeping giant, about to awaken and wreak havoc? We'll soon find out.

Vietnam attacks the Blackfoot! This would be the perfect time to mention that Vietnam won the first test round and then was pretty much shit in all the others.

In a war I didn't even realize was happening, Ukraine captures Vitoria from Navarre.

In a twist, the Blackfoot capture Hai Phong from Vietnam. This also affords us the opportunity to notice that VANUATU AND VIETNAM HAVE FAILED TO SETTLE THE FUCKING CANAL. It was so fucking easy, they could have settled anywhere, and they had to do it there...

The two sides make peace, and the Blackfoot give back Hai Phong in the peace treaty.

However, the danger isn't over yet for Vietnam, as Vanuatu and Sonora both declare war!

Meanwhile, Maurya builds the great wall. They're starting to look pretty formidable.

Navarre makes peace with Albania and gives away San Sebastian, for some reason.

The Mauryan powerhouse awakens and attacks Sonora! William Walker now finds himself it war with both his major neighbours.

Nevertheless, Sonora is able to capture Saigon.

And Vanuatu captures Hai Phong! Vietnam is in real trouble!

Meanwhile, Ashoka captures Cabo San Lucas.

Thayae Khittaya joins the war against Sonora to see if they can get back the city they so stupidly gave away.

Sure enough, Thayae Khittaya quickly retakes Hanlin and then ends the war.

Duttabaung isn't done yet, though, so he declares war on the Geats.

Meanwhile, Maurya captures La Paz, then makes peace with Sonora and receives Ensenada in the peace treaty. At this point, Ashoka is looking pretty much unstoppable.

After 19 turns, Thayae Khittaya captures Skara, eliminating Beowulf of the Geats in 21st place. At turn 190, this might be the latest first elimination this series has ever had.

Now it's time for the turn 200 stats. Newfoundland somehow still has the largest army, but Maurya is catching up fast.

Newfoundland and Maurya are also tied for the most technologies.

And the CAE somehow has the most production, while Albania is also ahead of Maurya.

After a little while, Maurya and Thayae Khittaya team up to attack Sonora again.

Meanwhile, the Numidians give away Auzia to the CAE in a peace treaty.

Um, whoops. Vietnam apparently joined the war and took back Saigon itself, eliminating William Walker of Sonora in 20th place.

However, because the civs are really passive for some reason, that's literally all that happened between turn 200 and turn 300. During that time, Maurya, Vanuatu, and Ukraine have all surpassed Newfoundland in military manpower.

Maurya has opened a one-tech lead over Newfoundland.

And Maurya now has the lead in production. The top three have actually reversed order over the past 100 turns.

Now, as for why the civs are not very aggressive, I have no idea. But when I tried adding Aggressive and Expansive AI to the save for round 2, it caused a crash, so apparently that's not going to be an option.

97 turns after the last city capture, Newfoundland takes Saigon from Vietnam. Congratulations.

Soon afterward, Bokassa declares war on Islam Karimov, who is already struggling to fight off the Albanians.

Switzerland is apparently also involved in the war, and so Dufour captures Samarkand.

And Switzerland also somehow manages to capture Tashkent, eliminating Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan in 19th place!

Meanwhile, India attacks the Numidians and is already damaging Cirta.

But then Ukraine attacks India, significantly complicating the situation.

Albania attacks the Central African Empire, and the main target seems to be Auzia.

After 11 turns, Auzia falls. There was never really any hope that Bokassa could reinforce it.

Despite already being at war with the CAE, Skanderbeg attacks the Inca as well.

Massinissa breathes a sigh of relief as Ukraine captures Bombay, removing Indira's access to Cirta.

And, uh, snipe? Navarre takes Cusco with a half-dead pikeman after Albania did all the damage.

India retakes Bombay, only to lose it to the Numidians somehow.

Albania and Ukraine immediately declare war on Navarre. No way Sancho is getting away with this!

Indeed, Albania quickly captures Cusco.

After a long and drawn out battle, India retakes Bombay.

And now it's turn 400, so we have more stats. Maurya still holds the top military, while Vanuatu has overtaken Newfoundland for second.

Maurya has also expanded its science lead from one tech to three.

But Albania has overtaken Maurya in production by 18 hammers!

Four turns later, Indira captures Cirta, eliminating Massinissa of the Numidians in 18th place. Turn 404 error: Numidians not found

Albania moves into the next stage of its war against Navarre, capturing Pamplona!

Meanwhile, the Blackfoot somehow managed to take Hanoi, eliminating the Trung Sisters of Vietnam in 17th place.

Ukraine takes the one tile island city of Barakaldo.

Albania also decides to put the landless Incans out of their misery.

Indeed, Tiwanaku swiftly falls, eliminating Pachacuti of the Inca in 16th place.

Another war between Albania and the CAE begins!

But first, Newfoundland and Maurya declare war on the Blackfoot!

Bokassa makes the first move, taking Tiwanaku with a small naval attack.

Albania recaptures the city, only to lose it to Maurya.

Maurya also captures Hanoi from the Blackfoot.

Tiwanaku now appears to be safely back in Albanian hands.

The Blackfoot retakes Hanoi and then lose it to Newfoundland instead.

Eventually it flips back to Maurya again.

And now it's turn 500. Really, these stats should be farther apart, but the game is moving really slowly. Newfoundland is back in the top spot in military, with Albania just barely behind.

Maurya's tech lead evaporates as Vanuatu rise to tie them.

And Switzerland has somehow taken the lead in production. The leaders don't seem to be as clear-cut as they once were.

Returning to the action, we see that India has taken Kharkiv from Ukraine, but it will most likely flip.

Navarre has also completely recovered Barakaldo.

Bokassa decides to finish off Ezo, concluding a conflict that was put on hold ages ago.

Albania begins making inroads on India, taking Cirta!

The CAE easily takes Sapporo, driving Takeaki back to Asahikawa.

Switzerland takes Káínaa from the Blackfoot while Vanuatu assaults Siksikáwa.

Vanuatu takes Siksikáwa, but Crowfoot recaptures Káínaa just in time.

Ukraine recaptures Kharkiv and made peace, but now they've declared war on India again, alongside the Aleuts.

Newfoundland joins the war! At last, the Newfies are awake!

Vanuatu continues its coastal rampage, capturing Xianyang, the Qin capital !

12 turns later, India loses its capital as well as a horde of slobbering Newfies swarm the city, smothering everyone in a sea of floof.

Edward Morris also takes Bangalore soon afterward.

And Ukraine captures Bombay, eliminating Indira Gandhi of India in 15th place.

However, Switzerland and Newfoundland soon declare war on Ukraine, and Dufour immediately captures Bombay. Newfoundland also declares war on the Blackfoot.

Albania finally makes some more headway in its war against Navarre, taking Bilbao.

Switzerland swarms into Ukrainian territory, capturing Kharkiv!

And Albania takes Tudela, eliminating Sancho III of Navarre in 14th place.

Later that same turn, Newfoundland captures Káínaa, eliminating Crowfoot of the Blackfoot in 13th place.

Switzerland flips Kyiv twice but is unable to hold the city.

As Kyiv flips again, the Aleuts also declare war on Ukraine!

And it's the Aleuts who appear to have finally secured Kyiv. What a twist.

Now it's turn 600, so it's time for more stats. Maurya is back in the lead in military.

Vanuatu has now completely overtaken Maurya in technologies.

And Albania has the most production again, beating out second place Switzerland by a wide margin.

Ukraine makes peace with Switzerland and gives away Odessa.

Vanuatu wins the world's fair, but no one really dominates.

Suddenly, Albania declares war on Switzerland! The winner of this war will be in a great position to snowball to victory, honestly.

Albania quickly takes Odessa, which was a lost cause for Switzerland anyway.

Meanwhile, Bokassa finally manages to capture Asahikawa, eliminating Enomoto Takeaki of the Ezo Republic in 12th place.

Switzerland captures Auzia, uniting the two halves of its empire, but Albanian troops are still thick on the ground.

Indeed, Albania takes Kharkiv and recaptures Auzia.

And this might be the nail in Switzerland's coffin. I doubt they can fight off both Albania and the CAE at the same time.

Well, Dufour is off to a good start I guess, as he takes Asahikawa.

But then Albania takes Tashkent, so clearly not all is well.

Switzerland also loses Bombay.

And then Dufour makes peace, giving away Samarkand and Asahikawa. Switzerland is now totally crippled.

Ying Zheng declares war on Dufour, but given the tech difference, this is probably a bad move.

Skanderbeg now decides to make Bokassa skander-beg for mercy! Ha!

Bangui quickly falls as Bokassa's forces are utterly overwhelmed.

Newfoundland, at war with the Aleuts, manages to capture Kyiv.

The Albanian steamroll of the CAE continues with the fall of Mbaiki.

Switzerland captures Jiangzhou, eliminating Ying Zheng of Qin in 11th place. However, Dufour faces an immediate declaration of war from Vanuatu.

Bokassa takes Asahikawa from Albania, but it's ultimately a pointless gesture.

Albania takes Bimbo and drops Berbérati down to the red.

Berbérati falls, and the two sides make peace, with Bokassa giving away Hakodate and Asahikawa in the peace treaty.

Turn 700 arrives with more stats. (btw, 10 civs still alive at turn 700 is completely unprecedented.) Vanuatu has a decent lead in military manpower, while Albania has dropped to third.

Vanuatu also holds a four-tech lead in science.

But Albania is the undisputed king of production, with almost twice as many hammers as anyone else. Newfoundland and Vanuatu are almost exactly tied for second.

Vanuatu sweeps in with planes and great war infantry, capturing Jiangzhou from Switzerland.

Suddenly, Albania declares war on Newfoundland! Kyiv is already surrounded!

Kyiv quickly succumbs. The Albanian army now rapidly moves on toward its next targets.

Switzerland strikes back at Vanuatu, capturing Xianyang and retaking Jiangzhou.

Adamagan falls, and Albania begins an assault on Bangalore.

Bangalore is soon captured.

Vanuatu retakes Xianyang and Jianzhou then makes peace with Switzerland. Bokassa decides to try his luck on attacking Switzerland while they're supposedly down.

Albania captures Delhi. From here it will be a struggle to cross the land bridge into Newfoundland's core; can Skanderbeg pull it off?

Looks like he won't need to. After capturing Káínaa, Albania makes peace with Newfoundland and receives Conception Bay, Mount Pearl, and Paradise.

Off screen, Switzerland has captured Sapporo, eliminating Bokassa I of the Central African Empire in 10th place.

Next, Albania attacks Vanuatu, but this will be considerably harder than the invasion of Newfoundland due to geography.

Jiangzhou falls, but Albania doesn't seem to have an organized army anywhere on the front.

Vanuatu responds by capturing Asahikawa.

But Albania soon takes it back, and the two sides make peace.

Turn 800 arrives with 9 civs STILL alive. Albania has the largest army, but Vanuatu is not far behind.

Vanuatu also still leads by four techs.

And Albania's production lead has gotten even bigger, as Skanderbeg now has three times as many hammers as the #2 Maurya.

15 turns later, Albania declares war on Newfoundland again. I don't know why St. John's has 68 pop; there's some kind of bug that's been giving Newfoundland's coastal cities extra food.

Edward Morris starts off by retaking Paradise. Note that Corner Brook has 45 pop. See what I meant?

Suddenly, Vanuatu and Ukraine declare war on Maurya! This could go either way, honestly, but Maurya's land army appears to be bigger.

St. Johns falls, and immediately becomes Albania's largest city. (It starved down to about 25 pop over the next few turns, however.)

Paradise also falls, and then Newfoundland makes peace by giving away Saigon. At this point, Albania has all but won; it's just a matter of time before they overwhelm everyone else too.

A single destroyer backed by air support captures Vanuatu's capital! What a massive blow, especially considering that Roymata was the aggressor in this war!

Thayae Khittaya attempts to finish off Newfoundland and gain a really fat city in the process.

A horde of Mauryan paratroopers and artillery storms the streets of Hai Phong.

Albania moves to finish off Switzerland once and for all.

Dufour actually starts off on the offensive, taking Asahikawa. I can't even count how many times Albania has lost this city, only to get it back at the end of the war.

Switzerland's defenses are quickly overwhelmed; Sapporo falls.

Bern and Asahikawa are captured...

And somehow, Switzerland manages to make peace with Albania. Okay then. Meanwhile on the Maurya-Vanuatu front, Roymata has retaken Hai Phong and Teouma.

The two sides make peace. Vanuatu gives away Mangaas but gets to keep its ravaged capital.

Sometime between turn 840 and turn 845, Thayae Khittaya captured Corner Brook, eliminating Edward Morris of Newfoundland in 9th place.

Vanuatu decides to finish off Switzerland and teams up with... the Aleuts? Wait, those guys are still alive?

Roymata quickly captures Zürich, eliminating Henri Dufour of Switzerland in 8th place.

Albania then declares war on Vanuatu again. Roymata immediately captures Asahikawa. Seriously, how many times is it going to be used as a sacrificial city?

Skanderbeg easily captures Zürich.

And then... they make peace. For once, Albania doesn't get Asahikawa back.

Meanwhile, Maurya takes Sevastapol from Ukraine, and then makes peace.

Suddenly, Albania attacks Maurya, but the declaration of war appears to be backfiring! Maurya's huge carpet of paratroopers and rocket artillery immediately drops Saigon to yellow.

The very next turn, Saigon falls with almost no resistance.

Paradise falls next, but Albanian resistance is solidifying around St. John's and Mount Pearl.

However, Skanderberg does manage to capture Sevastopol after a protracted naval battle.

Ashoka strikes as deep as he can into Albania, taking Mount Pearl, but it looks like he's starting to run out of steam.

Indeed, Albania soon retakes Paradise and Mount Pearl and then makes peace, leaving both sides with no net change in number of cities. I would still say the war is a definite victory for Maurya though.

Later that same turn, Thayae Khittaya captures Hanuabada, finally eliminating Rajapapua of Papua in 7th place.

Maurya then decides to increase its chances of holding off Albania in the inevitable rematch by absorbing Thayae Khittaya.

Hanuabada falls almost immediately.

Corner Brook is the next to go. Duttabaung just doesn't stand a chance.

Skara falls...

Oh, um, that's unexpected. On the previous turn, Ukraine captures Anangula, eliminating Agugux of the Aleuts in 6th place.

Thayae Khittaya itself is captured, and Hanlin is nearing defeat as well.

But first, the turn 900 stats. Albania's lead in military manpower is undisputed, but Maurya is still not to be trifled with, and neither is Vanuatu.

Maurya has caught back up with Vanuatu in technologies. Albania is three techs behind both of them.

And of course, Albania now has 3.5 times as much production as #2 Maurya.

We return just in time to see Maurya capture Hanlin, eliminating Duttabaung of Thayae Khittaya in 5th place.

Maurya then declares war on Vanuatu again. If Ashoka can unite the whole east and then fortify, he might stand a chance.

Ashoka's forces absolutely overwhelm Vanuatu, taking Teouma!

Vanuatu retakes Mangaas, but it's not a fair exchange for their capital.

However, Vanuatu also manages to capture Taxila, an originally Mauryan city.

Suddenly, Albania attacks Maurya again! Skanderberg could not have chosen a better time to strike!

Hanoi quickly falls. Ashoka is barely putting up any resistance.

Maurya retakes Hanoi, only to lose it to Vanuatu.

Albania takes Corner Brook and Saigon.

Maurya makes peace with Vanuatu, regaining Toshali. This time Ashoka gets to keep Roymata's capital. Note that Hanoi is back in Albanian hands.

La Paz is captured...

25 turns later, the only additional city to have changed hands is Ensenada.

Albania dominates the international space station.

39 turns after taking Ensenada, Albania finally manages to take Cabo San Lucas as well.

However, 61 turns after that, the only change is that Maurya has regained Cabo San Lucas.

After another 21 turns, Maurya has recaptured Ensenada as well.

Finally, 167 turns after the war began, peace is made. Maurya keeps Cabo San Lucas but gives away Ensenada, Thayae Khittaya, Lödöse, Mathura, and Teouma.

Albania then declares war on Vanuatu again.

Immediately, Skanderbeg retakes Asahikawa.

Siksíkawa also falls.

However, Vanuatu recovers control of its capital!

But then they lose Xianyang. Vanuatu is completely kicked off the west coast of the southern gulf.

Then Maurya declares war on Vanuatu, sealing Roymata's fate.

Albania takes Hai Phong.

Vanuatu retakes Hai Phong but loses it to Maurya, while Albania takes Mangaliliu.

Maurya captures Teouma...

And Mangaas...

And finally Maurya takes Falesa, eliminating Roymata of Vanuatu in 4th place.

22 turns later, and six turns before I would have forced war, Albania declares war on Maurya again.

Mangaas and Falesa fall on the second turn of the war.

However, Maurya is able to recapture Mathura.

Lödöse is also retaken.

However, Albania takes Cabo San Lucas and recaptures Lödöse.

Pataliputra is the next to fall.

Tamate and Napatau were taken when I wasn't looking. Teouma has also been captured.

Skara falls...

Hanlin is captured...

Toshalia and Taxila are captured...

And with the fall of Mathura and Hanuabada, Ashoka of Maurya is eliminated in third place.

12 turns later, Albania attacks Ukraine to grab the last remaining capital.

Vitoria falls first, however.

And then Ukraine retakes it and revives Navarre! EXCUSE ME, WHAT THE FUCK???

The next turn, Anangula falls, and Albania wins round one!

Here's the aftermath, with Navarre still alive because Tynoshenko decided to play a dumb prank on us. I would normally put the score here, but since Albania is the only civ with any points, there's no need.

I can't promise when round 2 will come out, but if I had to guesstimate, I'd say to expect it in three to four weeks. If it's sooner, hey, we all get a welcome surprise. Thanks for reading and I'll see you all next time!