Alphabattle Part G: Goodbye, Good Guys!

Welcome back to the Alphabattle, where 26 civs battle it out to decide which is truly the best letter of the alphabet! We ended the last part with Minoa facing a potentially fatal attack from Khazaria and Wampanoag, Qocho and Iberia both making very slow progress against Jomon and Yukagir respectively, and a brand new war just beginning between Akkad and Lithuania.

In the strawpolls, Qocho beat Akkad for most likely to win thanks to their impressive stats across the board, with Bulgaria and Lithuania also gaining support. Minoa clearly beat Jomon for most likely to be eliminated next, while Poland won the much coveted fan favourite award thanks to their winged hussars coming down the mountainside and turning the tide in their war with the now eliminated Eora. So without further ado, let's see how accurate your predictions were!

We start the action in dramatic style as Khazaria takes Minoa's capital! It's now between them and Wampanoag as to who gets to deal the final blow and claim the prize of Phaistos, unless Minos manages to pull off another incredible diplomatic feat. Khazaria builds the Eiffel Tower to cheer up the unhappy ex-Minoans.

In the new war between Lithuania and Akkad, Lithuania has cunningly focused their fire on Akkad's melee units, so even though Vilnius is on low health, it's unlikely to flip any time soon.

In the east, Qocho holds on to Medina for now, but Jomon are making another push to reclaim it.

Lithuania's not content with simply defending their capital, as they take Akkad's forward air base of Shawmut down to the red, and with those 6 planes being the only defences that city has, it seems likely to fall next turn. Meanwhile, Wampanoag is doing a good job of surrounding Phaistos to prevent Khazaria from going for a snipe.

Sure enough, Shawmut falls, and all 6 of its planes crash to the ground, and Lithuania has also cleaned up the Akkadian navy. Also, Finland and more importantly Wampanoag declare war on Yukagir...

...but it's Iberia that Yukagir should really be worried about, as Nelemnoe falls to the yellow. Wampanoag's declaration isn't quite as worrying as it could have been for Yukagir, as Pocasset has barely any troops in its borders, so Wampanoag aren't going to be getting any gains here any time soon. On the right of the image, we see Phaistos fall to the red...

...and Wampanoag deals the final blow, eliminating Minoa in 18th place! Minoa never really got going, losing one city fairly early on to Wampanoag, then losing Gournia twice to Yukagir. Their mark on this cylinder will sadly simply be the cities they've now left behind to their conquerors and the small religion of Hellenism. Press M to pay respects.

As one coalition war ends, another begins! Vietnam and the Dervishes team up against Poland, and at least their exclave of Gorzow Wielkopolski seems likely to flip to one of the two attackers.

In the south west, Iberia's planes have managed to take Yukagir's capital to the black, but Yukagir has managed to muster a land force from somewhere, preventing any Iberian units from actually taking the city.

Bulgaria ends their war against the Zapotecs, just as they had finally started to damage San Jose Mogote. Akkad and Lithuania seem to have ground to a halt in their war, thanks to having no more shared borders.

As the Dervishes and Vietnam descend on Gorzow Wielkopolski, the Ottomans decide to continue their age old tradition, and declare the sixth Ottoman-Taiwan war! Finally, they actually seem to have the upper hand, which spells trouble for any fans of Taiwan.

Qocho continues grinding away at Jomon, as Medina seems secure, while Sannai Maruyama starts taking damage. Of note, three out of five Qochan carriers on this slide are actually full of planes! That makes a nice surprise to the usual AI game showing!

The Dervishes and Vietnam join in the external settling, joining Akkad and Bulgaria on Zealandia. In the world congress, natural heritage sites do not pass, while cocoa is banned.

New war alert! Lithuania and Bulgaria were clearly friends with Minoa, as they join together in an attack on Wampanoag! Bulgaria have citadelled right to Montaup's front door, though will need to send a few more troops in the right direction too. The other question is whether Lithuania will manage to be any more successful in their attack against Wampanoag than last time, or if they'll be too distracted by Akkad.

Well, clearly not, as they make peace with Akkad. In other exciting news, another capital has fallen this part, as Iberia sneaks in a melee unit and takes Nelemnoe, exiling Yukagir to the originally Minoan city of Gournia (II)!

In the north west, another capital is under threat, but not as much as New Taipei, which has been taken to the yellow by the Ottoman navy. Romania have now joined in the war on Taiwan's side, but do they want to actually help, or are they just hoping to grab any Ottoman gains before they can be reinforced?

Iberia makes peace with Yukagir, keeping their capital in the process! This has been a very successful war for Iberia, especially compared to their last attempt against Yukagir. Yukagir aren't out of the woods quite yet though, as Wampanoag are still hanging around Gournia menacingly, hoping for their second elimination of the part.

The Zapotecs declare war on Lithuania! Shawmut and Trakai could both be in danger if Lithuania's not careful, but on the other hand, Potumtuk is looking decidedly unguarded; is Wampanoag laying a trap to distract Lithuania from defending?

The Ottomans capture their second Taiwanese city, and once again, they burn it to the ground. Clearly they're not a fan of Taiwanese culture at all. Or maybe it's just due to the unhappiness from following Order rather than Autocracy like almost all the cylinder.

Looking back at the grind in the east, Qocho have actually fallen back, and Jomon have taken Medina to half health, though will still need quite a push to fully reclaim it. Finland declares yet another diplomatic war, this time against the Ottomans.

Back in the Wamapanoag empire, we see Balkh fall to the yellow, while Montaup is now surrounded by Bulgarian troops. However, Lithuania have left Shawmut very unguarded, which may prove a bad idea with such a large Zapotec army descending...

Gorzow Wielkopolski falls to Vietnam, but it looks like that's likely to be Poland's only loss from this war, as they've got a clear military advantage against the Dervishes both on land and on sea, all the more so now that the Dervishes have distracted themselves with a war against the Ottomans as well. Iberia continues wonderwhoring by building the Order wonder, the Kremlin.

Balkh is captured by Lithuania! However, Shawmut has now also started taking damage. In the east of Wampanoag's empire, Montaup has taken remarkably little damage for the number of Bulgarian troops nearby.

Off the east coast of the main island, Romania settle another one tile island for some extra oil.

And here it is, after six wars against Taiwan, the Ottomans have finally emerged the victor, eliminating Taiwan in 17th place! Taiwan were slow to expand then spent most all of their life fighting the Ottomans, until eventually the final blow was dealt. Press T to pay respects.

They now pretend to still be relevant by declaring war on Yukagir. You know you're in a bad state when a dead empire declares war on you..! And as for the Ottomans, they can't be too relaxed in their new cities, as a large Romanian navy is looking threatening, already blockading Istanbul itself.

Lithuania finally sends a decent defensive force towards the Zapotecs, persuading them to peace out with no new gains. This means Lithuania are now free to entirely focus on Wampanoag, as their army heads towards Potumtuk. Montaup is no more damaged than last we saw it; what exactly are you doing with that army Bulgaria?

Wampanoag are clearly confident in their defence though, as they send an army over to capture Gournia and eliminate Yukagir. In an act of defiance to the rest of the world, Yukagir adopts Freedom, which let's be honest will only speed up their demise.

Lithuania continue to heap the pressure onto Wampanoag, bringing their capital down to the yellow! Bulgaria are also making progress against Montaup, albeit much slower.

Wampanoag realises they should probably focus on defending their empire, as they make peace with Yukagir. Here we see a few more one tile island exclaves in the middle of the ocean, belonging to Qocho and Poland...

...and Qocho have also joined Akkad in the archipelago off the south west coast.

Romania starts to damage the Ottoman capital with a powerful naval assault, while Taiwan continues pretending to be relevant by declaring war on the Dervishes. Bless.

Khazaria does what they do best and jumps on their weakened neighbour, joining Lithuania and Bulgaria in what rapidly appears to be becoming the partitioning of Wampanoag! Phaistos immediately falls to the black thanks to Khazaria's impressive air force, though it'll probably take a few turns for a melee unit to cut their way through to capture it. Meanwhile, Lithuania have taken Potumtuk to the red, while Bulgaria continue slowly, slowly grinding down Montaup's health.

Talking of grinding, still no progress in the east of the island for either side. Vietnam builds Cristo Redentor to boost their culture game.

And here we can see why: culture and tourism are playing a major role in the cylinder right now, cutting deep into the happiness of all non-autocracy civs other than tourism leaders Iberia.

On the back of this point, Ibn Battuta pops up with a list of the tourism leaders at this stage. Notably Iberia is the only non-autocratic civ here.

Wampanoag loses their capital! This must be the end of their chances of victory now, though if they were to make peace now they could still hang on with some kind of relevancy. But that's three hungry civs they'd need to persuade, a tall order indeed...

Khazaria manages to get a melee unit into Phaistos, and they celebrate by burning it to the ground, as they turn their attention towards Nipmuc. In the east, Lithuania are helping Bulgaria speed up their attack on Montaup, now finally down to the red.

In the east, the Jomon capital has lost a third of its health, and more Qochan reinforcements appear to be on their way. Could this grind finally get results?

Montaup finally falls, and it's Lithuania who's stolen it from under Bulgaria's nose! What cheek! Meanwhile, Khazaria have brought Nipmuc down to the yellow, as Wampanoag are seriously struggling to survive now.

Nipmuc has fallen to the black, but Khazaria has other problems to worry about now, as Iberia declare war on them, immediately taking Ziryanka to the red and Parramatta to three quarters health! These two are among the strongest and most advanced empires on the cylinder right now, so how this will end is anyone's guess, though early gains at least seem likely for Iberia. Also, can we all please take a moment to appreciate Iberia's fabulous citadelling of Pocasset? Brutal.

Despite managing to send a reasonable army towards Gniezo, Vietnam makes peace with Poland, ending the war successfully one city up. The Dervishes on the other hand don't seem particularly likely to gain or lose any cities against either Poland or Ottomans right now.

Parramatta and Ziryanka fall to Iberia, though Khazaria's combo of horses and airplanes look likely to recapture at least one of the two again.

Khazaria do manage to capture Nipmuc from Wampanoag, though it immediately flips back again. Vietnam becomes the first civ to unlock nukes, but who will they point them towards?

Nipmuc falls to Khazaria again, this time seemingly for good, as Lithuania (with some help from Bulgaria) take Malia down to the red. The World Congress bans dyes, but does not enact world heritage sites, Qocho also unlocks nukes, and the Dervishes make white peace with Poland. But even more excitingly...

...Iberia declares war on Yukagir, with Poland's diplomatic support! Iberia are still busy with Khazaria, but it wouldn't take many diverted troops to end Yukagir's snowy empire!

Lithuania once again beat Bulgaria to the chase, captuing Malia and reducing Wampanoag to only two cities. Content with a very successful war, Lithuania and Khazaria both make peace with the now rump state of Wampanoag.

Khazaria even manage to get Pocasset out of the peace deal. Unfortunately for them, this just becomes a juicy target for Iberia to snap up.

Bulgaria's still determined to get at least something out of this war though, as they prepare their troops for a naval assault on Pokanoket.

All of Iberia's border cities are in the red, and Khazaria have a few horses ready to flip at least a couple of them, while all of Iberia's forces are in the south east of their empire. They've captured the briefly Khazarian city of Pocasset, and now seem eager to do the same to Yukagir's final city of Gournia.

In the east, Jomon continues putting up a stellar defence, as Qocho just can't seem to make any progress whatsoever. This is now turn 60 of the grind: these civs have been at war for over a fifth of the entire history of the cylinder.

Now that Lithuania are no longer distracted by Wampanoag, the Zapotecs declare war again..? Interesting tactics there, but the Zapotecs do at least have a decent sized army, albeit with pikemen on the front lines against Lithuania's infantry...

Iberia pull of an incredible diplomatic success as they make peace with Khazaria, keeping the two ex-Eoran cities as well as Pocasset and denying Khazaria the chance to flip any of them back!

In the north west, Romania's naval assault of Istanbul has failed, and they make peace with the Ottomans, while the Dervishes continue struggling to make progress through the rough terrain.

Surprising nobody, Iberia manage to capture Gournia (with the first landship I've spotted in the cylinder no less), eliminating Yukagir in 16th place! Yukagir started well, scoring the second elimination of the game against Corsica, but that earned them plenty of enemies, and when they couldn't produce enough science from their lands of tundra and snow to keep up in tech, they started to crumble, and now their death marks the end of Freedom in the cylinder. Press Y to pay respects.

And that brings us to the InfoAddict stats! Strawpolls will be at the end of the stats and in the comments as usual, so don't forget to fill out your predictions!

We're almost at the stage of being able to see all the civs on one slide! Qocho have taken the population lead from Akkad...

...while Wampanoag has plummeted from 7th place to dead last.

Qocho's UA keeps them safely at the top of the production charts, as Lithuania and Iberia's gains propel them upwards...

...at Wampanoag's expense.

Qocho tops the military chart once again, not that you'd guess it from their performance this part. Lithuania's wars have taken their military down several ranks, but Khazaria has actually gone up several ranks.

For having an army less than a quarter the size of Qocho, Jomon are doing incredibly well.

Bulgaria have shot up in technologies, from 15th place to 5th. Their neighbours Finland have slipped slightly from 2nd to 7th, which could prove dangerous if and when the two come to blows.

No surprises at the bottom of the charts.

The empires are also now getting big enough to warrant city count stats being included now too! Akkad and Qocho tie for first place, thanks in particular to their settles off the main island.

Again, no surprises at the bottom.

And finally, the religion map, where Minoan (but now Khazarian) Hellenism and Ghaznavid (but now Vietnamese) Islam are still just holding on, while Eoran (but now Iberian) Protestantism has taken Zealandia by storm, beating Qochan Oriental Orthodoxy.

And that's it for this instalment! Three more civs have been eliminated today, but who will be next? Will the Zapotecs manage to take any Lithuanian land? Will Qocho ever capture any more cities from Jomon? Will Bulgaria manage to put Wampanoag out of their misery? Watch this space!

Here's the strawpolls for your predictions and opinions:
Who will win? https://www.strawpoll.me/15851365
Who will be eliminated next? https://www.strawpoll.me/15851369
Who do you most want to win? https://www.strawpoll.me/15851371