Alphabattle Part C: Capitals Collapse!

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 the Xiongnu, Poland, Eora, and the Uyghurs facing multi-front wars, and the Ghaznavid-Minoan and Finno-Bulgarian wars both going strong.

In the strawpolls, Qocho's good overall stats put them in first place, with Lithuania and Poland tied for second, and Wampanoag picking up a vote too. At the other end of the scale, Scotland's failure to settle a second city put them as firm favourites for first elimination, with Bulgaria also gaining a vote. Poland picked up the coveted fan favourite award for achieving the first city capture of the cylinder.

We start off this instalment with a city capture! Hejaz succeeds in taking Lungtang from the Xiongnu, putting both civs on an even footing with three cities each.

This capture triggers the Xiongnu to make peace with Qocho, but it's Finland and Akkad who they should really be aiming to make peace with, as both Lungzi and Tsagaan are under threat, while Hejaz could keep pushing and causing trouble too.

The Ghaznavids continue their assault on Minoa.
While Phaistos seems reasonably well defended, Malia is looking like a much easier target right now, if the Ghaznavids were to only send out a scouting party to notice this.

Tsagaan starts taking damage, as Akkad have managed to get rid of almost all the units that were defending it.

In the west, Eora makes peace with Iberia, after a war where Eora were looking strong, but Iberia put up a solid defence to keep all their lands. Instead, Eora starts to turn their army around to attack Poland with Khazaria, though they'll need to seriously modernise their army to make any real progress.

Akkad successfully captures Tsagaan, finally getting revenge for that first captured settler, and it doesn't look like the Xiongnu will manage to recapture that or Lungtang. Neither Akkad nor Hejaz seem done though, as both their armies descend on Luut Hot.

Casimir (Poland) proves to be a shrewd tactician by acknowledging he's not going to be able to make more progress against Corsica while still defending his current lands, then also proves to be a shrewd negotiator as he manages to scare Corsica into giving up Prupià. He does not prove to be a kind leader however, as he mercilessly burns the newly Polish city of Prupià to the ground.

This reduces Corsica to a city state, though unlike Scotland they do at least have room to expand to again if they wish, including the potential of rebuilding Prupià in 7 turns time.

Vietnam reforms Buddhism, as a fairly well balanced Khazarian army starts to move towards Warsaw. The Dervishes in the north west have also built up quite an army and seem to be pointing it towards the Khazarian capital, Itil, which could be dangerous as Khazaria hasn't left much behind for defence, and there's only one wee river for natural cover...

In the Finno-Bulgarian war, the Bulgarian capital starts to take damage, but Finland still can't seem to decide whether to send reinforcements to that front or to Lungzi. Meanwhile, Tsaagan remains comfortably Akkadian.

In the centre of the island, the Ghaznavids have sent some forces around the west of Minoa's lands, either in a flanking attack on Phaistos, or in a suicide mission to harass the Minoan capital. Wampanoag have built their first Pniese UU, a pikeman replacement with bonuses to healing, which due to some sort of graphical glitch doesn't have an icon, just an empty circle.

As if there weren't enough good wars going on already, Normandy declares war on neighbouring Romania, and they've a large army with good unit composition. At a minimum, Romania's escorted settler is doomed, and they'll need to put up a good defence to have any chance of saving Craiova too. We also see the newly settled Qochan city of Yarkend threatening to split the Romanian empire in two unless they manage to grow their borders very quickly.

Preslav is back to full health and looking better defended, but Finland also has more of an army positioned to attack. They also send a swordsman to harass Preslavec, perhaps in an attempt to scare Bulgaria into giving up more cities in an eventual peace treaty?

Meanwhile, Akkad starts dispatching the Xiongnu troops around their capital, while Hejaz oseems content with Lungtang, as they send no extra troops towards either the Xiongnu or the Uyghurs.

Poor Scotland is convinced they've been born in the wrong role, insisting everyone refer to them as the City State of Edinburgh, as they give Bulgaria the quest to find a new natural wonder and ask the Zapotecs to connect the mysterious resource known as 'Spices' to their trade network.

Poland actually seems to be on the offensive against Eora, but they've neglected to leave much of a military behind to deal with Khazaria, as the Khazarian Tarkhans start to surround the Polish capital. In other news, the Jomon build the Great Lighthouse, very useful for their coastal empire, while Qocho build the Parthenon to boost their culture game.

Two turns later and the Eoran city of Coogie has lost a quarter of its health, but Warsaw has lost half of its, and the damage doesn't seem likely to stop soon. Is Poland ok with swapping their capital for Coogie?

The pincer attack on Phaistos seems to have failed, but a large reason for that is because the Ghaznavids have now spotted the unguarded Minoan city of Malia and have quickly taken advantage of the opportunity. I wouldn't want to be living in Malia right now...

Meanwhile in the newest war, Normandy is making good progress towards Craiova, and though they haven't quite managed to capture Romania's wandering settler yet, it clearly doesn't have long left in those colours.

In the south east, Finland has sensibly decided to focus on one target at a time and has chosen to let Buglaria off the hook, as the Finnish troops descend on Lungzi. Things are going even worse for the Xiongnu at their capital, where Akkad has managed to remove almost all the defending Xiongnu army, and are looking ready to start damaging the city itself.

Things are looking equally grim for Malia. It's started to take damage, and with 4 bowmen and two melee units in range, and only 12 defence, it's days in Minoan colours are almost certainly over. Phaistos is safe however, and Minoa could potentially even send their army towards the currently undefended Ghaznavid capital and deal a much more serious blow.

To the west, Warsaw has only a third of its health remaining, as Poland sensibly retreats from their attack on Eora to help defend their existing lands. But is it too little too late?

In the north, we see the sizeable Dervish army still looking threatening. But is it pointing towards Khazaria, or Poland?

Sure enough, Malia falls to the Ghaznavids, and now both empires have three cities. And we also see a familiar and exciting notification...

...as the Polish capital falls to Khazaria! The first empire to successfully capture a city are also the first empire to lose their capital! And the Khazarian army might even have the strength to make more gains too.

As for the Xiongnu, both of their remaining cities start to take damage, as their time seems to be running out...

Scotland - sorry, Edinburgh - sends Finland a quest to spread Oriental Orthodoxy to their city.

Romania's settler has indeed been drafted into the Norman workforce, but Craiova is currently standing strong at full health and with no melee units within range. Normandy could do with some heavy cavalry to thin out Romania's bowmen.

On the other side of the Qochan empire to that skirmish, the Zapotec join Wampanoag, Lithuania, and Hejaz in the war against the Uyghurs. They've certainly got a larger army, but will it be able to get through the rainforest to do any serious damage? Lithuania seems to be playing the long game, and have decided the best offence is to settle a city towards the Uyghurs that can maybe be used to build more troops for the war effort in fifty or so turns time. Wampanoag on the other hand are actually moving an army north, and while it may have obsoleted in the time it takes to get to the front, it's still much larger than the defensive army of the Uyghurs.

Luut Hot falls to the yellow, and there's no way out of this by military strength for the Xiongnu. Their only hope is to head to the negotiating table and beg Akkad for forgiveness for that initial settler capture.

In the center of the island, Malia is firmly Ghaznavid, as the battle for Phaisos restarts in earnest. The ex-Corsican city of Prupià has been burned to the ground.

Warsaw looks firmly Khazarian, as Lento now also looks to be in danger. But should Khazaria be keeping more in reserve? If the Dervish team up with Vietnam, Khazaria's lands will almost certainly quickly crumble. Meanwhile, the Eora have recovered from the Polish attack, and are contemplating whether to counterattack or focus on rebuilding.

We interrupt the action for a second to take a look at the religions of the world. The Qochan religion of Manichaeism has the useful Defenders of the Faith belief for extra combat strength in and around their empire.

Finnish Oriental Orthodoxy gives some nice science bonuses....

...while Eoran Protestantism has two useless city state bonuses. Maybe Edinburgh just feels sorry for the Protestants?

Pythagoras continues the mid-part pause by informing us that Wampanoag are the current tech leaders, closely followed by Qocho and Jomon.

Back to the action! As you may have spotted in the background of the last slide, Normandy and Romania have made peace, with the only real casualty being the captured Romanian settler. Simeon (Romania) must be a persuasive diplomat though, as that army could easily have captured Craiova given a few more turns...

Meanwhile, Qocho becomes the second civ to 5 cities, settling the very defendable Hami, further boxing in Normandy. 5 clearly isn't enough for them though, as they join in the war against their southern neighbours, and real world ancestors, the Uyghurs!

The Qochan army is looking decidedly out of date, but they've got enough numbers to make up for it. But will they face the same problem as Finland of splitting their forces too thin between all the cities in their reach rather than focusing on one? Lithuania admits they never really had their heart set on this war, and peace out, leaving the Uyghurs at war with (only) four nearby civs...

Luut Hot falls to the red, while the Uyghurs send an army to harass Hejaz's new city rather than using it to defend their lands against the three approaching armies, perhaps in a desperate attempt to scare Hejaz into a profitable peace deal.

Phaistos starts to take damage, but Minoa's archers have managed to kill all the Ghaznavid melee units, so it still seems safe for now.

The Xiongnu capital falls to Akkad! I bet the Xiongnu are regretting stealing that Akkadian settler now...

Akkad aren't done yet though, and join the bandwagon against the Uyghurs! What on earth has Bayanchur Khan (Uyghurs) done that's earned him the hatred of all his neighbours? Or do they all just see his lands as a juicy target?

In the west, Poland have annexed Lento and seem to be preventing the Khazarian line from advancing any further for now, though don't seem to have any chance of reclaiming their capital. Yukagir meanwhile has decided to finish what Poland started, and declares war on Corsica! It'll take more than their Great Wall for Corsica to survive this. Yukagir have brought many of their Chuvan Warrior UU to the front, a Spearman replacement with bonus strength and movement in snow, tundra and hills. And I see lots of hills around Corti.

Prime your F keys as the last remaining Xiongnu city falls to the yellow. Finland only has two melee units close by though, and both are very low on health, so there's some (small) hope left for fans of the letter X!

Qocho spread their army across the Uyghur's empire, but still they have more forces on all fronts than the Uyghur do. The Wampanoag and Zaptoec forces also arrive at the gates of Karamay, and Akkad starts marching north, as the Uyghur's land becomes the setting to a remake of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

And in the south east, Finland successfully captures Lungzi, eliminating the Xiongnu in 26th place! The Xiongnu started strong, expanding quickly and preventing their neighbours from doing likewise with several early wars, but they just went a bit too far, made a few too many enemies, and saw all their cities fall to Hejaz, Akkad, and now Finland.

Both the Ghaznavid and the Minoan forces around Phaistos have suffered heavy losses, though the city stays strong for now. An Iberian scout acts as this world's first peacekeeper, blocking the Ghaznavid horseman from entering Minos's lands.

Karamay is surrounded. Shihezi takes damage. The Uyghurs are scared.

Yukagir are doing a good job of destroying all the Coriscan units, and will soon have the city surrounded. Could we see an early double elimination? Poland and Khazaria continue to grind troops into each other, but Poland now starts to look like they may have more troops in reserve, so maybe a war of attrition is a good tactic for them. Eora doesn't seem too keen on wasting any troops on Poland any more than they need to, choosing instead to quietly rebuild.

The Uyghurs make peace with their one enemy who wasn't looking threatening, Hejaz, and their scare tactics have been unsuccessful as no cities are traded in the peace deal. Qocho has taken Shihezi down to the yellow in a combined naval and land attack, as a confusingly similarly coloured Akkadian army arrives at both Urumqi and Ordu Baliq's borders. Karamay is still standing remarkably strong though, having yet to take any damage from any of the three armies surrounding it. Kashgar in the far west has also been left alone... for now.

The Dervishes finally reveal where that army was headed, and it's Khazaria who faces this threat! Their capital has few defensive forces right now, and the Dervishes are looking powerful: could we see another capital flip this part?

Shihezi is down to the read as its residents quickly start to learn Qocho's language, preparing for the inevitable. Karamay is somehow still at full health, as are all the Uyghur's other cities, but Urumqi is now also being surrounded by three armies, this time from Qocho, Wampanoag and Akkad.

Minos has successfully eliminated all the Ghaznavid's offence, and while they're unlikely to have the strength to recapture Malia or take any of their other cities, if that Ghaznavid settler is a bit too daring, it could become a good target, either before or after building a city.

Corti falls to 80% health, and the Yukagir army looks like it's got the strength to finish the job, especially as they've got the bonus damage against cities from the Statue of Zeus. Poland have cleared out most of the Khazarian forces from their original capital, as the Khazarian reinforcements have been diverted to defend against the Dervishes, giving Poland a good chance of a recapture.

Shihezi is captured, but its residents' efforts to learn the Qochan language prove fruitless as Süngülüg (Qocho) cruelly sets the city ablaze, and unfortunately "Oh god help me I'm burning alive aaaaargh" wasn't one of the translations in the Uyghur-Qochan phrasebook...

In the rest of the Uyghur empire either, Urumqi starts to take damage from Qocho, but Akkad seems to have his heart set on another capital, as he sends all his armies to Ordu Baliq. Karamay is still somehow unscratched.

The Khazarian capital starts to take damage, as Khazaria cleverly attacks only the Dervish melee units, with one in the red, one in the yellow, one in the green, and one currently at full health. But will it be enough to save Itil?

The Ghaznavids and Minoa make peace, ending the war as a win for the aggressors with the capture of Malia. The Ghaznavids instead choose to expand their lands in more peaceful ways by settling Herat in a very defensive location.

Corti falls to the yellow! Ready up those F keys again folks! The battle for Warsaw on the other hand seems to be petering out as both sides have few troops left alive in the area. Vietnam continue to quietly grow in the background as they enhance Buddhism.

The Uyghurs make peace with Wampanoag, removing one of the attacking armies from the picture, but their capital is in the yellow and surrounded by powerful Akkadian units, while the Qochan army seems to be heading purposefully towards Urumqi.

Sure enough, one turn later and Akkad claims their third capital, and that Uyghur composite bowman isn't going to be able to flip it back! Urumqi starts to take damage from all three armies, while Karamay and Kashgar continue to be ignored.

Qocho and the Ghaznavids join in the war against Corsica, but it seems they're only trying to get on Yukagir's good side, as Corti is almost certain to fall to Yukagir before either could get any armies to the front.

In a much more exciting declaration, the Ottomans restart their historic war against Taiwan! Both sides seem reasonably evenly matched, though Taipei and Marsin both look vulnerable.

Iberia forward settles Eora with Tarraco, could this be why Eora has now made peace with Poland, so they can restart their old war with Iberia and capture this new city? Corti stays at half health; Warsaw remains a stalemate. Minos makes peace with Lithuania, ending a war which, like all those Lithuania has been involved with so far, was only declared to help Lithuania get some nice diplomatic boosts.

The Dervish army around Itil has been slaughtered, and Mohammed Hassan (Dervishes) is forced to make peace with Khazaria, who have played it well to come out of the war with their capital unscathed.

Hejaz becomes the first civ to settle a city off the main landmass, founding Jeddah on the large island of Zealandia, and the sub celebrates by entering a golden age. The smaller island to the north, Atlantis, is inaccessible until civs learn how to cross deep water.

Shihezi has been burned off the face of the earth, and a Qochan settler looks tempted to replace it with a city of their own. But more importantly, Urumqi is in the red, and all three attacking armies have a melee unit in range to capture it! It looks like it might come down to alphabetical order to decide who gets the prize!

And in the west, Corti is in the red and looks just as likely to fall, short of a diplomatic miracle!

In a war I'd all but forgotten about, Bulgaria starts taking the battle to Finland, supported by their Shtitonostzi UU, a spearman replacement with extra movement and a bonus against infantry. Lungzi could be in danger of needing to learn yet another new language soon...

And that brings us to the end of the part and the InfoAddict stats! Khazaria lead in population...

...while the Uyghurs trail in last place. Interestingly, both sides of the Yukagir-Corsica war are also at the bottom here.

Qocho's five cities and UA keep them at the top of the production charts, and Wampanoag is doing well here too.

The city state of Edinburgh is at the bottom of the pack, with the doomed Corsica and desert lands of Normandy following close behind.

Wampanoag are at the top in military...

...while the Uyghurs and Corsica continue to look like they're in trouble. The Bulgarian army is 1.5 times the size of the Finnish army, as is the Ottoman army compared to the Taiwanese; Khazaria and Poland on the other hand are remarkably evenly matched. Will this predict the outcome of their wars?

The Wampanoag lead in technologies as well, putting them in the top three for all the stats right now. There's not much to separate the top half here though.

The bottom half is a different matter though. Scotland surprises no one by taking last place, but the Ghaznavids, the Ottomans, and to a lesser extent Poland and Finland, are all in a bit of trouble, stuck six technologies behind the leader.

We also see a religion map for the first time. Eoran Protestantism is thriving in the south west of the island, while Qochan Manichaeism has taken the north east by storm. Finnish Oriental Orthodoxy is growing steadily in the south east, while in the north east it's a race between Protestantism and the orange of Vietnamese Buddhism. Ghaznavid Islam is fighting Buddhism for the center of the island, while Minoan Hellenism has yet to spread beyond its holy city.

And that's it for this instalment! Will Corsica survive? How much will the Uyghurs lose, and to who? Will Poland regain their capital? Who will win in the Finland-Bulgaria and Ottoman-Taiwan wars? What new wars will be declared? Will Scotland change their colours to black to look more like a true city state? Watch this space!

Here's the strawpolls for your predictions and opinions:
Who will win? https://www.strawpoll.me/15600222
Who will be eliminated next? https://www.strawpoll.me/15600228
Who do you most want to win?https://www.strawpoll.me/15600234