Mediterranean AI - Part: 11 Africa vs the Caucasus - Where is Seen More?

Author: porkpotpie
Published: 2018-03-11, edited: 2018-03-11

Part of the campaign:

Mediterranean AI

Previous part:

Game: Civilization V, Sid Meier's

Mediterranean AI - Part: 10 Blobs get blobbier

Images: 83, author: porkpotpie, published: 2018-02-19

Hullo all, welcome to part 11 of the Mediterranean AI game! I'm u/porkpot and I'm your narrator, as usual.


With a mildly confusing mid-poll change, Moldova is actually Moldavia, and of the 20 votes cast, they received a full 13. In second place is France, with 3. Sicily, Turkey, Morocco, and Israel all received 1. Moldavia appears to be doing pretty well in the standings, eh?

Since the beginning of last part, we've seen some major powers coalesce. Serbia absorbed all of Bavaria to the east of Munich, but were then in turn absorbed by Moldavia, leading to their increased popularity. In Iberia the Iberians took out the Spanish, cementing them as the major power in the area, while France took out Lombardy. The Berbers are swarming northward into the Vandals, and the Moroccans have taken the fight to the remaining Umayyads. Finally, Georgia was reduced to one city by the Turks, as were the Rashidun by the Israelis.
In our first slide, we see that the Turks have captured Harran, the former Umayyad capital. It won't stay Turkish for long though, as it is in the middle of the Israeli army. Also, one of our spies indicates that the Moldovians are likely to declare war against the Bosnians. We'll see what happens as a result of that, though I'm not convinced it'll be much.
In Northern Africa, the Moroccans eliminate the final western Umayyad city, effectively the last Umayyad city in the game. Also, Sicily and Sardinia-Piedmont make peace after no action.

The Umayyads (Rank: 29/58) were well placed and expanded decently considering their starting location. They fought a series of wars against Morocco in which they appeared to be the dominant nation, but costly wars to the west lead to a resurgence in Moroccan power which lead to their downfall.
Bavaria founds a new city where Arlon was. You can also see France carpeting up, though they still need to annex their Lombard and Luxembourgish conquests.
A short aside to place our spies in a few the games major powers at this point in time. We'll see if they report anything worth reporting.
The Berbers push further into the Vandals' empire, taking Hippo Regius and Thugga in the same turn. The Vandals don't look like they'll be able to hold off the Berber assault.

Also, Moldavia develops The Bomb.
The Hittites go autocratic as the Egyptian navy brings a competent force to attack Sidon. Israel recaptures Harran and start the assault on Rustavi. If only the Kurds weren't in the way, eh?
In Greece, the Spartans make peace with the Romans. Nothing too big happened this war, with neither side making any gains, though Rome did capture Sparta for a turn or two, and the Spartans did manage to capture Corinth for a turn or two. Bavaria has The Bomb as well.
Luckily for the Turks, they are able to make peace with the Alans and the Moldavians, though the Moldavians weren't doing anything in this conflict. For some reason, the Alans give the Turks Sarai Batu...
Uh oh, the Bavarians and Bosnians have decided to eliminate the Serbians. It should fall pretty quickly.
Israel captures Rustavi, though it'll likely flip due to Turkish air superiority and proximitous melee units.
We return to North Africa to see that Carthage and Ubari have fallen to the Berbers. Utique will fall shortly by the state of the Vandallic army, and after that the rest as well in all likelyhood.
Rustavi is flippped as Egypt successfully captures Sidon from the Hittites. If the Hittites play their cards right they could keep flipping it until Egypt runs out fo privateers, but that would involve some good playing.

If you look at the newly acquired Egyptian water tiles, you can see the first Future Worlds unit, an Israeli Supercarrier. Pretty sure it is just a bigger, stronger carrier... And to top it all off, Morocco declares war on Serbia.
Bavaria puts Serbia out of their misery. Shame that. Anyway, Rome builds the Shanghai World Financial Center, granting them another 1500 gold they'll never use.

Serbia (Rank: 28/58) was one of the first powers in the game. They helped in the first elimination when they helped take out Romania, then they fought almost all of their neighbours, making great progress against the Cumans, Hungarians, Bavarians, Croatians, and Bulgarians. After a confrontation with the New Kid on the block Moldavia, they were left to live in one city, which lasted until Bavaria and Bosnia (And Morocco I guess) decided to take them out.
In Northern Africa, the Berbers continue their relentless march against the Vandals, taking Utique. The Vandals are now far from home, and will likely only get further from it.
The Guanches declare war on Sardinia-Piedmont, and already have their only city to yellow. If they had brought a melee unit I'd be more concerned, but they haven't so its fine. Rome has also built the CN Tower.
Constantine falls to the Berbers, as the Vandals go out in glory by declaring war on the Sardinian-Piedmontese. Whatever mate, at least you're going in with the Spartans.
In a show of support to the Egyptians, the Guanches declare war on the Hittites. You'd think that more brownish-tan coloured civs would be better, but I guess not. The Turks heavily bomb Nicosia in their war with Israel, though Rustavi is still Israeli.
This could potentially be good, the Berbers are thinking of heading eastward once their war with the Vandals is over. I guess that the Guanches should be worried.

Anyway, the Sicilians also declare war on the Hittites.
Iberia as well, joining in against the Hittites. Meanwhile, Asturia and Spain go to war while Serbia and Bosnia (who now have The Bomb) make peace.

Of course, the main point of this slide is that the Vandals have been eliminated by the Berbers!

The Vandals (Rank: 27/58) were a late addition to the roster, and I'm glad I put them in, they made things interesting. They fought against and took over Carthage, then headed westward taking a series of Umayyad and Touareg cities, but were then quickly dismantled by the Berbers to their south.
The Rashidun commit a grave mistake and adopt the Freedom ideology. Welp, that'll go well in the near future.
We see that the Turks and Israelis make peace, though the Turks had to give away Fustat to get it, even after they recaptured Rustavi.

In other news, the Moldavians think the'll go to war with Sparta soon.
Much tourism.
Uh, that may be more than just a thought, the Moldavians also make peace with Israel. Are they seriously considering it?
Morocco, fresh off a morale boost from taking over the Umayyads, declare war on Cordoba. Last time these two fought Marrakech switched sides, I wonder if this time will be any different.
Another Future Worlds unit, the Power Armour Infantry. A bit stronger than mech infantry, that's all. The Rashidun should be worried if its close to them.

The Alans declare war on the Hittites.
Israel may soon go to war with the Hittites as well. In the meantime, the Turks go to war with the Kurds. And they're only 69 years early, compared to our timeline. Should be easy for the Turks this one.

The Asturians and Berbers make peace with Spain.
Egypt, content with Sidon, makes peace with the Hittites. They also develop The Bomb.
Apparently someone captured the Sardinian-Piedmontese capital, but I wasn't expecting it so wasn't prepared for the flip.

Rome looks carpeted, doesn't it. Both they and France have supercarriers.
The Kurds make peace with the Hittites, as they lose Sanandij to the Turks.

Look, Georgia is carpeted as well! lol
Israel builds the Hubble Space Telescope, and you can see Spain's poor state.
There it is officially, Israel enters the Future Era. The Hetmanate develops The Bomb, and the Kurds lose Qamishli. They won't make it to the end of the part, I'm guessing.
Israel builds the Enrichment Centre, granting them one science for every citizen of the city it was built in. They also have railgun armour. Scary.

Apparently I'm using a different version of Future Worlds than the CBR, as their railgun armour has a different icon and there are some units in this game that don't exist in the CBR. Interesting.
Our new spy is sent to the Berbers, while our spy in Turkey moves to France.
The Kurds lose Damascus to the Turks. Morocco makes peace with Cordoba, and Iberia with the Hittites.
We stay in this area of the world as its the only one with things happening to see that the Turks have taken the Kurdish capital of Erbil. This ends their warlike streak, so they make peace confining the Kurds to the city of Batman. The Alans and Israel have declared war on the Kurds, while the Alans have made peace with the Moldavians.

Fun fact, apparently the city of Batman tried to sue DC comics because they used Batman as the name of a super hero in The Dark Knight movie. I don't think much ever came out of that court case.
Slightly to the north, again, Turkey has declared war on the Alans for daring to declare war on the Kurds that they themselves had just finished warring with. How confuzzling. Sarai Batu is in the red.
Holy cow, one of our spy reports was right! The Berbers declare war on the Guanches, though the Guanches look ready for it! This war could decide the fate of northern Africa, so hopefully(!!!) it doesn't fizzle out like last time...
We immediately return to the Caucasus to see that Israel is taking the fight to Batman, and that the Turks have captured Tbilisi and flipped Kutaisi. Morocco develops The Bomb.
AGAIN, the Caucasus. The Guanches and Hittites make peace, while the Iberians declare war on the Berbers in an attempt to claim some sweet northern African clay for themselves.

Israel, however, eliminates the Kurds.

The Kurds (Rank: 26/58) were quickly boxed in and kept killing their army units thanks to their UA. They didn't do much but get in the way, really, so I'm not sad that they're gone. They went from peak expanse to dead all in this one part.
We can see here that the Iberians have landed a serious invasion force and could make some major gains here if they keep reinforcing it. Their navy is strong too, and Rome has developed Drone UAVs, the scout of the Future.

If you look closely, you can see half of the remaining Lombards, some scouts enjoying the Balearic beaches.
The Guanches' frontline cities of Acero and Guimar have already taken damage, and their army looks a little thinner than it was last time we were here. In comparison, the Berber army looks bigger than ever.
The Iberians take Aghat, and Bagdad (intentional misspelling? IDK, but that's how it is in whoever founded it's city list as I didn't change it) looks set to fall. Morocco should join in if they want to expand some more.
Sparta is actually taking the fight to Sardinia-Piedmont, and they've brought a melee unit or three to the fight. Numidia signs their death warrant by adopting freedom. At least the Rashidun aren't alone, for now.

Israel builds a FW wonder that does something, I'm not sure what, as the CBR FW album doesn't have it. Anyway, its another FW wonder, so it is likely pretty good to have.
In Iberia, Asturia picks on someone their own size and declares war on Spain. If they push up their artillery they may actually be able to take Madrid.
Out of nowhere Moldavia declares war on the Hetmanate. This war will likely be devastating for the Hetmanate, as their army is much smaller than the visible Moldavian army, which is likely only about half of their current strength. The addition of the Hetmanate to Moldavia will greatly increase their population.
The Iberians and Berbers trade Bagdad for Aghat, though this does cut Morocco off from any potential involvement in this conflict against the Berbers.

Egypt joins in against the Berbers, potentially recognising the importance of this fight if anyone wants to contain the power that is the Berbers.
Nebelivka falls to the Moldavians, though it may flip back if the Hetmanate hurries. Dnipropetrovsk looks like it'll fall shortly.
Ah crud. The Guanches' front line cities have fallen and their capital has flipped. This is likely already the end of the Guanches, as their productive northern cities don't appear to be producing any units. At least they've made peace with the Sardinian-Piedmontese, and the Cordobans and Spanish have made peace as well.
As I said earlier, Rome really didn't need that extra 1500 gold, they really don't spend gold.
Eh? Dnipropetrovsk has been nuked? By who? Either way, its been nuked...
The Guanches lose their capital again, and Agana looks set to fall. At least the Guanches are continuously moving their air force back in an attempt to keep it around.
In what is present day Algeria, the Iberians have captured both Aghat and Bagdad, but don't appear to be reinforcing their army in the area. The Berbers decided that being at war with everyone with a stake in Africa except Morocco, Numidia, and Rome isn't good enough and declare war on Numidia, along with Cordoba. Numidia makes peace with France as a result, and as was expected nothing came of that war.
Dnipropetrovsk falls to Moldavia. Kharkiv is now the front line city of the Hetmanate. They make peace with Georgia, but that's meaningless at this point as nothing was going on between the two.

The Guanches recapture their capital, for now.
Bosnia decides that its now or never adn declares war on Bavaria. They'll have to thread the needle between the eastern Alps, but they've made early gains by capturing Split.
The Guanches flip their capital, and all that's left of Numidia is Thamugadi, though that'll last until next turn. More people join the Project to Calm the Berber Peoples (PCBP), as Spain and Sparta get involved.
Ah, the Guanches don't flip their capital this time, and Taoro and Aswan are now Berber cities. Alexandria will soon follow, and even Israel is getting involved against the Berbers. At least Spain and Rome are at peace now.
Numidia loses its last city, and lets be honest, they won't regain a city with only GWIs.

Numidia (Rank: 25/58) was in a populated area of the map, and as a result only founded their capital and first settler. They were generally a turtle, so there isn't much to say.
Odessa has been nuked, and the Hetman army is attempting to keep the Tokmak-Kharkiv gap open, but Moldavian paratroops are making it hard to do so.
Ah... The Guanches and Berbers make peace, with the Berbers giving away every city except Cyrene (former capital of the Ptolemies) for peace. The Guanches have been effectively eliminated as a power in this game at this point. Darn, that was the best the Guanches had done in an AI game that I've seen.
Holy cow, the Numidians have recaptured Thamugadi, I take it back, they were able to do things with GWI. I'm not retracting my analysis though, as they'll soon be dead anyway.

The Iberians have captured Constantine, and may be able to take Cirta if their paratrooper doesn't die in the next turn. Ubari may fall soon as well.
Well, the Iberians didn't take Cirta, and the Berbers look set to retake Constantine and have retaken Thamugadi.
Where the Guanches have fallen, Egypt steps in. They've taken Ptolemais while the Berbers are damaging Marsa Matruh.
The Bavarians and Bosnians make peace, and the Bosnians came out on top, taking Split.
The Berbers retake Ptolemais, while Egypt maintains a hold on Marsa Matruh, just barely. Spain and Asturia make peace. Israel has some new FW units in the top right corner of the image, though I don't know what they are.
Kharkive falls, but the Hetman army looks like its counterattacking. Israel builds the Virtual Idol, increasing their culture and tourism. Sparta and Sardinia-Piedmont make peace.
Only after Sparta captures their capital! This eliminates Sardinia-Piedmont.

Sardinia-Piedmont (Rank: 24/58) were in a tough spot to expand in. They could have settled another city on Sardinia and then moved to Corsica, but that was too much trouble so they did neither and then died to Sparta, of all people. Whatever, they weren't included as a serious contender, just someone to sill up the two islands.
Return to the Berbers' eastern front, where Egypt is gamely holding the line, though the Berbers' army is looking pretty impressive. Our Ninurta reports that Israel may attack the Hittites next.
The Alans and Turks are at war still, and the Turks have taken all Alan lands south of the Caucasus and Sygnaq. You can see that the Alan capital is surrounded by Industrial Complexes, a FW improvement that adds 2 production to a tile. Not that impressive, really.
To the west, the Berbers have repulsed the Iberians back to Oran, their starting point.
The Alans have The Bomb, though that won't stop them from losing Verhniy Dzhulat. They have recaptured Sygnaq though.
Marsa Matruh falls to the Berbers. It looks like they're pushing forward on all fronts, can anyone hold them?
Oh crap, the Turks have captured Krasnodar (former Horde capital) and Sygnaq. Is this the end of the Alans? Also, Sicily and the Hittites make peace.
Things go from meh to OH SHIT for the Spartans, as both Rome and Moldavia declare war on them. Sparta has made a quick capture of Corinth, and if they can push to Tirana, they can capture that and then focus on preventing any Roman amphibious invasions while attempting to hold off the Modavians, though that's going to be a tall order.
Heliopolis, an original Egyptian city, takes damage, and Egypt's army looks to be missing or out of place. The Guanches develop The Bomb.
We'll end this part with the Moldavians capturing Adrianople, while Sparta doggedly defends Sofia and Durres. It'll likely fall soon, but for this part at least they still have it. Israel builds Jurrasic Park, and I'm sure that nothing bad could possibly happen as a result. I have no idea what it does, but it sure is a wonderous wonder.

Thanks for reading, and while I suppose that most of the votes will go to Moldavia, I'm still interested in seeing who will get the second most. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScFmKh4jNgznFSogfOAA7FbbU8VAa_0XCRX9l7TmhYxqXsw0g/viewform
The Berbers jump to first place in terms of score, followed by Moldavia and Israel.
France leads in population, but I'm sure that Moldavia will soon overtake them.
We're now in the exciting parts where the bottom of the top are the top of the bottom in the stats.
So many people still have units wandering the map.
Israel leads production by a hefty margin, though the Berbers will catch them, and Moldavia isn't far behind them.
Lower down, even Georgia has more production than the Guanches.
Although they're not using them, the French have the largest army, followed by Moldavia who is.
Rump states down here. Easy to see how the Alans are losing their war against Turkey.
Israel leads the tech standings, though Rome isn't far behind, and France's large population is helping them keep up.
Things are looking pretty crappy down here. The Guanches' low tech is likely whey they lost against the Berbers.
More important than the current tech standings, the science output rankings. Israel has a massive lead here.
Eh, should I even bother with these guys?

Thanks for reading!

Next chapter:

Game: Civilization V, Sid Meier's

Mediterranean AI - Part: 12 Rumpstate Slaughter

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