Alphabattle Part H: Hate Harmony, Hail Hostility!

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 Zapotecs going to war with Lithuania once more, while Bulgaria was struggling to make any gains against the now crippled Wampanoag, and Qocho was continuing sending millions of troops to their demise in the impenetrable jungle of Jomon.

In the strawpolls, Iberia beat Vietnam to take the prize for most likely to win thanks to their gains against Yukagir and Khazaria, with Akkad and Qocho also picking up votes. On the other end of the scale, Wampanoag narrowly beat the Ottomans for the most likely to die next, though Jomon and the Zapotecs also picked up a couple of votes. Akkad and Lithuania tied for fan favourites this time. So without further ado, let's see how accurate your predictions were!

We start with a look at the Lithuania-Zapotec war, where Lithuania's put up a good defence and now is even threatening to turn the tide and go on the offensive. I told you pikemen against infantry wasn't a great plan...

Having ended their successful war with Khazaria, Iberia now declares war on one of their only two Order allies, Poland! Coogee is already down to the red, and that large and advanced force could easily threaten further into Poland's core too. Once again, we see an AI actually using carriers correctly too, as 5 out of 7 Iberian carriers on this side carry planes. Khazaria unlocks nukes, just in case Iberia turns their attention back to their eastern borders.

Realising their mistake, the Zapotecs make peace with Lithuania once more, with no cities changing hands.

Coogee flip back and forth twice, slaughtering millions of civilians in the process, and it doesn't look like it's over for the city yet either.

Suddenly, all the wars! Romania teams up with Vietnam (and the Dervishes) against Lithuania, threatening the Lithuanians from both of their northern borders. Lithuania seems to have a slight naval advantage for now, while on land Romania and Lithuania seem pretty evenly matched, but Vietnam seems to have very few troops around. That's for a reason though, as all their troops are up in the north, attacking the Ottomans in another new war, supported (in spirit anyway) by the Zapotecs! Marsin has already fallen to the yellow, and looks sure to fall, unless Vietnam's UU's inability to capture cities gets in the way.

Jomon, Khazaria, and importantly Lithuania join Vietnam and the Zapotecs in their war against the Ottomans! This also means Vietnam, Lithuania and the Ottomans are all at war with each other, so this could get messy!

We head back to the east coast for a reminder that Qocho is still at war with Jomon, and still has been unable to make any further progress. This has either been a really impressive performance from Jomon, or a really poor one from Qocho.

Bulgaria finds that the terrain is not in their favour in their war with Wampanoag where all their troops have been wiped out, so they start secretly building nuclear weapons so they can soon just blast Pokanoket out of existence, terrain be damned!

Coogee flips to Iberia for what appears to be the last time, as Lento has been brought to the yellow by Iberia's air force, and even Poland's island fortress of Gdynia is under threat.

Vietnam has take Marsin to the black, and they do actually appear to have a few real melee units around to capture it, while their navy seems to be keeping Lithuania's at bay. On land, Romania has started their invasion, but the tech difference between their and Lithuania's units could make things tricky.

Sure enough, Marsin falls to Vietnam, but the Ottomans seem set to flip it back. The Dervishes peace out of the war just when there started to be potential for them, while Bulgaria joins in.

Marsin does indeed flip back, as Lithuania also unlocks the secrets of nuclear weapons. The Lithuanian-Vietnam front seems remarkably quiet, especially near Ghanzi/Balkh, but Lithuania do seem to be starting to push towards their old city of Gardinas.

Lento falls to Iberia, forcing Poland to relocate their capital once more, this time to Tarnow. In more positive news for Polish fans, Gdynia seems to have successfully defended itself from the Iberian navy.

Goethe interrupts to update us on each civ's military. Qocho lead the way, not that you'd guess based on their conflict with Jomon, while the fact that Lithuania's not visible in the top 9 may be worrying for them...

Marsin flips back to Vietnam, but Lithuania seem to have the upper hand on the water again so could be able to flip it themselves. All other Lithuanian fronts remain stuck for now.

Just to keep things interesting, Finland opens up a brand new front against Lithuania! The only problem is, it's only one tile wide, four tiles long, and made of water. If they could get some units through, either by water or by cooperating with their old enemies Bulgaria, they could actually do some damage though, as Lithuania have directed almost all their troops to their northern fronts.

Lento flips back to Poland, but it, Bydgoszcz, and Gdyina are all in the yellow, and Iberia's forces don't look tired yet. On the plus side, unlike Iberia, Poland appears to have open borders with Khazaria, so they're actually able to send more troops towards Lento.

Qocho brings a larger army to the Jomon than we've seen yet. Will this finally be enough to make concrete progress?

Back in Poland, Gdyina seems safe one more, but Lento has fallen, for good this time it seems, while Bydgoszcz is next on the chopping block...

Marsin flips back and forth once more, as Qocho also joins in the coalition against the Ottomans. The Ottomans are fighting back well though, despite the number of civs that are against them. This is why you never pick Order in a domination game though: everyone will hate you and you will not have a good time.

The Jomon capital falls to yellow health! Progress at last! Akkad watches from the sidelines, now with nuclear weapons backing their words.

Bydgoszcz flips, flips, and flips again. Khazaria prepares some peacekeepers for Poland, but will it be enough to save Gniezno?

Qocho decides that the best way of attacking the Ottomans is... to settle a city at their borders and leave it undefended. They're lucky that the Ottomans are so distracted with everyone else that they can't spare the few troops it would take to capture it.

Romania aren't making much progress against Lithuania on land, but Vilnius is now under threat from both Romania's navy and Vietnam's land forces.

Well, there goes that hype. Jomon recover their capital back to the green, as they successfully expel most of the Qochan troops from their borders. Kudos to them for an impressive defence. Offscreen, the world congress bans furs, but doesn't enact cultural heritage sites.

Vilnius has started to take damage, and Akkad smells blood, declaring war on their old enemy! Immediately the first paratroopers of the cylinder drop into Lithuanian lands, and Montaup looks to be in danger, though Finland has still yet to manage to make land. And where's Akkad's air force?

Bydgoszcz is now firmly Iberian, Gniezno has also fallen, and it looks like Tarnow may be following shortly. This has been an impressive showing from Iberia. Finland gets the bomb, worrying Lithuania, while the Ottomans make peace with their most dangerous enemy: Jomon.

Tarnow falls, as Casimir (Poland) runs further up the coast to Krakow, Poland's last remaining mainland city.

Qocho have managed to get the first rocket artillery of the cylinder into position below the Jomon capital and have bombarded it to the yellow once more. Tentative hype..?

In the Ottoman empire, Qocho aren't having much more luck, though their navy is impressive, once again featuring correctly utilised carriers! Bulgaria have actually made some sort of effort with this war as well, sending a wee navy over. Vietnam advances on both Sinop and Tainan.

Romania are holding the line against Lithuania, but aren't making any progress. Vietnam on the other hand seems to be having no trouble fighting a two front war, as they take Lithuania's capital to the yellow!

Poland's days on the main island are running out, as Iberia bears down on their final land stronghold. The geography will help the defence, but geography can only go so far.

Ding ding ding! Success for Qocho at last! 87 turns after starting their war with Jomon, they've captured their capital! I shudder to think how many troops must have fallen for them to win this prize... Of course, it's far from over, as Jomon have plenty of melee units left to flip the city over and over.

The Ottomans aren't looking much healthier, as Sinop and Tainan both fall to the yellow. Vietnam have clearly switched their focus to this war though, as Vilnius has recovered to the green and the Vietnamese units have been pushed back.

In order to save destroying their own people, Jomon take the noble course of action and choose not to bombard their old capital, instead conceding defeat and making peace with Qocho, ending the longest running war of the cylinder. With this and the fall of Normandy, Qocho have proved themselves the masters of the slow grind.

Sinop and Tainan are both set to fall next turn, as the Ottomans are down to their final fourmelee units.
Khazaria builds the Pentagon to keep their army up to date.

Akkad hasn't managed as swift a conquest against Lithuania as they were hoping, as Bulgaria's citadels have actually ended up protecting Montaup, and so Akkad makes peace with Lithuania after a disappointing war. Finland still keeps on trying, with no success. Vietnam continues putting the pressure on Vilnius, while the Ghazni/Balkh front is still almost entirely demilitarised, despite the much easier to cross terrain.

Krakow falls, and Poland simply doesn't have the troops to recapture it. Iberia have now successfully absorbed all of Poland's mainland holdings in only 23 turns! Quite a different showing to Qocho, that's for sure.

The icy hideout of Walbrzych becomes Poland's new capital. A couple of lonely Norman units look on, envious that Poland at least had somewhere left to flee to.

Sinop falls to Vietnam, and in a remarkable showing it's the Bulgarian navy that snipes Tainan! Now that's a proper cross continent success! The Ottoman's troubles aren't over yet though, as the siege begins on their original capital and last remaining city.

Clearly not in the mood to chase down one tile islands, Iberia make peace with Poland, ending one of the most successful conquests the cylinder has seen so far.

The (Rom/Lithu)ania front continues to grind on, but Romania's army tech has now caught up to Lithuania's, with infantry bearing down on Trakai. Could this swing the tide for Romania? The Vietnamese front looks very bare, while Akkad's navy arrived just in time to hear that a peace deal had been struck. What a shame. Off screen, Lithuania ends their war with the Ottomans empty handed, while Finland is embargoed and cultural heritage sites aren't passed.

Bulgaria also makes peace with the Ottomans, happy with the one city they sneakily grabbed. Vietnam's not feeling nearly as friendly though, as their troops make short work of the remaining Ottoman units and prepare to assault the capital. Romania's scientists discover how to make atoms go boom.

Another war comes to an end as Finland admits that the terrain and borders were not in their favour in the fight against Lithuania.

Istanbul falls to the black with both Qochan and Vietnamese melee units ready to deal the final blow. It's going to come down to turn order (i.e. alphabetical order) as to who gets the prize. The Dervishes also unlock nukes.

Lithuania makes peace with Vietnam and the Dervishes, and they manage to avoid giving away any cities in the peace deal, despite Vietnam's early successes and famously persuasive AI. On the Romanian front though, it's still business as usual.

Ptolemy briefly interrupts to let us know that Iberia would be well on the way to winning... if it weren't for the fact that culture victory is turned off. Pity for them. Oh well, at least it'll help with their happiness as the soon-to-be last remaining Order civ on the mainland.

And there you have it: Vietnam takes Istanbul, eliminating the Ottomans in 15th place! The Ottomans put all their time and energy into beating Taiwan, so when they eventually succeeded, they realised they'd fallen behind everyone else, and quickly got absorbed by the mighty dragon of Vietnam (and one lucky Bulgarian boat). Press O to pay respects.

Offscreen, the world congress embargoes the Dervishes and enacts Historical Landmarks.

And the fall of the Ottomans 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!

Khazaria have leapt into the lead in population, pushing Qocho down to second place. For all their conquests, Iberia have only actually risen one place.

It's a different story in production, where Iberia have more than doubled their hammers, moving up two spots into second place, though not enough to take the lead from Qocho.

Not much change in military rank this part, though the fact that Lithuania's military is twice the size as Romania's could prove worrying to Romanian fans...

Here's the stats for land area for the first time, where Iberia have just pipped Qocho to first place, with Akkad following close behind.

Qocho maintain their tech lead, but it's a fairly even playing field in general, with only 7 techs difference between the top and bottom non-rump states.

Iberia and Vietnam see a nice boost to their number of cities this part, but not enough to knock Qocho off number one.

And finally, here's a view of Zealandia, as we take a quick update on who's technically winning:

4 capitals controlled:
Akkad (Akkad, Hejaz, Uyghurs, Xiongnu)
Khazaria (Corsica, Khazaria, Minoa, Poland)

3 capitals controlled:
Bulgaria (Bulgaria, Scotland, Taiwan)
Qocho (Jomon, Normandy, Qocho)
Iberia (Eora, Iberia, Yukagir)
Vietnam (Ghaznavids, Ottomans, Vietnam)

2 capitals controlled:
Lithuania (Lithuania, Wampanoag)

1 capital controlled:
Dervishes (Dervishes)
Finland (Finland)
Romania (Romania)
Zapotecs (Zapotecs)

0 capitals controlled:
Jomon
Poland

And that's it for this instalment! Another civ down, who will be next? Will Romania manage to make any progress against Lithuania? What new wars will begin? Who will Qocho oh so slowly grind down next? Watch this space!

Here's the strawpolls for your predictions and opinions:
Who will win? https://www.strawpoll.me/15870162
Who will be eliminated next? https://www.strawpoll.me/15870171
Who do you most want to win? https://www.strawpoll.me/15870173