This summary for Playoff Game Two was written by Moriarty. Many thanks for volunteering to put this report together! 
Welcome to the AI Survivor Season Nine Playoff Game 3. One the line today are the last two two spots for Championship game. The winner and runner up of today's game move on. The other four AIs go home with nothing. There's no wild card round in the playoffs. No second chances.
Let's meet today's lovely contestants. Fresh from his win in Game 3, it's Qin Shi Huang, First Emperor of China. Showing only minor signs of mercury poisoning, Qin played a masterful game to get get here. Starting with a well-timed war against a busy Pacal, Qin destroyed three other contestants on the way to a stunning domination victory. Brutal and effective, but his massacre of Pacal may have made himself Enemy Number One of the fans here in Guatamala. Qin has a decent position here with good land. But the Mayan fans are not the only ones expected to hate him today, as the only evil emperor in today's game is expected to take a beating from his high peaceweight neighbors.
Our next contestant is our Game Six Winner, Gandhi of India. Going up against six warmongers primed to hate him, he somehow came out with a cultural victory. He just snatched it away from an angry Brennus, whose army was not quite fast enough in sieging Gandhi's third legendary city. This appears to be a much more promising field for Gandhi today, full of peace-loving builders. But how long can his luck keep holding? Clawing his way out of the Wildcard Game, it's Sitting Bull of the Sioux. Sitting Bull is now the hometown hero, due to his murder of every other Western Hemisphere leader. The crowd here hates him almost as Qin. But one cannot deny results. Will Changing Bull continue his rampage? His seafood heavy, sheltered peninsula start could give him some needed early game security. But it could also leave him locked out in a corner of irrelevance.
Last year's champion and our Game 1 runner up is Elizabeth of the British Isles. Liz rode a favorable expansion phase and some bone-headed decisions by Mansa Musa and Hatshepsut to a comfortable second place. But will she be willing to settle for second-best again? Or will she go for the jugular this time? Elizabeth's land quality in her immediate surroundings is mediocre, and all those animal husbandry resources aren't the best fit for her Mining/Fishing start. She'll need to beeline the right techs and expand aggressively if she wishes to make a play. Sulla swears he did not secretly switch Liz and Sitting Bull's starts. But does anyone believe him? We all know the refs are obviously biased. Our Game 3 runner up Hammurabi had the biggest empire and the highest score. But he couldn't seem to remember the victory conditions, and so it was Ramesses and Darius who engaged in a culture vs spaceship photo finish for the trophy. Will Hammy actually take the initiative in today's game?
Our last contestant is Game 6 Runner Up Zara Yaqub. Zara made some smart tech choices and stole some great cities from Saladin. But he never managed to compete with Gilgamesh, who was in the process of murdering Zara when he got his domination victory. Zara's initial cramped position here puts him in some peril. But if he can claim the center of the map and hold it, he might finally have the opportunity to show the world what he can really do.
Our pre-game prediction contest had a favorite in Gandhi, with about half of the viewers thinking he could get his culture game off unimpeded. With a field full of potential friends, it did seem Mahatma would be given plenty of time to cook. Second place was spread between Sitting Bull, Lizzie, and Zara, with Sitting Bull just a bit ahead. Low peaceweight Qin, the odd man out, was the overwhelming favorite for First To Die. However, about 1/6 thought Qin would manage to run over Gandhi first, and it would be India making the earliest exit. Sulla also picked Gandhi to win. If the expected happened, Sulla figured he'd finally score some points. But if the Sulla curse struck again, at least he'd doom his least favorite cultural con artist and not someone he found more fun. For second place, he went with Sitting Bull. Qin FTD, Culture victory, and Turn 300 victory date. Very daring today.
Looking at the fantasy contest, leader ABC had both Gandhi and Qin. Five points ahead of Lobster and Vincarius, if he extended his lead any more, it would be practically impossible for them to catch him in the championship game. If either Gandhi or Qin got the victory, ABC would win outright. Jol Nar Binks had both Elizabeth and Hammurabi. 15 points behind, he had no way of catching ABC, but a 1-2 finish from them with some kills along the way could put him in the race for second place. Kuro had Zara, and LinkMarioSamus had Sitting Bull. But both players were too far behind to be able to catch the leaders.
Starting the game, Gandhi expectedly made the play for the first religion, going for Meditation. Hammurabi was the only other one making a religion play, going for Mysticism into Meditation. Unfortunately, Gandhi was sure to get Meditation first, two or three turns after Hammurabi finished Mysticism. So, Hammurabi was doomed to waste a couple turns going for the religion Gandhi would get first, and then he would need to switch to the unclaimed Polytheism. Qin and Sitting Bull went for Animal Husbandry to unlock the animal resources in their capital. Zara went for Agriculture to grab his corn. Poor Elizabeth was forced to go Hunting into Animal Husbandry before she could do anything with the cows and pig around her capital.
Gandhi settled his almost certain holy city of Bombay southeast of his capital. That looked like it was going to be a problem for Qin, who settled Shanghai towards Gandhi. There was bound to be border tension between the two. And, if Qin ignored Mysticism as he too frequently does, Gandhi could steal a good number of Shanghai's floodplains tiles. Elizabeth went northeast to claim a good spot with yet another cow she'd be waiting to use. Sitting Bull went towards the coast, but unwisely left his fish in the second ring and orphaned his clams. Zara went southwest into the jungle. But if he could get Iron Working and clear the jungle, the city would become a powerhouse with gems, dyes, floodplains, and rice that could easily be irrigated through Civil Service. Hammurabi took a good long time to found Akkad on the river to the south of him.
Turn 25 saw Gandhi still with a size 1 capital, working just his gold tile. But, luckily for him, Holy Bombay was turning into a monster with a wheat, stone, and some grassland farms. Qin's Beijing was doing great, with the cow and rice both improved and connected, and the floodplains farmed. Sitting Bull had finally correctly improved his pigs, after initially farming it. London was coming along only slowly. Elizabeth's initial lack of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry severely hindered it. Aksum was going great, and with Zara getting Bronze Working, he'd soon be able to fell the forests filling his cities. Hammurabi also needed to cut down trees, but he had chosen an early Archery instead. That's the peril of having an archer unique unit.
As more cities went on the board, it looked like Gandhi might be doomed to be boxed in and stunted, with Elizabeth, Zara, and Qin all aggressively settling towards him. Gandhi's second settler was rudely bounced from what would become Nottingham, and he was forced to settle his coasts and the southern tundra. But even so, Gandhi's economy was still cranking away. Bombay continued to carry him, reaching size 7 and building Stonehenge by Turn 40. Elizabeth developed a disconnected empire of coastal cities. It might work out well for her, but she'd need to get them some culture to pop borders. Qin was in even more need of culture, having shoved the city of Nanjing against Bombay. Hammurabi slowly staked a claim to the uncontested northeast. Sitting Bull's isolated position meant he'd also have plenty of room to expand, but it left him vulnerable to barbarians, who started pillaging all his tiles.
At Turn 50, Gandhi's religion and Stonehenge gave him a solid lock on top GNP. He was the research leader as well. His missionaries very successfully spread Hinduism, converting almost the entire map, save for Hammurabi. His shrine was bringing in serious cash. He was starting to spread his minority Judaism as well. Meanwhile, Sitting Bull's GNP was lower than the Observer Civ, and he was solidly in last place. Looks like he would remain seated for quite some time. It was a bit of a mystery how his economy was crashing that badly, until we saw that he never researched Wheel in all that time. While Gandhi was researching almost 30 beakers a turn, Sitting Bull had 4. Qin was so far in great shape. But, as predicted, Bombay and now Pataliputra were squeezing his position hard. Elizabeth was leading in production and food, and it looked like she was she was much stronger than her second to last place score would lead you to expect. If she had time to consolidate and build up, Financial Elizabeth could power a runaway economy.
Liz would not get that time, as Zara declared war on her on Turn 86. Zara's chariots managed to grab Canterbury in the sneak attack. But as early wars often do, the war stalemated after that. The main effect was to ensure that neither of them would be catching Gandhi any time soon. Well that would have been the effect, except that on Turn 115 Liz signed peace with Zara and gave up size York for it. Canterbury was a tiny backwater, but York was a great prize. It was already size 6 and growing, and unlike many of Liz's cities, it was having no trouble producing culture. Zara had no success attacking York throughout the war. But now, Liz just gave it away, and with it any chance of being Gandhi's second banana.
For Gandhi had not been idle. Boxed out of the central part of the map, Gandhi indeed was forced into the southern tundra. But that turned out not to be a problem. At about the time Zara dragged Liz into endless warring, Gandhi built two crucial wonders, the Colossus and Great Lighthouse. Chat might call him Pengandhi of Penguindia, but suddenly those five coastal iceballs were bringing in serious commerce. He added on to this success with the Hanging Gardens, giving each of them an extra pop point. In combination with the income from his shrines, he continued to rocket through the tech tree. And just to spite Qin, he even used the Music great artist to culture-bombed one of those iceballs, Varanasi, to further crush Qin from a new angle. By Turn 100, Gandhi led in every graph, save power. But with his tech edge, anyone attacking Gandhi would probably end up in bad shape.
By Turn 150, the game seemed pretty much over. Liz was a rump state. Qin was getting culturally crushed into irrelevance. Sitting Bull was still trying to get out of his rut. Zara and Hammurabi now seemed content to peacefully build in the race for second to Gandhi. With Gandhi gunning towards a victory so fast, it looked like we might have the first ever no one First To Die game. Gandhi would potentially win before any of these clowns managed to kill each other.
Or so we thought. Because, that's when Qin made his move. Culturally crushed in the west and south by Gandhi, Qin looked north and east. Attacking Hammurabi seemed incredibly unwise, seeing as Hammurabi had double the number of cities Qin had, and a lot more land. But the Hammer completely neglected his military, while Qin had not. Borsippa cracked under the weight of Qin's catapults and Cho-ko-nus, and Akkad soon followed. Hammurabi shark-finned to lower than Lizzie, and Qin showed no signs of stopping. Zara jumped in to vulture, and Hammurabi's fate was sealed. Zara snatched three small cities on his border. But Qin got all the rest and the kill credit on Turn 188. As Qin's starter cities lost all their tiles to Gandhi, the addition of Hammurabi's core kept his game alive. Hammurabi had expanded well and nurtured his cities into some of the biggest in the game. But he chose to run a completely different religion from anyone else, and his neglect of anything military sealed his fate.
Then, it happened! Just after Gandhi grabbed Military Traditions and Gunpowder, he turned on the cultural slider. Apparently, he decided Cuirassiers are enough defense. Who needs Rifling? It's time to win the game. Probably, the safer move was to continue teching, and he would assuredly win eventually. But where's the entertainment in that? Gandhi wants to give the fans some sizzle. You know who else wants to give the fans some sizzle? Sitting Bull, who decided to wage war on Qin Shi Huang. Sitting Bull was teching towards Rifling. Qin was not. But Qin already had cuirassiers and far more of them than Sitting Bull. Unless Sitting Bull could actually finish Rifling and get those cavalry on the field, he'd be Dying Bull.
Sitting Bull lost his entire army attacking Chengdu, and Qin quickly counterattacked. But he wasted time sieging Chaco Canyon with only two trebuchets. By the time he finally conquered it, Sitting Bull did get his rifles and cavs. Qin also could have researched Rifles by then, but instead decided to lallygag through first the Democracy and then the Corporation lines. Qin's conquest ground to a halt, and he decided to peace out and be content with Mound City, Chaco Canyon, and Nippur. Not bad. But a missed opportunity, to be sure.
So, now it was time to see if Gandhi's gambit would pay off. His diplomacy was not safe. None of the other players were please or friendly-locked out of attacking him. But would they? Just twenty turns to stop him now. Would he make it through another game miraculously dodging all aggression? Here comes Zara carrying a ton of grocery bags. I don't think he could carry much more. There's definitely enough in those hands right now. Is he about to deliver the smackdown on Gandhi? Turns out, no. Zara's content to keep building his stack, and maybe at some point go for Lizzie. But, guess who is going to accept Gandhi's challenge? Charging Bull!
Now, Sitting Bull did have rifles, while Gandhi still only had cuirassiers and muskets. So, SB definitely had the tech edge. But he was still recovering from his war with Qin, and Gandhi currently had the higher power. His soon to be legendary cities were not on the border with Sitting Bull, and getting to them would be a slog. Still, Bull had a real chance here, and if nothing else, he'd certainly slow Gandhi down. Gandhi wisely immediately turned off the slider and started producing military units and teching again. But he did not wisely immediately research Replaceable Parts into Rifling. Instead, he chose Steel into Railroad. He would eventually get machine guns going that way. But they were going to be a long way off, behind three not very cheap techs. There was real danger for Gandhi here. If Sitting Bull could convince either Zara or Qin to join his war before Gandhi could bring out the big guns, it would be dicey for India. AND IT HAPPENS! Qin attacks Gandhi! Gandhi still not researching rifles! Can he survive the 2v1! He's...
Wait, what? Sitting Bull peaces out. Then he declares war on... Qin Shi Huang! Wang Kon comes back from the dead to give Sitting Troll a salute. Suddenly, Qin was the one in trouble, with Sitting Bull taking back Mound City and Gandhi making a a counter-attack on culture crushed Shanghai and Nanjing that somehow never flipped to him. But Gandhi didn't seem to have the heart for conquest. He peaced out after taking the two cities and resumed his culture march, this time with machine guns and rifles.
Zara finally makes his move, attacking Elizabeth, not Gandhi. But he didn't seem in any major hurry for it. Elizabeth was definitely doomed. Meanwhile, no longer under threat from Gandhi, Qin sends his armies to squish the Sitting Bug who has been bothering him all game. The only question was whether Zara could finish off Liz, or Qin Sitting Bull before Gandhi won his culture victory. Qin takes Sitting Bull's capital of Cahokia, and Zara's tanks roll into London. But there was just no time. Gandhi's third city goes legendary on Turn 292, and we end the game with only one death.
Gandhi played a great game here and earned his win. He spread his religion everywhere. He expanded masterfully, even when Liz, Zara and Qin threatened to box him in. And grabbing Colossus and Great Lighthouse ensured those cities had an economy no one else could match. He did put himself in real danger by turning on the slider before rifling. But he was never a pushover. Even if Sitting Troll hadn't backstabbed Qin, Gandhi might have had just enough to hold out. Zara Yaqub scores a comfortable second place. It's debatable whether he actually deserved it. He did gain some territory from Lizzie's surrender, and some more from his vulture on Hammurabi. But then, he just sat back and coasted on those early gains. Zara was too friendly with everyone for too long, preventing him from going to war. If he had been able to finish off Lizzie a hundred turns earlier and then attacked Gandhi, maybe he could have actually tried to win the game.
Qin in third played the game of his life. He just had the rotten luck to be surrounded by culture mode Gandhi, which severely hampered his early cities. Still, his move on Hammurabi was masterfully done, and he was on the way to conquering Sitting Bull when the game ended. If only he had a little more time to finish his conquest and turn his attention to the remaining leaders, there might have been an epic showdown for first between him, Zara, and Gandhi. Elizabeth and Sitting Troll are saved by the bell. Elizabeth's game was completely derailed by the Zara attack and her foolish surrender, and Bull never really recovered from crashing his economy early. His war declarations were very, very, funny, but obviously ill-advised. Alas, for them, there's no wildcard playoff. So, this is sadly the last we'll be seeing of Qin, Elizabeth, and Sitting Bull until next season.
With Qin's point from slaying Hammurabi and Gandhi's five from victory, ABC170/TheOneAndOnlyAtesh/Mr_Barbarian/Mr_Raging_Barbarian is now mathematically uncatchable. Even if Joao or Victoria were to kill all five other players on the way to a victory, Lobster and Vicarious still could not score enough points to catch ABC. So congrats, ABC. Huzzah! Well done. You get to watch the epic battle for second place from the winners circle.
For our picking contest, Dolwin comes in first with 31 points, an almost perfect score. He hit on Gandhi, Zara, Hammurabi dying, Cultural Victory, and the Victory Date 292 exactly, only missing the number of wars by 1 war. Sulla gets a respectable 18 points. Saxo Grammaticus continues his playoff tear with another 21 points to Kuro's 14 and Smart Random.org's 8, leaving him solidly in on the top of the season leaderboard. Overall, it was a high scoring game, as most of the field correctly divined Gandhi's culture victory. Next week is the Fourth of July day of mourning for Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. Poor, America. God may have shed his grace on thee. Alas, Sid Meier most definitely did not. Better luck, next year guys. But you are probably doomed.
After that is the game we've all been waiting for, the grand championship. Ramesses, Joao, Victoria, Louis, and now also Gandhi and Zara Yaqub face off in a winner-take-all. Will Gandhi pull off another cultural steal? Will Zara actually do something this time? We'll just have to tune in two weeks and find out.
