AI Survivor is an annual competition of all Civilization IV AI Leaders by long-time Civilization enthusiast and streamer Sullla.
Mansa Musa of Mali won a fascinating, and nail-biting, Cultural Victory in Playoff Game 1. Elizabeth(Lizzy) of England and Mansa played one of the closest peaceful finishes in the competition ever witnessed which was even more amazing considering that they pursued different victory conditions. Lizzy and Mansa, who performed admirably in this game, were in a dead heat as each pursued Space or Culture wins respectively. Both see-sawed into a winning position in the final stages, each making some poor decision here or there, such as a useless tech or turning off the culture slider. Lizzy appeared to have victory secured in the final turns, but Mansa popped a Great Artist which he used to culture bomb his third legendary city to ice the win. Of note, the favorite Pacal of Maya started strong with his god-tier capital, getting out to a strong tech lead early but slow expansion and a ridiculously bad attempt to attack Hammurabi of Babylon did him in. Mansa and Lizzy both advanced to the Championship game. Read more about the first playoff game here.
Playoff Game 2 features one of the oddest-looking maps in AI Survivor, having a sort of fish hook design. The map leaves likely favorite Justinian(Justy) of the Byzantines with quite a lot of uncontested land in the Southwest section. As in the first playoff game, and considering this season has been mostly dominated by peaceful leaders, this game favors the peaceniks. Justy and Brennus of the Celts are the only two leaders even remotely considered warmongers, but Justy fares better diplomatically in general. Gandhi of India, another high-performing leader like Justy, hopes peace reigns as he likely pursues culture. Frederick of Germany has a god-tier cap but will he perform better than his historical results? Does Brennus stand a chance in this lovefest, or will he end up with Justy’s religion and they unite to tag-team the rest? Ramesses of Egypt and Augustus of Rome both have impressive land to expand to – will either have the dice roll their way? Be sure to make your picks in the picking context.
Sullla’s AI Survivor Season 8 continues Friday, September 6th on Sullla’s Twitch Channel at noon EST.
We welcome you to join the fun by discussing here.