CivWiki Newsletter for December 28, 2023

Good morning and merry post-Christmas from (not snowy) New England!

Well to be honest, I actually don’t even know if this will be live on Christmas, because like, am I really going to be publishing a newsletter on Christmas? No…right? (Editor’s note: It wasn’t.)

I hope everyone is enjoying a lovely Christmas holiday, along with the new year coming up I really hope everyone is having a splendid time with family and friends. I say this because you really should not be playing Civ.

Anyway, it’s time to complain about everything and look at the news! Ready for it?

Featured

Featured Image

This week’s final lovely Christmas tree is from Griffin, who’ve set up a nice little Christmas village. Located on the other side of the grand canals, the square is all filled with shops, snow and is just a small walk away from the Adria Church you see in the background. It’s a lovely place and it’s a lovely place for a little celebration. This year was another great round of Christmas decorations, folks, and you’ll see some more later on today!

Featured Article

The Christmas Agreement was a document signed by Lusitania and Mount September in December 2020. The countries had been relatively close since the founding of Mount September along with various out-of-game activities throughout 2020; the treaty was a way to formalize their diplomatic relations and foster economic growth between the two nations. Among other agreements in the treaty was a railway line to be dug to improve the slow travel times, with both countries outside of the HITS international rail.

The treaty was fostered under Septembrian Foreign Minister Thraldrek, and was signed by Mayor Squareblob of Mount September and King Metriximor of Lusitania. The alliance was one of the first outreaches of diplomacy during Mount September, and would later lead into the creation of the Augustan Federation (with Lusitania) shortly after. This was also one of the rare moments of Lusitania engaging in diplomacy, as they preferred to stay out of any conflicts. The treaty solidified the relationship between the two countries as they continued strong well into 2021.

This week’s featured image is a screenshot of Lusitania on CivClassic 2.0 at sunset.

This Week Last Year

The News

Hadestown

Mount Augusta’s voter tree that’s become a Christmas tree.

Last week, I did do a pretty good summary of the conflict as it was beginning. I would much rather, however, reiterate the entire conflict in detail this time now that I know a lot more than last week.

The conflict arguably starts with Mount Augusta and Doom City’s dispute on the Alenarith nether portal.

• The portal was previously owned by Cortesia Del Mar and Danzilona in a joint venture. Due to the former’s collapse and the latter’s inactivity, Danzilona delegated the transfer of the portal to the Mehri, of which they agreed upon a transfer to Mount Augusta.
• For the country to access the portal, however, the country had to tunnel an ice road through Doom City territory. An agreement was made for Doom City to access the portal as well, via an access door.
• Although unrelated to the above two points, Doom City also regarded Arsenia, an MTA ally through their common alliance BUILD, as an enemy following SQOpenSpellbook’s insiding of the Arsenio Pact at the conclusion of the Butternut-SEC War (no, you’re not going to make me say the name this time)

We move now to a few weeks ago, when

• Doom City found their access point locked on December 11, despite Augustan infrastructure being used. As a violation of their agreement from before, Doom City negotiated for a settlement with Mount Augusta, which was initially resolved.
• However, this then came with the trapping of SymSquid, a Doom City citizen, shortly after. He was involved in attempting to break the access door previously, and narrowly escaped.
• It was eventually discovered that the water drop in the nether was removed. Doom City’s accusation claims that Mount Augusta is responsible, although the given screenshot does seem that ComradeNick was not aware this happened.

From there, the conflict then spills into the overworld as Doom City retaliated for what they perceived was a BUILD-created attack.

• As with in the previous post, SymSquid had been harassing BUILD citizens, as well as raiding Arsenia factories.
  • He has since apologized to Enna for this, I don’t have screenshots but I was present online when this happened, so I apologize for not having receipts for this
• There were however, other accusations such as continued trespassing of territory as well as illegal snitching.
• A standoff at an ice road resulted in SymSquid’s pearling, a summary of their perspective of which was posted by SQOpenSpellbook.
  • I won’t go over this post again, but demanded a hefty amount of reparations from Doom City for this conflict, which was highly criticized from ShadySauce, who was inactive during the conflict.
  • Despite this, SymSquid was freed following this incident. This was not because of any negotiations, but because of the continued crashes that happened during the deployment of the Fishing and Christmas Update that weekend; admins did not roll the pearl back (due to significant complications for doing so).
• Doom City then built bunkers on Mount Augusta’s border on their sides of bridges connecting the two countries, eventually obbybombing Mount Augustan infrastructure, notably their factory building and bunker.

BUILD perceived this as Doom City’s aggression in the conflict, not to mention this was an affront on two BUILD nations so far. This culminated in a pivotal battle on the bridges between Mount Augusta and Doom City.

The Bridges of Madison County

Structures currently in conflict with Doom City & Mount Augusta, taken by Blatlas.

On the morning of December 19, Doom City fighters clashed with Mount Augusta along a bridge near the southwest portion of the city.

• Of those involved, numerous bridges and structures were formed in order to gain ground on the opposing side, as seen above.
• Although not stated, from images during the attacks, it is implied that the fighting continued into Mount Augusta city proper, with Nightmarr, SymSquid and Defender4488 were pearled during the attack, with SQOpenSpellbook being pearled hours later.
• With SymSquid being extradited into the Fempire vault, an attack was launched on the vault to free SymSquid on December 19. Doom City forces claimed that the attack would continue until SymSquid was free.
• BUILD quickly surrendered following this ultimatum, with great disappointment and disdain for Doom City and Estalia. (More to talk about in this next section).
  • Their surrender was a combination of the desire to be away from Civ during the holiday season and a preference to resolve these issues diplomatically.
  • However, they are disappointed at the conduct that Doom City & Estalia* took to achieve those means, saying that “we will not forget what Estalia did on this day.”

Ok, yes, I mentioned Estalia, but I’m talking about that in a second. Following the war, BUILD nations released post-war reflections.

• Mount Augusta’s post from Deputy Mayor Nightmarr, who was pearled during the Battle of the Bridges, echoed that they are “highly disappointed in the way things were handled.”
  • It is even more disappointing that due to the leadership change and election in December, they were thrust into this conflict but were unable to resolve issues diplomatically due to the lack of communication and heavy-handed military force.
  • They continue to emphasize that “MTA and BUILD were never the aggressors”, claiming that Estalia-associated fighters were threatening citizens even after the Fempire vault break, and that due to Estalia support of Doom City, they would not forget this incident.
• Amicitia’s newest edition of the Sapphire Wave continues to resonate to all BUILD nations, offering refugee support and promotion of friendship, hoping to resolve the issues from the previous conflict.
  • This was also echoed during the King’s Christmas speech, and hoped that the country would continue to build friendship and “foster goodwill within [their] borders”.
• Winterbourne (although not in the BUILD alliance, but historically has been generally aligned with these countries) called for calm during the holidays amidst this conflict.

Many of the BUILD-associated posts had generally positive reflections from the community, with Doom City and Estalia-associated comments being downvoted. The general reaction to this conflict was overwhelmingly negative on the Doom City side.

• Estalia did not declare their involvement in the conflict. There were accusations thrown about from the BUILD side that Estalia was getting involved due to the involvement of Santa and TheJKH, although they left the country several months prior due to an incident in the Butternut-SEC conflict.
  • The involvements of Walkers and Lysika, who remain Estalia citizens, were argued as merely “observing” the conflict, although this has been generally disputed.
  • Mount Augusta was disappointed at the labelling these individuals as “Independent Fighters”, saying it diminished their importance of their involvement as Estalian citizens.
• Pavia and Nara, both members of the Elysian Pact (which Estalia is a part of), both declared that they would not get involved in the conflict; however their statement continues to affirm that if any individual did act, they would do so in an individual capacity with no support from the nation(s) or alliance.
• Flags, the last governor of the Arsenio Pact, made a post that gives historical context to the breakup of the country, giving remorse over the events that occurred that broke up Arsenio Pact during the end of the Butternut-SEC War, but also that Doom City should not have access to that land.

The end of war saw Doom City retake ownership of their temple after it was previously taken over by the Mount Augustan government, as well as continuing negotiations of Nightmarr and Defender’s release (who have since been released). I should mention though, that both sides have been really amicable in negotiations.

I believe that’s it, but there’s a related issue in Mount Augusta that we’ll talk about later.

South Pacific

Transylvania’s Christmas card in Cluj-Napoca.

I just like doing a musical theme, and this one barely fits the news at hand.

• The Leibniz Confederation posted new claims for their territory, however it has been extremely poorly received.
  • For background, Leibniz’s claims had been generally contested and/or overclaimed due to inactivity; despite this they were still insistent and protective on their claim outside of the game and willing to take military action (although their stark lack of diplomacy has been generally frowned upon, even by nations that they have been allied with)
  • The post was poorly received, as many already brought up the existing Reggio, now Mercutian claim of the mushroom island that was not previously claimed by Leibniz, not to mention it was claimed from an out of date map
  • Okx continued to claim that he had an existing agreement with Reggio, but the current leader of Reggio denied those claims.
• Okx also pinged snitches on the Mushroom Island later that day.
• Joja then formally announced their claims near the same islands, as well as co-ownership of the nearby nether portal, and their neutrality over the current squabble.

Company (Around the Server)

The Elysian Pact’s Christmas photo for the year, which definitely isn’t on the nose at all.

Rest in peace, Steven Sondheim. So, here’s the rest of the server news on CivMC:

• Mount Augusta’s most recent announcement clarifies continued issues in the country following the war.
  • ComradeNick’s departure from the country, along with much of the new guard being relatively unprepared, has left the country with a blank slate, and Mayor Sakana-otoko hoped to garner good relations towards everyone.
  • Unfortunately, his insiding at the end of the Grasslands Gambit/War of the Dawn Guard Pact has brought former Gang Shi allies, namely chosentwicelol, vengeful of his backstabbing.
  • As revenge, chosentwicelol, IsGuuut, and Gray1111 have continued attacking Mount Augusta even past the war, raiding homes and killing newfriends. He called upon raiders to pearl chosen.
  • Many players, including those from Doom City have respected their former enemies; players hoped that the fighting in Mount Augusta would stop in support of the new leadership.
• Ramenboy and starwars19080 were pearled by Elysian Pact members following a raiding spree in Cascadia, alongside pearling by notable Dirt activist Hakr_.
• The Elysian Pact were set to take their Christmas photo for the season, when a sudden explosion occurred, killing 31 players.
  • It was eventually discovered that Complexiii drank an explosive brew, effectively making this a suicide bombing. There has been no indication of motives behind this attack, although this has been the largest documented amount of deaths in a single event on CivMC thus far.
  • The attacks left a number of items idle on the ground, with many players still having their defensive items equipped. A number of belongings were stolen. Pavia Archduke Gobblin continued to thank those who were aiding in the aftermath of the attack.
  • He also commissioned a memorial to those who died in the attacks, which was promptly built the next day.
• Similarly, Icenia’s picture, which was due to be taken later that day, was also disrupted by a bomb that killed SirAlador; the event proceeded as expected following the incident.
• Icenia recently signed the Red Rocks Alliance with Mercutio, committing cooperation on internal infrastructure, player lists, and construction of the Nightshade territory near Icarus.
• Yoahtl celebrates the cleanup of the obsidian bridge that was constructed during the War of the Dawn Guard Pact/Grasslands Gambit. I can’t wait for people to complain about this bulletpoint because of the name I used!
• Mercutio also elected a new council, along with the secession of Aeros into Volterra.
• Volterra announced that any infrastructure, whether new or existing, would need to be declared to the country’s senate to avoid misunderstandings and future conflicts.
• Nara and Ila’Kyavul also announced a Friendship Treaty for international cooperation.
• Baile and SPQR also announced an alliance that was long overdue by their cooperation and proximity; details of the alliance are currently unknown.
• Following the previous Doom City Conflict over the nether portal, Kallumbia, Pavia, and Moloka decided to iron things out and allow public access to the portal in the area. The agreement has been received really positively since that portal had changed hands multiple times.
• The Pavia Exchange opened up a crop exchange for emeralds, with an abundance of exchanges.
• Meanwhile, Monument Goods slashed their prices to ring in the new year, with multiple expensive goods dropping in price by about 10% each.
• TophatGamerAlex switched from giving coke to meth over the holidays, and once again for legal purposes this is a joke
• Elyris became a vassal the Imperial Federation after joining the server a few days prior. Welcome!
• Winterbourne invited players to hang out and ride the Polar Express to the North Pole for festivities on Christmas Day, several players made it and a couple got drunk
• Deepslate eventually agreed to give up its claim in Kallumbia in exchange for freedom of travel to their infrastructure that was built, in exchange for territory near what was Temporal Empire.
• Brunsvik was obbybombed for the second time by krclam, an ex-member of the country; a bounty is currently up for his capture. The first obbybomb was done previously by the same person but was then captured by the Catholic Church.
• Amicitia also released their Christmas speech from this year which I’ve mentioned before, hoping to give a brighter future for the new year.
• The International Hockey League announced they would be returning for the new year, to complete their lower bracket. They hoped that relations have improved so that events can be safely held again!

Metagame

Some light snow in Shockton, as they gear up for Christmas.

• In an effort for more transparency, CivMC opened their roadmap to consolidate issues and communicate further updates.
• CivMC also announced it would restore the fishing update very soon. It was removed last week following continued crashes and issues surrounding its deployment.
• Aetherix accused Imperial Federation player Potato_King of stealing a build from Asgard.
  • Potato_Duke said that he was “remodeling the docks[the build]” since it was not to his liking, and only used it as an example.
  • Aetherix continued to mention that he was not given permission (he only allowed to copy from a certain section), and was disappointed of stealing builds.
  • This now includes a very obviously stupid chain of images clipping Aetherix’s initial response, of which that message gets screenshotted, of which that gets screenshotted, etc.
• Link2006 posts his Macro for viewing snitches, appropriately called JukeViewer
• CivCubed has introduced tier 2 alloys, allowing players to create stronger, more versatile weapons. They’ve also introduced a voting feature to raise awareness of the server (and like CivMC, give essence).
• He also posts some more map content comparing nation founding recency bias

The Fun Stuff

Mercutio’s Christmas tree & card and a snowy decorative, area around it!.

Christmas Cards

I mean, why not? It is post-Christmas time now…

• Transylvania posts their Christmas tree along with a gaggle of presents below
• Mercuties showed off their Christmas tree in a normally not snow-based environment
• Mount Augusta transformed their voter tree into a Christmas tree as they so often do for the holidays
• Baile took a picture of their own Christmas tree near the common square
• After several tries the Elysian Pact finally got a good Christmas picture that wasn’t one of everyone’s stuff
• Icenia also took an explosive picture, albeit with many people missing
• In Winterbourne’s celebration afterwards though, people just kept drinking the night away

Builds

• Bgbba posted his review of Shiroyama, Nara’s capital city, with lots of positive feedback over their build quality and sees loads of potential, but hoped for more activity (of which it does have, and not everyone is American-pilled)
• Bronnakus shows off a lovely mineman garden tucked in the corner of Shiroyama
• RegencyShadow40 decorates one of their large trees in Nalora
• But it’s not just the tree but I like the Nalora village’s architecture from Gidein
• Shockton by the sea has a lot of snow for a tropical environment
• Arguably the better Transylvania pic out of all of them since the Transylvania tree is lit up so I can see it lol
• This mercuties christmas tree pic looks even epicer though
• Mark_Antony shows off some new creations in SPQR which look distinctly Roman, not to mention are massive
• Vinland is working on a brand new shipyard courtesy of clementvm
• How about banyough and PinkGal2007 showing up in Lusitania to take a wedding-like picture? (I know you’re not getting married but it looks like it so much aaaaaaa)
• That’s not to mention one of Vinland’s bay faces, taken by Seekinq
• Windermere Harbor continues to be in development by Gobbo and looks fantastic

Memes

Time for some war propaganda, as always…

• Next time, you should post something that actually is related to Civ instead of just saying “real” (F tier)
• Sirboss, I know you just post clips but relatable memes that don’t relate to Civ specifically are just low effort to me (F tier)
• I don’t think I’m having fun writing this newsletter (but this was in relation to the continued crashes) (C- tier)
• I think the real problem is that you had a dinosaur named Estalia as a pet (C+ tier)
• Heck yes Vinesauce (B- tier)
• Mister map guy TheJmqn posts some pro-BUILD propaganda with perspectives of the past (B tier)
• I MUST BE JOLLY (B+ tier)
• Where the hell did ComradeNick get into this (A- tier)
• Six parts, one story (A tier)
• Estalia really needs to learn from their father (A+ tier)
• Has nobody realized that SANTA is actually on Estalia’s side the whole time? I mean, why hasn’t anybody seen this as a problem on Christmas? (S tier)
• How can I not put Ghas News, the pinnacle of satire, at (S+ tier)

Poll of the Week

Last week, we had 39 responses. However, please don’t take any of these statistics seriously as these results are quite bad.

The first question was How many Civ discords are you in?

I do find it interesting that it’s pretty much an all-or-none affair, where you either have an entire account for Civ discords (the 60+ crew), but also some that are in their local community discords (10-40 crew), and others just in their own nation and some other sparing discords. It’s a pretty equal balance, but just wanted to see how their discord habits for Civ look like.

Speaking of which, our second question was Which Civ communication method has made you feel the most connected?

Since nearly all of our Civ communications is run on Discord and Reddit, this one is no surprise, since everything is done there. Some oldfriends are holding out hope for Mumble and in-game chat though! I don’t know who picked “Skype”, but shame on you!

For the last question about advertisements, I’m glad that there are a number of people who are happy at doing advertisements once again, because I’ve been hoping to bring it back for a little. I do think the prices are going to have to be pared down, but I’ll think about it for the new year.

Time to poll it up!

Just a quick reflection on the year. We’ll see how this goes!

Christmas Cry for Help

This is Elysian Pact’s oh…this is when they all died when trying to take a Christmas photo. Whoops…

Thanks for reading this week’s extremely rushed Christmas newsletter! There was a lot more that happened that has piled up over the past couple of weeks that made this time-consuming to write.

No non-Civ content this week, I’ve watched Barbie, Chicken Run, Percy Jackson, and even the Eras Tour in a dizzying amount of time, so that’s all going to be in the best of speclang 2023 when I have the time to start writing it (probably not soon as I kind of want to relax). Don’t worry, I’m trying to keep it pretty short this year and not 37 minutes long of me blabbering.

A huge thanks to ShadySauce, Nightmarr, and SQOpenSpellbook for providing information about the war, along with Toaxbis and others for general support. I will see you all in the new year with some cool interviews!

As for the newsletter schedule going forward — I think I might take next week off, and return on January 8. You might see a sporadic, self-indulging best of speclang post, but I do want to take a couple days off from thinking about what to write for the most part.

Until next time…

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