Okay. Please note, pictures were taken after I had already played the turn and sent it on, so I had to load the turn again prior to the moves I made this turn.
First up, what's been happening lately.
This is my latest city - my fourth. Duna, she is called, and she is a bold one.
I believe Whosit probably wanted this location for himself. This is closer to Whosit's capital than mine. However, I had a settler ready to head to the backlines when I noticed Whosit's power trailing behind mine significantly, so I decided to snag the spot and pack a few archers into it to keep it safe. Not quite a pink dot, but close. The only downside about this location is that Whosit is Creative, whereas I am not Creative and do not have a religion either. Hopefully this just means that I don't get to control the northern part of my second ring, and not that I lose my first ring. Even losing first ring this city is still really good though, it picks up ivory, a bunch of river grassland, a wet wheat, and provides a strong defensive location against Whosit.
It also provides a bridge to an amazing Calendar city if ever there was one
This will probably be city #7 or #8, after Iron Working and Calendar. It will be a dynamite city then, but trash before. These two cities though, once completed, will be a true French barrier to the Hyrulians.
My other cities
Kerbin
The Mun
Minmus
All developing nicely.
My next city will be going here
This will be a future Moai location, with excellent fish food, horses and several hills for production, and a safe backlines location. I still need to scout what's beyond here, whether it's some more land or where the islands start. Either way, this city will be a critical core city later.
At some point I want to settle this location
It seems quite aggressive compared to my current city placement, but I believe this city should belong to me. It is equidistant from both my capital and Ilios', and he has a lot more land to expand into than I do. I think that settling on the stone is the right move for this city - a desert stone is not an amazing improved tile to work, and the city does not have a lot of food even after I improve the spices. I'd love some feedback on the settling spot.
South of that spot is a decent commerce city. Some flood plains and river grassland for cottages, grass horses for some little bit of MFG, and clams for food. Not amazing, but worthwhile to settle if it's available when I am ready.
Soon, I want to explore more thoroughly down here, but a tundra deer isn't enough by itself to settle a city on the right hand side, and I'm not sure I want a clams/silver tundra city this early on, not when it's a backlines city that can be filled later. The X is just a placeholder for now, hopefully there is more seafood in the fog off the coast to justify cities here.
And finally a shot of the demographics. I'd rank myself a solid third behind Ilios and Yuri currently. Ilios has five cities and lots of land to expand into, along with one of the strongest militaries and Stonehenge. I don't know how he did all that without sacrificing anything, but he did. Yuri seems to have some really nice cottage land, so he will be strong too. My MFG is very poor, but that's largely because my cities are all working cottages and not hills.
Hopefully this will be the first of many such reports to come, now that I am all but eliminated in PB13.