HitAnyKey also seems to have missed the memo about "always being at war" - casually moving an injured Scout into Plako's territory on the expectation of being able to move it again next turn. Sight of Plako's capital seems like a poor trade-off against sight of early colonisable land.
Xenu is working a grass river tile (2F1G) so that the city grows in the same time as the warrior completes, while HAK builds a cottage then mines a PH before wet corn... Plako's luck on the land may not be so good, but he kind of lucked out on neighbors