The promised screenshots:
Industrialization from Woden, a huge pickup. Happily, though, he has already assured me that, just as there was no iron and no nitre, there is also no coal within the borders of my 13-city 2-continent (that the game defines as one continent) civ, so I need not worry too hard. Who needs essential naval strategic resources, right?
Not only is Archduke continuing his countdown, he also offers a no-strings attached subsidy:
Suits me. 300 gold over 30 turns isn't a lot, but it's another frigate or two. I am going to need every scrap of gold I can scratch together. Speaking of, I also harvest one of the two (yep, just two) copper sources in my civ:
250 gold. Game won't last long enough for a mine there to pay off. That's another pair of frigates, down the road.
Sullla's fleet is nosing into my ocean:
I've got a strategic dilemma at Nan Madol. As you all know, it's been the greatest weakness of my empire since I acquired suzerainty back around turn 50. I've always been very concerned about the security of this little city-state, which at all times has been responsible for roughly half my culture - I'm now so sprawling that I can't replace Nan Madol's culture with some quick monuments and meritocracy, as I could 50 turns ago. However, it's also basically indefensible.
From the land, my army will be outdated and more or less useless. I won't have the cash to upgrade it AND my navy. So, leaving there is effectively leaving it to be destroyed in return for a few extra turns of culture. Probably not worth it. Similarly, the navy, while I think I can take Sullla in a stand-up fight (before Battleships), can't be pinned against the coast - if I allow myself to be trapped defending this city-state, Sullla could land first strike, negating much of my navy's mobility edge. I think, accordingly, that before the war breaks out I must sacrifice Nan Madol and preserve my own forces.
In the long-term, obviously, that hurts my chances of winning, but guys, I've stopped kidding myself on this. I'm not winning. Archduke squashed the slim chance we had. I'll soldier on, and try to present a good last-stand report to you, but my goal now is just to make the best showing I can.
Anyway, the long and short of it is we're not thinking long-term anymore. Longterm is useless. In the short term, by leaving Nan Madol, I could potentially strike at Genoa. If that city is taken, Sullla's battleships won't mean much until he can refound it, and I can operate freely along the coast supporting my troops. This is the best way possible to defend Jutland (exposed on the far continent), and maybe even Nan Madol if I do it quickly enough.
A quick overview:
A few short economic builds that I think will pay off - a one-turn granary and monument, a 3-turn trader, wrapping up the CH. Southern ocean is lesser priority on ships - I have that more secure for a while. If Archduke really is friendly, then my potential expedition is back on the menu. I think I might get that in motion soon. Upgrade in southern waters using our alliance with Archduke/Emperor, if they renew it, and then try to take Sullla/Singaboy by surprise. A second chance to raze a canal, or if that's successful, then a raid on Venezia?
Anyway, rant time. I keep this bottled up, but sometimes you need to vent. I need to vent a bit to keep my morale up.
No coal. Boy, isn't
that a punch in the gut? This fucking map, this
game, seems to never tire of kicking me while I'm down. You want freshwater, Chevalier? Okay here's a short river and a tiny lake. Oh, you want more? Here's a GIANT lake - but joke's on you, all the land around it is either a 1-tile strip of coast or totally useless desert! Here's a neat city-state that syncs with your civ - but in return, you get absolutely no resources at all. None.
Like, let me reiterate: To get my second source of horses I had to found a city on an island, which can't be done until after shipbuilding tech! Guess whether I wanted to or not i wasn't doing anything with horsemen this game! To get my second source of iron - the first wasn't even in my borders when it was revealed, mind you - I had to go and basically seize it from another civ's starting territory! To get nitre - oh wait haha I don't fucking HAVE any nitre, even across 13 settlements on 2 continents. There's two third ring sources I could splurge to buy. Did everyone else have to buy their nitre? I fucking doubt it! But surely that's compensated for by having some COAL in my starting area, right? No, of course fucking not - I get to buy that, too, which gets me, what, one source? At my most exposed city? This is
completely absurd by this point. If I start to tally in bonus resources, the story's probably mostly the same! 2 coppers across 13 cities! I've got, what, 2 cows? One third-ring at Actium and one at Sicily? Lots of rice, I guess! Hooray! I also get the ONE fucking isthmus in the game that doesn't allow canals. If I had a canal, there'd be NO DOUBT about the naval engagement to come. But nope, I get to build from effectively 3 cities, while the rest can do nothing to contribute. Everyone else, on the other hand, had the opportunity to build from all their cities and transfer ships as they pleased.
My starting area is devoid of natural wonders, devoid of strategic resources, devoid of strategically important geography, and mostly devoid of freshwater. By contrast, ROME has lakes and rivers everywhere. He has a fucking culture-boosting natural wonder 2 turns' march from his capital, because Rome needs the early culture boost so very much! He had room for not 2 but FOUR canal cities. I haven't looked yet but what the odds that he had niter and coal and iron and horses basically for the taking? Russia gets a beautiful fjord right in its backyard! Kongo has the Pantanal
literally at their capital! But what do I get from the map? Basically Nan Madol, and nothing else. I even somehow got the worse continent drawing I've ever seen. China and Rome absurdly have
two continents between them, Russia and Germany have their own, but Woden and I share ours with Khmer - the continent border STARTS at Kongo and runs up to Rome, then China has half a continent. This means that apart from half-price harbors I've been playing a
completely vanilla civ this entire time. I build my economy on trade routes and lots of ships because I have no other freaking choice!
Like, I get that not everything is going to go your way on the map. I get that. It happens. But Christ, it's demoralizing. The game I signed up for was going to be me + Woden against 3 other teams of newbies/vets combined. Instead, the newbie on Singaboy's team was promptly replaced by Sullla two weeks into the game, ostensibly "temporarily" until Brick came back but THAT'S worked out well, hasn't it? ANd ever since it's felt like the game has been little more than a setup for me to be a punching bag for someone way out of my weightclass, and to top things off the map seems absurdly eager to give every edge to the other guy while throwing constant obstacles into my path. But I guess I got Nan Madol, so I can't complain, right? Never mind that it's on another continent, I had to recognize and grasp the opportunity, I've had to defend the city-state by envoy and military might since, that it IS fundamentally indefensible and the first thing to go when war breaks out, and that anyone else could also have grabbed it for themselves, I'm simply the only guy who took advantage.
I try to keep my spirits up, no one likes a doom-and-gloom thread, but blow after blow like this is demoralizing.
Well, more ships tomorrow. I feel a bit better now.
). On the whole, it's a really interesting design and I think a lot of fun to play on. I just feel like the RNG gods have delivered me kick in the teeth after kick in the teeth on it, and the total lack of strategic resources is one more stinging blow. I hate having to come to Woden like a beggar for resources. Anyway, under no circumstances do I blame my present position on the map. My own screw ups are responsible for the hole I'm in, I just think that the map has made it a bit easier to fall into the hole (and I think if Woden and I's starting position were swapped with, say, Emperor and Archduke's, we'd be in a stronger position now). 
from mine on strategic resources. My coal is giving my +7