Spoiler: Spectators
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Behold, the Indian Empire!

Our capital has been growing well, and we have decided to name it after the bellowing cattle, the sound of which marks the beginning of all of our turns. We do have a nice amount of food with the grasslands, and some nice production tiles with stone and silver allowing for mines and quarries. I quite like this location.
Lets look west:

Not much of interest here. Some hills and mountains which our scouts still have to explore. Unfortunately the silver isn't of much value to me since I already have three sources within range of my capital, but on the other hand I plan to go tall, not wide, so I might be able to getting away with a city without new luxuries. The land is fairly fertile too.
To the north:

Our scouts are crossing a desert in search of "Malacca", the location of which was described in ancient ruins. They might prove a valuable ally, especially since the maps seem to indicate that they inhabit a chokepoint. There are no good city spots to the north though, just desert and we already have incense within range of our capital.
To the west:

Our noble warriors have travelled south and found frozen wastes and with brutish inhabitants. Of greater interest, they have also found a remarkable mountain of which legends are told, along with a so far unknown luxury material. This would be a grand place for our second settlement but.. what's that colored line?

I am in quite a bind here. I would really like to settle near the Barringer Crater and the cotton, but that would be a very aggressive move towards what I believe is Assyria. I could probably hold the city, if I get it early enough, but since it is closer to his capital than it is to mine, I would likely be making myself an enemy for the rest of the game. I am not sure that is worth it, especially not since the mountain range to the east of Holy Cow is so defensible. On the other hand, I do not really have any other attractive city spots yet, and I would not be comfortable with Assyria settling a city that close to my capital either. Ugh.

As for my general plan, I am obviously going tall, not wide, probably aiming for 4 cities to maximise the tradition bonus. I am considering going hard for Hanging Gardens to boost my population, especially since some good ruins have given me a nice tech lead (which can be seen from the score).