There are 2 alliances - Frouncil (FREE and Council) and BONG (Babe and GONG). SABER is not bound to either alliance - we bought a bunch of techs from Council and now we are buying a bunch of techs from GONG.
Frouncil with its 2 scientific tribes seems to be ahead in tech. However, GONG has the Great Library, and Babe does not have Education. We suspect that GONG may gift the Great Library to Babe at an opportune moment to ride the elevator. We were far behind in tech - we tried for the Great Library and failed, so we have been purchasing techs, and we have almost reached tech parity.
There is 1 war going on - Babe vs. Council. Babe landed troops in Council territory, and Council attacked them declaring war. The war seems to have cooled off considerably as Babe withdrew from Council lands about 10 turns ago, but peace has not been declared (Council is in war weariness, and Babe might still have war happiness).
Our rivals:
Babe - built the Great Lighthouse so for a while they were the only ones who could attack others and settle islands away from their home continent. They attempted to attack SABER, but we blockaded our coastline so they couldn't land. Ever since then, they have refused to acknowledge our existence. They are in their Golden Age currently and at war with Council. They settled "our" ivory island (the one that was reachable only by us except for the Great Lighthouse) and 2 one-tile islands near us. Both the 1-tile islands have flipped to us, and we are hoping to capture the ivory island (more on that later).
GONG - we have cordial relations, as they are selling us techs pretty cheap. They are aligned with Babe, so they were not particularly happy when we landed on our ivory island that Babe controls, but they accepted it. They appear to be going for a 100k victory - they have been in Feudalism and have a large lead in culture (about 6527 culture + 305 cpt; second is Council with about 2286 + 146 cpt). They also have the Pyramids and Leo's Workshop.
Council - we have been friendly with them. We had a treaty where each promised to give the other gold if Babe attacked either. First they gave us gold when Babe was threatening Saber, and now we have been giving Council gold during their war. The treaty has pretty much expired - we have 2-3 payments of 20 gold, and then we're done. They have the Statue of Zeus and the Sistine Chapel.
FREE - we have had minimal contact with them. They were by far the last tribe we met, and they are bound so closely to Council that there is virtually no reason to talk to them directly - any deals with Council must be approved by FREE and vice versa. They have Sun Tzu's.
We still have most of our coastline blockaded with weak units, so we really don't fear an attack until marines - we have sold off the few barracks we built to save money.
The current plan is to capture the island to our NW from Babe - it has ivory, horses, and iron, and probably will have other strategic resources. We have 1 warrior on the island, so we know we can land. We should be getting Astronomy from GONG on turn 141 - at that point we will cash rush 5 caravels and load 15 veteran swords (already built) to sail to the island.
Right now, the only defense of the island appears to be 2 regular warriors, but who knows if that will last.
Others can add whatever I forgot or give a different perspective...
