[continued from previous post]
So the Hindu shrine was built:
It only gave us 3 gpt, but with Augustus having converted to Hinduism, the potential for returns were significant. Also, the shrine is supposed to help the religion spread. But I'm not sure how effective it really is. Does anyone have any idea?
Louis tried to sneak a settler past us, guarded by two archers, and he paid the price:
Another free worker for us

Not bad for a side job while waiting for our forces from the west to arrive.
Meanwhile, we finally whipped the first Sacrificial Altar in our capital:
Aztecs rejoice! We can now sacrifice to Huitzilopochtli for the betterment of our empire!
Anyway, what remained of our offensive forces finally converged on Rheims and captured it:
Got to love those Woodsman II Jags

We lost two of them in this battle, though, including one CR1 Jag due to bad luck.
Meanwhile, Louis had managed to bring a sizeable force (evidently, he had managed to hook up horses) to bear at Orleans:
In classic AI fashion, he sat beside the city and did nothing, however. On the next turn, I tried to kill that pillaging chariot for extra experience with our Combat III chariot. Despite having 70+% chance of winning, our chariot hardly touched his

A Woodsman II Jag did the job, though, earning us a Great General in the process:
I think he should join our Medic Chariot and become a Medic III warlord unit. What do you think?
With all our war objectives met and a Great General born, I think it's time to end the war. We just discovered Alphabet (partially funded by plunder money), so it's possible to extort techs from Louis for peace:
I haven't made the deal, though. I'm thinking of changing Meditation to Masonry. When mousing over the Greal Wall in Orleans, the pop up box has the red words "Requires Masonry". I wonder if we need Masonry for the wonder to work. It doesn't seem to be producing any GPP. Captured wonders give GPP, right? I can't remember them not doing so.
Yes, this is where the round ended. The tech situation:
We have both techs on Augustus and Louis. I'm thinking of trading Alphabet away, but not CoL yet. We can probably get most of the techs they have on us. Yes, Louis hates us now and probably won't just trade with us, but we can switch to his state religion. In fact, as a Spiritual civ, there's almost nothing to stop us from doing so. If it makes him happy enough to trade (he would be 'Cautious' instead of 'Annoyed'), I would do it. This is where spreading Confucianism to him with our free missionary would really pay off.
It isn't all good news, though. Somebody overseas has built the Great Library

Augustus, meanwhile, has built the Pyramids and (IIRC) the Great Lighthouse. Looks like he's having a whale of a time being left alone down there. It might be good for us in the long run, though, when we've conquered his cities

More worryingly, he has also founded Christianity, which means he might switch his state religion soon.
Here are maps of our continent:
Our exploring Combat III warrior has been holed up in a Roman city down there, after being badly injured from an attack by a French archer, so our map of Roman lands isn't too updated.
As you can see, we practically own about half our continent already. If you're worried about our economy crashing, your fears are legitimate. The slump won't last long, though. Cottages and altars are coming up and infrastructure is being built. The French cities also come with semi-developed cottages. And don't forget the economic power of two gold mines.
So what next? I think we should research Currency after trading for Mathematics. Any other opinions? We can finish Louis off when our economy is stronger and catapults arrive on the scene. After that, we can start thinking about attacking the Romans. What about settling our own cities, though? This map is frustrating to dotmap. In order to fill some gaps, such as to the west of Tours, some cities are going to be very mediocre. Apart from the lakeside/seaside city, should we not bother? How about the barb city up north? Should we keep or raze that?
I feel good about this round. On Emperor, I would be very confident about our prospects. Not so sure about Immortal, though.