I mean, far be it from me to comment on the nature of the Chat... >:D
No, but seriously: endless barbarians. I think it's that north-eastern peninsula that did it: nobody wants anything to do with it, so they just. keep. spawning. Zingenmir was the second-to-last to settle her second city, despite huge swathes of grassland to her east, and Larf just went south. Now it's a no-go area.
(Other barbarian hotspots are Tomash's little enclave - he eventually needed a couple of wandering crossbows from the Diskord to clear them out - and the area to Neshomeh's west, though she's mostly dealt with that.)
It probably also has fresh-water issues, ie, there ain't any. All the rivers flow south, and the barons follow...
Also, the AI in Civ 6 sucks. In one war, Kaitlyn had two catapults, two crossbows, and a warrior, freshly healed from retaking her own city, and a clear line to Huinesoron's nearest city some six tiles away. Instead of, eg, attacking, she shuffled them around for ten turns, then sent less than half of them to help Phobos take a completely different city. Meanwhile, Tomash walked his settler straight into a barb army, while Neshomeh lost hers to a wandering barb - and then left it there. I think there's been a settler hanging around on her borders for most of a hundred turns, she's just ignoring it.
They're doing okay in some areas. Their teching is fine (though they're at least theoretically on Deity, so it should be), they're playing the religious game well, and there's been some dramatic World Council maneuvers. But the settling and warring parts of their coding are really kind of pathetic.
(They may be having happiness problems; there seems to be a shortage of luxuries on the map. But my understanding is that Deity pretty much disables the happiness system anyway.)
hS
