Cheese, Clogs, Dikes, Tulips, Windmills and Weedy Movement.

[Alhambram]

Turn 7:

Opened save and got greeted by eureka for Writing which means that I met a player, let's see who?
   
It is Chevalier with Korea civilization, so he is the player in NW starting in rain forest. Glad that it isn't Rowain or TheArchduke, however Chevalier is now less far from Seowon, nothing to do about it.
Antioch was indeed city state middle between two players, both of us took 5 turns to reach Antioch at same turn!
I play my turn earlier than Chevalier which means that I only got envoy simply because I played earlier, well sometimes things go this way.

It also seems that Chevalier and me are first players to contact each other due both having 1 era point for meeting while others still have 0 era score.
Chevalier probably figured out that he is about to find Tsingy de Bemarha due my era score. I wonder whether Chevalier also theorizes that players starts at corners of hexagon.
In that case his warrior shall go SW to search for city state in corner, if he don't theorized about hexagon, he likely shall go SE in search for natural wonder.
Checking Chevalier's diplomatic screen reveals few for this stage, except that he didn't work with tile with gold since he still has 5 GPT.
I offered him a delegation to check whether he is aware of +3 strength bonus for higher diplomatic view.

TheArchduke and Emperor K did grow this/past turns, Emperor K also 4 food tile, TheArchduke only one without 4 food tile?

[Alhambram]

Turn 8:

Chevalier rejected my delegation for unknown reasons .
His warrior went SE in search for natural wonder, he shall find it this turn.
My warrior meanwhile went SW and it shall be a while before I find unknown city state SW, at least I did almost reach western edge of map:
   
And notice -2 loyalty when settling at tile that I highlighted? That means that Chevalier's capital is exactly north of Antioch and I suffer loyalty penalty if I do settle at pink dot locations close his capital.

Meanwhile my capital finished slinger and I want get builder out asap, 5 turns to complete without growth. Slinger shall explore east, searching for city state as long barbs don't show up or Chevalier's warrior are up to mischief.
   
Also I do fog gaze a bit white snow south of southern lake which I got visibility of it due culture expansion which picked copper tile, this mean tundra at south as expected from a inland sea map.
Further no changes at score except TheArchduke jumped to no.1 spot of domination score, did he complete a scout or earlier slinger with growth sacrifice?

[Alhambram]

And I made a drawn map based upon my hexagon theory, the map should roughly look as this with all players located at corners of hexagon:
   
Black spots are player's capitals and red spots are location of city states relative on map.
Antioch isn't placed exactly where it is in PBEM 8, but it is middle between me and Chevalier. I am searching for that unknown city state SW corner and slinger shall look for city state east of my capital.

[Alhambram]

Turn 9-11:
Finished Animal Husbandry at turn 10 and started mining. 2 more turns before builder is finished.
   
I liked to scout further to east with slinger, but barb scout noticed my capital, so no choice but to recall slinger for guarding duty of builder in case of barb invasion, no risk taking here.
If I build scout or another unit that can afford to not guard, it moves to east asap, there should be city state over there since: 
   
I found city state at south west corner at turn 11 as hexagon theory dictated! Still no contact yet but it is religious city state. That is important because I am likely going be first to claim pantheon with religious city state.
All others are still at 0 faith, same as me, no strange movement at culture of science scoreboard too except some people reaching size 3 (it was my decision to stop growth after size 2 for full production phase, when builder is completed, grow to size 3 or more).
This mean that players has yet meet city states or they did already but it was industrial, military or commercial since I can't read players meeting with them unless having direct contact with players.

In my case I aim for Divine Spark, why? Because as Netherlands I shall build a lot campuses and theater along rivers (though this map which has few rivers...), so Divine Spark is natural choice for Netherlands and I can build one holy site as bonus and attempt to grab religion.
Also I shall definitely choose urban planning over god of king when code of laws is finished, why grab god of kings when you already has envoy in commercial and religious city states, right?

[Alhambram]

Turn 12:

Contacted Yerevan city state at south west as first player, so 2 faith per turn. Warrior shall return to capital due possible barb trouble.
   
And I need to think where to put 2nd city downstream, I shall scout a bit with recalled slinger.
   
Some notable era scores: Chevalier and Japper both gained one point and Chevalier's diplomacy screen show unmet player, so it heavily implies that Japper is at NW of map.
In this case it means that Emperor K, TheArchduke and Rowain are at eastern side of map. Speaking of Rowain, his era points did raise with 4, I heavily suspect War Cart since UU built for first time gives 4 era points.

I expect Rowain attacking Emperor K or TheArchduke rather than me, but I need to look out in case that Rowain starts at SE corner, in that case he might launch surprise attack at me.   
Need to scout who SE neighbor is, but I need to build new unit first for protection of my capital.

[Alhambram]

Turn 13-14:

Finished Code of Laws and as mentioned before put in Urban Planning, also Discipline. Slinger attacked barb scout, hopefully I can finish it off.
   
Start craftsmanship, I am going get inspiration for it soon. Already farmed marsh rice tile (eureka for irrigation), next one is pasturing cow tile (eureka for horseback riding) because I has yet to finish mining to mine copper (eureka for wheel and one of three mines needed for Apprenticeship).

After craftsmanship, I start foreign trade to able purchase trader and send trade route to Antioch for its request and extra culture from Dutch trade route. It is a long one, 14 tiles and vulnerable for barbs and therefore need a escort, so craftsmanship first to mass produce some warriors and slingers.
Notably finished civic gives now 3 points instead 2, finished tech still gives 2 points.

[Alhambram]

Turn 15:

Had to delay pasturing cow tile not only due barb scout but also due Chevalier.
   
His warrior is irritating, I put my builder in city for safety to prevent steal, my slinger can do escort duty soon.

[Alhambram]

Turn 16:

Both barb scout and Chevalier's warrior moved away, allowing me to pasture cow tile for horseback riding eureka. And now only mining copper tile left for another eureka and inspiration.
   
Reached size 3 and settler complete in 7 turns, I shall settle upon wheat tile west of downstream river, it is only suited riverside settling spot in this area.

TheArchduke already reached size 4, Japper finished his unique scout due increase in era score with 4 and Rowain likely found cultural city state since he is leading in culture ranking.

[Alhambram]

Turn 17 and 18:

Finished mining, started pottery as prerequisite for writing.  
   
Also found barb camp around nice spot for another city. I am going attack that camp with my warrior. At turn 20 I shall mine copper and get inspiration for craftsmanship. 

TheArchduke seem also found a natural wonder since his era score rose to 3, alternatively he might have destroyed a very close barb camp.

[Alhambram]

Turn 19, 20 and 21:

Turn 19, red lined barb scout probably fleeing Chevalier's warrior suddenly appeared in front of my slinger, I didn't let this little bonus go: eureka for Archery.
Then at turn 21, cleared barb camp (inspiration for military tradition and 2 era points, the camp wasn't close enough of capital to trigger 3 era points), it didn't spawn new units, so still one more for Bronze Working. 
   
Also mined copper at turn 20 to grab eureka for wheel and inspiration for craftsmanship. I did earn extra gold with clearing camp, so I shall purchase monument when I have more than 240 gold. This speeds up road to Magnus greatly.
 
Also I did create planning map for core of my river metropolis:
   
The flow of river is almost prefect, only tile west of Government Plaza lack river bonus. That is why I consider to put Casa de Contratacion wonder there, it is one of newer wonder and it needs to be adjacent Government Plaza.
   
This wonder is not bad for me, just west of my capital it is foreign continent lands. Also 3 governors promotions can be powerful since you do earn them rather limited and only manages to max out all of governor's promotions when you reached end of tech line where you get governor's promotion every time that you finishes future tech.
Presence of desert hill tiles make me consider to put Petra there (3 tiles west of new city there is flat desert tile).

Also one thing to mention, newest patch did boost polders, no need to search for 3 adjacent flat tiles anymore, just three land tiles is enough now.