I am still in the land of desolation with 95 Goldmines with no end in sight. Also, there are Goldmines disguised as neighbors, but they have been inactive from MONTHS to YEARS.
[MOD EDIT] Player names removed .... on and on.
Also, these are all fairly recent additions to my neighbor list. As I said previously dead cities are added to my "active" map sometime for a few days and some for months, but they are inactive when moved to my explored map zone. These dead cities are exchanged with active cities - so active neighbors are moved out of my explored map and dead cities take their place. I realized this when they accept sentient trades but are no longer neighbors. So, my explored map is not only in the desolation, but my city is being encircled by dead cities and isolated.
I have completed 554 provinces and at most I have 50 active & casually active neighbors - the rest are deceptions & Goldmines
I also have the spotty neighbor lists, but it is not a reflection of the Goldmines. This happens 2 to 3 times weekly and must have something to do with the map tool, but if so, the support tech is either uninformed of how the tool functions - rather how often and when, because it occurs randomly within the week and more than once in the week. Or the tool is malfunctioning
[MOD EDIT] Picture removed
What I find outrageous is being forced to scout into the desolation if I want to minimize the scout time & cost as well as the troop & resource cost of completing the provinces.
I do not understand why the map has dead zones at all or why any city inactive for over a month is in the "active" portion. I read a post somewhere - the player said that after not playing for a week they were moved out but moved right back in after they resumed playing, however I think it is more likely they were never moved to desolation, considering there are cities inactive for years disguised as neighbors in my map.
I know many players do not concern themselves with their neighbors .... however, it has a significant negative impact on my city and my enthusiasm for this game is declining rapidly.