Sad to hear your plans of leaving us for a moment, because with more active players there is a better chance finding a bug.
I have took these statistic only to show that it is unnatural growth. He was chasing you days before expeditions and you both took different tactics- you were doing research and he economy. As we both know, time of research is not as accelerated as upgrading buildings. Moreover, maybe the war with my alliance had bring you down (not directly, but the specter of enemy troops at the gates changed your development plans).
We just have to think of this run as a beta to better Steemnova and enjoy whatever it is right now.