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I used to have the same problems you describe on Noble difficulty. I had a huge boom in the early game and would have a couple super cities with a good amount of wonders, at least one religion founded and a good defensive military. However I'd always, always have a long period of decline in the midgame, I'd go from a 200 point lead on the computer to 100, to barely keeping ahead, and finally to the point were I keep going up and down from #1 spot based on something like a tech research.
But, I found a good way to counter that, and this, keeping in mind that prior to doing this I was mostly a peaceful player, using armies for defense and the occasional war (never had too much success in blitzkrieg then, wars always became horribly drawn out).
What I did is simple, when you reach the early-mid game transition point (about when you have catapults, crossbowmen, macemen, horse archers, swordsmen) go to war with the neighbor that hates you the most. When you go to war, have in mind a goal to totally annhilate them, I played games where I'd only partially subjugate them and have problems keeping the conquered cities under my authority, whether due to counter attack or revolt. My typical strategy is to have a good force of catapults and infantry (4-5 catapults, 6-8 total crossbows (Cho Ko Nu are great), swordsmen, axemen, etc. and take as many cities as fast as possible.
Now, assuming your opponent has a decent infrastructure setup, he'll have about 5 towns, probably more, taking them all will put you into the negatives, that's okay, typically I find myself at about 60-70% research with a financial civ after the conquest. Once the war is over and you rebuild the infrastructure these towns provide an excellent area of additional production that oftentimes match my homeland areas once they get rebuilt. This essentially double the productive power of the Empire and by the time you're ready for a second war of a similar fashion your economy is pretty healthy. This pretty much in effect provides a large bonus to your score and keeps you ahead of the computer, the doubled empire size makes up for the loss in % research in my opinion.
But, I found a good way to counter that, and this, keeping in mind that prior to doing this I was mostly a peaceful player, using armies for defense and the occasional war (never had too much success in blitzkrieg then, wars always became horribly drawn out).
What I did is simple, when you reach the early-mid game transition point (about when you have catapults, crossbowmen, macemen, horse archers, swordsmen) go to war with the neighbor that hates you the most. When you go to war, have in mind a goal to totally annhilate them, I played games where I'd only partially subjugate them and have problems keeping the conquered cities under my authority, whether due to counter attack or revolt. My typical strategy is to have a good force of catapults and infantry (4-5 catapults, 6-8 total crossbows (Cho Ko Nu are great), swordsmen, axemen, etc. and take as many cities as fast as possible.
Now, assuming your opponent has a decent infrastructure setup, he'll have about 5 towns, probably more, taking them all will put you into the negatives, that's okay, typically I find myself at about 60-70% research with a financial civ after the conquest. Once the war is over and you rebuild the infrastructure these towns provide an excellent area of additional production that oftentimes match my homeland areas once they get rebuilt. This essentially double the productive power of the Empire and by the time you're ready for a second war of a similar fashion your economy is pretty healthy. This pretty much in effect provides a large bonus to your score and keeps you ahead of the computer, the doubled empire size makes up for the loss in % research in my opinion.
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