Tweet
I don't go above 4 cities to start, but it depends on many factors, such as map size, difficulty level, number of civs. For good research you need lots of money and that means cottages. Get them down early. Pottery is a priority after bronze working to chop your libraries to boost your science and to expand your cultural borders. Don't over expand, because it will likely end up in financial disaster. Much better to have several thriving cities, than a bunch of small cities that drain your finances, can't be defended, and irritate the AI, because you're too close to them. Expansion will come when you are ready for it. But the expansion will (for the warmonger) come by acquiring the civilization of a neighbor. 
I generally only build one worker followed by a settler in the capital, since the capital is generally too important to be used for this purpose. You want the capital to be large and have many cottages, but it must also have reasonable production. So, daisy chain the settler builds and worker builds. One worker and settler per city is about right. Chop, chop, chop, ... Leave some trees for environmentalism (health and happiness) if you can. I like to use them to chop in libraries, the other buildings can be built through normal production, unless you're on highlands, in which case, chop away with glee.
It's possible to fall into the trap (most of us have) where you have great production, but no money to research. Early scouting even with a warrior, will enhance your early treasury, and may last all the way to alphabet or monarchy at 100% research. but don't count on it. Sometimes you only get maps, especially if you're using a warrior to pop goody huts. But with early cottages, where the goody hut money runs out, the cottages take over, allowing 100% research for quite a while.
So, the key is get large cities, and try not to let them cap out. Get the luxuries hooked up, and beeline for monarchy, where each garrisoned unit adds +1 happiness. In my capital and other large cities, my garrisons are adding about 6 or 7 happy faces each, allowing 13 population, instead of being capped out at 7 or 8. That additional population, means that several of those extra cottages are bringing in cash and growing into villages and towns. Your compact core civilization will be much safer with a good garrison, especially when other civs peer into your city and see it heavily defended, they'll be much less likely to consider taking it for themselves.
After monarchy, beeline for alphabet, and trade monarchy for the missing techs. Only as a last resort trade alphabet.
After 4 cities are thriving, it's time to add a few more, maybe two or so. Then if your neighbor's borders are closing in, it's time to build an invasion force and take the cities of one of your (weaker) neighbors. Your superior research and production allows building the best military and fuels the expansion of your empire. As you acquire new territory, you'll have new luxuries or health resources that will allow your cities to grow further, or at least reduce the garrison size, freeing them up to be used in the field, or to garrison the captured cities. The latter approach is for the war monger or builder/warmonger. You can simply grow your own cities, but at the harder levels, the AI is so much better at it, that it makes more sense to capture them.
I agree with the poster above, Washington (ORG/FIN) is great for research, and is usually ahead in tech as an indication of how strong these attributes are together.
I generally only build one worker followed by a settler in the capital, since the capital is generally too important to be used for this purpose. You want the capital to be large and have many cottages, but it must also have reasonable production. So, daisy chain the settler builds and worker builds. One worker and settler per city is about right. Chop, chop, chop, ... Leave some trees for environmentalism (health and happiness) if you can. I like to use them to chop in libraries, the other buildings can be built through normal production, unless you're on highlands, in which case, chop away with glee.
It's possible to fall into the trap (most of us have) where you have great production, but no money to research. Early scouting even with a warrior, will enhance your early treasury, and may last all the way to alphabet or monarchy at 100% research. but don't count on it. Sometimes you only get maps, especially if you're using a warrior to pop goody huts. But with early cottages, where the goody hut money runs out, the cottages take over, allowing 100% research for quite a while.
So, the key is get large cities, and try not to let them cap out. Get the luxuries hooked up, and beeline for monarchy, where each garrisoned unit adds +1 happiness. In my capital and other large cities, my garrisons are adding about 6 or 7 happy faces each, allowing 13 population, instead of being capped out at 7 or 8. That additional population, means that several of those extra cottages are bringing in cash and growing into villages and towns. Your compact core civilization will be much safer with a good garrison, especially when other civs peer into your city and see it heavily defended, they'll be much less likely to consider taking it for themselves.
After monarchy, beeline for alphabet, and trade monarchy for the missing techs. Only as a last resort trade alphabet.
After 4 cities are thriving, it's time to add a few more, maybe two or so. Then if your neighbor's borders are closing in, it's time to build an invasion force and take the cities of one of your (weaker) neighbors. Your superior research and production allows building the best military and fuels the expansion of your empire. As you acquire new territory, you'll have new luxuries or health resources that will allow your cities to grow further, or at least reduce the garrison size, freeing them up to be used in the field, or to garrison the captured cities. The latter approach is for the war monger or builder/warmonger. You can simply grow your own cities, but at the harder levels, the AI is so much better at it, that it makes more sense to capture them.
I agree with the poster above, Washington (ORG/FIN) is great for research, and is usually ahead in tech as an indication of how strong these attributes are together.
Comment