When to stop building new cities?

[DreamSlave2112]

I use the great Library to get those dead-end advances like Monarchy, Artistry and music theory. If I don't get them that way, I will try to get them through diplomacy.
For conquest, a lot of times, cities will flip for me; I don't go for the military option unless I need resources and they're too backwards to realize they have coal or oil.

[Civ3Junkie]

Agreed with some of the above statements, I build cities until war rolls around, then I conquer them instead. If warring with my neighbors does not yield sufficient territory, then I may go back to settling.

Other than that, the only cities I build late-game are to acquire resources strung out on tiny islands in the middle of nowhere.

[Gremnon]

I don't stop unless at war, where I slow down since I protect my Settlers - usually with advanced units the AI doesn't have.
But once the war's over, it business as usual.

Over at the Civ Fanatics centre (www.civfanatics.com) there's someone who made a Sea Cities mod for Civ3 which I use too.

[Matthew]

There is another reason to stop building all those cities. There has got to be a funner way to play than building a lot of crappy cities. In Civ 2 ICS, or more sophisticated versions thereof, was definitely the best way to win. But I never did it (I would build 25 cities or so, not much by ics standards) because it wasn't a way I enjoyed playing.

by the way, I really, really miss the camel.