Treasury..?

[vmxa1]

I think he means starving them or turning out workers to reduce the pop.

[Paddy]

That makes sense

Thanks

[fanes7]

;-), I mean that hurry the city's building or unit, and you will lose some people in your city, building-worker is another way.

[Paddy]

tis all falling into place

[realpolitic]

I keep my science at 0% or 10% or 1 scientist often until the beginning of the Industrial Age, only buyin techs when needed,(not only do they get cheaper with time, but I don't want the AI to have cash any sooner than necessary). This gives me the chance to take off technologically even at Diety level. Science should be 100% or 40 turns or just bought. If you need to sell tech or whatever in a 10+ civ game to stay ahead, DO IT!

[Arrian]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet:

Population. Building lots of cities and roads is great, but if your cities are all size 1, you're gonna be poor.

This is why an early granary or two can be so powerful - not just because you get more settlers out faster, but because the city(ies) with granaries grow faster and will max out on pop quickly.

Rivers & Lakes are hugely important, not only because of the direct commerce boost they provide, but also because they allow your cities to grow past size 6 w/o the need to build an aqueduct (requires construction, and is 100 or so shields to build).

I usually plant a solid core group of cities and then stop pumping settlers while I build up those cities. I'd rather have extra population in my nicely developed, low-corruption core cities than more 1-pop max-corruption towns far away (which are also difficult to defend at first). Then I can leverage my powerful core cities to either 1) build wonders and shoot for a tech lead; or 2) build up a big 'ole army and kick AI ass. I normally choose option #2.

Don't build improvements in cities if you don't need them, or if you will get no benifit from them. Build courthouses! Build marketplaces! And, of course, build a Forbidden Palace! Read up on corruption.

Play around with the science slider. Try adjusting it, especially in the early going. Often, the turn before you discover a tech, you can reduce science spending quite a bit and rake in cash for a turn, while still getting the tech. Also bear in mind that you cannot research a tech in less than 4 turns, or more than 40 (provided you spend at least 1 "beaker" on it per turn - often you can do this with a single scientist in a corrupt city, or 10% science spending).

-Arrian

[Jaybe]

Sometimes government change can be a great financial burden if you are not prepared. Like going Republic (or even Monarchy) with a large army but not enough marketplaces. Or being in Anarchy between governments when you have large payments to another civ. (In Anarchy the only cash flow is taxmen and payments between civs).

[Arrian]

Oh, true. Going into republic with a big military but poor infrastructure can be a killer.

Staying in Despotism or Monarchy too long can be also, of course.

Another way of raising money is to focus on building the Great Library, and once you have it, milking it for all it's worth (which can be a LOT). If you have 3+ AI neighbors, the GL can be a godsend. You can totally shut off research and get your tech from the Library, while raking in 100% tax. You can then use that money to field a powerful military and/or rushbuild improvements. If you bank on the Library and don't get it, however, you could be in trouble.

-Arrian