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Using mobilization properly
There has been some confusion on how mobilization works. Here is a compilation of the info I have gathered on the subject:
First, if you activate the 'war-time' mode of mobilization (which can be done in the domestic advisor screen), what happens is that you can no longer build anything that is non-military; i.e., temples, banks, colloseums.
Now after you are 'mobilized', every city that builds an improvement (barracks, etc.) gets no special bonus. But if you build an actual unit like Infantry or Tanks, every square being worked in THAT city's radius that has any shield production in it gets one extra shield added to each of the appropriate squares.
The only way to go back to the 'normalcy' mode of mobilization seems to be that you must sign a peace-treaty with another civ, even if you aren't at war yet! So be careful when you use mobilization, or else you might end up being forced to go to war, just to get that peace-treaty signed. Also, be careful when you are at war with multiple civs, as signing a peace-treaty with any one of them puts you back into normalcy mode.
One thing that you can do, however, to kind of 'trick' the game into letting you build non-military things while in war-time moblization, is to start building them just before you hit the button to mobilize. Anything that is already in production at that time continues to get built, even if it is non-military in nature.
To take the most advantage of mobilizing you need to maximize your military unit production during the war-time mode. Try to build your military improvements as much ahead of time as you can, so that you can recieve those extra shields in as many cities as possible by building your units during the mobilization.
First, if you activate the 'war-time' mode of mobilization (which can be done in the domestic advisor screen), what happens is that you can no longer build anything that is non-military; i.e., temples, banks, colloseums.
Now after you are 'mobilized', every city that builds an improvement (barracks, etc.) gets no special bonus. But if you build an actual unit like Infantry or Tanks, every square being worked in THAT city's radius that has any shield production in it gets one extra shield added to each of the appropriate squares.
The only way to go back to the 'normalcy' mode of mobilization seems to be that you must sign a peace-treaty with another civ, even if you aren't at war yet! So be careful when you use mobilization, or else you might end up being forced to go to war, just to get that peace-treaty signed. Also, be careful when you are at war with multiple civs, as signing a peace-treaty with any one of them puts you back into normalcy mode.
One thing that you can do, however, to kind of 'trick' the game into letting you build non-military things while in war-time moblization, is to start building them just before you hit the button to mobilize. Anything that is already in production at that time continues to get built, even if it is non-military in nature.
To take the most advantage of mobilizing you need to maximize your military unit production during the war-time mode. Try to build your military improvements as much ahead of time as you can, so that you can recieve those extra shields in as many cities as possible by building your units during the mobilization.