Hey I've been playing a decent amount, and I am winning consistently on Prince....all victories except cultural.

But I don't know how to get rid of that whole "Its too crowded" problem. Frankly, I thought it was just you need cottages/villages/towns..but that doesn't seem to be it...since I usually cottage spam.

The only way I seem to keep my cities happy is by placing military units in the cities which under a civ you get plus one happiness.

I don't think you can :P

even for small cities that its too crowded thing shows up, just in small numbers.

You don't. It's a default increase as your population increases. The only way you combat it is by creating more happy faces, of which there are plenty by midgame.

Cottages do nothing, in and of themselves, to increase happiness. As Corbeau said, as cities reach a certain size, the unhappiness kicks in; that threshold happiness size is lower at each successive difficulty level.

You combat it by making your citizens happy. You can do this in a number of ways.


Religion: having your state religion in a city will make one citizen happy. Under Free Religion, each religion in a city makes a citizen happy.
Buildings: many buildings increase happiness, especially religious ones like Temples. Colosseums, Theatres, and Broadcast Towers also do this, though their effects vary with the amount of culture the city produces. Markets make citizens happy if you have access to fur, ivory, silk, or whales. Each religion's "cathedral" increases happiness if you have incense. Jails reduce war weariness, if that's what's causing the unhappiness.
Civics: Some civics increase happiness. You must have been using the Heriditary Rule civic, where each military unit in a city results in one happy citizen. Representation gives you 2 happy citizens in your 5 biggest cities (1.61 patch). I mentioned Free Religion already. Environmentalism gives you happy citizens if you preserve jungle or forest in the city's fat cross. Police State and Nationhood help if the unhappiness is caused by war weariness.
Wonders: And, of course, some Wonders increase happiness. The Globe Theatre National Wonder will eliminate all unhappy citizens in the city where it's built. Notre Dame gives you one extra happy citizen in every city on the continent where it's located. Mount Rushmore also counteracts war weariness if that's the problem.
Culture Slider: Once you discover Music, you can change the culture slider. The more of your commerce you divert from the treasury and research to culture, the happier your citizens get, but there's obviously a price to pay.

There are more complex ways to deal with it, but those are the basics.

Ways to reduce the crowding unhappiness*

Starve citizens to death
Whip citizens to death (slavery)
Draft citizens into the military (nationhood)


*Disclaimer: crowding unhappiness may be replaced by whipping or drafting unhappiness...

to reduce unhapiness you starve them all to death
too funny

I think cottages should have people from the city move there instead thereby reducing population it would seem more realistic because I know hundred thousands of people cant live in the inner city it doesnt even make sense.

to reduce unhapiness you starve them all to death
too funny

Muderous Dictators have sucessfully implemented this strategy throughout history.

to reduce unhapiness you starve them all to death
too funny
I do this all the time.
Let them work mines instead of farms increases production until the granary is empty...