Is it more advisable to go for disbanding a city and moving on, or installing a governer. i find myself loath to destroy a size 8 or 9 city that could be used for production closer to the conflict area, but it seems to take forever to conquest if you constantly have to stop and pacify a city with your troops.

also, on continents or pangea, do you find other civs swooping in to take that land, harder to kill later on? It seems every time i go on a rampage, an AI civ is right behind me with a sttler to re-establish something on that spot, making my next target that much more difficult.

Whats the deciding factor or factors for disbanding vs. keeping since you rarely get to see what the city has.

When going for conquest I tend to raze cities a little more often than I keep them.

The usual reasons for keeping a city apply: wonders, holy city, controls a key resource. As you say, other civs re-settling that territory is also a problem, so a city at a strategic chokepoint may also get to live.

In addition, circumstances at the time of attack become a factor. If I'm far from home and have some units that can receive upgrades, for example, I may lean more towards keeping the city. Or it may be a "healing centre" for injured units, since they heal fastest in one of your own cities (once it's no longer in revolt, at leasts). Factored in with that, however, is what will be required to defend it.

The other AI civs resettling an area I've conquered and razed is indeed annoying. I will sometimes consider switching opponents to relieve some war weariness, especially if I can wipe out a settler stack--always an easy target--and gain a free worker in the bargain.

I usually base it on where it's positioned and what available resources it has available in it's radius or if it has a wonder. If it based too close to another city, my own or otherwise I will usually raze it and move on. What tends to happen in this case is the borders automatically fill the space preventing settlers moving in. Not razing a city close to someone else's border and you run the risk of it flipping to the third party because it has no culture.

The only downside to this is overextending yourself so if I do take a city I will get some good defensive units in asap, allowing the other units to heal and push on.

raze

lalalala my msg is too short lalalala

Yep, I usually only have around 12 cities max...I raze the rest...let em BURN baby BURN...!!