It all comes down to tile management. Skilled players are always focusing on the tiles. Which tiles are your cities working? Which tiles do you want your cities to be working? Which tiles will you want to be working in the future? What kind of tiles does your city have plenty of? What kind of tiles is your city lacking? What buildings will help your city the most, given its tiles? Food buildings first? Hammer buildings first? Does this city need a rush-buy to help it out? Does that city have enough hammers that you have time for a happiness building? These are the sort of questions you should be asking.
With good tile management, you get more of everything. If you have more stuff, you win faster. Strategy tips about tech priorities and social policies are pretty irrelevant next to this. That's like trying to get better at golf by figuring out what clubs the pros use -- it might help, but just getting your swing right would be far, far more helpful.
Just watch an hour or so of a let's play video from a skilled player (Acken, who posted above, knows his stuff and has a link in his sig) and see how they manage their cities. That should help.
With good tile management, you get more of everything. If you have more stuff, you win faster. Strategy tips about tech priorities and social policies are pretty irrelevant next to this. That's like trying to get better at golf by figuring out what clubs the pros use -- it might help, but just getting your swing right would be far, far more helpful.
Just watch an hour or so of a let's play video from a skilled player (Acken, who posted above, knows his stuff and has a link in his sig) and see how they manage their cities. That should help.