Hi, Prince tier player, help me please!

I'm a prince tier player that only beat emperor once as babylon (by SV), what are some things I can implement into my game to make me better?

expand to at least 4 cities at pop 4 or 5. get National college as fast as you can with 4 cities up, build libraries early.

get 2 warriors early and go clear some barb camps

go tradition

lock every tile individually, try to work only improved tiles

Improve production in early game and food in midgame, but improve luxuries fast also

It's quite difficult to learn to prioritise at the different stages of the game, and depending on the VC you are seeking. If you are playing peaceful on Emperor and above, the priority is science until you catch up with the AI, then you can think about what you need to do in order to win (make Great People/grow cities/accumulate gold, etc.). If you are playing as a warmonger, you need an army with as much XP and upgrades as possible. Don't let yourself slip into the habit of building a building when you probably want workers to build roads to the enemy, and units to crush them.

1. 4 city tradition ASAP. Get those settlers out quickly. Also, build the National College ASAP provided it doesn't hinder your expansion.
2. Grow as much as possible. More citizens means more raw science, which is the driving engine behind the game, but it also means more production and gold. The bigger your cities are, the better.
3. Beeline science techs. After you have your luxury techs, go to Philosophy, then Education, then Scientific Theory, then Plastics.
4. Work scientist slots. They give science and great scientist points, both of which are very important.
5. Rationalism. Secularism + Free Thought are a must. Sovereignty's ok I guess, but I like to use the finisher for Plastics.
6. Don't fall into the trap of wonder spamming. There are usually better things to build, and you risk getting beaten out to it. The wonders I would recommend building: Oracle, Pisa, Porcelain, anything with great work slots if you're going for CV, Hubble if you're going for SV, Forbidden palace if DiploV, Statue of Liberty if you have freedom.
7. In case this wasn't clear already: Maximize science. Science is the most important thing in the game. You need to beat out the AIs in tech.

One of the hard parts when moving up the difficulty scale is just getting used to the new speed of the game, the AI gets more expansive, bigger armies faster, tech faster.

some things to try : (Moving up from prince)

-Play a few small quick games at King, then a few more small games at emperor.

-Open the diplomacy screen on every turn (maybe not in the first 30 turns, obviously). Sell everything you can sell. Pay others to DOW each other, ect. play the diplomacy game as much as possible. Keep an eye on the dispositions of other leaders. Manipulate them. This is something that does not get harder on higher levels, its pretty much always the same. This is something most of the upper level players all do.

Set you goals and optimize every aspect of you empire to that goal. Science and Culture need specialists. Culture and tourism need great works, wonders.

At Prince you can build any wonder you want, but at emperor and above you must prioritize your tech path to get the ~3 important wonders you really want.

Don't be afraid about war. Don't drop when an AI declares war to you.
Go for Education by Construction for composite bowmen (upgrade or built up to 6) and Masonry for Walls (build it). Settle on hills, never on flat land.
Send your archers/CB to keep your frontier cities. Let AIs army destroy themselves in your defense. Remember you'll lost a city when a melee units can damage it to 0. Manage health of your cities.

Build a road between your capital and your cities as soon as possible, don't wait for harbors.

Memoryjar said:

Don't be afraid about war. Don't drop when an AI declares war to you.
Go for Education by Construction for composite bowmen (upgrade or built up to 6) and Masonry for Walls (build it). Settle on hills, never on flat land.
Send your archers/CB to keep your frontier cities. Let AIs army destroy themselves in your defense. Remember you'll lost a city when a melee units can damage it to 0. Manage health of your cities.

Build a road between your capital and your cities as soon as possible, don't wait for harbors.

Click to expand...

Agreed on these.

Focusing on melee units first especially early game that way they can't take your city. Once the melee units are dead and even at 0 health the city can't be taken.

Emperor is still easy enough aside from the early wonders it's quite easy to wonder spam.....bad habits are learned from this though.

A few things that helped me are don't build every building in every city. If a specific building won't do a whole lot in one city don't build it and save on the maintenance cost....barracks for example just build them in military production cities and not in every city.

Try reading this:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=523371

It's a solid guide to the opening phase of the game.

I feel like on the highest levels (lets say Emperor and up) you may have a tough time winning games if you don't specifically play to your Civ's strengths and determine a victory type from the start.