Overextended, what would you do?

So, I went back to CiV after a long time. Huge/Marathon, China, Emperor (still quite casual player), continents (Planet Simulator map script). Started going tradition, intending to go four coastal cities to max the capital (map was quite friendly to this). But there was only one other civ on continent, and due to her (damn Cathy) attacking my protected CS, we came to blows very early, shortly before comp bows. She was worn down by CS, so the war went on for quite a long time using only few units on each side, but eventually I got her. By the end of war, I had settled all my intended spots, took two more cities (capital and surprisingly well placed St. Petersburg) and razed a couple more. And it turned out I have to rush another city to grab a very nice spot before it will be partially blocked by CS (Uluru and Ivory, along the river with some jungle).

After a few turns, I noticed that I started falling behind AI. Lost a couple of wonders I wanted (although one was build by Cathy so I got it eventually) and AIs were getting to medieval before me. The rapid extension also means I have no national wonders. Policies: full tradition, left side honor (helped me a lot, so I don't consider that a mistake). I got the religion almost the way I wanted (Desert Folklore, Tithe, Religious community, Monasteries (wanted cathedrals, but that went to first religion ever), Messiah-that one is mostly to deny it to AI).

So now the situation looks like this:


I'm not sure which strategy to choose now. Whether it would be better to focus on internal routes to boost the cities unaffected by tradition bonuses, or open patronage next, get cash and ally as many maritime CS as possible (there are at least four that I know of), hoping that the population growth will bring enough production to get the cities up to speed quickly enough. Or possibly focus on gold for a while and buy the buildings...or maybe there's some other strategy I haven't considered.

More workers, internal routes, focus on growth and science. Skip wonders if you have something better to do.

Really not much more to say.

You should wait before making roads, your cities are too far apart to link them at such a low pop. Making improvements is more important at this stage and for example nanjing seems to have none.

Why the hell did you make the great wall on a continent where you already eliminated everyone on it ?

You aren't overextended yet. This is huge size map. 8 cities is pretty manageable but unfortunately they are super spread out. What you need to do now is build more workers, start improving what you have, and growing as fast as you can. You have lots of luxuries to connect and trade. Just to connect it up a bit more I might plop 1-2 more cities in the middle for a total of 9-10. The AI will most likely try to squeeze little cities inside your empire if you leave too much space.

The quickest way to catch up on science is to get civil service, then beeline education, save and borrow some money, and buy universities in your largest cities. Then work the scientist slots. That should shoot you over 100 science in no time especially with jungle cities and you'll catch up and pass the AI. The longer the game-speed the bigger the effect of buying something like a university rather then waiting to build it.

Acken said:

More workers, internal routes, focus on growth and science. Skip wonders if you have something better to do.

Really not much more to say.

You should wait before making roads, your cities are too far apart to link them at such a low pop. Making improvements is more important at this stage and for example nanjing seems to have none.

Why the hell did you make the great wall on a continent where you already eliminated everyone on it ?

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Well, I am playing as China

Anyway, the GE point and culture was worth the prod difference between regular walls and great wall. At that point I just lost a wonder and had bit of time while researching civil service. Maybe I should have popped a worker instead, but I don't like how it kills the growth.

I don't think forward settling by AI will be a problem. They're pretty far away, and there's open ocean to the west and south, so nobody will be coming from other directions until astronomy at least.

workers dont stop growth in civ5

Acken said:

workers dont stop growth in civ5

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Right. Forgot. First game after a long time, and I got my first batch of workers entirely through capture.

You're doing fine. You need to get luxuries hooked up like marble or whatever. You can build harbours instead of roads. Build science buildings in every city. Considering how huge and empty the map is you should go settle the neighbouring continent.

Once somebody hits renaissance you get spies. It's common if you go wide to fall behind in science in the early/mid game because of the absurd bonuses the AI gets.

Also monasteries are the worst religious building even if you had some wine or incense in your dirt. You're *China*! Get pagodas or mosques first. Real life China has both.

I'm a little surprised nobody has mentioned this yet. The following is the only thing that I picked up on as a mistake based on what you said in the OP:

Sarin said:

By the end of war, I had settled all my intended spots, took two more cities (capital and surprisingly well placed St. Petersburg) and razed a couple more. And it turned out I have to rush another city to grab a very nice spot before it will be partially blocked by CS (Uluru and Ivory, along the river with some jungle).

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What do you mean by the part that I placed in Bold Letters? Are you saying that while you were at war you built settlers and sent them out? If so I think that was a huge mistake. While in war you should be building military units. You say the war was long and drawn out, and that both you and Cathy only had a few units the entire war. Why the heck didn't you build some Chu-Ko-Nus (I butchered that spelling, much like you SHOULD have butchered Cathy) and get to kicking her ass in a timely manner? I see good terrain for invading territory. A few hills for ranged units but mostly flat terrain with no choke points. It should have been a very quick war on Emperor and then you build the settlers you want and then the Infrastructure you need, but since the war is over quickly, it all comes together much faster.


That's my opinion, and that opinion is based off of my understanding of what you meant, so I could be wrong.


Also, in the current state of that Screenshot: You need to take one of those 4 GG down to Xian ASAP and grab Uluru and that Ivory before Sydney expands to the Ivory.