Science really is King!

I guess science really is king in Civ 5, at least for dom vics. I'm just now finishing a game as Mongolia, on Prince going for a domination victory. I've done pretty well, science wise. I used to never pay attention to science because I didn't think it was important. Normally I would have a science score of +30-50, but in my current game I have around +450 I think.

At first the techs were unlocking very fast, then medium, and finally about average. I knew I messed up when I found my frigates facing battleships. Other units started being outmatched as well.

I picked every science building and tech I could, and tried to grow my cities' population quickly for the science boost. And as I stand now, I have about 17 turns left and I have 3 capitals. I'm at the top of the scoreboard with 2300, with the next closest being 1800. But still did not reach my tech/science goal. I should be fighting with the most advanced military units in my opinion, but I took a wrong turn somewhere.

Back to the Science drawing board.......

The best (condensed) science plan is:

Research writing after lux techs. Then philosophy. Then build the NC asap. Then beeline education and get Universities up. Then beeline printing press. Then beeline scientific method and build schools. Then beeline plastics and build research labs. As science specialists slots become available, fill them.

You will then have the science snowball to dominate any civ on the map.

With science and war, you are always deciding between war now at the cost of future research or research now but delaying war for a bit.

Thank you for your post. I'll try that on my next game. It seems no matter how much I learn about Civ 5, there is still so much more to learn to master the game.

Well I think beelining for keshiks if I am the mongols is the right thing to do.
And then beline for artillery if keshiks are not going to make it or it is continents or something.
Don't think there is any reason to go for those later science things if you are the mongols. On Prince it should be fairly easy to win long before scientific method (somewhat depending on the map size and if it is pangea)

I would try to get fast workers for nice roads and then keshiks, keshiks, keshiks, keshiks , etc etc etc

I think you must use mods Prozac as I could not open the last save game you attached.
So many post some pictures/sceen shot and some explanations of what your first few choices are in the game. it has to be very specific. What you build the first few choices, what sciences you choose, what social policies you chose
A lot of people here would help you out

Wow, mods? That's news to me, because I don't use mods. I wonder what other reason the file wouldn't open??

Ok sorry about that - hmmm wonder what it could have been. I think I have bought most things but maybe not some map packs or scenarios.
Well maybe others will be able to open it. So next game post your start and have people help you make choices. It is a good way to learn

The main things that will cause a save not to be able to be opened besides mods is DLC.

e.g. If the person that saved it was on one of the scrambled maps.

As a guy who played civ really casually until civ v, i have only one advice: population

This is the real key to the game imo as it impacts everything else through being able to work more tiles, science boost, specialist etc...

As soon as i started focusing on population growth and reachind end game cities of 20/25 instead of my usual 17 in cap and 13 in expos, i snowballed in all other areas of the game as everything was just a lot easier.

Focus on the basic tradition strategy, 4 cities, maximizing food output by spamming farms and favoring lxuries and special tiles that give food and you ll see how much it impacts your game. Then, playing for a cultural or a science victory or even a late military victory is piece of cake as you ll have the fundations to sustain any choice.