My first post and all that...yay me
Anyway, I have been playing (and lurking in these forums) since Civ 3 and I am finally breaking down and turning to you all for advice. I was going to post my own thread but this one comes close enough to my own issue that I'll simply continue it.
Along the lines of the OP, I too find that my economy crashes into the gutter if I try and keep up with the sprawl of the AI. However, I know well enough how to manage my cities and finances to keep from going deep into the red and typically do so...keeping my research at 60-70% through most of the first half of the game. To do so, though, I put all my research and building efforts towards gaining cash and techs. I take an early religion, grab the Oracle and Colossus, build my religion's shrine, give every city a courthouse, and spread missionaries as often as I can fit them in (20+ is not uncommon by 1000 AD).
Where my concern deviates from the OP is in trying to "keep up with the Jones'" as they sprawl all over the place. What I want to know is how do they have 8-12 cities by 1000 AD and I'm pacing myself at 6-7 cities?
A few tidbits about my playstyle that does have a big impact here. First, I enjoy playing on Noble. I do fine on Warlord but I don't like to give myself any more advantage than I already have being human. Second, I really dislike micro-managing. That goes for my RL career as well, but I'm certainly not here to discuss
those issues with you all. I want my workers to happily carry on with whatever automated duties they feel like doing and likewise with my cities. I do not want to be constantly clicking and changing workers and cities every turn. I realize that limits me on how high of a level I can play at, but I really am quite content to play on Noble forever. However, if the secret to playing at Noble level is micro-managing, I think I'd rather drop down and "cheat" on Warlord.
So with those stipulations in mind, how is it that the AI can sprawl so well and still maintain a tech lead? Why are they not drowning in debt the same way I would be if I were to race out to settle 12 cities? Is there some "cheat" the AI uses or is it simply something that I am not catching on to?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.
- Pan