To prove that I'm right I decided to whip out my old Vanilla Civ4 disk and tried it out.
And guess what...
I'm right.
Dust off your old Civ4 disk, and check it out.
I know I haven't scounted, but for a good reason... those barbarians are giving me all sorts of hell, but now my citizens are on strike, and I don't have a chance in hell from this point.
As you can see, I'm in a ecomonic crisis, and I'm not even the most powerful civ in the game. Alexander is.
Enclosed is the save that I was currently playing. If you managed to make it thus far past this point, and STILL WIN, please give me details... I'm looking forward for REAL proof that I'm wrong.
Edit: Do you know what the sad thing about all this is? Hyayna Capac is a FINANCIAL leader.
Okay, there are tons of problems I see right now.
The first is this:
Here is a goody hut. It's protected by a warrior. It's visible due to culture. And you have an AXEMAN guarding the city TWO TILES AWAY. Why hasn't that been popped yet???
The second problem I see is very little scouting. Yes, the barbarians are "giving you all kinds of hell," but you should've scouted more than this during the animal era. Did you have multiple units out scouting? I usually have at least two. You also have all those axemen sitting idle in your cities. Why aren't they out and about, scouting and taking on barbs
before they reach your cities?
And why did you give them the cover promotion? Are you under attack from waves of archers or something? Leave them unpromoted until you know what you're facing!
The third problem I see is sub-optimal city placement. Every single one of your cities is placed two tiles from the others. This is not a winning strategy in Civ IV. Your goal in the early REX is to work as many resources possible, while building as few cities as posible. That means sometimes your cities will overlap. But it also means that sometimes your cities will have tiles between them that no city can work.
For a prime example of sub-optimal city placement, see here:
Tiwanaku should've been settled on the desert tile one SE of the cows. This would've allowed you to work the Stone, as well as the cow and gold tiles.
Cori-whatever should've been settled one tile south. This would allow you to work the cows too.
You're also not Creative, why didn't you whip a Monolith in your cities to pop your borders?
The fourth problem I see your tech order:
You've researched both hunting and masonry after mining, when you had no hunting resources and masonry resources in your immediate vicinity, and a single forested hill. Given that you had grassland cows in your capital, you should've researched Animal Husbandry first, and THEN mining->Bronzeworking. You've also researched Fishing, when you had no seafood in ANY of your tiles.
The fifth problem I see is not only a lack of city specializiation, but a lack of improved tiles. Let's take a look at a few of your cities:
Here we see Cuzco, you're capital. You have a single building, a barracks. And it's building a Settler... which can't take advantage of a barracks. Given your low population, I'd say you've using the whip for production. A granery
doubles your food production, which is critical if you're using slavery. And you're working unimproved tiles over
improved resources.
And you have a SLEEPING WORKER here! One of three in your civilization!!! Why isn't this lazy bum out improving tiles and earning its pay???
And
why are you building a Settler anyway? You don't need more cities. You need to use your current cities
better. For example...
This will allow you to get some research. The granery to double your food production for the whip, and the library so you can add two scientist specialist, which would at least give you
some research, even at 0%. You don't normally want to use your capital for a GP farm, but unfortunately, it's your only city that can do so right now, and you desperately need one.
Now let's look at Tiwanaku
Another city that's building a Settler, and it has Barracks. Another city that isn't properly specialized. And another city that isn't using its tiles to best advantage.
Here it is afterwards. Notice that by working the gold tile, and the two cottages, you're now making a profit and still have 20% research. Notice that I put a granery in the queue for growth, and a library for both science, and to pop your borders. When your economy recovers completely, this will be your primary research city. When you get your first Great Scientist, build an acadamy here.
One more city to examine: Cori-whatever
This is your best city to turn it into a military powerhouse. It has barracks, and decent production. Of course, you don't have a granery for growth, and its still working unimproved tiles, but we have something to work with.
The monolith will be whipped next turn to expand your borders, and the granery will be whipped soon afterwards for growth. Just about every city in your empire needs to do this, by the way.
Some other problems I see:
You're financial, and you aren't building cottages along your rivers to take advantage of this trait.
Machu Pichu was completely worthless. It didn't bring a single resource to your empire, which means all it's doing is draining your economy. Vicas, Huamanga, and Olly-whatever could do
more work than they're doing now with just
two cities. Distance maintenance increases linerally. Number of cities maintenance increases roughly geometrically. Never do with seven cities what you can do with just five.
Your workers are automated??? The A.I. is an idiot when it comes to workers.
Why don't you have open borders with anyone? Trade routes are a good source of commerce! And you need to know where your trading partner's cities are (and they yours) to take advantage of them!
The game isn't broken. What's broken is how you play the game. City placement should be to capture as many resource tiles with as few cities as possible. Cities should be specialized, both through constructing buildings and improving tiles, to do one thing very well. Get your lazy army out of the cities, and out in the world to learn the lay of the land, meet the neighbors, watch for barbarians, and kill them before they can even approach your border.
you have invested into troops to get out something else 
hammers: in buildings, 
, or time to leverage trades and diplomacy).
. An Axeman finishes him off the next turn. 
3 
lake tile for economic recovery.
)
