Ok, before I start on what I wanted to ask... here's something to satisfy perhaps all camps.
American cities are not the most cultured in the world at the moment. However they are producing massive amounts of culture.
---
On topic now!
Part 3 of the original post is a big one for me, in Civ4 generally.
I struggle to get buildings built. I do not run some cities generating commerce, and some not. I can't make the game work like that, it's not like previous Civs. Sure you can get a financial, and a research capital. Sure you'll have GP farms, settler farms, wonder farms, production cities etc. But generally speaking every single city has to do their bit with the economy.
That means I build every research and commercial building in every city.
Now I do realise that this isn't the only way to do it. But certainly for a traditional game where you generate your own research, and fund your own economy you need to do it.
Because when you capture a city - by it flipping to you, by conquest, by whatever almost every building is gone... it makes conquest almost useless.
Sure I could annex Ethiopia, but why bother? They aren't a military threat to me. Sure I could use those sheep, but I'd be hammering my own economy, massively hurting stability and the benefit would be a vast decrease in commerce, and sheep. Or I could vassal them, and get those resources for free... but then other civs would be annoyed at me for declaring on them in the first place, and then for me having a vassal.
So there's really no benefit in me conquering people, other than when it's a vital strategic resource, or way early in the game where the city will actually have time to rebuild all those buildings.
I'm no modder, but it's clear that somewhere in Civ4 the game has a list of which buildings survive, and which ones don't survive capture. I know that libraries get whacked. Why on earth would they, it makes little sense. Other than a gameplay thing in order to make conquest less attractive.
Some things I can understand. Barracks for example. And there's also the arguement that conquest isn't really profitable in the modern age. Iraq, for example, has been pretty much destroyed. Sure they oil is still there, but the rebuilding is going on now and costs a fortune, and will take a long time.
But then again, we already have that mechanism in Civ4. Cities go into resistance when you capture them, producing nothing for a considerable period of time.
The simplest solution is to go through the list of what is destroyed and what isn't, and apply a bit of logic.
The complex solution is to make a captured city cost money to bring back to what it was, or production. Have all the buildings disabled, and a 4th option along side wealth, research, culture be "Rebuilding" and the points from that go to bringing buildings back on line. Allow the option to remove buildings from the city screen that are disabled, no cash payout for it, but it would reduce the total amount required to rebuild the city.
The other point I wanted to raise about RFC is regarding the older civs.
Sometimes I want to play a game as a particular nation, and make it to the end of time. I'll want to start as Egypt, and finish up the 1 power in the world, send a spaceship to Alpha Centauri etc. However the very early civs have huge disadvantages in comparison to the ones that spawn next to them.
If I want to play a game as Egypt, and I'd like not just the Nile, but some nice resources then NW Africa is a nice spot... And the easiest way to do that? Start as Carthage, and immediately, and without any difficulty, annex all of Egypt.
If I want to play as India... then start as Persia and immediately and without any difficulty annex India.
Same for Greece (but to a lesser degree) start as Rome, and annex them with ease.
I realise it's a bit of a balance nightmare. The early civs are supposed to do their bit, build their wonders, and then collapse. However, they do seem destined to do that, and it's a real handicap playing as them rather than other civs.
Starting as Egypt you essentially have until Carthage appears to have bronze working, spearmen, axemen, and 3 cities, and all the research they have got to be on a par with them. That's no mean feat.
However I do understand that if, for example, Egypt was beefed up, then it'd be a monster and last the whole game. I also realise that if I start a 3000BC start and pick Maya (to stay totally out of it) then Egypt, and India will survive because nobody will use the initial jump start advantage they have over them. Neither will flourish though. China will do ok, and then fall apart when Mongols take their capital.
So a solution for that? I don't have an easy one. All I could suggest is a couple of settlers, a couple of workers, a couple of decent defenders, and a couple more techs at the start.. then of course the wonder costs would have to be upped significantly to compensate.
Edit : And another niggle I have... is with older civs, and civs spawning from them.
If the Roman Empire had been... different. If it had been different enough to be successful, and still standing in the middle ages...
So let's assume Rome says... we're only taking westward from Greece/Poland. Or maybe even just Germany and west. And they had been more stable, and had not been overrun by barbarians... France, Spain, etc wouldn't form. Or they wouldn't appear like they do in RHC.
Certainly I'd like the opportunity to play as Rome and make it to the end. Without France, England, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, Germany etc popping up and grabbing my cities. Perhaps if I didn't run a stable Empire then they'd appear, or I'd have to do what the British Empire had to do and let bits go in order to hold on to the rest (yes I do know it failed).
So what I'm suggesting is some kind of stability check, or some kind of check which will prevent, or may prevent civs spawning from others. Or perhaps just have France not flip cities, but just a huge stack of barbarians appear in France, and if they get any cities, then that section of the maps barbs would flip and become France... if they failed? Then there would be no France.