What does this mean (in depth please)

[Arkhym]

Hi, this is my first post, not sure if this is the place to ask this, but I'm going to anyway.
I just started civ last week, so I've only got about 54 hours game time behind me. My most recent game, I thought I was doing quite well, then all of a sudden, it tells me I'm too overwhelmed by my foes or something so I lost. I was wondering if someone could tell me what I did wrong or how I can improve my play.
This is civ 5, with the brave new world expansion as well.

My civ was Polynesia, so I was Kamehameha
I was playing on Prince difficulty, with a standard map size and archipelago setup.
Here's my score info:
32 - cities
232 - population
70 - land
75 - wonders
248 - tech
0 - future tech
88 - policies
16 - great works
109 - religion
total - 870

I had 4 cities (including capital), I was in the atomic era.
Policies were Patronage (full), Rationalism (full), Tradition (almost full) and 2 from Commerce.
Gold - 6146
Happiness - 61
Science - 402

I had the 3rd highest amount of delegates (14)
Other civs: Poland, Ottomans, Egypt, France, Persia, China, and then some other city states

I guess my question is, what am I doing wrong? It seemed like I was doing fine, like maybe not prospering, but fine. I certainly didn't have the lowest score. It did say that Suleiman (Ottomans) won from time or something so does that mean everyone but him lost? I certainly wasn't lacking in military, I had a decent navy, lost of ranged land units (cannons, anti-aircraft, planes, infantry), and my cities defense or offense, were all from 90-110.

I'm also noticing that my score is always trailing behind a few civs, why is that, how can they be so fast and what do I do to keep up? Like the Ottomans had 2361 for their score, and Poland was at 1929. I don't think I've ever been the first to enter a new era. If someone who has experience can explain what I'm doing wrong, that would be great.

Thanks.

 

[Browd]

It sounds like you lost a time/score game victory to the Ottos. There are specific victories that you can pursue — science (build space ship parts and launch), domination (control each other major civ’s capital (you can ignore city states, also known as minor civs)), cultural (use tourism to become culturally dominant), diplomatic (be elected world leader), or time/score (have the highest score at turn 500). Of course, if any of the other victories is achieved before turn 500, time/score victory never triggers.

Most players aim to win the game well before turn 500 by a victory condition of their choosing (e.g., “aiming for science victory with Inca on a Fractal map”).

 

[aafritz17]

This post lists some great guides posted here in CFC (thanks to @mbbcam for gathering these)
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/happiness-liberty-honor.624236/#post-14912635

Start with the tradition guide, then try the others as you gain experience.

Another resources that helped me learn to play was http://carlsguides.com./strategy/civilization5/

For reference or explanations about specific constructs (like Civs, units, techs, beliefs, etc.) try this;
http://civ-5-cbp.wikia.com/wiki/Civ5_CBP_Wikia

 

[psparky]

That last link is for the Vox Populi mod, maybe you meant this one:

http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Civilization_V

 

[mbbcam]

I'm also noticing that my score is always trailing behind a few civs, why is that, how can they be so fast and what do I do to keep up?

Since the computer can't compete with human intelligence (though it seems to be better than some people I can think of) the non-human players are given bonuses to things like productivity, so that they stand some chance of providing a challenge to the human player. (There are tables somewhere on the forums that give all the figures.) The higher the level, the greater the bonuses. This means that at levels like Deity it is pointless to try and build most wonders because the non-humans produce them in a ridiculously short time, and they can similarly build hordes of military. Some look upon this as the computer "cheating". Others just see it as programming the computer in the only way that it will have a chance of beating the human.

Anyway, for a human to win the game in the face of these bonuses, he or she has to learn the best strategies to overcome the computer's advantage. The numbers tell us that one of the best ways to do this is to build three cities in good places while completing the Tradition tree (see Tabarnak's guide linked on the page mentioned above), followed by Rationalism. This is a very crude simplification, but it is a place to start. Try to get three cities founded by about turn 50, and get the National College built by about turn 85-90. Another helpful strategy is to choose a good Civ -- i.e. not Polynesia, but something like Poland or Arabia (for example). It is also quite a good idea to play on a Pangaea map, standard size, standard speed. Experienced players may see that as boring, but if you are starting you might consider it the "bog standard" type of game where it is easiest to learn the basics. Above all, read the guides. Playing well is almost entirely dependent on knowing how the game works and making the right choices based on a knowledge of the game mechanics.

Edit: It might be worth adding that the score is not necessarily a good measure of how well you are doing. I believe it is quite heavily weighted to how many wonders you have, and your amount of territory and population. So you could be doing very well in Science or Diplomacy, and it would not show up in the score. I may be wrong, but then I disable Time / Score victory in the options and ignore it. I'm more interested in trying to achieve a Domination victory.

And to make another crude simplification, the game is very much about Science and Gold. Get ahead in those, and you will be fine. This is why Tradition and Rationalism are so effective -- you get science for every citizen you have, so you want as many as possible (while keeping happy). Forget about Patronage, it is not as powerful as Tradition or Liberty.

I'm not sure if the guides make it clear, but probably the best initial build order on Pangaea is Scout-Monument-Scout-Scout. Every Civ you meet gives you a discount on Tech. Explore aggressively. (This is one reason why Archipelago will give you a slow start -- it will take you time to meet other civs.) Get caravans out quickly to leech Science from the neighbours, and sell them as much iron and horses as you can. Gold and Science -- very important.

 

[aafritz17]

That last link is for the Vox Populi mod, maybe you meant this one:

http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Civilization_V

Yep, thanks for correcting that.