Xan - Thanks.....basically what i do is get first city, ten research all worker need techs i need, and build one worker, then 1 settler for next city..then barracks and archers as needed.....i try to have 3 -4 cities in the early stages, then build wonders if possible, but just what i can honestly (libraries, granaries, etc...) as for workers, i try to divvy up farms and cottages, and mine the hills.....always connect cities w oads, and use slavery civ, though i never whip...i try to expand early for the most resources cuz later in games ive been screwed (no coal, no iron) and noone wants to trade me those....religion im still kinda up min the air bout what civ to use (usually i go organized and convert all cities to state religion.....) hows this sounding?
This isn't quite the detail I was hoping for, but I'll make a few comments and suggestions.
Unless you start with fishing and have seafood to work, or your worker will have nothing to do once it is built, worker first is the way to go. It sounds like you are doing this.
As for the very beginning, in general you want to get 2 workers and a settler out as quickly as you can. You also want to grow your capital as quickly as possible and be working all improved tiles. The problem is that you can't grow your capital while producing the workers and settler. The solution to this is to research Bronze Working and chop wood. You will need to adopt a different strategy if forests aren't available, but usually a few are. Usually research Bronze Working first, and it will be complete by the time you finish the worker. Start on another worker and chop it, then a warrior if necessary and settler, chopping all the time. This will get the settler out and your capital growing as soon as possible, and give you 2 workers to improve tiles (1 worker just isn't enough for a fast start in most cases). This will probably take 4 forests to accomplish.
Now if you have copper nearby, that will probably be the location for city 2. If not, settle in the best available spot. It is certainly a viable option to build the great wall in the capital after getting the settler out. This will allow you to ignore military for a short period of time. But you should have food resources, and be growing the capital as quickly as possible, so production is taking a backseat to food until capital gets close to max size. If you need another city (for example no copper, and you have to found a third city to get horses), you might need to build another settler in the capital before reaching it's happy cap. But in general, you want your capital to get to the happy cap and be working ALL improved tiles as quickly as possible. You may build a barracks if you don't need any warriors/can't build axemen yet. But the idea for the barracks is not to build archers for defense.
Military ... archers are the last choice, and the tech should only be researched if nothing else is available (you have no copper, no horses, and probably no iron). It's better to build a few warriors and fogbust and defend from forests waiting for IW than waste beakers on archery in my opinion.
Workers ... don't waste time building roads if your city is working unimproved tiles, or might work an unimproved tile because you built roads. An exception is hooking up a NEEDED resource. Don't build a road on that corn when your health cap is 10 and your happy cap is 6 if there is anything more productive for a worker to do. An improved tile is anywhere from 2x as productive to 4x as productive disregarding commerce as an unimproved tile. You mentioned divvying up farms and cottages. Unless you really need food, farms are not very good improvements (although much better on floodplains than grasslands). Although it may be necessary to build some farms, your capital will usually have enough food to grow quickly without any, and ideally your second city (and most cities for that matter) should have 2 food sources and not need farms other than floodplains in the early game. If you are using cottages for commerce, build primarily cottages, and along the river first. One of your first 3 cities will need to have high production. In this case, you may need more farms to grow and work mines at the same time. Try to split your cities up between production and commerce, and focus on maximizing hammer output in a production city and commerce in a commerce city.
I'll probably have more later, but that's long enough for now.
. My rapid fire response below. Let me know if you want more detail - hopefully other will weigh in too
