City Building

[Pim]

Probably this question has been asked before, but i didnt see it on the forum when i took a quick look around and because the question is my main 'problem' while playing ciV, i thought lets just ask.

The problem is the numbers of cities i found during the game. Most of the time ive settled all of my cities by the year 0, or before. I usually use the liberty policy for my first settler after building a scout, worker, warrior(sometimes i wait with building the settler or taking the policy in order to get the national college up and running). Most of the time i have 3 cities when i reach 1000 bc and i start to border the other civs, or dont see any valuable space for a new cities(no new luxery resources). Most of the time, i then start conquering(creating a puppet empire). During this i always get the feeling i have to few 'core' cities, allthough i dont fall behind compared to the other civs(i play on King).

To sum it all up, i dont know how many cities i should go for(not conquered ones allthough annexed cities could also count, allthough i dont like annexing because of the rase in culure cost). I understand that it is not an exact science, but some guildlines would be helpfull.

Another issue is until when i should keep on going to settle cities(keeing happiness and other facotrs in mind ofcourse)? Until warfare? always keep expanding? as long as there are resources? i think you'll get the idea.

 

[TM Moot]

depends on the civ i reckon

normally i find i only have 4-6 main cities, with perhaps 3-10 puppets (when not going for culture victory)

when playing Rome i have won with 12+ cities, but unfortuantley with civ5's penalties on having big empires (happiness, SP cost, NW requirements) the game does favour tall, not wide, empires

 

[AznWarlord]

depends on the civ i reckon

normally i find i only have 4-6 main cities, with perhaps 3-10 puppets (when not going for culture victory)

when playing Rome i have won with 12+ cities, but unfortuantley with civ5's penalties on having big empires (happiness, SP cost, NW requirements) the game does favour tall, not wide, empires

Not entirely true. The whole purpose of National Wonders is to give small, tall empires, especially OCC a chance to compete with wide. You generate a ton of more science and gold with a wide empire, at the cost of more culture for SP's, which if you're going for science, you'll have plenty of time to complete rationalism, or if diplomatic, patronage, which are all you need.

 

[Magma_Dragoon]

You can go plenty wide if you take piety after liberty. +1 happy from temples, monuments, and trade routes eliminates per city unhappy. More cities means more coliseums, more theaters, more stoneworks, etc. Use your GE from liberty to rush the haiga sofia for another GE, and save him for the forbidden palace.

If you want to continue expanding all game, play a terra map. The AI seems to prioritize conquest of the old world over expansion in the new. Except Hiawatha, he has dysentery and a colon full of settlers.