[R&F] Culture Victory Strategy

[Mesix]

To illustrate the build units and conquer approach, I started a game as Peter. I will include some screenshots and details about the Ancient Era in this post. This game was set up as Immortal, Continents, standard size (not small which is default), and maximum CS. Everything else was left default.

Here is what my start looks like.

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Pretty nice. My first worker will improve the rice, one stone, and create one pasture when the time comes. Plenty of tundra tiles to the south to get the bonus production and faith as well.

Even with a hill, it takes 6 turns to build my first scout. Which is followed by a second.

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Look up there to the north. Looks like a nice spot for a 2nd city on the coast.

On turn 12 I finish the 2nd scout and start building a slinger.

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3 turns later I complete Code of Laws and go with Discipline (hunting barbs) and God King (need that early faith for a pantheon) for my early policies.

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On turn 23 I finish Astrology and start building my Lavra. As you can see, I have two slingers done already and also a worker (from a goodie hut IIRC).

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On turn 29 I finish Craftsmanship after the boost from my worker finishing the pasture. I change my military policy card to speed up production of units.

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I have also cleared a couple more barbarian camps and have enough gold to buy a setter.

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...and on turn 35 I settle my 2nd city on the coast to the north.

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Divine Spark seems like a good choice for my pantheon. I might snag an early religion and also get some extra artistic great people later on.

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By turn 47 I have finished State Workforce and I change my policies. Conscription will save me cash from my growing military and Urban Planning will be useful for new cities to have the production boost (1 production is a big boost for a newly settled or conquered city).

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After moving my troops into position, it is time to DOW my first victim.

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By turn 51 I have managed to snag an early religion. Choral Music will help to get early social policies and Cathedrals have places for extra religious artwork.

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Turn 60. I have taken the Norwegian capital.

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For some reason, Harald only has two cities. I'm not sure if early barbarian activity slowed him down, or perhaps he didn't find the coast having started inland. He only has two cities (or should I say only one more) for me to take.

At the end of the Ancient Era I have three cities, and I am about to capture a 4th and remove Harald from the game. I have Lavras in all three cities (Harald built one of them) and I am a few turns from finishing a Campus in my capital. During the Classical Era I will get Shrines and Temples in these Lavras to start cranking out more culture (from Choral Music) and faith to buy workers and settlers.

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Having earned a Golden Age, I choose Monumentality as my dedication to get settlers and workers with faith for expansion and development during the Classical Era. You might also note that I have already DOW Australia. This is for the benefit of having no war weariness as a Surprise War in the Ancient Era does not have the penalty that it will in the Classical Era.

 

[Fluphen Azine]

Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose.
Instead of messing with America after stealing a Settler I should of tried to get two free CS's!
I should of positioned some Army near them when the Netherlands and Gilgamesh took them out.
That would of been a better play!
After I captured Bandar Brunei, I would of had 7 cities before turn 50!
Not a record but that is fast for me.

With my Gorgo Start looking back on it perhaps going encampment first would of been better.
Get a GG and chop in a large horse army.
Kill my neighbors quicker and focus tourism afterwards.

In my game I fell into a Medieval Dark Age.
This gave me some problems and made walls harder to break.
I even lost focus and had Mycenae revolt on me.
It took me 14 turns to get my Army down there and take it back when it flipped.
I had to DOW the Vikings to take it back.
What a mess!
Of course I missed a Heroic Age by 1 Era Point after the Dark Age!

So I had my other half of the Army work on America at the same time and meet at the Capital.
I would of wiped him out but he settled a city far to the South and I didn't want to bother wasting time.
However America gives me some Revenge by messing with one of my Culture CS's costing me an Envoy War.

To make matters worse... France keeps killing my spies when I try to steal some Great Works or Gold.
I think the game will end around turn 230-240 now if the required tourists don't move upwards on me.
Culture games can really drive me crazy lol.
I did build some Wonders like Cristo/Eiffel and some others that probably do me no good.

I have to keep remembering to focus on what Victoria suggested in that you only want to build things that are pushing your Culture Victory.
I will say that this is the first time I have been over 1000 Culture Per Turn so Fast.
As a matter of fact I don't think I every played a Civ VI game generating that much Culture Per Turn.
Not sure how it helps since I finished the Culture Tree around turn 200 or so.
I also should of went for Computers before the Eiffel Tower Tech... that has to be a mistake.

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Wrapped up the game at turn 249/250.
Not sure how you register that when you are Culture Dominant on Turn 249 but you finish after clicking next turn?
Anyways that is 100 turns off of what I am trying to learn how to do.
I am supposed to be able to get this CV around turn 150 with ease right??
I am doing something wrong like Warmongering too much or whatever LOL!
I lost 4 spies trying to steal Great Works this time!
I never got the Thief Upgrade when I did steal other things and got promoted.
I should of built the Spy Building instead of the Faith Unit Purchasing one.

Next time I will try for Great General with Horse Rush if Horses are around.
I have to not fall into these Dark/Normal Ages as well... that has to hurt!
I also bought an early Naturalist but couldn't use him for a long time.
Does that go by turn time or tech or civic when you can build a National Park?

 

[Midgardsormr]

You should be able to use the Naturalist as soon as you buy him. Probably you didn't have enough appeal on the tiles yet. It probably unlocked as soon as you finished Eiffel Tower and raised appeal everywhere. If you'd maybe swapped one or two mountain tiles from Sparta to Argos, you might have been able to build it one space to the right sooner. Although the mines might have prevented it. Not sure without actually looking up the values.

Planting trees in and around the potential park site is a good way to raise appeal. Did you harvest that rainforest under the bananas? Rainforest reduces appeal, not only for itself but for adjacent tiles.

 

[Fluphen Azine]

Thank You!
That is an interesting mechanic.
You have to increase appeal on your tiles... I understand now.
I never worried about such things in all my games because I was too busy playing GI Joe!

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After reading about how strong Persia is on a Culture Victory I decided to play them next.
Deity Pangaea Map Standard Standard as usual for me.
The start didn't look very good to me at one hex NW of the Cows.
I decided to move and settle on my third click.
I did this to get the Pipe Tobacco so I could sell it and get the free culture from the start.
Not such a great move moving into the tundra but I did have more trees to chop here.

I played the game different this time going with a Scout First.
First Hut gave me another Scout so I didn't build two as I was planning.
Instead I built a builder this time instead of Army since it looked like I had enough room and no Barbs.
After that I hard built a settler to settle the Natural Wonder.
I planted that city on the Silk so I could sell it asap.
I had 4 Barb camps that I never got the chance to clear.
The AI took them every time I got close which hurt because I missed the first Golden Age by 1 Era Score 23/24.
Of Course if I would of scouted to my East just a little bit I would of found Uluru in time but I suck at this game!
Oh and maybe if I would of rushed my Unique Building I could be in a Golden Age as well!

I opted for a string of Surprise Wars to get the Bonus.
I didn't have much of an Army but I started with the Vikings.
They didn't like that and came with an attack.
I was able to get a Warrior over in time and build a Slinger to help.
Some Warriors and Slingers after that and I killed all his units.
Upgrade to Archers and took two out of his 4 cities.
I got Japan to help but they rolled a Faith CS instead.
I had to peace out in the last screenshot because of the walls.
No Horses or Iron in sight but I don't think Immortals need Iron do they?
I don't know because I don't play these OP Civs very often.

Anyways my Gorgo start was much better.
This one is annoying and I doubt I can get a CV before turn 200.
Gold was used to buy a Monument and a Builder so far.
This game I went for Religion with the plan of Encampment/Culture Districts.
Thinking of Choral Music since it is the rage these days and I did get Harvest up which is nice.
Any Questions?

 

[myclan]

The most common reason that you can't build a National Park is the 4 tiles don't belong to the same city.

 

[Fluphen Azine]

I am doing pretty horrible on this Map with Persia.
On turn 100 I have 11 cities but compared to my Gorgo game where I only had 7 my stats look terrible when compared.
With Gorgo I was pulling 52 SPT and 104 CPT.
With Persia I am at 32 and 43 respectively.

Around turn 117 I took down the Vikings and heading towards Japan but everything for Culture is much slower this time.
I am not really happy with the game or my game play along with production.
I want to blame the Map but it is just my inferior game play.
One nice thing is 11 cities by turn 100 so that is better for me but I think I could have squeezed out a few more.

 

[Mesix]

Continuing on my game with Peter, here is a brief synopsis of the Classical Era. For this era the Russian empire is in a Golden Age and Monumentality will allow the purchase of settlers and workers with faith.

As you might expect, Norway was taken out of the game a couple of turns into the classical era.

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The Lavras also start spitting out Great Writers at the start of the Classical Era. There are so many, that I promise not to post any more updates about this.

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It turns out that Australia has quite a large army having taken over two CS already. My troops are also slowed down by the jungle which separates me from Australia. I elect to spend my Envoy to solicit the help of Granada as a distraction.

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Here you can see my two scouts, having finished their exploration of this landmass, hiding behind Granada's forces.

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First order of business is to liberate Kandy which happens on turn 88.

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I must have been having a lot of fun playing through this Classical Era war, because I do not have many screenshots. As the end of the era draws near, I have taken a couple of screenshots to highlight my progress.

Monumentality allowed me to buy three settlers (and several workers). I have built a city in the tundra to the south to maximize Russia's special ability (and hopefully rush a wonder) and also a city on the coast. There is a settler on the way to the desert near the Arch, which will probably turn out to be a waste of a city.

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In the north, I have taken three more cities from Australia and have upgraded 2x shot Crossbows knocking on the door of his remaining cities. One more to conquer and a CS to liberate and he will be history.

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Choral Music has done wonders for my culture, but my science is lagging a bit. For this reason, I elect to go with Free Inquiry for the Medieval golden age.

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[Mesix]

Continuing the saga of Peter in the Medieval Era...

By turn 120, I have John Curtin on the ropes. I will liberate Yerevan next turn to put him in the history books. This will secure my starting continent and allow me to look outward. Yerevan will give me some additional faith and also allow me to choose promotions for my Apostles.

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Seeing as how I am playing for a cultural VC, at turn 120 and after finishing two eras, it seems like a good time to check in on the culture progress. Victoria seems to be the front runner in the AI players at this point, so she might need some freedom!

Sing it with me:
"Are you ready, hey, are you ready for this?
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust..."

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On turn 137 I took this snapshot to show the great people starting to pile up. I now have one each writer, artist, and musician waiting to somewhere to display their works. Take a look at how my Commercial Hubs and Harbors have helped my science.

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After spending the Classical Era buying workers and settlers with faith, there are slim pickings for religious beliefs. The extra faith and culture will come in handy.

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On there way to introducing England to the ideas of Freedom and Democracy, my troops have reached a bottleneck. For some reason, they cannot pass Granada's archer.

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Magnus will help me to chop St. Basil's Cathedral. Harvesting the swamps will also help the population to grow to take advantage of the tundra. Science is now over 100 per turn as well.

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Turn 147, Opera & Ballet marks the start of the Industrial Era (in the Medieval Era).

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I've got the Harbormaster to enhance the adjacency bonuses which currently provide both gold and science. It may be too little, too late as the era will be over in a few turns.

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Turn 148. My troops are almost in position to start the next war. Vicky seems to be pulling ahead of the AI pack for tourism, so I've picked the right target.

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Three turns later I switch in Professional Army after finishing Mercantilism. I can upgrade my navy for the assault (although it will take a few turns for the ships to get here).

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Unfortunately, Formal War is the only option available

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...and by turn 154, I've taken Manchester.

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Again slim pickings for religious beliefs. I won't found too many more cities, but when I do, at least they will start with my religion.

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Another era draws to a close. For the next golden age, I've selected Hic Sunt Dracones, mostly for the +2 naval and embarked movement. The loyalty bonus could also come in handy during my war with Vicky.

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Vicky is still in the lead for AI tourism, but seeing as how I've taken two cities and have my troops amassed outside of London, she should slow down a bit in the next era. If I can hold off meeting the other civs, I can take Vicky out completely without taking the diplo hit. I am also starting to accrue tourism.

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[Forster]

Too bad you didn't post the initial start file.

 

[Mesix]

I didn't save the initial start either, but I might be able to get the game and map seed if you are interested in playing this map.

 

[Mesix]

Continuing my passive-aggressive Culture VC, here are a few screenshots showing the state of my empire at the start of the Renaissance Era.

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In the north are the cities formerly known as Australia. Mental note to spread my religion up this way.

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In the southeast of my original continent are the two Norwegian cities plus two new additions settled in the Medieval era. Kazan turned out to be a poor location when one of the AI players built Petra (probably in a worthless location, let's keep our eyes out for that) a few turns after the city was built. In hind sight, a game like this where my culture is outpacing science by a good clip, it doesn't make much sense to try for any wonders on the science tech tree.

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Here is the region around my capital. Is that city called Ash-Tray-Can? No worries, it is one of the only locations to benefit from Russia's unique tundra ability, and in 9 more turns will get some added benefit as well.

Let's start the Renaissance Era out with a couple of boosts towards the next Golden Age.

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Here is what my Merchant Republic is looking like in the policy department. You may have noticed that I am building walls in several cities. This is to take advantage of the 1/2 build time from Limes while supplies last (it will be obsolete soon). The walls will pay dividends once I reach Conversation and they provide Tourism.

Hello Catherine. I was trying to hold off on meeting you until England was finished off. Oh well.

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...and a couple turns later Genghis Khan introduces himself as well.

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I guess I will have to pull my punches a bit. No need to upset all of the AI players with my war mongering.

At least something is going my way. St. Basil's Cathedral will make Ash-Tray-Can a useful city in the tundra.

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Turn 172. A couple of things to note here. There is a thin strip of land at the north of the map where this horseman and crossbowman were able to clear 3 barb camps and 4 goodie huts IIRC. Also, Genghis Khan is sporting Ironclads already.

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One more thing to note. Civil Engineering will complete in one more turn, at which time the Limes policy becomes obsolete.

Time to redistribute my policies. In addition to Limes, Gothic Architecture has also become obsolete. I elect to save a bit of cash on my military and concentrate on some diplomatic policies for the time being. As I have met most of the AI players, I am sending my navy out to explore and the +1 to initial envoys will come in handy as I meet new City States.

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...and there is Lautaro, so now I've met everyone.

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No need to put the final nail in her coffin. At turn 175, I demand all of her gold plus 40 gold per turn for peace with Vicky. Better to stave off the anger of the other AI players.

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The territory of the former British crown rejoices in their freedom!

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That Colosseum might look like it will take a long time in London, but fear not...Magnus is on his way soon!

Genghis Khan and Catherine are neck and neck in tourism. Sure Vicky is still in the lead, but she won't be growing much more.

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You can also see the coastline of Genghis Khan's kingdom as my navy has started exploring.

On Turn 183 I rework my policies again. Colonial Taxes will help to improve gold and production in the former British territory and Skyscrapers will help with some of the wonders I plan to build in the coming turns (with the help of Magnus of course).

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In other news, Conservation has finished on turn 183 so all those walls will start to generate tourism. I have been targeting Genghis Khan with international trade routes to increase my exposure.

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...and by turn 192, Cultural Heritage ushers in the Atomic Era (during the Renaissance Era).

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Turn 200 marks the start of the Industrial Era. Appropriately, I select Heart of Steam for my next Golden Age. With Magnus, Skyscrapers policy, and Heart of Steam, chopping forests will really rush some late game wonders!

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Catherine is starting to pull ahead of the pack, and it looks like she only has about 3-4 cities. I might need to help the French Revolution along in the coming era...

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[Mesix]

Don't underestimate the walls. in 25 turns (from 175 to 200) I went from 142 tourism to 227 tourism. Yes, there are other factors (a couple of wonders and some more cultural great people), but the lion's share of this 85 tourism bump came from Conservation civic and walls!

 

[Gaonac'h]

I still havn't tried myself this salted fish strategy, it seems to be one of the strongest way of winning cv but I am not a huge fan of peaceful play and I am not sure how well it would work on a continental map or an isolated start? or poor ressources start?

For cv I personally like to rush either archeologists or flight, you just have to make sure the ai don't grow too much culture. (denying great writers, killing ai,...)
Also I wouldn't recommend to completely wipe out an ai, especially in the early game, just leave them on 1 or 2 cities.
And if you are scared of them flipping you can just leave some troops behind to liberate the free city and then it seems the city won't suffer from loyalty anymore.
Here 2 deity games I played recently, in both of them I tried to keep the domestic tourists of the ai as low as possible while keeping them alive.

First game as Kongo on pangea map (cv turn 138)

Went with knights while spamming theatres and campus to reach printing, archeologists and finally computers.
The map being pangea made it pretty easy to ensure the ai from growing too much culture.
I did get a little bit lucky as i triggered 2 emergencies, so I had plenty of golds to buy archeologists.

Second game as Egypt on earth map (cv turn 159)

I basically just spammed campus/uni to get to flight fast while covering the whole map with sphinx. I've only built 2 theatres for eurekas.
The early game was quite tough as I had no room to expand good cities and my conquest was pretty slow. Reached flight and computers quite late.
Even though it was a pretty slow game, I think it's one of the game I enjoyed the most, as putting sphinx everywhere was pretty fun.

If you want a relatively fast cv, archeologists is always a safe bet imo.
And if you play a civ with an UI, going very heavy on science is also a good idea.

 

[Fluphen Azine]

Look at those stats!
800 to 900 SPT
600 to 750 CPT
300 FPT
600 GPT

All of this around turn 130 to 160!
40+ Cities!

I am really bad at this game lol

 

[Mesix]

Continuing into the Industrial Era...

First let's have a look around my little empire. Here are my first two cities. As I am running out of room for great works, I build wonders with extra slots available.

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Moving eastward, here are five more cities in the area where the Vikings once resided. You might wonder why I thought the Statue of Liberty was necessary. At this point in the game, I already have all of the cities I need. Well, I can use the settlers to forward settle a beach head for an invasion.

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England was nice enough to settle these six cities for me. There is one more English city tucked away to to the northeast of London. Magnus is in Manchester to chop Sydney's Opera House.

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Five more cities to the north round out my empire.

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Catherine has converted Cadiz which presents an opportunity to make some friends...

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...unfortunately, they aren't interested in joining the emergency. Not even Philip who has just lost his holy city. No matter, I have enough faith to buy several Apostles.

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It is amazing how fast Magnus can chop a wonder!

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A Natural Forest will drive even more tourists my way.

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On turn 209, I've successfully converted Cadiz (which is on the border near French territory). I have to hold it for 16 turns to win the emergency.

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Here is a snapshot of my government policies on turn 209.

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Victoria's last city has revolted removing England from the game. IIRC this happened a few turns earlier, but this is when I have moved my units into position to see the city. No need to conquer it, because my loyalty pressure will take the city. It is worthwhile to kill the units and keep them from wreaking havoc in my territory.

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After converting Cadiz, my apostles crossed the border into France and converted Paris as well. Catherine will have a tough time converting Cadiz back if her cities are following my religion.

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This triggers another emergency, and this time two AI players want to join in on the fun. Philip is willing to fight for the French religion, but not his own? In the background you can see that I have finished the Statue of Liberty and now have two settlers who can sail towards French territory along with some military units.

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Turn 216, the rebels in Birmingham have petitioned to join these United States (of Russia).

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Catherine is currently at war with Philip and Lautaro and Genghis Khan doesn't like her much either. I'm sure they won't mind if I denounce her.

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The completion of Cold War allows me to reshuffle my policy cards. My aim is to maximize the Loyalty of the cities near France as I go to war. What was that? I don't have any cities near France? Well, we will just have to fix that.

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Another relic and 6,000 gold. This will generate a bit more culture and also allow me to buy several buildings in my new cities.

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A Holy War seems ironically appropriate given the emergencies.

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Speaking about emergencies, this one will give me another 4,000 gold and convert all of the cities neighboring Paris!

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On turn 233, I've finished researching Computers which will really boost my tourism.

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After taking all but one of Catherine's cities, I offer her peace. No need to anger all of the AI players if I don't need to.

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Catherine's city of Dijon will rebel in 6 turns anyway, which will remove her from the game. I have already beaten all of the other players in tourism. Sorry that I didn't get any screenshots of the action. Philip and Lautaro have been chipping away at her forces, so it was very quick for me to march through and take her cities. In fact, as I was attacking, one of her cities was near revolting due to the loyalty penalties from Lautaro killing units in her territory.

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I didn't have to wait 6 turns. After only 4 turns, I have amassed enough tourists to also dominate France. I'm not sure why she dropped from 99 to 96 tourists. I thought this was cumulative and have never noticed this decreasing in previous games.

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Cultural Victory on turn 246. Not a record breaking game, but also not too shabby.

 

[Fluphen Azine]

One thing I forget to do is to ICS with Faith and a Golden Age.
I was trying this lately and I made plenty of mistakes and forgot many things to do but when you Faith buy settlers you can double your empire pretty quick.

 

[Victoria]

Also I wouldn't recommend to completely wipe out an ai, especially in the early game,

I in fact quite often do. Sure it slows you down in a way but keeping them alive can be rather pesky with their denouncement and so forth.
Early game tourism is nearly useless, also if you graph a games tourism you find that the extra civ did not help that much, especially with no open borders.

 

[Fluphen Azine]

I played this game today with Kongo.
Deity Standard Standard Pangaea Map.
I tried to do something like Gaonac'h posted up.
It took me much longer to get a Victory.
I was unable to get that Classical Golden Age once again.
I did get a couple after that and right before the win I fell into a Dark Age.
I noticed the Dark Age didn't hurt my tourism as far as I could tell for the 2 or 3 turns.

In the end I had 21 cities which is only half of what I need I suppose.
Spain attacked me before I was ready and took a city which I got right back.
Interesting that I was given an emergency to get it back which netted me 2400 gold.
I had to defend and peace out.
After ten turns I took them over but as suggested I let two cities live.
That didn't work out so well since later they came back with about 20 Xbows which I killed.
However I think it would of been less headache to just take them out of the game compared to letting them live.

I struggled on being able to keep Domestic Tourists Low.
How does one keep them Low?
I struggled on all my stats compared to his screen shot.
Not even close to 900 SPT or 700 CPT
How does one go about getting such high output by turn 120-140?

I am sure my build orders were all wrong.
I was able to faith buy things like Science/Theater Buildings and Archaeologists which was nice but tricky since my Faith Output was only around 75 to 150.

Perhaps my Tech direction was wrong.
I rushed up to Flight and over to Computers before the bottom of the Tree.
This is why I didn't have the Eiffel Tower.
Should you rush Eiffel first or not worry about it?

Should you rush Chemistry to get up Labs before Flight or Computers?
I noticed I should of put the citizens in the Theaters and Campuses as well.
I put them in later after I thought about it 30 or 40 turns too late!

How do seaside resorts work by the way?
I have seen some screenshots where they have them side by side?
Do you have to get your tile appeal up higher to be able to build them?

Should you stop growing your cities at Ten Population?
I tend to forget and they grow out of control at times on me.

This map was a dream for players but I didn't save the turn 0 file.
I found a Culture and Science CS right away.
The Science CS got rolled but the Culture one was with me for about 205 turns.
Lots of Luxuries but you had to rush Irrigation to make them pay off.
My trade didn't go so well since nobody liked me having Spanish Wars that they started!

As always any help is appreciated.

 

[chazzycat]

How hard did you knight rush? It seems like Gaonach's early victory time is mostly a result of conquering the AI very quickly and amassing all those cities. He has conquered the entire world save a couple cities...that's how he has those crazy outputs. And of course when the AI is completely destroyed like that, reduced to rump states...they have no ability to put up defensive culture either. It's basically a domination victory.

How do seaside resorts work by the way?
I have seen some screenshots where they have them side by side?
Do you have to get your tile appeal up higher to be able to build them?

You can only build them on coastal flat desert/plains/grassland and with breathtaking or better appeal, so the locations are typically fairly limited. They do provide a substantial amount of tourism. If you conquer the entire map, then of course you can spam them all over the place and jack your tourism output way way up.

 

[Gaonac'h]

@Fluphen Azine
In my Kongo game I almost fell into a dark age. I rarely get classical golden tbh, or I never really try to get it.
I went for a horsemen rush with an early encampement in the capital to kill my first 2 neighbors and then I went for knights around turn 80. I had something like 8 horses and 10knights.
I added some more knights after my first push to help the conquest and also to defend against barbs, had something like 20 knights or so in the end.
I had babylon and plenty of good city state so my cpt and spt is a bit inflated.
Going for Eiffel tower could be a good idea if you have a poor treasury to buy archeologists but I don't think getting golds with neighborhood work with Kongo.(Mbanza)
I didnt build a single tech lab, and I also only built unis in cities who could chop it or produce it fast enough.
For population most of my cities weren't getting the enlightment boost so I only used the double adjacency card for campus and theaters.
And about trading, I only traded two luxuries early in the game and that's about it. I saved all my money for army and then archeologists.

First drop is the army being upgraded, second is me buying archeologists.

I in fact quite often do. Sure it slows you down in a way but keeping them alive can be rather pesky with their denouncement and so forth.
Early game tourism is nearly useless, also if you graph a games tourism you find that the extra civ did not help that much, especially with no open borders

I am not sure to understand ? Do you mean after your early conquest you just try to have good relationship with remaining ai?
In the 2 games I played I didn't exchange open borders with anybody, I just had trade routes with every ai.
As i did get every great writers the ai couldnt grow too much culture so maybe going so heavy on war was a mistake.