Help with Happiness

[dsmith]

I am really struggling with happiness on civilization 5. I have read everywhere about how to increase happiness, but I just can't understand how early in the game (1-3 cities for all civilizations), I am always dead last in happiness and it isn't even close. I am usually battling negative happiness while the next lowest civilization is way over 10. They only seem to have access to one luxury resource and even if I secure a second my happiness is always marginal.

What am I doing wrong? Does the AI just get some happiness bonus that makes it easier for them?

 

[THE_COW_IS_OK]

You ain't doing anything wrong. AI bonus It is.
In civ5, You really need to focus on happiness from the get go. (Grab close by lux, Get CS lux, trade for lux, Social policy (I always go for half hap per specialist + 1H/University + Half unhapiness per city), tech construction early so puppet build closseum...) In most domination games, I found happiness tp be the bottleneck.

 

[dsmith]

Thank you for the answer. It has been driving me crazy and I keep wondering if I am doing something wrong. It sounds like I need to focus a bit more on happiness earlier than I am.