How many cities?

[ZapRowsdower]

I want to be cautious about overexpanding and killing my happiness. Does it make sense that I can found a new city if I will get a new luxury resource from it? In my current game (England on Archipelago, Prince level), there are lots of islands that could handle an extra city or two. I'm trying to figure out how many of them I can safely settle without overextending.

 

[Ahriman]

I'd say getting a new city is worth it if it has a luxury you don't have, unless you're going for a cultural victory.

 

[Grotius]

And if you're going for a culture win, just 3-4 cities? I hadn't realized that the cost of social policies increases with each new city.

 

[ZapRowsdower]

And if you're going for a culture win, just 3-4 cities? I hadn't realized that the cost of social policies increases with each new city.

Yeah, that increase is a bit disappointing. I usually start my games a bit unfocused: do some exploring, see who's near me, see what my starting land looks like. Then, once I get a few cities made and some teching done, I'll decide whether I feel like conquering or going for a different strat. This is especially true for Civ5 since I'm still trying to figure it out.

Having what is essentially a city number cap for a cultural win means that I need to decide VERY early to go that route.

 

[krunsh]

You can realy play the game with very few (1-2) or A LOT of city.

I wish the AI had differant strategy on that side. if they have enough place, they'll build 30 city.

 

[Zhahz]

I don't think it's so bad to go small for cultural, it's something different. It's also a lot of fun because your SPs FLY in if you're pumping culture like you should be. I did 3 city Ghandi last night and built amost every wonder (had two pop on the same turn just after Wu told me I was a wonder hog - it was hilarious).

So - I would consider your goal before overexpanding.

You can realy play the game with very few (1-2) or A LOT of city.

I wish the AI had differant strategy on that side. if they have enough place, they'll build 30 city.

Same old, same old. The AIs all seem to go for ICS REXing and domination/conquest (they seem to fight nonstop only pausing to build troops).

I agree, it would be nice if the AIs occasionally kept a smaller empire and went cultural or something. Maybe they do, I've only played 2 complete games. But so far they're warmongering expansionists.

 

[Iberian]

Same old, same old, but it still works the best. Between the social polices, wonders, and resources you can have a huge empire and crush everyone with your impressive armies. Currently China can't even build an army equal to mine even if they wanted to. Even the Aztecs are barely able to and it is killing him in tech.

Land still = Power. Only now it is easier to manage since you don't have to move 100's of units. Only downside is it is annoying to have to line up each unit instead of just moving the stack up to the city.