Mystery inflation w/ Jonas!

[KingOfLands]

I don't think the game is beyond redemption.

Start by killing off the nearby bears and skeletons. Get rid of threats.
Then scale down your military. Disband troops and try to get out of the rut. Hell,they'll start disbanding themselves when you go into debt anyway.

restructure tile working in every city, to focus exclusively on commerce where possible. Riverside squares are most important

Look at your civic options, and change to anything that lowers maintenance.

What techs do you have?

I'd actually done reasonably well on teching, considering, and penetrated to Tier 3 along a few lines, all military. I played for 40-odd turns after taking that screenshot in astonishment and managed to get my research moving again, sort of, but it just wasn't going to improve enough to get back into the game, so I let it go.

A better player - like I mentioned above, I'm only recently moved up to Emperor - wouldn't have gotten into the situation in the first place and would probably have handled things better generally even if they did.

 

[Grey Fox]

I haven't checked your game, but either build more cities and build markets and courthouses everywhere. Build cottages everywhere or switch to Aristocracy and farm. (Can still use cottages tho)

Jonas strength is in building many cities and switching civics with ease. Use that to your advantage.