A few days ago I updated to the latest SVN and started a Deity/nightmare game. Large map/snail speed/tech diffusion on. Size Matters off because there are too many exploits in that. Played Smoke Jaguar: agressive/industrious/hunter-gatherer.
I also decided on one "house rule": no selling units to the AI (not even if the AI asks for it) since the AI overvalues units to a ridiculous degree, making it easy to rush through the tech tree just by building and selling workers.
Initial game went well. Scouted a bit, settled close to another AI, decent location with river/hills/caves. Built several early wonders, then conquered the neighbouring city after I got to barter. By the time I got to Mining and Caste System I had 4 cities, and a slightly positive cash flow with 100% tech and no cities on Build Wealth.
I then conquered a fifth city, and after deleting my excess units and maintain enough police units to keep crime in the mild positives, I was able to break even with 100% tech and 2 of 5 cities on build wealth. So far things were looking good.
However, after that my game stagnated and my financial situation deteriorated. By the time I reached writing/bronze working/monarchy I had to put 3 or 4 cities out of 5 on build wealth to break even. However, unlike a few months ago, despotism/monarchy would worsen my financial situation instead of bettering it. So I was forced to stay on tribalism. And as the AI got stronger I had to maintain a bigger military, which is expensive as each unit costs 6 in upkeep.
So I slugged on, trading resources for techs, researching stuff myself also. But every time my money increased, inflation and increased unit costs would eat up the extra cash. I reached mid-classical, and after building courthouses (-25% upkeep) everywhere I STILL had only 5 cities, of which three were on build wealth.
These are good, large cities in good locations, but my game is stagnating heavily as I am financially unable to expand. Meanwhile the Greeks are at 30 cities, have one (small) vassal, and have researched gunpowder (early renaissance). Oh and one of my enemies just bribed these Greeks into declaring war on me. Luckily they are on the other side of the planet.
Looking at my financial report, l see:
Unit cost 81
Unit supply 0
City maintenance 507
Civic upkeep 444
Inflation 474
total expenses 1506
And crime is between -146 and +50.
In other words, I'm stuck on 5 cities already for an age and a half, and probably for the forseeable future.
So far I have neglected education, as initial penalties are mild and not worth the 6/unit for ineffective educators. Now that I have access to better educators with better promotions, I started to build some, and may get 2 or 3 cities on positive education levels in many turns, as it takes a lot of time to come back from low education. That would give me some more hammers and commerce, but I doubt it will make me financially solvent without cities building wealth.
A few months ago I tried out deity/nightmare and considered it hard but winneable. I was at lower tech level and had 17 cities, half of which were building wealth. Now I wonder if it is still winnable, as I seem to be financially unable to expand beyond 5 cities. I fear that if I take/build another city all my production would be used up for upkeep cost. I'll continue this game for a while to see how it develops.