I've played "vanilla" Civ 4 for a couple of weeks now, and I need some help. I play on Warlord difficulty(I believe, whatever the 3rd easiest is). And I have never been able to win. The games I do finish I get a Dan Quayle rating
.
Anyways here are my questions:
1) How many cities should you have. I know this is probably a hard question to answer because of map types and stuff, but what is the general rule. I usually have around 5, and I'm guessing that's not nearly enough.
2) Is it better to have a fewer big cities, and alot of small cities? Whats more beneficial?
3) When making new cities, is it best to keep them out of another cities "fat cross"? Or is there some times that it's alright to share a fat cross between 2 cities?
4) Do you want all cities to get huge, or is there some points where you should make sure you're city doesn't grow?
5) I read about watching the happiness cap. I don't really understand that. Because alot of my cities get angry because "it's too crowded". Is there something that you can do about that, or does that always happen.
6) I here alot about Beyond the Sword. Should I wait to get that until I'm better at Vanilla, or would getting it now make the game experience better for me? Also do you need Warlords for BtS or can you do without out it?
Thanks for the help.

Anyways here are my questions:
1) How many cities should you have. I know this is probably a hard question to answer because of map types and stuff, but what is the general rule. I usually have around 5, and I'm guessing that's not nearly enough.
2) Is it better to have a fewer big cities, and alot of small cities? Whats more beneficial?
3) When making new cities, is it best to keep them out of another cities "fat cross"? Or is there some times that it's alright to share a fat cross between 2 cities?
4) Do you want all cities to get huge, or is there some points where you should make sure you're city doesn't grow?
5) I read about watching the happiness cap. I don't really understand that. Because alot of my cities get angry because "it's too crowded". Is there something that you can do about that, or does that always happen.
6) I here alot about Beyond the Sword. Should I wait to get that until I'm better at Vanilla, or would getting it now make the game experience better for me? Also do you need Warlords for BtS or can you do without out it?
Thanks for the help.