Running out of build choices early on

[OnmyojiOmn]

In most of my games, I have a period early on where I'm picking up either food or basic military techs and I run out of things to build. People say you can't have a big enough army, but I might have three cities down with no build options except for units, and I'll already have so many useless units built that the maintenance is cutting into my research. I'm often isolated, so I can't just throw a stack of them at someone. If I go for granaries or lighthouses, I get those built and then I'm back to square one. This goes on until Alphabet.

Should I go straight for Alphabet rather picking up techs for all of the resources in my city borders? Do people just spam units and delete them? Should I manually work food/commerce tiles even at happiness cap?

Thanks

 

[Andvare]

Wonders? More workers? More settlers (three cities are a bit less than I would prefer if isolated)? If not isolated, then go to war.
I think it comes down to better planning. Plan ahead. Don't build things you don't need. You can build a settler at happy cap, and still work those commerce tiles.

 

[Priah]

You are on a small isolated island with no contact with any other civs? You probably should have established more economic cities early on then, a pop 6 econ city can commonly have only 1 production, that way you arnt really wasting anything.

Or what you should really do is just turn your production cities into a gp farm. If you already have a library built, then just have two scientists running and get your gs asap.

Another thing, dont bother getting all those little techs early on. You dont really need pottery really early on except in a rare situation. You should really only get mining/bronzeworking , agriculture or hunting / animal husbandry then writing. Maybe fishing / sailing or the wheel as well, depending on your situation.

 

[Bleys]

You can also sort of "store" gold in Wonders. By starting one with no intention of actually finishing it, you can have your city storing its hammers until the current research (which possibly opens up a new building/unit/wonder you actually want) is completed. Those stored hammers will eventually be converted to gold when that wonder is completed by another civ.

Just remember if a wonder is in any queue anywhere in your empire, you cannot put it into another queue. In other words, if you WANT to build the Parthenon at one city, dont start it at a different city with the intention of having a different city actually build it.

 

[vicawoo]

Lack of things to build early? I can't even afford granaries. More settlers for more cities, more workers, more warriors for hereditary rule/fog busting. If you're getting trapped, then units to rush them.
And I like oracle a lot, so that's a money sink. Capital and high food city (at least +6 food for 2 scientists) want libraries.
Sometimes pyramids.
It sounds more like you're just not getting enough commerce.

 

[r_rolo1]

In most of my games, I have a period early on where I'm picking up either food or basic military techs and I run out of things to build. People say you can't have a big enough army, but I might have three cities down with no build options except for units, and I'll already have so many useless units built that the maintenance is cutting into my research. I'm often isolated, so I can't just throw a stack of them at someone. If I go for granaries or lighthouses, I get those built and then I'm back to square one. This goes on until Alphabet.

Should I go straight for Alphabet rather picking up techs for all of the resources in my city borders? Do people just spam units and delete them? Should I manually work food/commerce tiles even at happiness cap?

Thanks

This is a clear indicator that your economy can't hold the number of cities you have ( aka " the hole" ). I suppose that the best way of dealing with it ( like said above ) is to plan ahead, even if to have currency ( with the wealth option ) or Alphabet ( with the research one ) in time

 

[Artichoker]

It looks like you are missing one key tech that allows you to build a new building. Whatever that tech is, you can find out by looking at the tech tree and seeing which of the new techs allow you to build a new building.

Once you get access to Libraries, Courthouses, Markets, Forges, and Grocers, you'll have more choices than your city's production can usually keep up with.

Another thing to remember is the traits of your Leader. Most leaders provide a discount for producing several kinds of buildings. As a rule of thumb, try to build those buildings before most other buildings. And try to get the techs for those buildings as a priority.