What are people's thoughts on strategy when you find yourself alone on a continent?
I found myself in this situation in my most recent game (Monarch, as Cyrus) and seemed to have screwed it up (sorry no saves). I tend to find I struggle if I don't have a nearby neighbour to build my cities for me, and being alone on a continent is an extreme example.
My general plan was to focus on developing my initial three cities and get them cottaged up and producing good commerce & science (the Island was food poor, so an SE wasn't really an option). I also targetted the Great Wall (to help with barbs and get an early GE) and Colossus (all but one of my planned cities would be coastal).
In retrospect, the GW was unnecessary as I could build Immortals (didn't think of it at the time, but they are kick-ass barb killers) and I ended up building the Colossus without using my GE (Industrious & Copper).
I thought I executed my plan pretty well, but I'm so far behind where I usually am in tech and Hatty has just showed up with a very heavy tech (and everything else) lead, and is now starting to settle my continent :-(
Was keeping it tight the right thing to do - should I have built more cities? Should I have bee-lined a religion and different wonders (Oracle & GL?)? What do you do if you find yourself alone and out of touch?
I found myself in this situation in my most recent game (Monarch, as Cyrus) and seemed to have screwed it up (sorry no saves). I tend to find I struggle if I don't have a nearby neighbour to build my cities for me, and being alone on a continent is an extreme example.
My general plan was to focus on developing my initial three cities and get them cottaged up and producing good commerce & science (the Island was food poor, so an SE wasn't really an option). I also targetted the Great Wall (to help with barbs and get an early GE) and Colossus (all but one of my planned cities would be coastal).
In retrospect, the GW was unnecessary as I could build Immortals (didn't think of it at the time, but they are kick-ass barb killers) and I ended up building the Colossus without using my GE (Industrious & Copper).
I thought I executed my plan pretty well, but I'm so far behind where I usually am in tech and Hatty has just showed up with a very heavy tech (and everything else) lead, and is now starting to settle my continent :-(
Was keeping it tight the right thing to do - should I have built more cities? Should I have bee-lined a religion and different wonders (Oracle & GL?)? What do you do if you find yourself alone and out of touch?