What am I doing wrong?

[damienreave]

I updated to the newest version of ROMAND and I feel like something is seriously wrong. I'm playing on the 15 player TSL earth map. Emperor difficulty, Epic speed.

http://i.imgur.com/gVu6SHx.jpg

Every technology takes 40-ish turns to research. There's almost no happiness that I can access early, since for some reason neither gold or silver give it. Trade will give me +1 from charity/granaries and +1 from pearls, so that's something, but my cities have been stuck on 3 population (4 for the capital) for a long time.

I'm only on Emperor difficulty, but the AIs have more than double my score. What am I doing wrong?

 

[philipschall]

Tech takes a while due to your difficulty and game speed, happiness resources are more scarce in the early game but there are more happiness buildings (cemetary, walls, menagerie if you're lucky). Calendar for resources and Monarchy/senate/republic allow cities to grow bigger. Don't pay attention to the score early game, it can be severely misleading.

 

[damienreave]

I usually play with Barbs off, so no Menagerie. Graveyard takes 6 techs (Stone Tools, Mining Woodworking, Masonry, Ritualism and Ceremonial Burial). Just feels like the early happiness is TOO lacking.

I started a new game as Carthage just now and it takes 67 (!!) turns to research Hunting, my very first tech. Again, Epic speed, Emperor difficulty. There's only 1800 turns in the game. Are you sure something isn't messed up? If techs take an average of 50 turns, I'll only get through 36 of them, and there's quite a few more than that.

 

[45°38'N-13°47'E]

I understand this is one of your first games with this mod. Why starting on emperor? Try noble and use Flexible Difficulty. In your case techs take that long because of your handicap.

 

[damienreave]

Its not one of my first games. I was previously playing a game on an earlier version (not sure which, probably a build about a year old?). All of the same settings, and I was keeping up fine. Also there was a reasonable amount of happiness early on.

Then I thought I should update to the newest version and start over. I really wish I had kept that older version, it seemed a lot better balanced.

 

[45°38'N-13°47'E]

It was not. The current one is way better balanced, only very different. The older version was very easy to win even on deity. Try an easier level and you'll see. Just be warned that the latest revisions have a problem with AI attacking, or better not doing it properly.