- does trading among your own cities get you more resources, or are they simple transferred between cities?
- how much should I follow the recommendations for producing stuff? Sometimes it’s useful but it almost never tells me to produce a builder even though they seem kinda crucial
- how fast should I be expanding? Should I be starting cities as much and as quickly as possible?
- is it me, or is it very hard to trade favorably or even equally with non-human players? They never seem to be OK with trading one resource for another. They always want some gold too.
I’m only on my second game so far, so still figuring things out. Enjoying it a lot though!
I think the recommendations are just that. Maybe half the time they’re useful, trust your instincts on things like builders.
I personally expand in phases, not continually. I try to get at minimum 3 cities as quickly as safely possible. YMMV barbarian wise. Once I hit 3 I fortify a little, explore a little and build a builder to get going on refinements. I tend to go for scientific victory just fyi. Then when the three are humming along and I have some surplus military I start on the next 3-4 cities. This depends on terrain of course and those pesky neighbors.
Trading annoys me as I think you’ll come to see. The terms are lame and mostly the other leaders use it to build animosity towards you when you decline. The only good trades I ever get are when I’ve just destroyed them and waited 10 turns or so.