Well, I have no problem staying alive I must admit. My culture usually rocks other nations away, since I am too advanced for them to try anything. The point is that you need to expand fast and a lot. If you develop those cities, you can specialize. either you go for every city has every advancement, or either you go for several cities produce soldiers like crazy, so you can fend off invaders. You have to take into account that certain areas are better for developing soldiers than others. CIties in open space usually have less "hammers" meaning they can develop more slowly. If you're near mountains, those will provide more "production", meaning you can pump out soldiers (and structures too) faster, but it also means that the food coming into that city is lower, meaning it will grow slower (lower population => less people working the land => less production as well). So it's taking care of that balance. The cities have to be able to grow, but production centers will usually go slower than others, but they are vital though.







