#Civ 5 early game strategy mod

The InfoAddict mod (also available in the Steam Workshop) is invaluable here, but the base game's demographics chart may show this too. If it drops too low, they'll see you as an easy target.

Build 'just enough' military units to keep your power level close to your neighbors.

During war, consider selling poor cities to far-off friends or weak rivals, burning them to the ground (watch your warmonger rating), or bypassing them entirely. Hook up happiness resources before founding new cities or send a worker with the settler and buy a resource tile if necessary to hook it up immediately. It's okay for very short durations on occasion but severely hurts your population growth.

Don't upset your neighbors by settling too close, expanding too fast, or attacking their city-state protectorates.You probably won't beat the AIs to their second city, but don't delay much past that or they'll pick that spot off with a third. It should be close, but it's okay if there's room for another city in between, but be wary of settling too close to a warmonger or expansionist leader. Multiple types are good, but three or four of one type will be good for trading later. It should have a decent grouping of new happiness resources. Scout early to find your second city location.Here is general advice you can use throughout the game and that applies particularly well in the early game. These were invaluable for getting me to Emperor in Civ4 and really boosted my enjoyment of the game. Just ask is a wealth of advice and strategy articles in the CivFanatics forums, including technical articles detailing the game mechanics. *** Human players also don't like me doing these.

*It's my Maya specific build order and I don't want to risk tournament players seeing it in case they point out how bad it is. Add walls and the city becomes almost impregnable. Leave one in a city and it can bombard a unit every turn at no risk to itself (until the city is actually taken). Archers (and their upgrades) are extremely good at defense. You don't need a massive army to defend yourself- a few units are enough thanks to the AI's poor unit management. If you don't do anything to annoy the AI, they usually won't attack you unless you're exceptionally weak. If it's closer to their capital than it is to yours, or if they were going to build there, it's a bit of a faux pas Building cities in land they consider 'theirs'.Building too many cities (and taking all the land).Attacking or bullying city states they are protecting.Things you should ideally avoid doing include***: Even if you do plan to destroy them later, keeping them happy means you can get the advantage later. When you do meet your neighbours, it helps to avoid pissing them off. Different leaders have different personalities - as a general rule anyone known for trying to take over the world is likely to do the same in Civilization.** Try to meet your neighbours with your scouts too. Use your scout and warrior to explore the areas around you for ruins and city states - the rewards from these more than pay for the scout. On a continents or pangea map, a scout should be the first thing you build. I won't go into specific build orders because they can be difficult to apply and I only really know one*.