First off, it’s important to understand the underlying principle that guides all your decisions: cost-effectiveness. You have many options to spend limited resources on. The more resources you spend on mediocre options, the fewer resources remain for those that make the biggest difference. Thus, skilful play is a matter of determining the most cost-effective strategy in any given situation. This gets quite complex, considering the number of choices and how they all tie together. The following information provides a solid foundation for every aspect of the game.

Proper deck management is a sophisticated skill that every other aspect depends upon. It boils down to finding a good balance between consistency and flexibility. Sticking to a handful of cards provides excellent consistency, but if things don’t go as planned, it’s difficult to adapt your strategy. On the other hand, keeping a large variety of cards provides excellent flexibility, but if you can’t play your best ones reliably, you’ll gradually fall behind those who do. Furthermore, it’s worth considering how many cards you can draw and play each turn. If you’ve got more resources, you can maintain a larger deck. This provides more flexibility without hurting your existing consistency, and circumvents the extra cost associated with playing the same cards multiple times per turn. As a rule of thumb, I aim for roughly 15 cards plus 1 times the current turn number. On the final turns, your actual deck size may divert drastically, because you are, for example, building as many wonders as possible, or culling everything but military cards.

It’s important to keep an eye on your deck size. The larger your deck grows, the harder it becomes to manage. Firstly, drawing the cards you want becomes increasingly dependent on good luck. Secondly, shuffling certain cards back into your deck becomes decreasingly useful, because the discard pile tends to contain more other cards as well. Thirdly, you’ll be drawing your best cards less often, which slows down your growth, and that leaves you with less gold to draw and burn those excess cards with. It’s a self-reinforcing cycle. You can avoid this predicament by regularly burning cards which are no longer pulling their weight, and moderating how many new ones you unlock. If you acquire a lot of new cards in short succession, you may want to cease researching technologies altogether, that way you can focus on trimming your deck back down to a manageable size first.

So when do you burn a card, and when do you unlock new ones? Well, that decision relies on your good judgement. Ideally, you either play or burn every card you draw on this or the next turn. If you are using a card sporadically, you’re better off without. Conversely, you should hold off on acquiring cards you intend to play a lot until you can do so consistently. If an important card is locked behind multiple consecutive technologies, you had better save up the science/hammer needed to unlock it in one turn, lest you waste resources on cards that don’t help you right now. You do want to burn at least one card every turn, so at times, you may want to acquire new cards for that purpose alone. All that said, you can’t always uphold these rules in practise. If you can’t play a certain card right now, you may still keep it if it could be invaluable later down the line.

It is essential that you found your cities in optimal locations. There’s three factors to keep in mind: resources, growth potential and defensibility. The specific resources you want to settle near depend on your current situation and strategy.

When you found your capital, one resource takes precedence over all others: food. Without sufficient food, your cities will lack the population needed to work all the improvements you build. You will also be unable to build various units without compounding the aforementioned problem. Lastly, it’s much more cost-effective to build settlers with food instead of hammers, and you should start creating those sooner rather than later. If you don’t found your capital near a food resource, it’s of paramount importance that you research Agriculture so you can start building farms right away. Fishing huts yield a fair amount of food as well, plus enough gold to buy food from the market with, but unless you build them on sea resources, they’re less cost-effective. Lastly, granaries help kick-start cities, but to get the most out of these, you’ll want to maintain a generous surplus of food in their cities.

After food, hammers may be the most important resource to go after. With more hammers, you can build more improvements for your growing population, and acquire various resources passively. Likewise, you can build more buildings with them. Lastly, they offer more flexibility: if you lack certain resources, you can usually pay with hammers instead. If your capital lacks a good source of hammers, it’s crucial that your second city does not. Forestries are especially attractive, as they pay for themselves after just one turn, and provide a Firewood card on top of that. Stone, iron and horses each yield an additional hammer as well, so look out for these resources.

Gold and luxuries are your third priority. The latter is necessary to keep your cities happy while they grow ever larger. Luxuries can also expedite border growth, because excess happiness gets converted to culture. Gold allows you to buy resources from the market, draw more cards and shuffle the discard pile back into your deck. You tend to acquire these two at the same time, because improved luxuries always yield a fair amount of gold. If you haven’t acquired a source of luxury yet, it’s important that you claim one sooner rather than later. Alternatively, you could research Agriculture and adopt Agrarian Society so you can build vineyards instead. If you have a generous supply of either iron or marble, the jeweller is another good option. If gold is all you need, it’s worth founding and/or growing coastal cities, for water tiles yield two gold whilst supporting the citizen working it.

Last but not least are the strategic resources. You don’t have to get these right away, but you probably will because they’re also a good source of hammers and gold when improved. Which ones you get first depends entirely on your needs. Iron is invaluable for warfare, but you’ll need to research metallurgy first, otherwise it’s useless. Horses allow for rapid conquest, though mobilising settlers is another boon. Stone is remarkably versatile from the start, and enables the cheaper construction of most early wonders. Marble is especially useful if you’re going down the Mysticism branch in the tech tree, and enables the cheaper construction of most later wonders, some of which require stone as well.

It’s important that you found your cities right next to high value tiles, that way you can work and improve these right away. At the same time, it’s important to consider which tiles the city will expand to in the future. When mainly open terrain surrounds a city, its population and territory tend to grow fast, so they’ll be working tiles farther away rather soon. When mainly rough terrain surrounds a city, its population and territory tend to grow slowly, so you’re better off founding new cities to work tiles farther away. When mainly water surrounds a city, its population tends to grow at a medium rate, yet its territory will grow the slowest of all, so they end up working a lot of water tiles. Remember that cities will claim cheap tiles before expensive ones, which means nearby resources in open terrain are claimed quickly whilst those in rough terrain and water could remain unclaimed for a long time. That said, there are ways to claim these faster, e.g. by using military units, building roads or using the Annex ability.

Defensibility is a major consideration as well. You want your cities to be safe whilst minimising the resources you invest in their protection. This requires a holistic approach: founding your frontier cities wisely makes your core cities safer as well. It’s a good idea to expand through open terrain and up to rough terrain: the latter hinders the movement of armies, and interferes with ranged attacks as well. Cities on top of hills will provide a slightly higher defence bonus, and enable its ranged defenders to shoot over adjacent hills and forests. If your starting area has one or more narrow entryways, it’s worth guarding these with strategic cities and/or forts. If you can secure a large area this way, you may start filling the remaining space with many smaller cities, for they are quick and cheap to develop. If your realm lacks a natural wall, you had better stick to fewer but larger cities for they require fewer units to defend effectively. It’s also advisable to avoid settling between two neighbours: give them some room to fight each other, lest they both fight you instead.

The aforementioned factors often conflict with one another. A rich location might be too expensive to defend. A strategic location might not offer much living space. A spacious location might not provide any resources from the start. How you weigh these concerns against one another, is something you must decide for yourself.

It goes without saying that you should develop your cities. You aim to increase their population, productivity, happiness and territory in unison. A city with more citizens can work more tiles. If those tiles are improved as well, they’ll produce even more resources. More citizens do decrease happiness faster, so you also need more happiness to keep them efficient. Lastly, you’ll want ever more tiles for improvements and wonders. The faster you grow, the more you can grow, so shrewd city management is of utmost importance.

Early on, you’ll want to micro-manage which tiles your cities work. The default assignments are a good starting point, but sometimes you’d rather have this than that. New citizens can be reassigned at no cost, so always supervise your cities during the first couple of turns. If you intend to improve a specific tile later, make sure a spare citizen is already working it. As cities grow, they might start working tiles you reserved for other cities, so keep an eye out for that. Later in the match, you don’t need to pay as much attention to what exactly your cities are doing, but do make sure that their improvements are being worked.

Likewise, you’ll want to micro-manage your cities’ population and happiness. Often times, a little more food is all they need to grow their population. If you help them over that threshold on this turn, they’ll start the next one with an extra workers. Likewise, a little luxury is often all they need to nab a useful tile. This is especially true for nearby tiles with grassland, plains or road, as these are very cheap to claim. Keep in mind that the merchant frequently sells both food and luxuries for a low price, the quantity of which you can increase with harbours. If unhappiness ever becomes an issue, you should fall back on the market for the time being. If so, keep buying luxuries until some end up in your inventory: they will be distributed automatically until all your cities are mostly happy. Nonetheless, some cities may remain subject to the smallest unhappiness penalty, so watch out for that. By keeping your cities efficient, you’ll have more resources to tackle the situation at hand.

Lastly, I distinguish between core and frontier cities. Core cities exist in the interior of your realm, where they’re relatively safe. This allows them to grow larger, thus they provide a greater share of one’s resources. Frontier cities are located on the fringes of your realm, where they’re prone to invasion. They tend to be smaller because much of their population gets turned into military units. They may not be as productive as core cities, but they play a key role in providing the safety those need to flourish. Core cities should contain most of your domestic improvements. These typically have an ever growing population, which ensures a reliable supply of workers. Furthermore, they’re unlikely to lose their tiles to the border growth or military units of neighbours. For that same reason, you should build your wonders in the interior of your realm as well. Frontier cities should contain most if not all of your military improvements. If you garrison your forts and barracks properly, you don’t have to worry about your neighbours stealing them. Over time, frontier cities may turn into core cities, and core cities may turn into frontier cities, so be ready to adapt to a changing environment. Either way, make sure every city has a steady supply of food.

The unpredictable nature of warfare demands a lot of guesswork. Who might attack you? When might they attack you? How capable will they be? How dedicated will they be? If you wish to repel invaders, it’s essential that you prepare your defences in advance. At the same time, you don’t want to spend resources on a superfluous army. After all, you could be developing your cities instead. Vice versa, you could raise the same questions as the aggressor. If you wish to conquer cities, it’s essential that you build an offensive army in advance. At the same time, you don’t want to neglect your cities either. After all, you need productive cities to acquire and play more and/or better military cards.

If you seek to take a foreign city, then the element of surprise is your best friend. The faster and the harder you strike, the less opportunity you afford your opponent to react. In the best case scenario, one unit (plus the Charge ability) does the job. You don’t want to lose cities this way, so make sure they all have an adequate garrison, unless they’re inaccessible to begin with. There’s two ways to go about this: qualitative and quantitative. A powerful melee unit is generally enough to prevent such opportunistic take-overs. Likewise, multiple weaker units are often enough as well, because enemy units can only attack once per turn by default. You can, in fact, resist a charging musketman with nothing more than a scout and a settler. The strongest garrisons employ both quality and quantity, but make sure you can justify their cost. If you feel threatened, it’s wise to station additional units up ahead, particularly in passageways through rough or inaccessible terrain. These sentries will spot and hinder any army coming your way. A hostile unit could circumvent these with the Maneuvers ability, so keep your cities garrisoned at all times. Alternatively, you could build forts to keep an eye on your neighbours, for they too extend your vision.

If a swift take-over is not possible, you’ll have to bring a proper army. Ranged units are most useful in this scenario: they can continually bombard cities until they’re ripe for the taking, assuming they’re not getting shot back. Siege engines are especially useful if the defender employs a quantitative approach. Make sure to spread out your own units: this maximises the number of flank attacks, and prevents splash damage from annihilating your invasion force. Every tile that has a hostile unit on it will cease producing resources as well. Your opponent might surprise you with a counter-attack, so make sure the city that’s supplying your army is either protected or inaccessible. Idle infantry units could claim tiles in the meanwhile, that way you can build forts and/or barracks right next to the city under siege. In case there’s an improvement or wonder on the tile, you must pillage it first. If you spot a poorly defended city up ahead, you may send a unit or two to seize it right away. When you’re on the receiving end of a large army, your best bet is to keep building infantry units to prevent a breakthrough, and ranged units to counter-attack with. If siege engines are bombarding your city, you’re better off creating additional units farther back and charging them into battle instead. Cavalry units are good candidates, because they always start mobilised, travel farther on both roads and open terrain, and don’t receive a defence bonus in cities anyway. Alternatively, you could build barracks right next to the besiegers.

If your invasion falters, it’s time to cut your losses. Pillage their improvements with what units remain. Your opponent may use their newfound military power to attack you in turn, so build up your own defences while you delay their forces. Conversely, you’re better off abandoning a city if your enemy can annihilate your defenders with ease. Focus your resources on the next city down the line: you’ll need a strong enough barrier to break their momentum.

After you’ve set up your main cities, you should gradually decide upon a main strategy. There’s two overarching categories: the way of the builder and the way of the conqueror. It’s easy to shift between different strategies within the same category, and hard to shift between those in a different one. By specialising your deck, you can generally achieve more than by playing as a jack of all trades.

The builder approach entails a focus on development. It requires a lot of breathing room, that way you can found plenty of cities with plenty of space for both improvements and wonders. The bulk of your decisive victory points are gained through population growth, territory growth, wonder construction and “We Love You!” events. A large defensive army may contribute a significant share as well. The following wonders interest the builder in particular: Chichen Itza, East India Company, Great Wall, Hagia Sophia, Hanging Gardens, Notre Dame, Temple of Diana.

The conqueror approach entails a focus on aggression. It’s your best bet when there’s little room for peaceful expansion, or your realm starts in a vulnerable position, in which case a strong offence is the best defence. One might also switch to conquest later if they have a feeble neighbour, or a strong one whose power ought to be curbed. The bulk of your decisive victory points are gained through building lots of units with which you conquer and/or raze foreign cities. By moderately developing the cities you conquer, you may gain many more. The following wonders interest the conqueror in particular: Arc de Triomphe, Himeji Castle, Statue of Zeus.

In reality, these two categories are the polar extremes of a spectrum. It’s a good idea to blend elements of one into the other. For example, you might send out hordes of cavalry to raze neighbouring cities as a builder. Conversely, you might continue to settle and develop virgin land as a conqueror. In the end, you should always try to exploit great opportunities.

At last, I identify three phases in each match: the early, mid and late game. These phases are fairly fluid, hence why I don’t assign specific turns to each. Keep them in mind while you’re playing: your high level decision making should match the phase you’re in. For reference, ranked matches typically conclude within 15 turns.

In the early game, you set up your main cities. Scouts are invaluable, because proper reconnaissance allows one to found cities in optimal locations. Furthermore, it helps to know who and where your neighbours are. In this phase, you build up a steady supply of food, hammers, gold and luxuries as fast as possible.

In the mid game, you decide upon a main strategy. By now, you should have a good idea of the situation you’re in, e.g. how much breathing room you have and what resources you can exploit. In this phase, you gather more science to acquire more cards that fit your chosen strategy, and continue to develop your cities.

In the late game, you double down on your main strategy. Up till now, some versatility was warranted, but in the final turns, you burn everything but essential cards. Axe the branches of the tech tree that you don’t really need. In this phase, your realm should be developed, so it’s time to secure as many victory points as you can.

This guide does not seek to cover all the minutiae, but I would like to supplement it with some additional knowledge that didn’t fit in elsewhere. Below are 15 tips and tricks I make regular use of.

1. If you found your capital on top of berry bushes, it will start off with 2 citizens. I suppose the same applies to grassland tiles with cows or pigs, but you’re better off building pastures on those.
   
   
2. Store the second card you intend to burn, assuming you have the necessary storage space. This way, you can burn it for more resources on the next turn.
   
   
3. The order in which you assign citizens matters. When a city shrinks, it will remove whomever is working the latest assignment. Assign your citizens to good sources of food first so that the population always regrows quickly.
   
   
4. If you’re producing too much of one resource, you should sell some every turn as that earns you more gold. If you see cheap items in the market, you should buy them in advance, since you can always sell them back if you need the gold instead. You always get 2 gold for the first food and luxury item you sell, with which you could buy back two of the same item from the merchant.
   
   
5. When your scouts are done exploring, you should put them somewhere they can keep an eye on your neighbours. Hills are great options, because they allow units to see over other hills and forests, and may contain resources that scouts can occasionally gather. Alternatively, you can use them to supplement garrisons or block one tile passageways through rough or inaccessible terrain.
   
   
6. The Strength promotion might not buff your units by much, yet that small numerical increase is frequently the difference between winning or losing a fight. For that reason, I advice giving it to units which are guarding cities all by themselves. Fortifying gives a similar bonus over time, and so does rough terrain.
   
   
7. If your cities are growing too fast, you could build extra military units in them to reduce their population. Anything but catapults, cannons and warships will consume a citizen, so pick whichever one’s cheap to build. Your victory points won’t be affected since both citizens and military units provide one each.
   
   
8. The Great Library is a double edged sword: it can make up for unlocking few technologies, but it usually bloats your deck in the process. Make sure you have abundant resources to draw, play and burn those new cards!
   
   
9. You can swap which resources a card consumes by clicking the card and pressing the tab key. You might want to play a cheap card the default way so you retain enough resources to play an expensive one the alternate way.
   
   
10. If you’re on the offence, it’s a good idea to build your best units in barracks only, that way you can play its card every turn, with some benefits on top. If you need to defend your cities instead, you can use the Mass Produce ability likewise, though make sure you have the gold for it.
    
    
11. If you draw a wonder that you can’t build on this or the next turn, you should probably burn it. By the time you would have drawn it again, someone else will likely have built it instead.
    
    
12. Don’t shy away from attacking someone who’s ahead of you: your units get precedence in each phase of combat, which can make your army much more effective. This is especially true for ranged combat, because your artillery units get to weaken your enemy’s before they get a chance to shoot back.
    
    
13. Sometimes, you might want to acquire a wonder further down the tech tree. If you’re not sure if it has already been built or not, you can check the technology tab. Here, you can also find which cards you’ve burned so far.
    
    
14. Outdated military units, including scouts, can effectively support your modern units in an invasion. With the Skirmisher promotion, they can safely set up flank attacks for more powerful units. With the Pathfinder promotion, they can help friendly units pass through rough terrain faster. With the Military Engineer promotion, scouts in particular can conveniently build a road straight to the city you intend to conquer. Spare military units can also be tasked with blocking paths, claiming tiles for garrisons and razing strategic targets like iron mines or the statue of Zeus.
    
15. Founding cities is worthwhile all the way to the end. In the grand scheme of things, young cities don’t output all that much, but they do contribute to your victory points. In the late game, you can rapidly grow them a few times with food. With luxuries, you can get some “We Love You!” events on top. You can also claim more tiles with them, which provide even more points, and additional spaces to build wonders on.