Am I way off base and see growth and growth increasing stuff as fairly pointless, at least in the early game, seems like they are stuck at level 2 cities due to food almost always. And then after building lots of food items and research they might get to 3 or 4, but it's not growth that's keeping them low, it's food.
I also agree that early game, growth infrastructure is fairly pointless now. Prestige is more than enough for growth.
This depends on your strategy. I usually build growth buildings as soon as I get level 2 in my towns. And I seldom upgrade to anything but towns, so apart for a short period between levels 2 and 3 I never have my cities capped by food.
I think I have never created more than one fortress per game, and I cannot remember the last time I have upgraded a native city into anything but a town. I certainly have not in my last three posted play-throughs. (I upgrade captured cities into conclaves quite often, because the AI gets essence bonuses when it settles)
Been a real long time since I have seen a level 5 city.
Well, I can say the same thing, except that I have not had a game last beyond turn 200 since Beta 3, so that's no surprise.
