Trying to figure this game out, one thing I've done is start a game on a huge map, two continents, two players. The intention here is basically to create a sandbox to maximize my ability to explore what can be done in the game.



In such a scenario, what kinds of benchmarks should I strive for as to how many cities I should have, what tech level I should be at, how big my army should be, and so on, at particular turn numbers? (Assume Wild Walkers.)



For example I am at turn 77, I have four settlements, two of them pacified (both with three villages), one of those assimilated. I have discovered two or three era 2 techs. I have about eight units total, currently garrisoned. Dust income (net) per turn right now is about 17 IIRC, when I ungarrison my army that goes to more like -1 when they are completely grouped up.



This is on Normal difficulty.



How far behind am I, would you say, than where I ought to be at turn 77?



Quick side question--so far I have pacified only by completing their quests. If I bribe or attack, that will pacify a village. But to assimilate, will I need to bribe/attack _every_ village in the region? Or can I assimilate them all by just pacifying one village, just as with the quests?

Assuming you're playing single-player-- you're fine, but don't worry about it.



If you're playing MP, the only thing that I'd say is that you're pretty far behind in science. I'd expect to hit T2 before normal speed turn 30, and T3 before normal speed 80. But I like faster science than a lot of players do, my Cultists tend to beat most Vaulter and AM players to T3.



There's not really a right number of cities, but what you're describing is reasonable. Especially with Guardians content, though, you can get away with a single city throughout the game. It's largely a trade-off between strategic accumulation and empire plans.



8 units on normal turn 77 seems pretty reasonable, but if I were in an MP game, normal turn 77 is about when I'd be preparing for large-scale conflict and trying to double or triple that number.



When you assimilate, you get bonuses that scale with the number of pacified/rebuilt villages. If a region has only 1/3 pacified, you can still assimilate based on that single village, but you'll only be getting a third the bonuses that you would with 3 pacified villages.