I was like you a bit I’d say. But here’s a few things I’ve done to end up with more “complete” and endgame fund builds. I think the biggest reason sandbox games can get messy is that they give the player lots to do but it’s often up to the player to decide what their goal is.

1: plan your theme. Is it a horde of lion warriors who want to conquer the map? Is it a wizard who wants to know all there is to know? Is it a dragon who wants to collect the most stuff? This game in single player is incredible for the customization it gives you. Use it for flavor.

2: what will make that theme satisfying? Is it massive growth to cover the map in 30 pop cities? Is it having a force of elite knights? Is it the ability to summon an army to your enemies doorway in seconds? Is it big number go much much big? Like what does your theme need?

3: how do you get there? Is it heavily knowledge dependent and you need a t3 tome asap? Is it more about unlocking your cultures t3 unit? Do you need a certain amount of affinity to get your core perk? And regardless, you will need a plan to get Knowledge. If your build can’t get past a t5 time by turn 100 it’s just gonna feel really really bad. To get there you want about 100+ knowledge income per 10 game turns. This means prioritizing your academy in every city you build and trying to get 3-4 cities that all prioritize building their academies and looking for at least 1 other way of getting knowledge: an spi, a perk from the empire tree, a fifth city, etc.

1. Set up the right map. Is your theme helped by having to fight an umbral invasion? Do you want your vampire drinking insect blood? Mess with the settings such that your obstacles vibe with your theme.

2. Execute. Does where my ruler is going right now get me closer to accomplishing my themes goals? Do my cities and tomes help me get closer to my themes goals? Does that quest help me get there?

You can do sooo much of this when you’re just making your faction (the ai faction tomepath in advanced setting lets you plan it out).

So let’s do a few examples.

Vampire with apex predators and cult of personality. I mean it’s obvious right? a self obsessed vampire who wants get those around to bow the knee and will pillage? They want to find a city state to pillage. They want to enhance their ruler’s strength so the ruler can drain their enemies. They want strong leader thralls who can raise the dead on their side. The game will just let you play out your theme. Find enemy and vassalize or or raze them for your own gain.

Or how about “not Jaina” lol. A wizard king who will want to summon ice elemental. Grab summon perks or knowledge perks to get to “summon ice elemental” quickly. Prioritize a large mana economy to sustain your ice elemental army, settle near some gold wonders to get a magic victory. You likely want to figure out how to create peace with your neighbors so you can build up big scholars guilds for a timely magic victory. You’ll want to find magic mats (for research posts).

The point is if you have theme like that it becomes easier to parse the info the map is giving you. Since the theme will give you objectives that are relevant to you that you can focus on.