Lost at Civ 4 again - hopefully this time I'll win

The Zulu empire did it to me again. They invaded me just before I got "Chemistry" and grenadiers. So I started another game, and even though I wasn't invaded, I ran out of money because I only built 4 cities and a HUGE army. Eventually, my army went on strike and I started losing units like crazy. I was stuck at a 10% research rate, and had to drop down to 0%. That meant my research would take way too long, and the other civs would be too advanced for me and be able to easily take me over. So I started a new game.

This time around, I took the strategy of making only 3 cities. My immediate neighbour is England, and we share two islands. I am their biggest ally but am planning to invade them shortly - I don't really want to, but I really need to get more cities quickly as I'm falling behind in research. I've taken over one of their cities culturally but taking over militarily would be a lot faster. The other civs are China, Greece, the US, India, Carthage, and Spain. At this point in my game, the year is 1908 and I'm about 100 years away from getting tanks - I already can build marines. I have tons of money, and I'm starting to build my army. I still need to wait to build a navy, but I've hoping to invade England in about 120 years. My game score would be pretty low, but I need to get back on the winning track! I'll let you know how it goes. And speaking of going - Go Leafs Go, and take the Argos with you.