Yeah, stop prioritizing looks. If you wanna be effective follow fff ("form follows function") or live with the downsides. I always put a ring of fields around my CC and a ring of houses around that. In general: get the gathering tecs and keep the ways your workers have to walk short (build new storehouses etc). There are plenty of build order and eco guides out there, both as text and video.

Ambiorix. Lucterios. Bituitos. Divico.

Toga Short:  

Having an easier time vs Medium AI but I still get out-econned early game and have to beat down the AI. (This match was Romans again vs Britons.) Any suggestions? I am thinking it's because the AI builds clusters of Fields around the Civic Center early game while I try to make things look nice. Going to try this out. I've been assigning 10 villagers to a berry bush cluster and just emptying them out without picking any upgrades. I've been trying to get to town phase as soon as possible by building 3-5 houses and a Storehouse. Would like to hear about better build orders.

There is also an alternative that might help prevent some of those suggestions from getting lost, which is creating Issues for the ones that seem more concrete, feasible, or broadly supported.