World Games Strategies

In world games, I can't seem to win with any strategy besides blitz or sky menace. For example, if I pick California to start, it takes me two turns to take Texas instead of one if I go Blitz. If I'm Master of Stealth or Imperialist, it takes two turns. The player in Eastern America could have expanded to 4 new countries while I only expanded to 2 new countries. How do you keep up with their production if you want to use a strategy other than Blitz or Sky Menace? Thanks.

Pick continents with higher city densities so you dont need high range strats to grab as much land as possible. ie europe asia etc