So far there have been three suggestion.

1) We go for the Philosophy gambit, which would mean that we would research writing first.

2) We could go for the two techs that give us resources. So we could start off with either Iron Working or The Wheel.

3)We could go for the two techs that noone starts of with. That means would could research Warrior cod or The Wheel.

I would prefer to go down option 1's path, so that would mean we research writing first.

I'm not sure 1 tech is worth that risk...
I think we should go with option 2, get Iron Working then The Wheel...

definitly not 3. I like 2, starting with IW, then the wheel

Option 2 ... good ol' Rusty (Iron Works), unless we find we are in vast tracts of grassland and plains then I'd prefer to go for Horsey Horsey ... this would of course be determined if we are directly next to a mountain ...

for reference, here's the tech tree

http://www.civfanatics.com/images/civ3/tech%20tree/c3c_ancient.jpg

I lean towards option 2. I'm all about cornering the market on resources, then hopefully trading them.

I think we should go for IW first.

IW then wheel is good.

go go #2 :D

IW, Wheel is the safest option I guess.

Remember going alphabet gives us early access to mathamitics (i.e. statue of zeus)

Its worth pointing that out, not that i think it is worth it.

Maybe if everyone thinks everyone else is going for phil. no one will actually go there??

Remember that iron working is a dead-end tech untill we can get alphabet anyway. Also horses get us nothing except to block the enemy. Is it worth it? Its effectively another dead end.

But IW and Wheel supply the other teams with their UUs. We dont want them to get them for as long as possible. We especially dont want persia to get iron, as they are the only civ with a unit with a higher attack than our Hoplites defence until the middle ages.

even if we get the techs we may not be able to secure the rescources. The techs simply make that a possibility.

but by getting the techs we can check if they have the resources.

I would have to say go for IW. I find that one of the biggest advantages of the philosophy beeline is that the AI's never go that route so you can trade it to them for the other techs you don't get. If one of the other teams goes this way that advantage could be lost. Even if the other teams went other routes i'd be willing to bet they would prefer to keep our military in the stone ages then to trade for writing and philosophy.