I've been trying to play against only one or two other civ's.
- I go to Single Game, Custom.
- After choosing my own and maybe one more, I set the other AI civ spots at "closed."
- Still, I get five opponents (or more, depending upon the size of the world).

What am I doing wrong? Are others having trouble getting just one opponent?

In one of the threads here, someone complained about being stuck on a small island until he got astronomy. All my islands are big and close to each other.

Any suggestions? I like a room-y world to explore.