I've been enjoying Civ4 on my brand-new desktop, getting a hang for the early game and all the new rules. I've only recently come to realize one minor quirk: It seems I always start with The Wheel, and no, I haven't been favoring Civs that begin with it. I'm not complaining *too* much, but it does seem to discourage the use of Civs that start with the wheel.

I'm running on the 1.52 patch, no other mods.

If you play at the low difficulty levels you're given the wheel as a bonus tech to help you. You won't get this above Warlord I think.