Every time I start a game, no matter what changes I make during setup, I've got desert 2 hexes south of me and tundra 2 hexes north. All I wanted to be able to do is clear out a little of the uselessness surrounding me, I take it that's not going to be possible?

I loaded a random map into the world editor, cleaned up my start location a little bit, started a new game on that map... and would you believe it put me somewhere else with tundra and desert around me?

I reloaded the map in the world builder and dropped a settler in the spot I wanted and when I tried it ingame my starting settler was nowhere near the position I chose and there were no AI players at all. Is there any simple way to be able to edit a map with a predetermined starting location without having to set up every civilization in the editor?

I don't want an advanced degree in CivV modding, I just want to fiddle with the starting terrain a bit.