I do several things to improve my games (i hate getting molested by lousy, time-wasting starting positions too):
Go with abundant resources. I almost always get at least 2 of one lux and 1 of another with that. No guarantee about the strategic resources, but at least your luxes don't suck. Go strategic balance like Koiran suggested, if you absolutely have to have those.
Mods: I also use 'Maps - Rotate Start Position (v.7)', from the Steam Workshop. It allows you (on the first turn of the game) to cycle through most of the start positions available to the civs in the game (never all of them, dunno if that's a bug or what), and start with any of them you like. If you have ten civs in your game, then you're many times more likely to find a starting spot you like, without having to restart so much.
Mods: 'Reseed!' (That's the name of it). While you no longer need its main function anymore, since they added a 'restart' feature into the base game, it has two things I dearly love still- a 'reveal entire map' button, so you can scroll around and see if your starting site really blows or not, and a 'reveal strategic resources' button, so you can see if your location has any or not while the map is revealed. Once the game starts, you turn Reseed! off, and the fog comes back. So, unless you have a photographic memory, there's still a fair bit of mystery and exploration left after using it.
Cheats, sure. But it's single player, you can do whatever you want. If you want better starting sites and more games that don't make you tear your hair out and curse the hours of wasted time, then go for it. And if you've ever spent ages before trying to find a decent marshy area for William to start up in, you'll thank me profusely, later.