Hey hey! Checking in. I second Unclethrill in saying I'm excited about the game and getting to know everyone! Being a new addition to FE I just want to say a)thanks for having me! and b)don't hesitate to be blunt and tell me if I'm not handling something according to FE standards.
@pnp_dredd I agree with your analysis of the start and our leader/traits.
1W would be tempting if it wasn't for the possibility of copper/iron/horses there. Unless there is fish I don't think going east is a good move as we lose a plains hill in an already hammer poor capital. However Warrior 1E or 1SE may show us something worthwhile. If there's fish we could make our first city a sweet phi GP farm and move the capital elsewhere.
However, SiP gives us a sweet research capital: at least 10 cottage tiles (possibly 11 depending on the plains 1W of settler) 3 of which are riverside grassland. The spices, and the oasis are also decent commerce tiles. I just don't like that our only substantial hammers come from 2ph (8h -4f) a plains cow (3h +1f) and a grassland hill (3h -1f). I guess bureau and a forge will compensate a bit, as well as the potential resource 1W, but in the end I think this is far and away a research city.
One intriguing possibility is moving the warrior 1N to the grass hill to see whats North of the Oasis. If we settle 1N we may make this an even more powerful commerce/science city. 1N gets us 2 unknown riverside tiles (though I can't tell without being able to zoom it looks like a forested grassland a forested plains and a plains hill?) and a riverside sheep. The only real loss is the plains cow and the added worker turns of moving 1 tile at a time to get to the corn and then back across to the sheep. However it also allows us to work the oasis ASAP which may be worth losing a turn moving the Settler.
I think AH->Mining->BW->Wheel is the way to go here, unless of course we move to the coast for seafood. At first glance what makes sense to me as far as worker turns if we SiP is farm corn->pasture cows->chop out a settler with the forests 1S and 1SW of the capital->mine riverside PH (or improve special tile 1W if it turns out to be copper/horses)->road cow/corn/horse or copper/second city.
Another intriguing possibility with a chm leader is Stonehenge for the +1happy and border pops in each city. We have a lot of forests in the BFC for chopping, so it may be viable even without stone. GPP pollution wouldn't be that bad since an early GA from a prophet would be welcome and we probably will get scientists rolling not long after that whether in the capital or a GP farm.
I agree that Conquest and Domination may not be the best options since there are No Vassals and it's normal speed. However, we want to keep a big stick handy because of the random personalities. Nothing quite like a backstabbing Ghandi or a Zealot Mansa
I don't know much about UN victories, so I can't really voice an opinion about that. Space seems like it would put us at a late finish date although cheap universities and an early Oxford might make it viable. Culture is very doable, especially if we can find nearby Marble/Stone for 2nd/3rd city as well as a good GP site. Lincoln's not the best cultural leader, but phi certainly makes it a strong possibility.
Ok, that's my novel. I hope it adds to the discussion instead of detracting from it