I was under the impression that we wanted an exploring Work Boat out before building Settler 2 and that Research was the factor that we cared about the most after an early explorer.
However, now it appears that we are favouring a production-heavy approach. This fact is a real turn-about, since sacrificing production is usually required to get the other two "supposedly more important" working at a "better than average" level.
For starters, testing provides two things, imo, everything we've been talking about, PLUS an ever-increasing awareness of the scenario at hand. Testing minimizes hindsighted regrets. So if our points of view are changing, that's normal and positive.
That said, I'm afraid I wouldn't characterize what we're doing the way you do, Dhoom.
My characterization is that we're looking for an optimal balance:
1. Research
2. REX
3. Exploration
4. Production
5. Poprushing
6. Growth
7. Etc.
The first thing we always do is look at our starting traits, techs, and situation. We see a number of things:
1. Commerce/research-poor scenario, requiring coastal food resources for growth and research, thus requiring Fishing.
2. After Fishing, we get a 40% beaker bonus on Pottery. An early granary is a rare occurrence but it makes sense here, because the only improvable land tiles are the corn and hills (and roads), so we only lack Mining to occupy our worker (EDIT: plus bw for chops). Granaries and poprushing are
by far the two most overpowered tools in CIV ancient era.
3. We will need Sailing to REX and for double-prod lhs. We also want the Oracle, so we're going to be teching a lot of early techs. Testing shows that the best way to increase our bpt is to REX asap. Testing also shows that each new city grows and produces commerce best when there is an immediate wb available. Thus, we have this equation:
hammers = settler+wb = growth+research
So, contrary to what you wrote, I would say that "
sacrificing production is
usually required to get the other two "supposedly more important" working at a "better than average" level."
4. Testing also shows that even with closely settled cities, the maintenance grows rapidly and is a burden on our research/empire until our cities have much higher happiness caps. Hence, we want to settle the very best sites, if there are any and we want to know exactly what they are asap. So early exploration of our REX zone is of critical importance. To me, far more important than meeting other AIs, though somewhat later that rapidly becomes a high priority. So we have this equation:
hammers = wbs+galley(+warrior) = exploration
5. PH is only about 2t behind SIP in research on T82 in our best saves, iirc. To me, that's acceptable for +100h, more and better exploration, earlier settler3+wb, less angry and more populated capital, and a faster growing empire.
Dhoom, I was the strongest supporter of SIP for some time. Research IS king. But kings need empires to thrive. I'm still looking for an SIP test that can match up with PH, both in terms of balance and in terms of empire growth.
lead to sooner Pottery or Sailing, which could lead to sooner granary or City #2.
and one 
If it's something important, it's better NOT to edit an old post. It can easily get missed. Luckily I read back through your post and caught this. 
Are you planning any checkpoints or just going through BW?
