Okay, so I stumbled onto what I think is pretty close to a perfect starting strategy with Carthage, and immediately thought of this thread.
Map: Large Islands, Standard size, Standard time
Research path: Pottery > Writing > Calendar > ????
Build path: Monument > Shrine > Great Library > Oracle > ????
Social path: Liberty tree, left to right
"????" just means it's whatever feels needed at that point on your map; the opening is what counts.
I nailed this perfectly 3 times in 3 starts on King, and I'm 1 for 1 on Emperor now (and I'd never played Emperor before).
The key here is that it's Large Islands, so unless you crank up the # of AI civs or get a freak unlucky start you have your own 3-4 city-sized "continent", and building a scout or other unit isn't necessary for a while. Getting the monument in place kicks you up to 4
per turn when Liberty is unlocked (which should happen a few turns after you finish the monument, or earlier if you catch a lucky ruin), while the shrine gets you going towards your pantheon (Messenger of the Gods unless your terrain literally screams for something else). If you have any extra turns between finishing either building and being able to start the next one, put them towards building a worker (but shift to the new building as soon as the tech is unlocked).
Beelining to writing and then starting the GL immediately should get it for you, particularly with your automatic +1
per sea resource plus the +1
from your second policy. Use the free tech to pick up philosophy (hence researching Calendar third), and then immediately start The Oracle. The Oracle should net you the Golden Age policy, and 8-10 turns or so later you should be able to close out Liberty. I've used the "free" great person on a great prophet, which I then used to found my religion (first religion in 3 of the 4 games, second religion in the other one, but I only drew the Celts once). You will want to micromanage your citizens to make sure you're getting as much production as possible without stagnating your growth.
While I was building GL & Oracle, I worked on researching Sailing, whatever techs I needed for tile improvement, and Archery > Wheel (so the trade routes kicked in); if you wanted to really go for it, I'm pretty sure you could instead beeline for Theology and knock out the Hagia Sophia next for your second prophet (even with other techs & builds in between, I managed to get the HS in my Emperor game).
Give it a shot & let me know if it works for you.