My own experiences are that agression isnt the key, its the ability to declare at pleased
Ragnar, Monty, Hannibal, Shaka and Alex stand out to me...oh and ghengis
I can remember rage quitting when i started a new pangea game, i had a great start (tonnes of food and gold)- but NO metal, and monty, alex and ghengis khan for neighbours
In the same turn ghengis and monty declared on me, about a dozen turns later alex declared too..