When do I build settlers?

I am now playing on Noble, Small map (about 4 comps), and usually some land map at normal speed.

When I first start exploring with whatever unit they give me, I try looking for those few resources I REALLY want, namely marble and stone. Although they arent that important since they are only useful for wonders... I am a wonder freak! Being able to build wonders 50% faster is a godsend to me.

The problem comes when i know the computer is looking at the exact same spot because it has a horse nearby or some dye or whatever. When is a good time to build the settler? What Ive been doing is building some unit or building so that my pop grows and then building a worker so that my town's resources can be better and then settler. But usually the computer beats me to this.

What is your initial build order? Do you do the same thing I do? Do you do settler right away.. settler before worker? No settler?

Thanks

Wonders are an addiction that you must overcome in order to improve your gameplay. But if you insist, build a worker first then chop forests to speed the settler out.

A couple of quick tips:- Build to your strengths..this is difficult to describe, but I'll try to illustrate.

Say you start as a nation with fishing and have a bonus resource (fish / clam / crab) in your city radius..well first thing to build is fishing boat (but work the greatest production square you have to build it..eg a plains / hill or a plains / forest) and then when its built, switch the worked square to the fishing square...THEN build worker (but make sure he's something useful to work at when hes built) if not build something else and then switch to worker mid production of other unit , when its viably useful to build.

Remember food counts towards worker and settler production..so if you say start with a boat bringing in fish then mine a hill/ plains, thats 4 hammers + 3 food towards settler..do it this way and the AI will NEVER beat you to the 2nd city on Noble..same formula applies to farms and pastures..

Hope this helps, if you're not sure, mail me and I'll explain things step by step

As Drew pointed out food is valuable to making workers and settlers faster. if you have water nearby and can capitolize on work boats (4-5 food + 2 commerce) its groovy. Otherwise, by the settings you described, I would start on my barracks and some units. When population hits 2-3 I would switch to the settler in the middle of what I am working on. This way, if the AI beats me to the site, I have barracks in place and can send troops over to take it.