no, I picked random that game and got the indians. Started with not barbs or huts next to me, and the chinese to the north. I thought I'd help you out in that game and just camp out on his production squares, because when you said "there's no rushers in this game" he made a sarcastic comment, basically revealing that he was gonna horserush. I don't like chinese-only players, almost as much as I don't like Zulu-only players. Even though he said he picked random too, he was lying through his teeth, I've played him before and he's always china. So my goal in that game was just to slow him down an little bit and hopefully let some other people have a little bit of space. He's not that great of a player, but I just didn't like what he had to say.
how did that game go?
I've played a lot with the indians in H2H, but they are little harder to use in FFA. In h2h, you can just wait around, tech up to 5 techs, get religion for free, then abuse the AI with fundamentalism + legions. In FFA, it's a lot harder for a slow plan like this to develop, and you have to rely on the map and resources more. They are a fun civ, not the greatest, but some games they can be really powerful, some games they are terrible.
I usually play with the Spanish, Americans, Romans, English, Chinese (when I'm lazy or sucking), Arabs, Japanese, and lately a little more with the Greeks. But I try to get in some random games at least 1 of 5 or 10 matches. But when I see a friend in the lobby, I'll usually either choose the Spanish, or just pick random.