I have found this to be one of the most pressing questions in RFC, so I think that having some sort of guide-list thing would be really helpful. I will start it off with a few of mine, but I need the help of all you crazy-good people to fill it out and polish it. 
Also, NO SQUATTING! It, sadly, is gone. :'(
Egypt: Depends on the goal, I prefer 1N of the starting location, or Pi-Ramses, and then wing it from there.
India:
China: Beijing or on the coast?
Babylon: Babylon sucks, Assur and Akkad are much better, depending on your plans.
Greece: 1SW of Athens and Constantinople 1W (Which is good as your capital.)
Persia: Capital 1S to work with Sush, but the second is a problem.
Carthage: Eeew. Most cities here just suck.
Rome: Rome, a city in the south (Pompeii or Sicily?), and a city in Yugoslavia (unless you want to wait for Germany to spawn and settle Budapest/Zagreb).
Japan: Edo, Hiroshima, or the hill on the SE coast, and Edo.
Ethiopia: Axsum and
Maya: Ditch central America completely, or Takal and a city in Mexico. Possibly 1W to get the canal.
Vikings: I like Kalmar (capital) Lulea, and Kiev (after Russia spawns) but I rarely know what I am doing. :/
Arabia: It is too bad that the UP makes settled cities kind of suck. Though Mecca and Baghdad can work.
Khmer: Umm... On the sugar and Hanoi? Jakarta too?
Spain: Dunno
France: Amiens is cool, but the Dutch are annoying. Raze Frankfurt and settle 1N after Germany spawns. Crush the Dutch brutally before the make your best city useless.
England: TOO MANY SETTLERS!!!!!! O.O Run away to Kiev and Budapest?
Germany: Frankfurt=capital (Too bad not 1N), Danzig, Budapest, and Kiev. Watch the world crumble to some of the best cities in the game.
Russia: Moscow, Ryazan or SE on the cow, Kiev, Riga (if you can) or Novograd, and (if Moscow, then Stravpol area;if not, then Tjumen off in Siberia). However, if you can get Budapest, it si to be prioritized over all but the capital and Kiev.
Dutch: Amsterdam and
Mali: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA U FUNNEH
Portugal: Lisbon and Azores v. whatever?
Inca: IDK
Mongols: I should probably play as them more than twice, but 1NE is pretty cool. Or raze China and settle the cities correctly.
Aztecs: 1NE and something else. Maybe go into the ES area?
Turkey: Screw Sogut, grab Constantinople on the first turn. Kiev, Budapest, and Baghdad are cool cities to settle if you can.
America: Philadelphia, Chicago, and Denver provide the optimum core cities, but due to the stupid Europeans, you will have do deal with less optimum cities like New York and Detroit. New Orleans is usually good too. California and Oregon can be useful eventually. The funny part is that you basically have a half-empty Europe to settle however you want, so yeah.
Also, NO SQUATTING! It, sadly, is gone. :'(
Egypt: Depends on the goal, I prefer 1N of the starting location, or Pi-Ramses, and then wing it from there.
India:
China: Beijing or on the coast?
Babylon: Babylon sucks, Assur and Akkad are much better, depending on your plans.
Greece: 1SW of Athens and Constantinople 1W (Which is good as your capital.)
Persia: Capital 1S to work with Sush, but the second is a problem.
Carthage: Eeew. Most cities here just suck.
Rome: Rome, a city in the south (Pompeii or Sicily?), and a city in Yugoslavia (unless you want to wait for Germany to spawn and settle Budapest/Zagreb).
Japan: Edo, Hiroshima, or the hill on the SE coast, and Edo.
Ethiopia: Axsum and
Maya: Ditch central America completely, or Takal and a city in Mexico. Possibly 1W to get the canal.
Vikings: I like Kalmar (capital) Lulea, and Kiev (after Russia spawns) but I rarely know what I am doing. :/
Arabia: It is too bad that the UP makes settled cities kind of suck. Though Mecca and Baghdad can work.
Khmer: Umm... On the sugar and Hanoi? Jakarta too?
Spain: Dunno
France: Amiens is cool, but the Dutch are annoying. Raze Frankfurt and settle 1N after Germany spawns. Crush the Dutch brutally before the make your best city useless.
England: TOO MANY SETTLERS!!!!!! O.O Run away to Kiev and Budapest?
Germany: Frankfurt=capital (Too bad not 1N), Danzig, Budapest, and Kiev. Watch the world crumble to some of the best cities in the game.
Russia: Moscow, Ryazan or SE on the cow, Kiev, Riga (if you can) or Novograd, and (if Moscow, then Stravpol area;if not, then Tjumen off in Siberia). However, if you can get Budapest, it si to be prioritized over all but the capital and Kiev.
Dutch: Amsterdam and
Mali: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA U FUNNEH
Portugal: Lisbon and Azores v. whatever?
Inca: IDK
Mongols: I should probably play as them more than twice, but 1NE is pretty cool. Or raze China and settle the cities correctly.
Aztecs: 1NE and something else. Maybe go into the ES area?
Turkey: Screw Sogut, grab Constantinople on the first turn. Kiev, Budapest, and Baghdad are cool cities to settle if you can.
America: Philadelphia, Chicago, and Denver provide the optimum core cities, but due to the stupid Europeans, you will have do deal with less optimum cities like New York and Detroit. New Orleans is usually good too. California and Oregon can be useful eventually. The funny part is that you basically have a half-empty Europe to settle however you want, so yeah.
.
. If you start in 600 A.D., found Baghdad.
) It's only (very slight) problem, is that the Dutch spawn so close. Same strategy as with Spain against Portugal 
