I generally play at King, occasionally at Emperor. If there is a location near my capital with a lot of desert (esp desert hills), I will go for Petra, which is a great bonus in such a situation. Engineer points for wonders will accumulate to provide a free engineer w/o any other input by the time you research Currency if you get 2 out of 3 of these early wonders: Artemis, Pyramids, Stonehenge. Follow a fairly direct path to Currency and avoid negative cash flow.
