I really like Advanced Start. I usually play with Goody Huts off, so Advanced Start gives the early game back its much-needed speed boost, and then some.
My biggest tips:
* First, place your capital city. You can't buy units or techs until you do this.
* Buy your Warriors/Workboats/Scouts BEFORE Workers/Settlers. You have a limit of two "units" per city. All units count towards this limit, but you can still buy Workers/Settlers even after it's been reached.
* Buy at least two Workers, unless it is an extremely watery start.
* Consider buying Fishing if you have a seafood start.
* Never buy improvements except for Fishing Boats. Since Work Boats take up a precious "unit slot", use them to explore at first.
* Make sure your Workers have something to do! I will often buy Mining or Agriculture (or even Animal Husbandry if I have a Chariot UU) before the game starts.
* Don't buy any more cities. Settlers cost the same amount, and can be placed at your leisure.
* Once the game starts, go explore with your Warriors, Scouts, and *Settlers*. The 10 turns of guaranteed peace means no Animals will be around for at least that long.
* You don't have to settle your second/third cities immediately. In fact, on higher difficulties, you can't afford to until you have some commerce flowing. Use them to explore, and then park them somewhere to fogbust and watch for approaching AI settling parties. If you know the barbarian spawning mechanics, you can use Settlers for fogbusting duty with zero risk.
* Buying culture or population is only probably only worth it for OCC.
My usual purchases are:
1 city
2 Warriors/Scouts
0-1 techs
1-3 Workers
1-2 Settlers
