The first thing I'll do is hit f10 to see who our opponents are, and make a list of the starting techs. That hasn't been disabled in xotms yet, right? What to research first... hmmm, would Karasu deny us Alphabet? The alphabet guys could be on the other (boring=standard, not wierd, hard-to-reach?) continent. So there's already a gamble right at the start. TW or alpha?
It seems that being expansionist, the map designer would set it up to have some use. I want an early granary, but my gut says there'll be some huts to pop for the early birds. So another scout, and a defensive warrior first. Who knows, maybe researching TW will allow us to pop alpha. Wouldn't that be nice?