Different difficulty levels for GOTM

[ainwood]

So why give us an extra settler from the start then, if we shouldn't actually use it until such time as we could have built one ourselves?

To encourage people to concentrate on infrastructure, exploration and defence, rather then have them waste food & hammers in building an early settler. If you have (say) 5 production goals to prioritise in the early-game, and one is given to you, it makes your choices easier. One extra city early-on itsn't going to collapse the economy (note that I removed the starting warrior so that unit maintenance didn't cripple you before you get the second city founded).