A few notes to maybe calm a few fears.
It's been my experience that a GOTM Diety isn't quite as hard as a random Diety game. The creators in the past have been kind enough to supply us with decent starting positions and from the opening screenshot Madbax has provided a very nice start.
Yeah, the AI gets a free Settler, but the AI is also inefficient in their builds. If you settle at the start and follow Kuningas' plan on page 1 (without the Warrior disband since I think others showed it is not necessary) you will have a 4-turn Settler factory. There is also lots of floodplains and a likely wheat to the south/southwest where you can build another town to crank out Settlers or Workers. To the north and east there are grass with plenty of shields allowing for good military production. As long as there aren't any AI right on top of us (and I don't know that Madbax is quite that evil) we should be able to carve out a nice core before the AI hems us in.
My plan: Build a few Warriors to locate the nearest AI and then get an early Worker and Settler out to get both food centers developed. Get my Granaries built and start pumping out the Settlers and Workers. Build Warrior/Worker/Barracks in all other towns followed by Warriors/Chariots or Horsemen depending on the location of Horses/Iron. Being Diety I'd think one of these will be relatively close.
Being a religious civ and wanting to get the advanced govt tile production as early as possible, I'll start researching on Mysticism and work to get Monarchy ASAP. I'll eventually switch to Republic but the 1-turn Anarchy isn't painful unless you are going 20k. Odds are, barring the eilte players, you will be behind in tech in the early going. Don't panic! Being a little behind isn't that bad. At least the techs are cheaper. Keep trying for techs that AIs don't like to research (Polytheism, Mathematics, Code of Laws are examples in the AA - with rivers at our start Mysticism is also likely) just one monopoly can be used to trade your way to tech parity. If you expand well, there is a lot of commerce in our start and you shouldn't fall too far behind.
Usually 20k is a fairly easy path but for Diety it is difficult for two reasons. First, the AI will beat you to a lot of Wonders - especially if you have trouble managing the fast tech pace at this level. Second, having a major city dedicated to Wonders means you are producing less units and expanding slower, making you a more desirable target for the AI. For an easier win in this game I'd suggest a Diplomatic win. Personally, I'm going to try for Conquest or Domination. I've been in a heavy builder mode lately and duking it out with the Diety armies will be a nice change of pace.
Basically, my advice for the nervous: Focus on expanding your core, don't go crazy on the Spears, build Barracks (not in your food centers!) and lots of cheap offensive military. If you must, get a prebuild going for the Great Library but it may be a better learning experience to try and keep up in tech on your own. Effective trading is an important skill in improving your game even for lower difficulty levels.
Finally - it's just a game! Tis better to have tried and failed then to have slunk off into sunset. Give it a shot and you might be surprised how well you can do.
