I do not have much faith in any general purpose map finder configuration. I suspect one will get too maps that are not applicable to the leader and stratgey one has in mind.
I probably have close to a hundred different map finder configuration files, some of which are very specific such as my modern era starts where one oil is required. For ancient era starts, I often just search for 1 mining resource on Dual or Tiny maps (there aren't many starts with two mining resources on the two smallest map though that is highly map type dependent - oasis seems to have more for example); I search for 2 mining resources on Small and Standard maps; 3 mining resources for large and huge maps.
More recently, I have been searching primarily for food and 1 mining or 1 quarry resource.
For specific strategies, different combinations of resources can be very useful. With an industrious leader, it can be useful to find a start with at least two of three mining resources (gold, gems, silver). The stratgey is to beeline Metal Casting which now not only provides very early cheap forges, it also provides at least a 4 happiness boost with forge early on.
Ivory is another resource I look for. It is +1 happiness with Hunting and another with a Market. Plus obviously with Construction and Horseback Riding, one can build War Elephants with Catapults, the famous "Elepult" rush.
Also especially useful for industrious leaders is quarry resources. The strategy is to build wonders that have a +100% build bonus for the specific quarry resource one owns for fail wealth. Also, if one has one quarry type at the start, one needs only find the other quarry type nearby to get the holy grail of wonder fail wealth. The industrious leader gets 2.5W for every Hammer spent on a wonder that fails. If one is really desperate for fail wealth with an industrious leader, it gets 1.5W for every Hammer spent on a wonder without a resource multiplier. Non-industious leaders get 2W for every Hammer spent on a wonder with the resource multiplier.
One City Challenge is a start that must have a specially tailored map finder configuration. A combination of Forests and Floodplains is often a good start for a Diplomacy Victory or Space Colony with Permanent Alliance. Also 1-2 gold and 1 food.
Fur is another resource that is often over looked in starts. One needs only Hunting for the happiness and the commerce is only one less than silver. For leaders that start with Hunting, I almost always craft a configuration that searches for Mining resources, Mining resources and Fur or just Fur.
Sometimes I also search for 2H (even 3H) city center locations. All leaders can build a Worker significantly faster with a 2H city center. Leaders with the expansive trait can build a Worker even faster if ring 1 has a plot with 2H or more. Thus, sometimes I simply require a 2H plot in addition to other requirements. This can be simply that one of the following is found in a start: Plains Hill, Plains Ivory, Plains or Tundra Hill Quarry (Stone or Marble). Note that one can specify more specific plots like Settler on Plain Hill Quarry (3H city center), but for 2H only Plains Hill is directly specifiable; one can specify Ivory only; Quarry can be specified on Plains Hill, but not simply on Plains; forget about Tundra Hill Quarry and equivalents. One has to manually scan those AFAIK. These city center hammer boosted starts provide and extra 1-2 Hpt in the capital for the rest of the game, so the benefit is not just getting the first Worker out fast. The greatest impact is in the early game though.
The Settler on Plains Hill is often used with Plains Hill Forest for Huayna Capac (Quechua) starts which provide 6 Hpt at turn 0.
Also, don't over look extra city center food too. In addition to 2-3H city centers, I look for 3F resources to settle on which forever provide an extra "free" +1 Fpt. Like the 2H start, this gets the initial worker out several turns earlier and then keeps providing an extra +1 Fpt. I usually avoid settling on Corn which can provide either 5 or 6 Fpt when improved and worked. As opposed to Corn, the plots I search for to settle on include Banana, Sugar and dry Rice. The first two can't be improved until one has Calendar and dry Rice is not really useful until Civil Service can irrigate via adjacent irrigated farms.
There are many other ways to use map finder effectively, but the above is all I have time for or can remember at the moment.
Sun Tzu Wu
