@HardCode - what is the level you normally play?
All different levels. Some days I play Chieftan to relax, but lately I've upped it to Regent to relax since I've learned quite a bit from reading many threads in Stories and Tales and SGs. Especially your SGs and any with CommandoBob, Lanzelot, Railuven, and Elephantium. I feel that I need to play at minimum Monarch for any kind of AI challenge now. I also play the whole spectrum of map and land size mixes.
Recently I tried an OCC at Monarch as Vikings, had a great small starting island, but I didn't balance my military builds and ended up having to revert to a normal game. Trondheim ended up with 20K, so I would have won if I stayed OCC, but when they landed Cavalry I got overwhelmed and thought I needed more cities to defend.
I've tried Emperor and Demi-God before, but I don't have the opening turn MM skills to consistently maintain a winning position yet. But I have won a few at Emperor and once at Demi-God. And I never used CivAssist yet, which seems mandatory at higher levels, so I'd lose out on trade opportunities.
Out of curiosity, I once played a small Pangea at Sid with a "build no military" variant. I was hemmed in from the start with close AI capitals, but I managed to survive quite a long time until the Mayas just declared and walked into my cities

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With such a strong SG team you guys have, and with a little patience to answer questions I'll surely have during a turn set, I think I can handle this SG. If you'll have me, just put me at the bottom of the roster so I don't have to do (mess up!) the opening moves.
I think joining an SG will force me to bare down and focus to improve my playing.