Starting Tech Tree? Here is it (slight modifications possible, depending on the Civ we pick):
Farming
Mining
The Wheel
Domestication/ Pottery/ Weaving depending on Terrain
Bronze Working, Masonry (if we need culture), CB, WC
All Techs to get Dynasticsm, but IW before Dyna itself. Revolt.
Literature (We must get the Great Library; we have a good chance, since a prebuild/ cascade is not possible, but we'll have to dedicate a city for it very early), Construction (enables Mining)
Try to trade for Slavery, Boat Building,...
Head for Theology (Angkor Wath is the other must- have Wonder)
Everything else should come from the GL, but since we have rate cap of 60% in Monarchy (= vanilla Despotism), we can also research Trade -> Crop Rotation partially ourselves. Should also get the Circus Maximus (doubles Coliseums; requires 3 of them already build, another very good Wonder with a decent chance to get it. Wouldn't bother with any other ancient wonder, except maybe the Colossus), and the Slavery Trade SM.
What about the Civ? I'd prefer a COM or SCI Civ, since their particular trait specific buildings are interesting.
IND is strong as always, MIL helps immensely against the Barbs (check their Stats, btw!).
EXP can have a huge bonus by starting with Farming. REL is the least important, IMHO.
And we should take care to have our GA around early Renaissance, when we can use it to build Mills, Wind Mills and Guild Halls.
My favorites: France, Vikings, China (SCI/IND in DyP), but I'm open for discussion. Not Polynesia.