Starting on gold
 

The start loc of the Aggie-Krys game:
http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/up...gKryzstart.JPG

I would most defenitely have started on the gold hill. No matter what map. It does give a hed start in research!

Am I thinking wrong here?

Well, in this case it's debatable. You lose two turns and would settle in a cornered area and lose access to those BG's and game tiles. I would prefer to settle on the spot here, but in most scenario's, yeah, go for the GOLD :)

Like Plux said, it all depends on what you will lose when you settle on the gold.

Awesome spot for an OCC btw!

I certainly used that gold tile a lot during research. But I couldn't resist the game tile.

Yep, food bonus beats everything. Even on archipelago map. If not for the game, gold loooks tempting. Still two moves is a long way... IMvHO, starting tech rush might play a role in the game but not a decisive role by all means. Early expansion is much more important. Besides, there are 2 ol' good BGs to lose.

But I'll move the settle 1 tile NW since forest chop can be very handy for the Granary here and wasting these 10 shields might be a mistake IMO. On the other hand, there might be iron on that hill where I'm going to settle thus making connecting/disconnecting iron trick impossible. So, really don't know. Still, I would move the settler just to take a good look around. Then, if there is no food bonus around the gold hill tile, will settle on the hill NW of the current location.

My first inclination would be to settle on the hill NE of staring position. As it's an archipelago map and he island looks very small that would leave open the gold hill and the SW grass for 2 more cities.

First expansion city I'd place on the gold hill, so you can research tot MM asap and get galleys to ferry settlers of the island.