Mmh, my starting position was not *so* bad, just no bonus ressources and jungle next to me. But I never got to the point to really start settling, since I had to abandon the first granary at 50% (when Matrix showed up and my units where scattered all over) and then another time at 95% when English forces were attacking me.
I was at war very early on because I didn't pay any ransom and gotten into more wars the longer the game went one. Then came the units that were moved incorrectly! The first was an elite spear that attacked a warrior across the river while I actually wanted to use the veteran archer that was standing by but somehow the spear moved instead of the archer. This happened several times throughout the game and went up to the point where I lost my second city with only a warrior in it. Well, I deserve it you say? But I had a vet spear and archer fully healed and with full movement standing right next to the city!!! Matrix was so kind and we replayed it otherwise the game would have been over right there. [bow] After that I was really carefull, taking a LOT longer than Matrix because by that time I had war against 5 other Civs, including Matrix.
What kept me alive was that even though I only built one other city, my capital was producing very quickly. I soon had more than 10 shields/turn and later 15. Thus, I could produce spearmen/archers and later on MWs in 2 turns. Originally, my plan was to attack with a bunch of archers (after I realized I had the whole world against me and I can't win by out-expanding him), but then the AI was pressing so hard towards my capital that I developed Horseback Riding before I could assemble a strong enough force to bother Matrix a little.
What really helped was that I was going for Writing first. While I didn't really need it, I could trade it with the only remaining AI that I had peace with at that time (Spain, which later also declared war of course). Thus I got Warrior Code, The Wheel, Masonry and Mysticism and only had to research HBR directly. Great deal.
Once I built my first MW I thought I got it, but the AI was coming for me in such great numbers (plus I had the ridiculous losses/moves) that I really thought I would lose (that was much later after we reloaded). Matrix would tell me that I should just come over and finish him, but actually it was me who was very close to getting finished. The worst came when I only had a warrior and a MW in my capital, with 3 horsemen in striking distance!
Luckily they did not attack it, otherwise it would have looked very grim.
All in all a very interesting experience. I will see to it that I'll be very carefull when we play on Saturday!
