There's always a number of ways to play an opening. One late night thought that occurred to me is skipping the granary in capital short term but chopping it immediately in copper+pigs instead to ensure quick growth from 1 -> 4. Copper on size 2 (great tile), 2/2 deer on size 3 (decent even without improvement --> whip settler on size 4.
Instead keep capital size 4 or 5 working fp+sheep+mine+mine without whipping much.
I'm not entirely sure this is good, although I like it at first glance, but the point being that I'd try looking for ways to make it work. Not settling copper is not a 'gain some efficiency at some risk' play. It's a 'gain efficiency at the risk of having a game over'. There's a big difference there.
It's not long ago that you talked about having too many hammers and needing something productive to put them into (SH), so I fail to see how investing in such a city can slow us down that much.
Instead keep capital size 4 or 5 working fp+sheep+mine+mine without whipping much.
I'm not entirely sure this is good, although I like it at first glance, but the point being that I'd try looking for ways to make it work. Not settling copper is not a 'gain some efficiency at some risk' play. It's a 'gain efficiency at the risk of having a game over'. There's a big difference there.
It's not long ago that you talked about having too many hammers and needing something productive to put them into (SH), so I fail to see how investing in such a city can slow us down that much.