I find it interesting that early great lighthouse and pyramids with no early oracle/parthenon means early great merchant... which means an early 1350 gold! possibly twice! Three times in this game, and that's a lot of gold to play with early on.
Clarification for sulla: I researched toward sailing first. Fishing was first (wasn't clear to me either). I had two lakes, that meant 3 food and 3 commerce with a lighthouse. Retrospect, I should've gotten workers and cottages earlier, but with a booming 6+ commerce early on... was a big temporary lead.
Would I have gone sailing
if I knew it was a pangaea map? Nope. Did I know it was a pangaea... uh. Nope! 
Har har har. Over 3k gold from 3 great merchants was a lot of cash to play with early on though. Didn't consider using them for research directly, but since it was one of my earlier games... that's a-ok.
Clarification for sulla: I researched toward sailing first. Fishing was first (wasn't clear to me either). I had two lakes, that meant 3 food and 3 commerce with a lighthouse. Retrospect, I should've gotten workers and cottages earlier, but with a booming 6+ commerce early on... was a big temporary lead.
Would I have gone sailing
if I knew it was a pangaea map? Nope. Did I know it was a pangaea... uh. Nope! Har har har. Over 3k gold from 3 great merchants was a lot of cash to play with early on though. Didn't consider using them for research directly, but since it was one of my earlier games... that's a-ok.