Interesting spreadsheet...I have no idea how to read it. But this is why I'm happy to have someone more experienced helping me out. 
I think we're going with city trading enabled with restrictions.
I agree with your comments about mining being more valuable than pottery. Cottages are important, but I think during the very early part of the game food and hammers are way more important. I think we definitely want BW to be a focus; on the chance that we have bronze near our capital we want to grab it (if possible) with our second city, so having it before that first settler comes out would be really helpful. Especially if our civ has a UU that's enabled by it (Sumeria, Zulu, et al). Unless there's an obviously amazing second city site nearby, like 2 riverside gold hills next to a wet corn and cows.
Yeah, I don't think we need to stress too much about how quickly we can get BW. I think it unlikely that getting there 5 turns after someone else is going to be a game breaker. Obviously it should be a priority, but not a "let's get there as fast as we possibly can" one.
I'm thinking we pick the civ first, and my priorities would be:
1) Zulu -- Even though I'm playing them in PB20 with the ToW mod, it's just a great civ for the type of game I'm leaning towards.
2) Sumeria -- I hadn't thought of them before, but they would make a pretty good civ. A detour to Priesthood is a little out of the way for most beelines, but also gives us a reason to go for the Oracle.
3) Ottoman -- No real early benefits, but their UB dovetails nicely with Expansive (if we can pull off Shaka) and their Gunpowder UU is pretty good.
4) China -- If only they had a better UB I would move this to #2, maybe even #1. But it's hard for me to get excited about +25% culture.
Leader priorities:
1) Shaka
2) Hammurabi (would work well with Sumeria, as well).
3) Ghengis
4) George Washington (?) -- He's not aggressive, but Charismatic/Expansive is almost as good with the faster promotions.
Thoughts?
I think we're going with city trading enabled with restrictions.
I agree with your comments about mining being more valuable than pottery. Cottages are important, but I think during the very early part of the game food and hammers are way more important. I think we definitely want BW to be a focus; on the chance that we have bronze near our capital we want to grab it (if possible) with our second city, so having it before that first settler comes out would be really helpful. Especially if our civ has a UU that's enabled by it (Sumeria, Zulu, et al). Unless there's an obviously amazing second city site nearby, like 2 riverside gold hills next to a wet corn and cows.
Yeah, I don't think we need to stress too much about how quickly we can get BW. I think it unlikely that getting there 5 turns after someone else is going to be a game breaker. Obviously it should be a priority, but not a "let's get there as fast as we possibly can" one.
I'm thinking we pick the civ first, and my priorities would be:
1) Zulu -- Even though I'm playing them in PB20 with the ToW mod, it's just a great civ for the type of game I'm leaning towards.
2) Sumeria -- I hadn't thought of them before, but they would make a pretty good civ. A detour to Priesthood is a little out of the way for most beelines, but also gives us a reason to go for the Oracle.
3) Ottoman -- No real early benefits, but their UB dovetails nicely with Expansive (if we can pull off Shaka) and their Gunpowder UU is pretty good.
4) China -- If only they had a better UB I would move this to #2, maybe even #1. But it's hard for me to get excited about +25% culture.
Leader priorities:
1) Shaka
2) Hammurabi (would work well with Sumeria, as well).
3) Ghengis
4) George Washington (?) -- He's not aggressive, but Charismatic/Expansive is almost as good with the faster promotions.
Thoughts?
) that gives mounted units free flanking 1 from cities with trading posts, at least that's how I understand it.
