When playing at the higher levels start out asthe Romans- you'll
usually be given two settlers units to start the game with. Found a city
with one and use the the other for exploration. If you come across another
civilization early in the game use this second settlers unit to attack-
I've defeated two cities right off the bat like this (at Emp. lvl.).
Hold shift and type 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, this basically dicovers the whole map for you and also anfter you do this hir f7 for info on all other civilizations.