Great idea. Just curious, but where do you usually like to start? I'm a new player. How are starts in the middle most differ from starts in the corner or edge? Thanks in advance

My preference is the middle starts. I like being surrounded by AI, thus having more on my plate to deal with throughout the mid game. imo, it's more interesting and more interactive.

That does sound like fun. Good luck and hopefully the 2 AI you are up against are designed for war aswell to help give you a challenging and fun experience.

Overall, I'm not against starting locations other than a middle start. I think all locations have their place. I'm just saying that sometimes I'm in the mood for a certain style of game, and not having the option to curtail that means wearing down my ctrl-n keys until a blue moon occurs or I get my randomly appropriate start.

Instead of asking for an impossible thing here is the greatest reason to play a map, generated in the editor.

1. Made in 5 minutes this map will save you a lot of time for Ctrl+N restartings.

2. You can place AI opponents in balanced positions instead of realizing their poor achievements on a 50th turn.

3. You can add many things that are not used in random maps, such as quests, units and locations.

4. Though you will know the shape of the map, the resources will be placed randomly each time you start the map, so each time you play this map, each time it will be different.

If you play a random map you should accept the rules of randomness and your satisfaction of this playthrough will also be affected by random factors. Or... make a map and enjoy!

I beg to differ, if you got a corner start where you have <2 cities at start, you are screwed. 

N/A

Creatures attacking your settlements? Why did you not kill them before settling?

I usually do. I hate monsters killing my cities. You however might like it being more risque and exciting?

it should be basic to enable start position places on scenario games.