Giant FU of a starting position

... I don't see the issue... what am I missing here ?_?

I'm walled off from the rest of the universe (and it's resources). Oh, and by the time I research the spells to break through the mountains, Carrodus is on the other side, blocking me from expanding.

this on a random map or one of the maps from the game pack?

I have started 3 games since the beta update, and dropped two within 1/2 of starting, for the exact same reason:  stuck between a mountain range and the ocean..   The third game was OK, and is still in progress.....

Yea, that sucks.  Well, kinda.  Only you are going to be able to use boats, so you can have a pretty well protected starting spot.

There are way too many starts where you are closed in by ai. I've been playing on a large map with only 3 ai's for that reason and I still get boxed in at the start!

Yes, I found that terrain issues can really mess up a game. I destroyed some opponent's city by raising a volcano on it, and it turned out that it was the only way towards that guy's other cities. And that huge peninsula he was on didn't have any beaches. The Terraforming spellbook would have been very usefull, but it's not researchable. I think the Terraforming, Enchantment, Combat and Mobility spellbooks should be researchable, but more research-expensive then the elemental ones.