How picky should I be when choosing a start location as Kupe?

Roughly how many turns should I spend looking for a place to start as Kupe? Should I go for 5 or 10 turns and then just pick the best place I've already found? Or should I hold out for a natural wonder?

Solution 1:

Kupe is a very unique leader and his civilization has a unique bonus which mitigates the downside of settling late. The ability reads:

Kupe's Voyage. You begin the game in an Ocean tile and receives +2 Science and Culture per turn prior to founding his first city. You receive a free Builder and +1 Population when you found your first city, and your Palace provides +3 Housing and +1 Amenity.

While you aren't able to do any research or develop any civics without a city, the science and culture you gain aren't lost. You still earned them and as soon as you settle you may (depending on the length of your voyage) earn technology and civics respectively.

Settling immediately, other civilizations gain their palace which nets them +1 culture, +2 science, +5 gold and +2 production in addition to housing and amenities. Hence, what you are missing out on are gold and production while you gain one culture. Keep in mind though that the builder you gain is worth 50 production (or 200 gold) which means you get 25 turns (or 20) worth of production (or gold) "back". And the growth you are missing out on is mitigated by the additional population you gain. With the first growth taking about 8 turns (depending on start location and civilization), you will still loose out in that regard when you settle late.

All in all, settling later isn't as bad for Kupe as it may sound. However, I wouldn't wait for a natural wonder. While it is nice to have, I found that their bonus is mostly negligible to settling your first cities within reach of good terrain an resources to give you some eureka moments or civic boosts early on to fuel your rapid development, especially on higher difficulty levels.