Slow down there...Settler is not an automatic pick for the first player in a 5p game by a long shot. Yeah, a quarry is important in 5p, but not so much to give up the any first move decision. Ever think of mayor? This will give you your third colonist by round 2, allowing you man a violet building and produce indigo by the second round...small market or construction hut. Depending on the breaks, you could be selling indigo for up to 4 doubloons in round 2 and be sitting with 6db in hand going into round 3. If other players bother preempting this, it means they aren't choosing the roles they really want.

Settler-quarry as the first move in 5p a very passive move...you aren't taking advantage of your immediate strengths.

You are the first player with indigo sitting after two guys with corn...this is similar to the happy position of being the first coffee after two tobaccos, but you must press your advantage.

Your early competition in the first two rounds is the guy in the third seat. If the game starts settler-builder or builder-settler, the third seat will be producing sugar or indigo in the first round. If you start with mayor, only fourth and fifth seat produce, which is unavoidable anyways. Second and third seat now can't even produce corn first round.

Taking the quarry (and keeping it manned) means you aren't getting a third colonist for production until round three (unless there is a ton of corn in the second plantation set), and if third seat takes craftsman first, because he has sugar or indigo running, you don't produce a crop until round four.

First move settler lets everybody else play twice *after* seeing the second plantation set. This is very valuable information in the early game.

I'm not saying ignore quarries in a 5p...they are very limited and worth snagging when you can, but a passive first move greatly cuts your chances of being the first mover in any particular crop type until the 4th round. Take a look at the available plantations before you make your decision.

If the first plantation set contains any of the following: -2 or more corn -any sugar -exactly one tobacco you should think very hard about starting the game with settler.