So I was just wondering, I love playing the Cultists but it sucks not being able to even compete in trying to get any of the early legendary deeds unless you get really lucky with your spawn and get a glassteel & titanium deposit. This is also marred by the fact that i always play on normal world difficulty so there's barely a chance of getting those two. I know i cant contest the military one because of my early game units. Any tactics/ suggestions you guys use?

The game isn't really balanced that way for higher difficulties. The AI gets bonuses to everything including resource returns. Even if you get a perfect start with Cultists, on those levels they get close to twice the returns per turn on whatever they harvest.

That's one of the reasons I never play past hard. The AI bonuses make the game a slog. At that point I'm playing against the bonuses...not the AI. For some people I guess that's fun...not so much for me. I'd be all for giving players finer control over what bonuses the AI can get at higher difficulties but until that happens, you're out of luck. 

With humans, you're playing against an organic brain...they won't hesitate to beeline for something when the opportunity arises or they will create their own. Not much you can do.