Hope it's not rude to throw out a different idea, but what would people think of two sister games with 15-17 rather than one with 30-34, using the same map? You'd still have the excitement of a massive event with pretty much everyone playing in it, but you wouldn't have so many logistical pitboss problems, you could maintain a slightly faster turn pace, and the ratio of available wonders/religions to players would only be unreasonable, and not ludicrous. Also you could run different rulesets on the same map which I think would be interesting and make settings easier. For example you could have one game with tech trading (eww) and one without (yay).
For me, the appeal of a giant game like that is the amount of participation, and not necessarily the fact that *everyone's* on the same map (but might not ever meet each other). Don't know if that's the case for others too.
For me, the appeal of a giant game like that is the amount of participation, and not necessarily the fact that *everyone's* on the same map (but might not ever meet each other). Don't know if that's the case for others too.