Tbh, I dont think the test would be playable (or at least not beyond the sword
). The civ4 engine just isnt geared for that many civs on that large a map, though maybe with the right state of the art computer and a whole lot of patience, I recon it might be doable.
But in my personal experience with playing with more than 17 AI's, I think the things you mention is actually an advantage. In a normal game with 10 AI's there is always one that is running away (Mansa
) in techs, but with 30 AI's there are more than one. Same goes for superpowers etc.
In a normal game, whenever I have to make a grand war, I vacuum my lands for units and push them to the front. That is easy because AI isn't designed to spot that weakness. It will attack the front or maybe send a fast-mover or two behind enemy lines. But not that deep. An example from the endgame from my last game which was Large with 14 AI's.
Every unit is on the front line. And has been since I started to take the central and eastern part of the large continent. Its possible (though a bit risky*) because I had good relations to the two remaining civs west of me.
Without this "all men to the front"-tactic, I wouldn't have been able to push that fast forward as I did. Which eventually would have led to a, imho, more interesting and prolonged endgame.
I think many civ'ers can recognize this situation. Once the ball rolls...
However... with the double or triple AIs present on map, unless you are extremely good at diplomacy, it will be very risky to wage war against a large AI that way. Instead of the 2-3 superpowers and 5-6 strong nations, it will be 6-10 superpowers and 15-20 strong nations.
It forces the human player to play on the AIs terms, not reverse, which then in turn (imho) leads to more challenging and rewarding games.
It definitely leads to an "outside the comfort zone" of a normal civ game, but after almost 10 years of civ, its refreshing to not be able to "cruise-constrol-steer-it-home", but instead have to consider other tactics than those tried and succeeded so many times before.
* risky because mod settings makes even pleased AIs consider war, and would do so x10 as often.