I was hitting my head against a wall because I missed something that, in hindsight, is patently obvious
I think I'm trying to stay with a standard map that would require very little tweaking because one of the surest ways to kill interest is to delay the start of the game several weeks while a map-maker tweaks.
The sooner we decide on what map options the teams should vote on, the sooner the game can get going. The choice of each team's civ will be influenced by the type of map we go with.
Right now there are several non-compatible ideas, but with a couple of commonalities:
1. Yes to tactically and strategically challenging terrain, whether that be water barriers or mountain barriers.
2. Yes to roughly equal starts, but not a formally balanced map.
3. The less intervention by a map maker, then better. Ideally just a quick review of a scripted map, with adjustment possible but not mandatory.