Options that (IMO) could be ON by default and hidden:
I wonder if it would hurt anyone this way. Anyway if someone needs to change those still can do it with a little xml work.
[*]Require complete kills - Never once. Hunting down that last unit on anything larger than a Tiny map is just a flat big no. But, right now AND has this "bug" where nations frequently don't die after their last city falls even with this option switched off, but I still wouldn't want it ON and Hidden.
[*]Advanced diplomacy - Default On yes, Hidden no. There's some rare times when I don't want Embassies and don't want AI nonsense about blackmailing me for everything I have in exchange for telling me about some new rebel-spawned leader. I've had six AI contact me over two turns, all demanding 95% of my treasury for contact with some new nation (And usually, that new nation is a one-city nobody)
[*]Assimilation - Agree with this one.
[*]Culturally linked starts - Never used it. Don't care if it's on or off, but why Hidden?
[*]Realistic culture spread - I'm okay with it being on by defaualt, but don't make it Hidden.
[*]Larger cities - No opinion.
Especially with Revolutions, that would be very crippling.
Speaking of Revolutions. Isn't it possible to somehow map the Barbarians spawned in some cases as "Insurgents", so that when they die, the city would go back to normal? Having 9-turns of unrest can be very crippling.
Uuugh, that last bit is what's keeping me from playing with Revolutions as often as I used to. Nothing is more infuriating than a 9 ~ 16 turn disorder followed by at best, one to three turns of calm before the next twenty turns of disorder. A portion of my empire permanently locked in disorder because it does not give me the time to make the improvements the game suggests I make.
Well, it's not always that bad... But when a city does start to slip into that spiral, it's no easy matter getting it out since nothing seems to help.