I did some more thinking -yes, I know, I should not... my lonely brain cell won't withstand the overload... 
As I said, I have nothing against a newly-designed, custom map, although it appears that noone strongly supports this option against trying a past GOTM; considering that we can immediately start playing if we go for a GOTM, I'd suggest that we take that route. So, let's see:
- In GOTM15 DaveMcW launched in 1100AD, which is a good reference I think (call this an understatement). But it was "only" Monarch, and we decided to go for deity, so...
- GOTM26 is nice, and I haven't played it. But the two settlers make it a very peculiar game, and we may want to do our training in a more standard setup. Besides, Bremp won that one by Space Race in 920 AD (apparently taking advantage of the Palace corruption bug, which does not take anything away from an awesome date anyway).
- GOTM20. I kind of remember it as a "gentle" introduction to Deity -it was my first deity game actually- as Cracker mercifully put Spain in a good starting position. Kemal's launch date there was 1275 AD as a benchmark. This is probably the best candidate, if we pick a GOTM. And it has a vote already.
In order to compare our result with the best ones, I would not change settings -and no, I don't remember the map, so I wouldn't consider myself as spoiled. Besides, I would not take the first round...
So, shall it be GOTM20? Space, do you want to make it SP04?
As I said, I have nothing against a newly-designed, custom map, although it appears that noone strongly supports this option against trying a past GOTM; considering that we can immediately start playing if we go for a GOTM, I'd suggest that we take that route. So, let's see:
- In GOTM15 DaveMcW launched in 1100AD, which is a good reference I think (call this an understatement). But it was "only" Monarch, and we decided to go for deity, so...
- GOTM26 is nice, and I haven't played it. But the two settlers make it a very peculiar game, and we may want to do our training in a more standard setup. Besides, Bremp won that one by Space Race in 920 AD (apparently taking advantage of the Palace corruption bug, which does not take anything away from an awesome date anyway).
- GOTM20. I kind of remember it as a "gentle" introduction to Deity -it was my first deity game actually- as Cracker mercifully put Spain in a good starting position. Kemal's launch date there was 1275 AD as a benchmark. This is probably the best candidate, if we pick a GOTM. And it has a vote already.
In order to compare our result with the best ones, I would not change settings -and no, I don't remember the map, so I wouldn't consider myself as spoiled. Besides, I would not take the first round...
So, shall it be GOTM20? Space, do you want to make it SP04?
Nothing left for me I see. 
