Conan, in my humble opinion, the best thing you could probably do would be to step down to Deity. It would still be a step up from Demigod, and while the score factor would drop from x8 to x7, you'd face a much easier AI.
The reason I suggest this is that the real trick to HoF milk maps isn't just winning, it's winning big, i.e. taking over the whole map and milking the crap out of it for hundreds of turns.
Bamspeedy's Babylon Deity Settlers is virtually required reading. Setting up a couple of Settler factories can flood an area during the initial expansion. Use of Moonsinger's/Dianthus' Mapfinder also really helps, giving you lots of good start locations while you sleep.
Once you find a start you like, focus mainly on Settlers and Workers, only a few warriors. Get out of Despotism as quickly as possible (Republic vs Monarchy is an interesting choice). Once you've lost the tile penalty, expand even faster.
Then you'll come to a point where there's not much elsewhere to expand. Instead of immediately going to war, kick back and build Horsemen (disconnect Iron and Saltpeter from your network so you don't build Cavalry or Knights).
Once you have Military Traditiong (and preferably Steam Power) then reconnect your resources and upgrade your Horsemen to Cavalry.
Then is the oppurtune moment to whoop some ass!
One other thing: when playing on archipelago maps, if I don't wind up with Horses in my territory or start on an island, I load a new map. The few dozens of us playing HoF games probably ditch hundreds of maps a week, and for good reason.
While there is something conceivably to be learned from any starting position, and while practice makes perfect, the HoF isn't about being able to win from any starting location, it's about finding good/great starting locations and executing the right game plan on the right map.
I honestly think that half of what determines a good score is decided before 4000bc...
Um, score. This isn't just the Hall of Fame, it's the High Score Hall of Fame, right?
