I'm sorry, but once more I cannot agree. Do the calculation again with even a slightly later 'best date' and you'll see for yourself.
This is something I didn't explain very well (or at all), so I'll take another shot at it. Now that submissions are closed, I can give a better explaination anyways as some of this would be spoiler info otherwise. Before getting into any of this, I want to make sure it's understood I'm not demeaning anyone's play this month. I think both your's and Moonsinger's games are both very well played. I'll be using these two games as reference throughout the post.
Moving the best date back independantly of any other changes does modify the scoring ratio between early and late games, even if they are played roughly at the same level. The 'fix' for it is more involved than that though.
I played through to about 1000AD last night, to get a grasp on how the map would affect the cultural 100k playstyle, and I think 1600AD is getting pretty close to the best date. I think it could be reduced a bit, but not too much more. I went with a more hybrid approach, sacrificing some speed for score and vice versa. My best estimate on when I'd finish is around 1700AD, and close to 3200 base score at that point, about 4250 with the ingame bonus applied.
I had knowlege of the map of course, but then again I'm not the best at milking or going for early culture. I also didn't spend much time planning or doing micromanagement. I'd think both my score and date could be improved upon in the same game. I'll use it as a third reference to further show how the balance is affected by various changes. I wouldn't be able to hit that date and score without prior map knowlege most likely, so it's definitely just a theoretical game.
Initially the games score: (1405AD, 9386)
Moonsinger 7162
Ribannah 7044 (98.35%)
Theoretical 7993 (111.6%)
If we use 1600AD as the best date, the ratios come out as: (1600AD, 9386)
Moonsinger 7508
Ribannah 7943 (105.79%)
Theoretical 8771 (117.82%)
In a cultural 100k game, the influences on date are available landmass, difficulty level, and civilization traits. Available landmass being the most important factor. In GOTM17, the initial landmass was extremely small for the map size, and later expansion was somewhat difficult while maintaining a good culture rate.
Because the modifiers were set based on the map size, rather than the landmass, it caused a problem. Not just for Cutural 100k, but for Conquest/Domination ratio as well. In GOTM18 and the future, the best dates will be set based on the actual amount of land, instead of the size of the box that contains it.
Base score is also affected mainly by available landmass, in much the same way that the 100k best date is. In GOTM17 initial expansion is limited, and getting to the domination limit takes longer than expected, so population and territory score are also limited compared to the max score prediction. The max score should be set lower than it is. My best guess as to where it should be is ~8000 instead of 9386. 8000 is a bit low, but probably by close to the same amount as 1600AD is a bit high. Basically I could hit either of those if I went straight score or straight culture, and I'm not the best at either playstyle.
If we set the max score but not the best date: (1405AD, 8000)
Moonsinger 8049
Ribannah 7346 (91.23%)
Theoretical 8584 (106.65%)
In regard to the balance between your's and Moonsinger's games, both are affected. It's roughly equal. To illustrate, change the best date for Cultural 100k to ~1600AD and set the max score to ~8000.
After the games score: (1600AD, 8000)
Moonsinger 8395
Ribannah 8245 (98.21%)
Theoretical 9361 (111.8%)
Which is very close to the same ratio as before any of the changes are made.
I agree that the Cultural 100k games are going to score lower in general than they should, but it isn't terribly much. I'd guess 100k games max out on this map at 9k with the settings as is. That's assuming good luck for one of the best players, who makes the proper guesses. In short... a 'best' possible game. In relation to the other victory conditions, Cultural 100k is probably on par with 20k (unless someone gets really lucky with leaders while fighting the Egyptians) and close to Domination.
The other victory types aren't as affected by dates, but they still are diminished due to the max score being too high. In relation to past games, +1k (a bit more or less depending on the victory condition) to the score is probably about right to balance things. Luckily the global rankings do top score normalization, and so this month's game is balanced with other months in that regard.
Since then, I have replayed both GOTM17 and GOTM16 as an OCC and got the 20K culture without any problem. Therefore, it's possible to rush all those Wonders in one city without using any great leader. I will give this method another try in my the next game. With the Jason score system, I agree with you that the highest score would always be the one with a full milk up to around 1700 AD to 18850 AD with the 20K Culture victory.
Sure, the 20K culture victory seems like it's going to yield the best score for milkers, but it's not. In order to get 20K, we must go to war all the time and hope for great leader to help rush Wonders, plus territory means score. However, if we are at war constantly, our tech pace will be very slow. No new tech = no new Great Wonder = more delay in the 20K cultural goal. Basically, we either shoot for the fast Conquest or Domination or the 20K but it will be very tough to do both. Therefore, I think the Jason Scoring system is very well balance at the moment (except for the last game because the best score in the 100K Culture has no chance against the best score in Conquest or Domination; therefore, one victory condition may be best in one type of map but not the other).
