Some random comments from a new player

[Chandrasekhar]

Not in 0.14, but there will be big advantages to having more than one in 0.15. I'm not sure how that's going to affect the ToM victory though - it involves far too much warmongering to be a builder victory proper as it is IMO.

Yeah, I've always thought so, too. Having a default one mana per Civ is nice and all, but it sure won't get you all the way to the tower. I guess the fact that each Civ starts with three mana, and the rites of Oghma that can be built make it better. I'd still prefer to see two guaranteed per Civ.

 

[Nikis-Knight]

I began building the ToM in proto-v15. Without building the rites of Oghma first (although I was working on it.) It was a standard Terra Map, with an extra civ or two.
Starting with 3 mana really helped. Ironically, so did the changes to the mana system, as I had so much incentive to build new mana to use the spells, I was eligible for the ToM without really aiming for it.

 

[Chandrasekhar]

That's great news, Knight! I'm a bit skeptical about anything that masquerades as a builder victory in this kind of game, but I'd be overjoyed if it was true.

 

[Nikis-Knight]

Well, it will be a builder victory against the ai, but not human players (which is probably the tiny minority of civ games). If a human player notices that you have been gobbling up mana and quiet for 20 turns, they just have to find one to pillage, and you lose the work on it. The AI don't know that they will cease to exist (until the next game) if you hold the mana long enough.
I think there should be a counter to ToM building, but forcing someone to start a long project over is quite frustrating, I expect. Perhaps this one wonder could be put on pause if it's prerequistes disappeared?

 

[Chandrasekhar]

That sounds like a good idea to me.