Please especially have a close look at the Emissary/ Spy-line, and what the AI does about them.
As said, I'd prefer moderate/moderate/3 billions. Continents or Archipelago; Pangae could be a little hard (if we end in the middle...).
What about getting this started soon? I'm not interested in C3C as long as the patch isn't out, so it would fit nicely now.
Re: Victory conditions: From my experience, DyP games are quite challenging in the beginning (Emperor feels more like vanilla Deity in the BCs); we cannot improve our lands for a long time, so the AI production bonus really kicks in.
But by mid-industrial, we should be really strong, so waiting for the Launch could turn out to be a little boring. So my suggestion is:
Let's keep Diplo as an option if we want to end the game, otherwise aim for Space Ship or Domination/ total Culture; anything but OCC or Conquest will require the same strategies until industrial anyway.