Thx Mitchum.
I'm sure that larger maps actually are an advantage in teching-games, because I observed that the bigger the map, the better the winning date. A mechanic that probably lies behind this, is, that more AIs allow for more trades and tech-trade simply is the greatest increase to human teching-speed.
Corporations however scale very equally or in favour of smaller maps, that's something that makes up "a little" for the better trading opportunities that huge maps come with.
But what I talked about, actually was something completely different:
What I achieved, was, that I built an empire that was larger than the one
WastinTime had, and I did it with Gilgamesh, which I assume is actually fantastic and almost unbelievable, but the interesting thing is, that I believe that
WastinTime really did tell the truth when he said that achieving a Spacerace like this would be possible with a non-Incan CIV.
He didn't tell, that it takes unbelievable amounts of luck, but what I experienced in my latest game, was, that unbelieavble luck + great effort + being a "Professor of CIV" still isn't enough.
I could post savegames for those that are interested, Savegames showing that I out-expanded
WastinTime, that proove that I came very very very close to the timeline he set (like Education only 20T behind him) , that I built an empire that was imo was compareable or even better than his one, but then...
I just couldn't fuel the research.
I really, really worked for the economy in my game. I built all Wonders that were possible, multiple times if possible, I converted Forrests into Failgold as much as possible, I stole 15 workers, I conquered the Mids as early as they were even available to me, I focussed Great Person production, played fully awake...
!
I went through pain and sacrificed sleep for the game that I played, still my best wasn't good enough, and that even with all the good things that I mentioned.
I hoped that I would at least score in the category of
WastinTime and the game of Ironhead, a game of which I 'til today think that it was played 100% "clean" , so without cheating, reloading or whatever, but:
In some sort that I don't understand,
WastinTime was able to keep up his research the complete time, so not only 'til Education but also from Educatioin 'til Sushi and Mining.
It's unfortunately not possible to really take a look at how he did that, because
Wastin always only uploads the starting and the end save, but doesn't submit intermediate files. I looked at the end-save, saw that he built a heavy hammer-economy and that he saved at every end where it was possible, even at Worker-numbers, some of the tiles his cities are working aren't even improved, OK!
I did all of that too. I captured and conquered my enemies fast and with almost no force(s) , I had great cities, Mids, Hanging Gardens, bulbed Education, I even got the Academy in my game that
WastinTime didn't and I even managed to create the GPs for the 4-GP-GA, but:
WastinTime launched his Spaceship in T440, I in T494 (!!!) !
When I now think...
Being 20T behind
Wastin in T280 are 10%, being 50T behind in T500 are again 10%...
[,,,]
Re-read what he wrote in the writeup... He had Currency T155, mine was T171... He had Civil Service T194, me T215...
I had Math at the same time than he did...
So was the difference between the 2 games really just Mansa picking Currency (mine researched Construction) and
WastinTime getting Oracle, and those 2 advantages just multiplied over time again and again and again and again and again?
If it were like that, this would actually be a really amazing and truely awesome discovery, because it would mean that one could throw away all games in which one misses Oracle. One simply would have to learn how to play the inital phase of the game (something like T150) faster and without errors, and then somehow take the best out of all games played up to that point and from that point on onwards make sure to not fall back and do everything to keep up with the pace...
) usually has more jungles than forests. Plus, I pretty much exclusively play SGOTM with a BOTM or two between games, so I don't have the luxury of playing a map of my choosing.
I wonder if WastinTime had an advantage playing on a Standard Terra map since it would have way more Sushi and Mining Inc resources... 
... and you too, Kossin, STW and Saraiel and AT (the only posters that I can see in my current view of this thread)l! 
