[tinkthank]

I think the suggestion of Aran is very good, the smaller the better.
Victory by small number of VPs, where many are available would be good, something like
Map: Aran
Victory: 6 VP required
# VP: 12 + 1 per Capital
Independents: 4 or 5 (just to speed things up)

This would give many people a good chance, including those that prefer sneakiness.

I wouldnt put a 40 turn cap limit, however, I find that would give magically-oriented nations a real handicap and leave a lot of interesting aspects of the game out.
Instead, one could imagine that tournament players must submit at least 10 turns per week. Games will be sure to be over in 6-8 weeks.

EDIT: perhaps this is a more helpful suggestion: Make the tournaments quasi-regional by time zone(e.g. Europe, North/South America, Asia/Australia). (People could conceivably compete in more than 1 zone.) This way, one might stipulate that a tournament competitor must submit 14 turns per week, or even more detailed (2 turns per day, 3 on weekends, or whatever you feel is reasonable). This is of course suboptimal in many ways, but would get rid of the need for a 40-turn cap. Also, one could conceivably have the European champ(s) / American champ(s) / Asian champ(s) play each other in One Big Final Round. Could be a bad idea if you were considering offering a monetary award (since you would need to award each of the champs in each zone), but I suppose that is up to you.
I think it would not be unfair to say that a full Version of the game is required to compete, and thus demo-owners are not allowed (in case games *do* exceed 40), but that is just me. Or: Demo Version owners can compete, but if they are not killed off by turn 40, they drop out?? Sort of an evil incentive....

[ April 28, 2004, 11:33: Message edited by: tinkthank ]