I personally favour the ten-turn truce to counteract the effects of the fixed starting location. ReverendZombie, I'd point out that the truce could help
you too -- even Helheim isn't invincible, as Ich found out.
Should we also
set research to easy? Pashadawg did this with his own Dawn game, so I know it can be done - and it would not only offer another solution to rushing, it would also let us access spells that normally we wouldn't have the time to get on a map this size.