[Baalz]

Well, I find growth is not as effective as looking at the raw numbers would indicate. By turn 116 gold is going to be a whole lot less valuable than it is at first - plus, by turn 116 you'll only have a single province that has been under your dominion long enough to double in gold output. Hope those extra design points didn't cost you any early expansion, as this cuts into that differential to.

I don't personally feel like real crappy scales is the only way to go, but even if you're sure you're going to live 100+ turns, the growth/death scale is far from a no-brainer.