Far be it from me to tell you guys how to run your game, but imo a ten turn no-rush rule is warping the game experience and simply putting off the need to learn how to defend against a rush. Since you lack experienced players, presumably any early rushes that do happen will be fairly straightforward and should be perfectly counterable. There really aren't many rushes that can happen inside ten turns anyway, and your settings have left out many of the nations capable of them, so I feel that the rule might not be necessary.
It is of course your game, and feel perfectly free to ignore me at your own discretion.
