Really obvious answers from a fellow newbie.
I like to use huge maps, 1500 provinces are a given. Also setting gold, resources, and supplies to 50, and independent provinces to 9, really slows the game down. It also promotes careful strategy and makes each unit just a tiny bit more personal. If people are playing water nations (my favorite), make sure they're separated into different smaller bodies of water with one very large ocean to compete in. That way you don't get any of that land-vs-water nonsense. Everybody should have their own territory, infact, as that will promote competition in the wider world while reducing land-grabbing-out-of-necessity. If there are specific provinces which earn VP then make sure they are very well-guarded. Learn to create and modify maps, and program VP provinces to be guarded by dragons, cyclopes, krakens, etc. Not 500 krakens, mind you! but a respectible force that will take a dedicated, concerted effort to take, hopefully extending the capturing nation's resources to the point where it becomes interesting to see whether or not that nation can hold on to the province. That way, you may see more bargaining (diplomacy in action) and long-term planning, which should invest peoples' interest more than not, and the more interested everyone is in the outcome of the game, the less chance everyone will end up in front of the television, instead.
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