Top on HW

I categorically disagree! Even playing SoD on a small map, you often have to take difficult objects like 3-4 cons or max nagabanks with one-hit wonders in the second week—with experience, you can take even more difficult objects at even earlier stages, which will further speed up the game—and I repeat, this is VITALLY IMPORTANT for MM6—because the main problem of the template is the time per match.

Everything you listed above makes a significant difference: playing on large maps in TE or SoD, but experience, I repeat, does not :) Experience simply turns an already stupid AI into mere cannon fodder. If you play well, you'll take those objects in the second week anyway, and with experience, it presents absolutely no difficulty at all. I remember taking Dragon Utopia 2 in the 2nd week using only rank 5 wolves; there were no other combat stacks at all. I just gave that as an example. But if it's much harder to take Dragon Utopias in the second week in SoD, it will practically have no effect on the overall game time. That is exactly what I meant :). But rebuilding the guild, fast roads, etc.—now that's a yes!