I liked the variant in TI in which everyone could colonize new systems before the beginning of the game, as it made for a more interactive game from the start. I found that WK suffered from a lack of interactions during the early stage, and the game being won too early after the expansion phase, just when the player confrontations start.

Has anyone tried such a variant ? In which players could start getiing neutral towns before beginning? I am a bit rusty (I have played the games a long time ago). What settings would you recommend for this? I was thinking about letting everyone get a 100 city for "free" in the same order players place armies on the map, or maybe 300 points worth of cities.

We play where each player gets two random 100pt cities during game set-up. It seems to move the early game along cuite nicely.