It's a great game, but it's a shame that relatively few people play it in online multiplayer. Do note that most humans v. humans games do not take forever to play, which is important when you're playing with random strangers and not friends (where you can save and reload a week later). At Fast and Faster speed settings with Quick Start on, a 4v4 or 5v5 normally only takes about 1.5 hours to play.
(It doesn't take as long because, unlike playing 1 against 9 in single player, in multiplayer you would only be responsible for taking down one opponent and you'd have one ally to help you for every opponent. Also, players on the losing team normally call it "gg" (good games) and then quit or surrender once they see the writing on the wall, allowing a new competitive game to start and preventing boring mop-up jobs.)
I hope you and your buddies will check out Ironclad Online, which would allow you to play with other people regardless of whether or not you have friends around. Do note that you guys will probably have to fix the dreaded Mesh Error, which is not hard to fix. See the last post in this thread: http://TinyURL.com/Sins10
Sins rocks once you learn the game and can hold your own against other people. Most of the ICO action is on the weekends and during the North American evenings with most of the real games (4v4s and 5v5 people v. people) occurring on the Diplomacy expansion.
Can you tell us more about the tournament you have in mind and the map you created? Why do the developers need the map in order for you to host a tournament? Was the map made with the "Map Designer" or with the Galaxy Forge map editor? You can just host the map file at a free download site like FileFront.com.
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