I've really been going all out on this game to make sure my actions are as good as possible
Yeah, something you guys might not have realized is that there actually is an optimal way to grow. Basically, workers are everything, and you want to get your worker numbers up as quickly as you can. So research improving houses should be a priority, which makes efficient food production important so you can concentrate more on research. I think it goes something like this: get max workers, research better housing, research more efficient food production, increase workers to new maximum, research even better housing, etc..
Supernerd had a big advantage because he has experience in Gridhood and realized this. He also had a big advantage from the fertile tile that was created for him early in the game. Fertile tiles are probably the best (for a civ) 5 FP a god can spend. Farsky made one for him early, which helped offset his higher than normal food consumption. It's interesting that there were only 2 fertile tiles made, and they are both by the giants. You guys really should have been begging for a fertile tile early on.
The People-Xekarni-Dipnoi cluster were also at a disadvantage because they were hostile towards each other and had to compete for limited good tiles and expend research towards defense. On top of that, for some reason the gods kept replacing plains around there with shit tiles (although the Dipnoi like swamps). Also, made a gate that spawned powerful monsters next to them, for some reason. Although they've received a few beneficial Zaps and a couple of artifacts, they have been hindered by the gods more than they've been helped.
So yeah, there is actually strategy to this game that should be taken into consideration if you don't want to fall way behind. But fret not -- the new age will bring a reset of sorts that I've already described. I'm not sure when it will start but it will be sometime after a turn 40 cataclysmic event.