Thanks Akroma. My home internet is back so hopefully I'll be able to answer some questions.
On faster turns. Since it is you playing, I don't mind if you all decide to lengthen the turns. There is one thing though, it's that most people always delay until the last moment to write (seen in previous botgs), so even if turns are longer, people are still going to complain. Eventually turns may become too long and people will lose interest.
On communication / PMs / whatever. You don't need to have everything said in a single turn. If you send a message to someone requesting something, there is no need to wait for the reply to post your turn. You can always post it when you receive the answer, doesn't matter if it's 10 turns later, as long as it makes sense. I would also advise to avoid drawing out meetings by over-RPing.
Example of something discouraged. Player A sends PM : "My scouts come close to your city. What do they see ?" Player B answers by describing the city. Player A : "Ok, they approach and say hello." Player B : "The villagers say hello and..." And then it goes on for 20 PMs. Go straight to the point in your PMs, you can always add a bit of flavor later. And in any case, you can get descriptions of cities by reading other people's posts (hopefully).
I should also mention again that there is no need to post 10 pages of RP every single turn. I'll refer you to the BotG 2 game where most posts were no longer than a couple of paragraphs and a map.
Phew, that's a lot. I hope it made sense and will make your game easier.