generally speaking for treaty i would suggest playing in the weekends, i haven’t had many issues finding games though queue time usually is 5-10 minutes and I’ve only ever found 2 vs 2 games (1 vs 1 isn’t a thing in 40, and i wont search for it).
the map pool i actually like, it is refreshing not always playing deccan and Andes with the odd Himalaya or what have you. a couple of maps have especially been positive additions like: malaysia, and some other map i can’t recall punjab maybe?
i agree with the idea that trade monopoly shouldn’t be a thing in treaty, the most fun part of the game is trying to force open a well defended base, TM completely ruins that.
it would be nice to have a preset called “Orincco 55” that lets you build all the way up to the river, but low priority i feel.
as for DM then reality is that almost no one EVER played DM, if we assume 20% of games where treaty than DM was like 1% or less, FFA are more common.