Yes, I like that little aspect of the variant indeed. I like variants for more than 7 players too, but most variants creators have the tendency to create a higher number of supply centers per player than in Classic, and that usually causes the game to become quite sluggish and not as tactical as it should be in the endgame. By having just 3.5 supply centers per player, you can still see big surprises in the endgame, and the early game doesn't become less interesting from it either.
This could easily become my new favorite variant, were it not for the very weird win condition. More than half of the supply centers for a win is standard and I would say that there are good reasons for that. If someone is on the verge of winning, you want every player on the board to have some direct influence on whether or not this player will achieve a solo. In Classic this is virtually always the case; even if for example England is on the verge of winning, Turkey can help defend the stalemate line, or just help by not attacking players who are holding it. But if the victory condition is lower than half of the supply centers, then it will happen too often that you will lose a game because someone on the other side of the board won and you had no influence on it.
Secondly, I see the win condition as an extra pity because it kinda defeats the benefits of starting with less supply centers. Starting with less supply centers makes the endgame faster and more interesting, but if you lower the win condition, you won't even have an endgame. Most games will likely end in large draws because everyone will be wary of anyone who grows too close to 1/3 of the supply centers. A nice, clean 3-way draw is practically impossible.
Lastly, I don't understand why your statements are arguments in favor of having a lower victory condition. Did anyone ever say that a solo should be easy to achieve? What is wrong with having to work for it? Also, it is not like growing to 10 times your original size to win a game is outright impossible. (
gameID=33308 ;-) )
In summary, a low victory condition makes draws large & victories lame.