As Ethelred said, difficulty is a big factor in score. All else being equal, a Deity game will score 6 times that of a Chieftain game. The difficulty modifiers are very simple:
Chieftain: 1
Warlord: 2
Regent: 3
Monarch: 4
Emperor: 5
Deity: 6
Milking a game on Deity is hardly a snooze fest though. About 90% of the game is quite interesting, the last 'unopposed' turns take only a fraction of the overall time. I spent over a month (about equal time each day) on my game, and it only took 3 days to play the last half of the game.
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So my question is... what's the best way to boost your score? Judging from the histograph, your score depends on only four things...
(1) Happy citizens
(2) Content/specialist citizens
(3) Territory
(4) Future tech
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Citizens:
Each population point is worth 2 if happy, 1 if content or a specialist. Then that is multiplied by the difficulty.
Territory:
Each tile is worth 1 point. Sea tiles count for score, but don't count towards the domination limit. This makes them quite valuable in a milked game. Again, multiplied by the difficulty.
Future Tech:
Might add a few points to your score. Definitely not worth sacrificing either Citizens or Territory for. The most I've ever added to my score with future techs is 17.6 points (26 future techs, first one about 1940).
Date Bonus:
Doesn't apply to a milking game of course. (2050 - Date) * Difficulty.
Map:
This is the most important factor. The more tiles you can claim before domination, the higher your score will be. The amount of food from each tile determines how much it is worth towards score. Sea tiles are dependant on how many coastal tiles you have to claim to get to them, as well as how many of them are culturally claimed without being within the 21 tile radius of a city (can't support a citizen otherwise).
7 Food: 5.5 * Difficulty
6 Food: 5 * Difficulty
5 Food: 4.5 * Difficulty
4 Food: 4 * Difficulty
3 Food: 3.5 * Difficulty
2 Food: 3 * Difficulty
1 Food: 2 * Difficulty
0 Food: 1 * Difficulty
These are 'max' numbers that count towards your turn score. The best map for score is going to be a Huge/Warm/Wet/5 Billion year map. Theoretically Archipelago would allow for the highest max turn score, but it also makes the conquest phase much more difficult. I prefer Pangaea because it allows for a longer peaceful expansion phase.
This is the formula I use to determine 'max' score on any given map:
TotalTiles = MapHeight * MapWeight / 2
ScoringTiles = TotalTiles * LandPercent * Domination
TotalFood = ScoringTiles * AverageFood
NumberOfCitizens = TotalFood / 2
AverageCitizenValue = (1 + (AverageFood / 2)) / (AverageFood / 2)
PopulationScore = NumberOfCitizens * AverageCitizenValue * Difficulty
TerritoryScore = ScoringTiles * Difficulty
MaxTurnScore = PopulationScore + TerritoryScore
MaxFinalScore = MaxTurnScore * PercentOfMaxTurnScore
Domination: a 1 if turned off, .66 if turned on.
AverageFood: per claimed tile. usually in the 3.25 to 3.5 range if cities are positioned right.
AverageCitizenValue: gives a number that determines the ratio of happy to content/specialist citizens.
PercentOfMaxTurnScore: this is highly dependant on how quickly you can ramp up to the max turn score. It may be as high as .65 if done right, .6 is the number I use in my guesses. I was able to hit .62 in my HOF game I just submitted.
