Quote Originally Posted by Ashenvale View Post
Excellent. My assumption is that that will cause distortion at the equator, because the ratio of diameter to circumference is less than pi, and great distortion at the poles, of course, but diminish distortion somewhat in the areas between the equator and poles. That seems the best balancing act.
No, this projection has no distortion at the equator, with the distortion increasing toward the poles, this is a common property of all normal tangental cylindrical projections. What you describe would be a normal secantal cylindrical projection which is rather less common.