Ok, I made a little further research on the topic, and, yes, the game's timeline would be legitimate in a very purely theoretical perspective.
I'll take what I can get.
Of course, there have to be certain compromise for an adaptation, and I can accept that you evaluate them differently.
On the other hand, I can finally kind of agree to your term of Saurons
secret formula for Ringmaking. I haven't seen any clear evidence for this, until you guys reminded me that the Three Rings loose their Powers through the destruction of the One Ring. Since they haven't been made with Saurons involvement, their elemental mode of functioning still has to be connected to Sauron, otherwise their bond to Sauron (or his Ring) wouldn't make sense.
What I think is an intersting topic (when talking about the Rings of power) is wether it was a mistake by Sauron to forge the One Ring.
I wouldn't say mistake, but definetly a miscalculation on Saurons part. Putting a large part of his power into the Ring was a risk that he willingly took to master the Elves. Tolkien makes that clear, as I also
quoted a while ago.
He [Sauron] rules a growing empire from the great dark tower of Barad-dûr in Mordor, near to the Mountain of Fire, wielding the One Ring.
But to achieve this he had been obliged to let a great part of his own inherent power (a frequent and very significant motive in myth and fairy-story) pass into the One Ring.
[...]
This was the essential weakness he had introduced into his situation in his effort (largely unsuccessful) to enslave the Elves, and in his desire to establish a control over the minds and wills of his servants.
[...]
There was another weakness: if the One Ring was actually unmade, annihilated, then its power would be dissolved, Sauron's own being would be diminished to vanishing point, and he would be reduced to a shadow, a mere memory of malicious will. But that he never contemplated nor feared.
Sauron's purpose was not at all – apart from having the chance to control the Elves' and the other races' minds – achieving even more direct personal power, being himself already at the apex, as a Maia in Middle Earth with no restrain on his capabilities.
His true purpose was exactly tying his essence/Will/powers to a material dimension, so that he would have avoided the ineluctable dispersion of his powers had he been defeated by any means, especially in case he had had his own body destroyed (as it exactly happened in Númenor).
Therefore, we could say that he had kind of foreseen what could have happened and exactly happened later in Númenor;
I'm really sorry Val, but I have to vehemently disagree with that.
There is no evidence whatsoever for Sauron conciously planning for the Ring to be his bond to the world, nor for him being particularly foresighted. His purpose for the Ring is very cleary stated in the Silmarillion:
for his [Saurons] desire was to set a bond upon the Elves and to bring them under his vigilance.
Now the Elves made many rings; but secretly Sauron made One Ring to rule all the others, and their power was bound up with it, to be subject wholly to it and to last only so long as it too should last. And much of the strength and will of Sauron passed into that One Ring; for the power of the Elven-rings was very great, and that which should govern them must be a thing of surpassing potency;
Of course you can as always count in some
elven bias or ignorance about their enemy, but since it matches Tolkiens
prose description in the aformentioned letter, I'd say it is legit.
Sauron wanted to control the Elves, so he convinced them to make Rings of Power and secrectly forged a Master Ring that dominated them. But in order to do that, he
had to insert a large part of his Power into the Ring. The Minds/Rings of the Elves were so powerful, that only a more powerful Mind/Ring could dominate them. The
tying of his essence was a neccesity for
Plan A to work, and I don't see anything that suggests he was already counting on
Plan B at that moment. It was a risk that Sauron willingly took.
I would even go so far as to suspect that Sauron was himself somewhat positively surprised about this convenient side effect of his Ring. As you said it yourself: He's a Maia, an immortal spiritual being. Why should he ever decide to tie himself to the physical world, and thus
restrain himself?
Saurons overall purpose or plan in Middle-earth is also stated in this chapter:
Seeing the desolation of the world, Sauron said in his heart that the Valar, having overthrown Morgoth, had again forgotten Middle-earth; and his pride grew apace. He looked with hatred on the Eldar, and he feared the Men of Númenor who came back at whiles in their ships to the shores of Middle-earth; but for long he dissembled his mind and concealed the dark designs that he shaped in his heart.
After the Destruction of Beleriand Sauron stayed behind and resented the Valar for not actively doing more/anything in Middle-earth (contrary to, you know, Morgoth). So he grew prideful and made up his own designs for the world. In other words: He wanted to surpass the Valar and Morgoth by
improving Middle-earth himself. Strictly according to his plans, under his strict lordship of course.
And here again we see Tolkiens motive of
domination as an act of evil.
Yes, Sauron is just smart 
You know how hard it is to argue that? Because I don't really want to deny that in general. Of course Sauron was mighty, cunning, dangerous, cruel, subtle, crafty, and many other things. And after all, Sauron conquered more lands of Middle-earth than Morgoth ever tried.
But the way you portray him, as a forsighted mastermind, that played everyone from the beginning, is just... your headcanon, sorry.
Let's just think of the maaaany moments where Saurons plans didn't go the way he expected.
Like when he sat in Tol-in-Gauroth and thought:
"Well obviously I am the prophesied Wolf that will kill Huan the Hound!", and then got his butt kicked by Lúthien.
Or when he sat in Númenór and thought:
"Well finally I'll never have to worry about the Edain again, Haha!", and later sank while Elendil & Co. escaped.
Or during the War of the Ring when he thought:
"Well naturally they will try to use my Ring against me in war, they're even sending Halfling spies to scout my armies!", and we all know how that ended.
