What will the absolute maximum mapsize be?
In RoN (by altering the XML files), it was possible to obtain (and successfully play with) a maximum mapsize of 140x140 (instead of the default 100x100).
If I remember correctly, one could actually create something like a 920+x920+ map within the editor but one was not able to successfully save it (let alone even try to play with it .... although one would only have been able to play in one of the corners anyway).
The limited mapsize was imho one of the most severe limitations in RoN .... as well as the maximum of 1000 placeable objects.
Therefore, will there be a limit with mapsize and the number of placeable objects (as there is with pop cap)? As someone who intrinsically dislikes hardcoded limitations in a game, I freely admit that I will be deadfully disappointed if there are major limitations in these abovementioned parameters. From what I have heard, CIV (4) does not have (m)any hardcoded limitations .... it is rather the capacity of one's machine that decides exactly "how big" one can play. Imho, this is an excellent strategy for game design as future systems will obviously be much more powerful than today's models (Moore's Law and all that).