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We've had fairly thorough discussions so far about how many Civs there should be, but not-so-thorough discussions on the total number of cities.
Q: how many cities do you think should be allowed in the world?
My preference is for the maximum natural limit to be about 200 on a large map.
The natural limit means there is space for 200 cities to be placed in "good" spots. More land will exist but the land will be crappier. Those additional cities will be more like outposts. You can built as many as you want, but naturally a good player will limit him/herself to building cities where useful.
So if we start with 16 civs, if they're all equal (rare), we'll have about 12-13 cities each (plenty for a diverse world). There will essentially be no remaining "good" spots for planting cities (you can plant cities in deserts and mountains, but they'll be puny), so to gain more cities, you must conquer, bribe, negotiate, etc... or instead build up your cities into supercities.
Of course, as time goes on, you'll conquer your neighbours, and the stronger civs will overpower the weaker ones, so that 2 or 3 superpowers will have 50-60 cities each (more than enough), and others will have fewer.
By limiting the "good" space for more cities, conflict is forced upon the player at a certain point. No more limitless "free" expansion. This doesn't necessarily mean war, it just means competition for limited resources like land -> hence more excitement, more fun!
For a normal medium map, I say 120-140.
For a small map, 60-80.
Q: how many cities do you think should be allowed in the world?
My preference is for the maximum natural limit to be about 200 on a large map.
The natural limit means there is space for 200 cities to be placed in "good" spots. More land will exist but the land will be crappier. Those additional cities will be more like outposts. You can built as many as you want, but naturally a good player will limit him/herself to building cities where useful.
So if we start with 16 civs, if they're all equal (rare), we'll have about 12-13 cities each (plenty for a diverse world). There will essentially be no remaining "good" spots for planting cities (you can plant cities in deserts and mountains, but they'll be puny), so to gain more cities, you must conquer, bribe, negotiate, etc... or instead build up your cities into supercities.
Of course, as time goes on, you'll conquer your neighbours, and the stronger civs will overpower the weaker ones, so that 2 or 3 superpowers will have 50-60 cities each (more than enough), and others will have fewer.
By limiting the "good" space for more cities, conflict is forced upon the player at a certain point. No more limitless "free" expansion. This doesn't necessarily mean war, it just means competition for limited resources like land -> hence more excitement, more fun!
For a normal medium map, I say 120-140.
For a small map, 60-80.
"Space and communication delay based on distance", was infact the ONLY limitation (besides the 255-limit) in Civ-2. In Civ-3 however, they have added an whole array of new built-in empire city-expansion limitations. 
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