Which is more irritating?

[shmily_dana]

Getting the message that you have the maximum number of cities for you government in the middle of a war.

or

Having the senate sign a peace treaty in the middle of a war (in CIVII)

[pchang65]

Getting the maximum city message. It's fairly easy to bait the AI into starting another war. Besides in CIVII, you can use Diplos and a hoard of cash to buy the AI's empire right out from under it. Overcoming the maximum city limit is quite a bit more challenging.

[WesW]

The city limit is irritating, but also challenging. It can serve as a way of keeping a civ from running away with the game, at least temporarily, or from simply expanding endlessly (which is about the same thing as running away with the game).

[shmily_dana]

It is tempting to want to change it...If I knew how.

[WesW]

The city limits are specified in the govern.txt (in the default/gamedata section)for each government.