City Cap dependent on map size

Overall, I think city cap is a good feature. One of my biggest problems with Civ was city spam - especially when the AI puts a city 3 tiles from yours. So I really love the city cap feature. 

Could it be adjusted? I like your ideas about tech - however, by late game, I'm merging cities, not adding more. So I think the telegraph, etc, should reduce the city cap! And if that were the case, I would be in favor of a larger city cap in the beginning and more techs that increase it early game. The eraly time periods are where cities are more independent of each other so it makes sense having them separate - by late time periods, there is convergence and cities are more or less similar to each other so it makes sense to merge.

I like your idea about basing it on map size - since it seems most features are not adjusted to mapsize. I think district cost and era length/tech cost should also be linked to map size (it's much easier to get alot of science on a big map with lots of districts).

But actually I would take your idea and move it further - there should be more ways to differentiate empires through civics, etc. I should be able to go a route with a high city cap vs a low city cap. As of now we literally only have one civic that gives +1 city cap, and one culture that provides +2 city cap. Other than that there is no way to differentiate your empire compared to others based on city cap or many other factors. So I think some additional choices should be added in the game to make different play styles possible.

freedom should be given to game players, not the developers. while a suggested city cap can be the default for each map size the user should be able to adjust it to suit their own taste

currently the only mod that changes city cap adds a fixed +5 to city cap. this helps if you want more cities, but the city cap boost is not controlled by the game player, it is hard coded

I agree. The issue isn't that city caps exist, I actually think it's a great mechanic. The problem is that as the game is now, you can ONLY play with a stupid high number of cities possible on tiny maps, and ONLY with a reaaaally restrictive number on massive maps. It makes domination games on big maps no where near fun. Especially since if you don't completely kill an empire and you take cities, yhey just upgrade a bunch more territories into cities that you then have to capture as well. The thing that CIV 6 did really well was allow the player to hyper customize map generation, and, particularly with mods, you could get exactly the world and exactly the kind of game that you want. Having a scalable city cap system just makes sense, for the people who want to make their exact game. Default scalars should be included in that system, but the user should be able to adjust it if they want to. 

Also, I would just love more generation control anyways. I feel like they offer complexity in the generation, but setting things to chaotic doesn't make things that chaotic. It seems really hard to me to understand what some of these things actually do. Let me make the super string-like archipelagos I used to love from Civ. 

But yes, scalar city cap would be great.

I agree with all the above comments.

​People are different and likes different things so a one format for all will always be limited, the more one can customize a game to be to ones liking the better it will be and the more people will be able to fully enjoy it and thus offcourse want it.

In Civ 6 it was also easy enough to limit city spamming by increasing the distance from another city at which one was allowed to build a new city (a little change in GlobalParameters.xml).

Customizability is king, being able to customize a game to ones likings is a win on all fronts, more customizable options like in for example Civ 6 which is highly customizable especially with mods. A favorite mod of mine in Civ 6: Take your Time Ultimate - Slower Research Trees, which does more than allowing you to adjust the research speed to your liking:

"Base Tech Cost - Multiplies the cost of technologies by the chosen amount ranging from x0.25 (quick) to x50 (slow)
Base Civic Cost - Multiplies the cost of civics by the chosen amount ranging from x0.25 (quick) to x50 (slow) 

Tech Scaling Cost - Multiple settings to apply an increase to the cost of a technology based on its era. 

Civic Scaling Cost - Multiple settings to apply an increase to the cost of a civic based on its era. 

Eureka Amount - The percentage of Science gained when earning a boost towards a technology ranging from 5% to 100%, can also be set to 50% of the original game's technology cost. 

Inspiration Amount - The percentage of Culture gained when earning a boost towards a civic ranging from 5% to 100%, can also be set to 50% of the original game's civic cost. 

Great Person Scaling - The points required to earn a Great Person can be increased depending on the base and scaling cost or by a flat multiplier. 

World Era Scaling - The game eras introduced by Rise & Fall can have their turn lengths increased depending on the base and scaling cost or by a flat multiplier. 

Era Score Scaling - The amount of era score needed to achieve a normal age and a golden age can be increased depending on the base and scaling cost or by a flat multiplier. Climate Change Scaling - With Gathering Storm, the amount of CO2 emissions needed to cause the temperature to rise can be increased depending on the base and scaling cost or by a flat multiplier."