ok, so it seems that the two arguments are :
A: There should be a much bigger pop cap because we want to fighting real fullscale battles not leading dinky squads.
B:Are you crazy? Having tons of units makes older games lag like hell, so why would it work with a completely new game with tons of new graphics and other effects?
I agree with both though, and here's my case:
tons of units = mass carnage = fun.
tons of units = tons of crap to keep track of = lag.
Judgin from earlier posts, i think ES has already reached the compromise of these two which is a slightly increased pop limit, with some units filling more than one slot. But its not just tons of units that make a really big anc cool battle.
AOE3 is gonna have tons more cool effects that make the battle feel real, like every unit is unique and just way cooler. You won't care about how many guys you have when there are all these cool things when you select your large army is having it out with another one and you just sit back and watch the show.
Just look at that one screen where the red guys are bombarding the village. I can't wait to play out some "Patriot" type scenarios where the two lines just fire at eachother and isolated guys fall down.
Don't worry, these guys know what they're doing