I'm very encouraged each and every time that I hear some new information about the features of this game. It is shaping up to be everything that the first edition should have been crossed with the best mods! The detail level sounds to be staggering with the number of factions, and with a bit of presumption, the size of the map. One thing though, I've heard it mentioned that there will be no slave/ rebel faction, therefore will the tiny city states be surrounded by a bigger nation? And therefore be an easy target to be picked off early?

I really expect there to be more information available in the coming months and hopefully a lot of visual material to really get the drool flowing!