Teleklos Archelaou
RTR 7 is going to be very different from 6. Compatibility with RTW 1.5, revamped map, set of factions, units. Don't know about recruitment.
SPQR 4 and let's say 6 are different indeed. Map, units, recruitment. Not like vanilla RTW and EB of course.
XGM is an exception, it's a mini-mod with maxi-versions :)
I didn't play other mods because I consider their version numbering being too far from being adequate to their feature set and stability.
My point is that integer version is an indicator of some sort of completeness and stability. If EB team says 'we will redo everyting from scratch' I will expect it actually achieve its object before announcing the final release.
Honestly, if EB 0.8 claimed to be a final version 1.0 I would put it aside for a long time and plan to get back to EB 4.0 because not all features are working and there are some CTDs. But since 0.8 is beta I consider its developers as being realists, so I will give it a try and report bugs for 0.8x and 0.9x. Although I am definitely not going to attempt a long campaign until the version 1.0. Maybe that's a downside of beta.