I wonder, could the AI handle the "free upkeep" units? Would it try to use them as regular field units, thus wasting it's money? Would it care to recruit them at all? Guess we'll have to wait and see... and hope for the best.

Total limit to numbers of a given unit sounds good. It's not like I'm using many elites anyway - in EB0.8x they're damn expensive even for a big faction with lots of ports, traders and mines. But it would certainly be nice to see less elites coming from the AI factions